[dave28210]

So, going into my second year as a beek(so still a newbee), which means first year for honey harvest. So far my girls are doing good, the queens are laying, stores are quite nice in the bottom two boxes considering the winter/spring rain we've had. So I am already counting my blessings.

I still have hive beetles, from last year, but they are fewer in number and AJ's beetle eaters are helping to keep things in check.

Our first flow will be around April 15 for central NC. I already have one super on each hive. Having said that, and given the date and the looming flow, how should I go about supering as to give the bees enough space but not give the beetles new places to hide?

 

[dave28210]

I guess I should mention that the bees are working on their supers, but nowhere near done. No swarm cells that I see, though I am concerned about it. So probably what I am asking is should I super one at a time or just give them all the space I can to maximize on the flow? The health of my hives comes first, but I also don't want to shoot myself in the foot by not giving them enough space and convincing them to swarm.

As far as available woodenware goes, each hive is two deeps, I have one shallow super on each, and I have two more supers I can add to each one (total of 4). In the process of building more, but at this point splits or swarm retrieval isn't really much an option due to woodenware and my work schedule.

 

[3nd gen]

just go by the flow. haha, but seriously the bees will be using most of what they are bringing in this time of year, and swarm season is about to start, when the weather is warm enough at night, and nectar is everywhere.when the honeyflow hits go ahead and throw a super on, and when they get that sucker drawn, do it again. or if it is drawn out, look for about 2/3 of the frames to have capped cells towards the top. you can see it without even removing a frame. the Idea to use when drawing comb is to have a good honey flow and lots of bees. but that is a double edged sword because the bees will think swarming if you crowd them in the spring during swarm season.

 

[Beeslave]

Bees need twice as much room for storing uncured nectar as they do for the finished honey. If you wait for the super to be 2/3 capped honey you have waited to long. Then there is a good chance they will swarm.