I would never let my colonies get over 3 supers high. I could just about guess when the bottom of the 3 was ready. I would pull all 9 combs out, replace them with 9 empties, move the next two down, place the now empty box on top. I would never,ever use a QE during a nice flow. In a week I would have between 10 and 14 supers ready to extract, or whenever the colonies needed empty combs for nectar. I tried to have a good quantity of filled jars for Labor Day and county fair sales. The rest was for out of state or local orders.
Sounds like a good strategy. For me it would be too much too often, especially with the way the flow runs in my area. For me I just keep stacking them when everything slows down, which is usually about three weeks, I grab some folks and we just pull them all at the same time. Works better for my schedule.
@@MikeBarryBees Oh boy Mike. I know that heat well out there. Summers are brutal. Yet in those warm places like that, I know bees can fill up supers much quicker than in NE states. Grateful.
i got a 4 stack going right now and a couple 3s, but i think im gonna have to take a couple out to spin. i'm OUT of supers, and my acorn foundation isnt coming in until thursday
Hi Mike, When you go to harvest, and assuming you pull 3+ supers, do you leave your hive consolidated or place back some or all of your supers to prevent overcrowding?
Russell, I actually don’t put them back on. I cut them back to their double or single, depending on their configuration and leave them at that. We’ll have a decent dearth going on for a couple months when I harvest, so they normally do fine without extra space since the queen is normally slowing down at that time.
@@MikeBarryBees i heard that when the hive 30000 bees they will start producing honey fast. How long will it take for my bees to get to that ? I started beekeeping 2 month ago. When i got it there was 1 frame side of bees. around 700 bees. The queen died the following week, and i got it before just winter in my country. they are now around 2500 - 3500 and i replaced the queen. i am feeding them sugar water almost every other day.
@@vedishplays if the queen is a good queen, just the average ‘good’ queen, or some super queen, she should lay 1500 to 1700 eggs per day. Three weeks from egg to emergence. One langstroth frame with both sides full capped will yield two frames of bees, and I’m not sure that exact number of bees. There are sites out there that show the exponential growth with time tables, just not sure where the reliable ones are. Randy Oliver might have something on his site, Scientific Beekeeping. What I know is with regular feed (1:1 syrup) and a good queen, 4 frames of brood will turn into 70,000 bees in about 7 weeks, but that’s in spring and early summer when it’s warm and summer bees are being produced, and when there is also pollen and natural nectar being produced as well. In winter, they will not grow if they are clustered and even on warm days since they are not trying to produce in cool and cold weather.
@@MikeBarryBees Thank a lot man 👍. damn that's fast. How much more defensive will they become when they reach this size. My beehive is on my rooftop. Currently my bees wont sting me once when am feeding them and most of the hive check i do they do not sting me at all(sometimes i do not use smoker). Even when i accidentally squash some of them while moving the box and frame. And when they do sting its by reflex and not with intent.
@@vedishplays sometimes they can become more defensive when they get very large. Mostly when the flow has stopped and when you open the brood nest. But going a bit slower and using the smoke strategically keeps them calm.
