when to harvest honey?

[melodywise]

this is a total newbie question, i know, but i can't seem to find an answer.

i have a booming hive, they seem to work tirelessly. i have 2 medium boxes chock full of brood and capped honey, one shallow box full with capped honey, and another shallow box on top of that that they're filling out quickly. i ganked 2 frames from the full box last night and put 2 empty ones in to keep them busy.

now... are both those supers available for me to pilfer honey? or do i need to leave them with honey in those for the winter? i know you need to leave at least 60 lbs of honey for them in the winter, but does that only include the honey in the bottom 2 mediums? in all the books and such, i've never seen a shallow box kept on for the winter. so can i just keep taking honey from those top boxes and replacing it with the empty frames?

thanks for your advice in advance.

[Matt NY]

I'd go ahead and take the capped shallow off and extract and eat it up, then put it right back on.

[tecumseh]

typically the stores left for the winter is a gross weight from the bottom to the top of the hive and does not mean just the store left on the top of the hive (in honey supers).

you have mediums on bottom and shallow on top. I would think that if you experience mild (at least not severe) winters than the two mediums plus one shallow would be adequate as a brood nest and feed reserve. so I would try to limit my honey pilfering to one box and try to get (as I think mattny suggested) get the empty pulled frames back on as quickly as possible.

[riverrat]

I would leave 3 mediums on the hive for stores and brood chamber # mediums will equal 2 deeps. anything over that consider it has rent payment and take it home

[melodywise]

typically the stores left for the winter is a gross weight from the bottom to the top of the hive and does not mean just the store left on the top of the hive (in honey supers).

you have mediums on bottom and shallow on top. I would think that if you experience mild (at least not severe) winters than the two mediums plus one shallow would be adequate as a brood nest and feed reserve. so I would try to limit my honey pilfering to one box and try to get (as I think mattny suggested) get the empty pulled frames back on as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the replies. What does "severe" entail? I live in Utah, and the weather gets down to about 10-15 f at the coldest.

[Ross]

The other question is how much flow you have left. If they continue to bring in nectar, you could extract and put the supers back on for late season stores.

[melodywise]

The other question is how much flow you have left. If they continue to bring in nectar, you could extract and put the supers back on for late season stores.

i'm not fully sure, but the summer flowers are just starting to bloom here, now. trumpet vine, and then sunflower later in august.