I plan on extracting my supers from 5 strong hives. Each has 2 deep brood boxes; there are 2 to 4 medium supers on each which are loaded with honey. Since all the hives have large bee populations I am wondering if the hive will be too conjested once I remove the medium supers? Will this cause the hive to swarm? Thanks in advance for any insight.
Hive Space After Extraction
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Put the supers back after extracting for the bees to clean up. When you get ready for winter consolidation, you will be able to judge what is actually needed for the hive. Brood production with older queens declines after the solstice anyway so not as much brood space will be needed.
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From a bee colony perspective, 'swarming' is a reproductive action, not a response to the size of the hive space. Swarming is not a typical response to beekeepers removing honey supers from a hive. But you could consider returning one of the extracted supers to the hive. There may be a smaller fall flow in your area.
From a bee colony perspective, 'swarming' is a reproductive action, not a response to the size of the hive space. Swarming is not a typical response to beekeepers removing honey supers from a hive. But you could consider returning one of the extracted supers to the hive. There may be a smaller fall flow in your area.
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