1st year package hived on April 24 and 25 2021. We will be getting ready for honey supers in these hives. First big nectar flow is starting in our area, bees are just hitting exponential growth. These packages went into hives with drawn comb, if your bees are in new hives or in a colder area they will be a little behind this. Because the comb is drawn out and they have stored honey, we are going to stop feeding and add honey supers. If the outside frames haven’t been drawn our or honey stored in them and the frames next to them have just honey and pollen (no eggs), swap the outside frames with the ones next to them (honey on the outside of the hive) and the empty ones closer to the brood area to encourage them to draw it out. Russian Olive and Locust trees are in bloom, this is one of our main nectar flow times, if the colony is strong they should be able to store some honey!
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I want to ask a question. My bees are going strong, but still are going through the sugar syrup like crazy, should I wait a bit longer to add honey super? They use about a quart a week. This is my first year with new frames . Please advise, thank you.
Hi Kim,
Our advice is when the deeps are 60-80 percent full (covering 6-8 frames) add another box. So, if you’ve been feeding, and the cluster is covering 6-8 frames in the deep, then you can add honey supers and stop feeding. We are in a bit of a dearth right now here in Twin Falls, higher than normal temperatures mean there aren’t a lot of nectar producing plants in some areas, but depending on where you are there could be nectar flows going on. This means that if you add the supers they may not put too much in there until a nectar flow starts.