[gman1001]

I have two all medium hives, each with 3 boxes. Each is going gangbusters with bees. The question: I have one honey super, which hive do I put it on!?

Hive 1: New package this year installed late April. Carnolian queen. 3 mediums, all drawn comb. Crazy activity in hive.
Hive 2: Swarm capture early May. Italians. 3 Mediums, all drawn comb, incredible activity.

I'm thinking there is a week or two of flow left around here in coastal CT. Any thoughts on where to place my bets on getting some honey out of a hive?

 

[KPeacock]

all things being equal, and assuming the bees live up to their reputations, the Carnies will need less honey for the winter, so i'd super them. That's a lot of "ifs" though.

 

[sqkcrk]

Mine.

I know that isn't a realistic option, but who can tell from here. I can't see how strong each colony is, adult bees, frames of honey, frames of brood. If you tip each hive forward on its bottom board, cam you see bees hanging below the bottom bars? If you remove the cover(s) are there lots of bees present? Are there very many frames in the top box which are full or partly full of honey? Is there new white wax on the top bars of the top box?

It's a crap shoot, but, put the super on the hive which has the widest band of honey across the top of the most frames in the top box. Especially if it has the most bees.

 

[Gord]

Which hive has the least room for honey?

 

[gman1001]

All great points. I'm going to do a top box inspection for existing honey/brood patterns. I can't go into other boxes as its just too **** hot out!

I'm leaning toward the Carni's but will see how the top boxes look.

 

[sqkcrk]

Why do you only have one box to put on. You should have 6 or 8. When I bought hives, ages ago, along w/ the two deeps where the brood was I would get 3 shallow supers for honey. Do you know where to get them?

 

[jim lyon]

Split the difference. If they are out of room, remove some full frames of honey from each and replace with your new frames of foundation. If you have a way of extracting them then you will be ready to repeat the process if needed. Perhaps sell some honey and buy another box?

 

[gman1001]

Great question. I did, but then my first hive swarmed, 3 times! I caught two of them and hived them. There went all but one of my spare supers.

 

[gman1001]

Ok, I went with the Carnolian hive. Everything seemed neat and orderly in there. There was a nice brood/honey arch on each frame of the 3rd box.

The Italian swarm hive was crazy/gonzo. Bees thicker than you know what. First frame I pulled out had a queen cell on the bottom of it with royal jelly.

Who knows whats going to happen there so its going to sit on its own and maybe it'll make it through winter.

 

[Barry Digman]

These folks look like they're less than a half hour from you. Perhaps they have supers.

http://www.bee-commerce.com/pages/Contact-Us.html

 

[mathesonequip]

barry has good advise, get more boxes and frames now. consider a spare top and bottom too, swarm season will last more than average. the northeast season is about 10 to 14 days behind call it about 12, it is raining here now, you will get it in the morning, after 60 plus years on the farm: the flow will likely be longer than average this year in the northeast.

 

[Bees In Miami]

Answer....BOTH. Always have more equipment on hand than you think you need. You have several suppliers in your area. Nothing worse than watching a good producing hive swarm and not have equipment for it. Give the girls room.