Do you have to harvester the honey. What happens if you don’t.
Honey doesn’t spoil. So if you don’t eat it, and they don’t eat it, it’ll just stay in the hive.
For years I did not harvest my bees honey but left it to them. They always had enough to survive the winter on their own. In the Spring I split my hives and move any excess honey into to new splits to give them a good start. In Langstroth hives if the honey super fills up you simply add on another box. I use 8 frame hives. Usually the bottom 3 boxes are for brood then the honey supers on top. The last 2 years I pulled one honey frame a year. Extracting equipment is very expensive so I crushed the comb and let the honey drip through cheesecloth. What a sticky mess on my kitchen counter! I look forward to using the Flow Frame light frames
If your area does not have a good nectar flow (flowering of nectar rich plants) and you know that winter is lean or your bees are still getting established then it may be wise to leave them their honey, especially for the first season. I only use single brood boxes and then honey supers on top, but to prevent swarming I use the brood manipulation of moving frames up to create more laying space in the brood chamber. Every beekeeper does it differently and it really depends on your local area and the health of your bees as to whether you can afford to harvest the honey.