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This is my first year wth bees, and have been very fortunate. I bought a complete hive from an chemical free beekeeper, and it is doing excellent. Already have 2 medium supers fully capped and a 3rd fully drawn out with honey in it. My questions is how long does the honey flow last? I am in Western KY. How often do I need to check my boxes? Do not want to disturb them too much, but dont want them to run out of room either. Thanks for any info.
Im new to beekeeping too, based on what I've read and reading this forum; the 'general rule' I'm following for checking boxes is:
a new beekeeper check at least once a week. But as much as you feel necessary to learn.
a more experienced beekeeper check at least once every 2 weeks.
Cant really help with the flow.
Good luck
+1 on the once a week checking. I'm a new beek this year and have one hive in my backyard. I live in a neighborhood so I check the girls on a weekday so they don't bother the neighbors if I do something wrong and they get a little agitated.
I check mine once a week during the honey flow. Now this doesn't mean I go though every frame. I open the top look down between the frames to see if the frames are drawn out. If most are I add another box. If I had put drawn comb on the time before you will have to pull a few frames to see how much nectar has been stored, if there is a lot I will add another box. You don't have to disturb them much doing it this way.
I generally peek in there once a week during the flow. Your flow should be beginning to slow down. We had a very early start this year. Hopefully the clover will stay available for awile longer but I'm thinking the main flow is on the downhill slope.
Thanks, I did notice bees on the Dutch clover in the yard. Wasn't sure what if anything was blooming after that.