I’m in Victoria Australia and I see where about 140 Eucalyptus gums are about to flower close to my 3 strong, recently requeened langstroth hives. Currently all hives have plenty of laying and storage space. As I don’t like to disturb the girls too often and only visit the site every few weeks, could anyone tell me if I should add another super or brood box just in case there is an abundance of pollen and nectar in my absence ?
Thanks in advance for your support.
How many brood boxes and supers are on your current hives? At 3 week intervals you should be able to determine the rate at which your supers are filling and thus either be ready to extract or throw another super on top.
Thanks Rod for your reply.
Two hives have one brood box and one super and the other hive is just one brood box, but a brimming one.
You should stick with what you have, single brood for now and put a super on the hive without. Note down the progress of the existing super, I always take additional supers out to my remote sites just in case. It’s tricky to know how much nectar they’ll bring in unless you have done this for years or know someone who has.
In a 3 week timespan and on a strong flow, the bees can fill the hive. As nectar is coming in and the population is increasing, swarms are issued, usually regardless of any supers you’ve added. I’d check the brood nest more often.