How much honey should I expect?

1846 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by victory1504, Apr 25, 2010

beginnerhives

Discussion Starter · Apr 24, 2010

I have a really strong hive coming out of winter. I am running three deeps and I just added a supra that is not drawn out. I did not reverse the hives in any way. Top two deeps are full of bees but so far they are only using the small hole entrance in the midle deep. There is also a lot of stored honey in the top deep. Very few bees are using the bottom entrance yet. If the hive does not swarm how many supras should I expect to put on this hive and how many pounds should I expect? All supras are not drawn out but it looks like a good year for honey so far. Thanks.

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beedeetee

· #2 · Apr 24, 2010

Your next door neighbor beekeeper would be the only one that could answer that. Even moving a few miles can change the amount of honey significantly. Having 3 medium supers per hive is a good idea on average. In a couple of years you will know better what you will need.

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concrete-bees

· #3 · Apr 24, 2010

if i were you i would never "expect" honey but rather think of honey as a byproduct- and if you get some - you get some -- if not you dont

also with undrawn supers - you have to waste a lot of "honey" this year in order for them to draw out the wax

from what i sounds like is that you have a strong hive .... and in order for you to know that its a strong hive means that you have other hives that are weak - ??? so if you do get a surpus of honey you might want to save it to help out the weaker hives this winter

just my 2 cents -

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beginnerhives

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 24, 2010

concrete-bees said:
if i were you i would never "expect" honey but rather think of honey as a byproduct- and if you get some - you get some -- if not you dont

also with undrawn supers - you have to waste a lot of "honey" this year in order for them to draw out the wax

from what i sounds like is that you have a strong hive .... and in order for you to know that its a strong hive means that you have other hives that are weak - ??? so if you do get a surpus of honey you might want to save it to help out the weaker hives this winter

just my 2 cents -

I began last year. This hive was my strong hive. It began on an undrawn deep and drew out comb on three deeps and filled up the top and some of the middle deep with honey. They ended up with a surplus of honey even after the winter. So this year should be as good or better than last. If they do at least as good as they did last year they should be able to fill up the 1 and a half of the top deeps for their honey and fill up 3-4 supra's for me.

How many lbs of honey are in a full supra?

Thanks for the posts. It is always good food for thought.

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concrete-bees

· #5 · Apr 24, 2010

a med super is about 50 pounds of honey
a deep is about 80 pounds

im sure that you will get more honey this year then last year but its hard to say how much - your first year will go to wax
after you have drawn comb then the honey starts to pile up

best of luck

but just dont ever put money on a honey crop before you have it -

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beedeetee

· #6 · Apr 25, 2010

My full medium supers have 35 lbs of honey.

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victory1504

· #7 · Apr 25, 2010

beginnerhives said:
I began last year. This hive was my strong hive. It began on an undrawn deep and drew out comb on three deeps and filled up the top and some of the middle deep with honey. They ended up with a surplus of honey even after the winter. So this year should be as good or better than last. If they do at least as good as they did last year they should be able to fill up the 1 and a half of the top deeps for their honey and fill up 3-4 supra's for me. How many lbs of honey are in a full supra?

Thanks for the posts. It is always good food for thought.

I'd say you have an excellent chance of a very large swarm. I believe in reversing the brood nest. Chances are there is little brood rearing in the bottom super and it will soon be virtually empty of brood. It needs to be on top. The top super is honeybound. If you put it in the middle they will move the honey out of it for brood rearing. If you crowd a second year queen you are asking for a very big swarm.
I would not put any foundation on until there is a good honeyflow. They will chew it up if you do.

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