Running out of room after harvest

Beekeeping - Basics
1

Hi all, I just robbed my hives for the first time, excited to extract all the honey! My big hive had 2 deep supers full of capped honey, I removed the two supers using a fume board to expel bees. It seems like the hive has a zillion bees, how do they fit now that I have removed so much of their hive? Is this a valid concern?

Thanks!

2

Add another super and you will see how fast they reload!

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3

Thanks, I think we are in a dearth though.

4

Added a super in warm climate won’t have the same problem as adding one in winter. You can add one now to solve your overcrowding issue and ensure they don’t vacate. Safer than sorry.

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5

it sure is a valid concern. I generally don’t remove all supers mid season- I would always leave at least one super and 4 full frames of honey for the bees and put in some empty frames or return the stickies after harvest. If the population is large it needs room to spread out. I would only condense down if the hive was weak or perhaps just before winter.

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6

Leave a few frames for the bees if there is a dearth. Add a fresh empty super with drawn comb or foundation.

Your bees are your priority not the honey :+1:

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7

I take it you are asking about a conventional hive supers. In your Summer as it is now I would extract the frames and return them to the hive as stickies to clean them up. Removing both the supers is a bit radical as a single action leaving a huge colony of bees with not enough room for them all inside the hive and no reserve store if a death happen or a swift change of conditions or climate. A better option in my opinion would have been to remove one box, extract the frames and put them back in the box and on the hive. A week later remove the second box and extract it then put that box back on as the top box of the hive, give the bees a few days to clean the frames then remove it to begin packing down for winter. The honey in the stickies will be stored in the frames in the bottom box above the QX giving them some stores, but a better option would be to leave a few frames of capped honey in the bottom super.
Cheers

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8

Thank you, I appreciate the help!

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