Second brood box in cold climates (Michigan)

I have a new Flow hive (first year bee keeper) that started from a Nuc. The hive is prospering. I added a second brood box when the bottom was filling up. I added a Flow super when the second box was about 60% full. On inspection today I found the bottom box with completed frames, but not a lot of capped brood (could have been filled with eggs, I did see some larva). The second box was really full of brood with hone on the edges. I expected that from the bottom box too. The super is light so there is not much honey there.
My question is, with so much brood in the second brood box and not a ton of honey in top or bottom brood box (one full frame in each and sparse honey around the edges), when I harvest the honey in thge super, will I be taking all that they need for winter? Or will they also add more honey to the two brood boxes?
I want to harvest honey, but I want to ensure they will have enough food to overwinter.

You might want to check out bk bees YouTube channel - I think they have recently relocated to somewhere in the UP but we’re further south in the past. Some good local info for you in those videos.

1 Like

You might. Most colonies need between 35 and 70lb to make it through winter. However, you can’t leave the Flow super on. I would harvest it any way, then use an in-hive feeder of some sort to give it back to them. If the honey in the Flow super isn’t about 90% capped, I would consider harvesting it off the hive, to avoid a leak into the hive from the uncapped areas. :wink:

1 Like