When do I extract?

[WildernessWill]

I decided to super a first year package. The Italians are in 8 frame deep boxes with 2 for the brood nest. They were doing great this summer. I did a split off them back in late May too. I am not using an excluder and I now believe that is the way to go. My last inspection revealed four heavy capped frames and two half capped frames. I really want to use an extracter to save drawn frames for next year.

I know if i wait too long pests will get my honey. When should I borrow a club extraxtor and go for it? I am located in the SF Bay Area in a suburban neighborhood and have no idea when the "flow" happens.

Thanks in advance.

[JRG13]

What pests would get your honey? Wax moth and hive beetles aren't much of a problem in CA as far as I know. Bees do a great job of keeping the honey safe, and what are you going to winter them on?

[WildernessWill]

Thats good news to me about beetles and moths. I am still in the learning phase. I planned on wintering the bees with simple syrup and pollen patties. Do i need to leave a super on during the winter so they can have stores? I was hoping they would use the honey stores outside the brood pattern in the two deeps for winter stores.

[JRG13]

You will want something for them to move into, so if you remove their honey you need to feed them so they can get some more stored unless you're going to actively feed. The little bands of honey stored above brood would not be enough for a strong colony especially in our mild winters where they will be able to break cluster more but if it's rainy they can't leave the hive. I did find two SHB's this year after all the commercial guys showed up and left. One I found smashed in my hivetop feeder, the other was in the bottom cell of a frame of honey. Everyone else I've talked to in CA says not to worry about them but you may see a few time to time.

How are you going to feed them the syrup? We can use various feeders here as they can typically break cluster most of our winter. I plan on leaving them a deep of honey myself but you can also rob them out now and feed them like crazy to get more stores put up.