How many supers?

[JackM]

Since I am sure this will stir up an angry hive, I did the Poll method.  I get my info and you folks can sting it out if need be.

Pacific Northwest winter, wet side.  In ten years the coldest snap was 3 weeks with snow and ice temps only down in 20's.  I left on way too much last year and some did crystalize.

Thanks

[10framer]

i'm not from that area so i can't answer but i think there are a lot of variables and there is no one right answer. 

[BeeMaster2]

Being on the total opposite corner of the country, my answer would totally sku your pole. Commercial beeks here winter one deep brood box only. Problem is they are having to feed several times to keep them alive. Last year I added 5 medium frames honey filled frames to all of my hives plus 5 foundation frames and they all looked like they were going to swarm in February. The 5 foundation frames allowed them collect food all winter. We had a warm winter and then a cold spring. I pulled 3 to 6 frames from all over wintered hives, in February, to make 12 nuc's and a month later they were all full again. Most of the fall/winter honey was used to raise the brood this spring.   I plan to do the same thing this year.
Jim

[MTWIBadger]

JackM
Maybe you should revise your poll question that you posted. It does not read well at first glance to me.

I winter in two deep supers and sometimes an additional shallow super for a big hive here in Montana where are winters are longer and colder than Washington.

[Finski]

.
No supers

Just brood boxes.

[Kathyp]

i am with Finski.  a really big hive might go in two deeps for me, but almost always 1 deep and 1 medium is plenty.  the key is to make sure you get enough late brood to pack the hive, but then also enough feed in there for the winter.  that means you have to keep an eye on things and as you see the queen back off laying, make sure enough feed is there for them to back-fill with syrup or natural sources if you have anything in your area that give in late summer/fall.

depending on our weather, i have usually made my last check no later than the 2nd week of October, and then i don't mess with them again.

you also need to figure in any mite treatment that you may be doing.  most have some temp range that will require treatment at least by early September for our area.

my gut is telling me early fall is coming.  what do you think?

[WarPonyFarms]

Dry side of Washington,

I would rather winter strong hives on 2 deeps, but have singles with a single super that have plenty and build well in the spring during a normal winter.

I also winter a number of 4 deep frame nucs doubled up in a 10 frame boxes that don't require a super and 6 frame medium nucs triple wide and double deep that do fine through a normal winter.

I would rather winter 2 strong 4 frame nucs with young queens than a single box hive because they seem to build up as fast as the single and if they loose a queen over the winter they merge quickly without missing a beat come spring.

[sterling]

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No supers

Just brood boxes.

Finski and Kathyp, How do you get a big hive into one brood box and store enough food to last your long winter? Or I'm I misunderstanding you? The reason I'm asking is I see a lot of people say a big hive in cold climates need 100 to 150 pounds of honey to make the winter. And I don't understand 150 pounds of honey in a single deep and a med.

[Steel Tiger]

 I think it would depend on the breed of bees you have, as far as how much honey they need for winter. From what I've read, some breeds need a basketball size cluster going into winter and others prefer smaller size clusters (soccer ball to softball size).
 

[Michael Bush]

Regardless of the size of boxes (I run all eight frame mediums) the total volume depends not only on your climate and the race of bees but on the size of the cluster going into winter and it's really weight that is the criteria anyway.  A small cluster will do fine in the single deep if there are stores in there.  A large cluster with a climate of hard winters will need more.  Italians will need more than Carniolans or Russians or feral survivors for the same number of bees going into winter.

[Finski]

Finski and Kathyp, How do you get a big hive into one brood box and store enough food to last your long winter? Or I'm I misunderstanding you? The reason I'm asking is I see[ a lot of people say a big hive in cold climates [/b] need 100 to 150 pounds of honey to make the winter. And I don't understand 150 pounds of honey in a single deep and a med.

Good heavens!!!!!

We in Finland use allways insulated hives. Supers may be single wall.

I try to winter colonies in 2 langstroth boxes, but half of hives are often in one box.

I use on average 20 kg (40 lbs) sugar in winter. Bees live with sugar from September to end of April.
Willows start to bloom ate the beginning of My.


I extract almost all honey away. Perhaps 5 kg stays in the hive in brood frames.

The size of winter cluster depens on how many frames of brood the colony has beforev it stops brood rearing.
If colony has 8 frames, it needs one box. If colony has 15 frames, it needs 2 boxes, but never 3 boxes.

-Just now some of my hives have 7 boxes, but during last half of August summer bees will die rapidly when there are no flowers any more in landscape.

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..

[Kathyp]

sterling, i think i have enough because they don't break cluster much here.  where you are, they probably don't stay clustered all winter. 

my danger time is from the middle of February until we start getting something blooming which could be as late as the end of april, depending on weather..we will get some pollen from the filberts between mid Feb and the time the dandelions bloom.  because we have such wet weather and getting into the hives in early spring is such a crap shoot, i put dry sugar on top of the inner cover over the winter.  that way, if they break and need something, it is available.  it also absorbs some of the moisture from the hive.  i can replenish it with out worry of adding moisture to the hive or digging around in there.  if they need it fine, if they don't, that's ok too.

as for getting them into that space, they pretty much put themselves there.  in an established colony, i don't expand the brood box area during the year.  if they find they need to use the honey super for a bit of brood, that's ok.  i just wait them out and by late summer they have backfilled it with honey.  my season is pretty short so they probably don't build up like a hive in Florida might.

[JackM]

I am trying to get generalities.  I left 2 supers on last year on partial deeps and only one super was used at most.

KathyP.  Not sure on the winter.  I noted yesterday there is a lot of sweet clover near me and there are lots of bees on it.  I also plan on doing a little insulation around the sides of the hives this year, I expect colder for some reason.  My hive broods are still expanding, but I do note a drop in drones.  I guess I should do a mite check, but had hoped to just let them figure things out.  Not sure if I would treat with chemicals.  Do you really think I need to?  I am going to have to steal frames of honey for a weak hive.  (Had a swarm which lost it's queen but made a new one and she just started laying last week.  They have been getting honey, but it is no where near enough to survive the winter.)