in tenn. va. nc. wv. will this be ok to do?

[hardtime]

this fall  and winter will the bees do fine with what honey that thay have in the hive .some people leave one supper on for them to go thow the winter with. do thay nead all that honey ?

[hankdog1]

Depends on the size of the hive and how cold or warm the winter is.  Last year we had a good winter not to hot not to cold the bees didn't even touch stores in the super that was left on.  I'm only about 45 minutes up the road from you and we always left one shallow super on just to make sure.  It's always better to have a little too much then to have a hive starve in winter.

[johnnybigfish]

My bees had a super full of honey all winter long pretty much....But check this out.....
 Just last week I started feeding my bees as they had eaten almost all of the honey they had stored...If I was you I would leave the super full of honey....just in case.
your friend,
john

[buzzbee]

Leave extra,if it warms late winter they maight raise a little brood and consume a lot of stores.

[Kimbrell]

I use two deeps for each of my hives.  I always leave one full super on each hive for them to have for the winter.  I live in an area with very unsettled weather in the early spring.  It causes a lot of false starts and stops in brood build-up.  It's always better to leave too much than not enough!

[doak]

Here in central Ga. I need at least one deep at the first of March.
Then I am lucky if they don't run out.
They will consume more honey in early spring after brood rearing starts than from November till they start up again.
Tenn, Va/ WV,  Northern NC.I would want two deeps.
Southern NC is kinda like Southern Ga.
doak

[hankdog1]

Here in central Ga. I need at least one deep at the first of March.
Then I am lucky if they don't run out.
They will consume more honey in early spring after brood rearing starts than from November till they start up again.
Tenn, Va/ WV,  Northern NC.I would want two deeps.
Southern NC is kinda like Southern Ga.
doak

doak i'm only using a single deep for brood and a single shallow super for honey.  i've never heard of anyone around here leaving two deeps of honey on thier hives.  Hehehe it's not that cold around here besides he has milder winters then i do and is about a week ahead of me on the first flow.  most i've ever heard people leaving on the hive around here is a couple of shallow supers for hives using 2 deeps for brood.  i don't use them as the flows don't dictate carrying that many bees over between flows they have a tendancy to eat up all the honey between flows.

[Bee-Bop]

hankdog 1

Are they really useing "shallow hives" for honey storage ?

I would think " Illinois or now called mediums " would be more approiate.

Just wondering ?

Bee-Bop

[hankdog1]

yeah definately shallows i guess unless your around here many people don't use them but when i was a kid helping my grandpa i honestly don't think i would have been able to carry a medium or a deep.  just stuck with what i know besides everybody around here uses them so i can normally bum some wax or frames if i'm in a bind until i can get an order in.  just seems to make things nice and easy.