How long for honey?

[Sourwood]

I know this is a loaded question but I'm going to ask anyway. I am wondering how long it takes a hive of bees (single brood chamber) to completely draw out foundation from a medium super and cap honey in it. I am aware a lot depends on a good honey flow, but was just wanting some "insight" from you experienced keepers since I am new to this. Would like to hear from you guys. Also any tricks to speed up the process?

Thanks

[power napper]

I just keep a feeder of 1 to 1 sugar water on the hive till they draw it out, seems to work but i never timed them.

[Frohnho]

Really good hive with good flow...about 3-4 week to draw fill and cap. I normally expect it to take around 6-7 week for average hive.

[Star G]

Many years ago, when I was still putting deep honey supers on my bees with ten frames of foundation in them (and when I could still sling around deep supers full of honey), I had a colony occupying three deeps as a brood chamber. At the peak of the sweetclover flow, I put a deep super with 10 frames of foundation on them. They drew the foundation into comb, filled it with honey and capped it in three days.

Today, I use only mediums and shallows for honey supers. And I have plenty of drawn-comb supers (although I still regularly put three frames of foundation in each 9-frame super before putting them on the bees because a healthy colony needs a wax-building outlet, just as it needs drones present). The bees will routinely draw the 3 foundation frames and fill and cap the nine frames in 3-5 days at the peak of honey-flow. As with anything in nature, some colonies are faster, some slower (that's what gives the beekeeper things to think about while standing in a happily humming beeyard, enchanted as a bucolic ox).

Of course, during off-peak blooming cycles, one can watch the sweet little buggers work a medium super for WEEKS without filling and capping it.

Real estate dealers have a saying: "Location, location, location...." For beekeepers, I think the mantra is: "Location and Timing, location and timing, location and timing...."

[Star G]

A single deep hive body is too small a space for a brood chamber for a healthy productive queen and her colony. Even a deep and a medium crowds her. If you keep a colony in a single or a single-and-a-half, you will be forced to use queen excluders to keep her from laying in your honey supers and/or be constantly fighting swarming tendencies during the best honey production months. While I've seen folks in SoCal and SoTex keep winter colonies in single deeps, in areas where real winter comes every year, double deep brood and food chambers are the necessary standard.

"A beekeeper who robs his hives too close is robbing himself"

[Joel]

The amount of time it takes is dependant on how strong the hive is, type of foundation, temperatures and whether there is a honey flow. I would not feed to draw out honey supers as the bees will store as they draw it out compromising your honey. When I came through NC yesterday your bloom was in full swing. (the wisteria is incredible)Unfortunately with night time temps what they are you don't have as many warm day hours as later in the season. If it is a new hive (package) they may invest there energy and time in brood instead of honey. As far as singles we run our operation very successfully in singles. Steve Taylor who kept bees in out area for many years for comb and wrote several books wintered his in singles here very well. A good queen will lay about 5-7 frames of brood in a cycle (21 days) so 1 hive body gives enough space for laying. Where you get into difficulty is with hive bodies getting pollen or honey bound so you have to manage them differently. We use queen excluders but get the same production as we did without by giving the field bees and entrance above the excluder.