" They’re liable to make some real honey this year. "
I was averaging less than 40 lb. per hive while learning and expanding to my 8=10 colony level. I was always short on hardware. So, in my 4th winter, I built 16 10-frame, medium supers and bought 150 medium frames ( maybe 200), thinking I over did it. I started Spring off with an over-wintered nuc, 8 colonies ( lost two due to queen issues and laying workers). One colony was really week - tiny, 4th year queen and cluster ( put her on intensive care - wanted another daughter). Winter was pretty cold, Spring was awful with cold and rain but I had well insulated hives and a couple of Saskatarz queens - basically 7 developing foraging hives. Setting the stage - I also zero swarms in coming season
One Saskatraz colony seemingly forage in the rain, brought the first pollen in on March 19th ( a month early? How??). I used every piece of hardware I had that summer and I was extracting frames to open supers. Four supers on one hive, three on everybody else and the little old queen/colony did something right as her colony grew and grew, up to my standard, winter brood chamber size of a medium-deep-medium. I had to add a QE and a medium - she produce 40 lb. The rains were perfect all summer, no drought, and into Fall. It became work! I had to learn to bottle properly with labels, filled every Ball jar I had, kept honey in 5 gallon buckets, bought more cases of jars - quit counting after 800 lb., likely extracted a 1000 lb. A rare foraging event I think. The prior year the flow ended in July, Fall flow failed, many hives starved to death, including those belonging to experienced beekeepers. I managed to avoid the problem.
Punch line: You never have enough but at least two supers per colony. Three is nice so one can allow time for capping over (it's hot and humid by the seashore in July- AUgust). Foursupers was not enough for Super Woman colony. Plus, in peak flow periods, you may have to extract frames to make space. I was LUCKY! Good luck.