winter preparation

[d'sbees]

hello everyone, I put in a new bee package this spring, they have had a good summer and now have 3 med. 8 frame boxes I did not use a queen extruder, was this a mnistake. lots of bees not much honey, I will be feeding 2:1 ration from now on. Do I need to reduce the hive to only two boxes or do I leave the three for the winter. Also how long do I feed (approximately). Thank you.

[Jacobs]

It sounds to me like you have done just fine so far. This has been a tough year for honey production. There have been lots of cool rainy days where bees used the nectar they collected to feed brood and feed themselves. I don't generally use queen excluders and let the queen lay where she chooses. Most of the time, the bees will begin backfilling the upper supers with nectar and honey and push the queen down to the lower supers for winter.

I would leave all 3 supers on if the bees are numerous enough to protect the comb. I would want to see the top box full of sugar water "honey" or honey going into winter, and would feed until they have stored that much (40-50 pounds of honey). If you do not have an entrance reducer on, you might want to consider putting one on now. Feeding may tempt some other hive in the area to attempt robbing. If I take reducers off at all, I like to have them on my hives for the fall and winter seasons.

[Wally]

A medium 8 frame holds about 25 lb. of honey when full. I would remove the excluder and try to feed until 2 supers were full. Again, about 50 lb.

PS. one super full and 2 supers half full equal 2 full supers.