Hi everyone,
Another new beekeeper needing advice...
I started my first hive in July 2013 from a four frame nuc and they have been going great so far, using all deep 10 frame equipment. I am surrounded by Garigal national park in Sydney's north so they have plenty of space to forage. They built out the brood box by early October so I added my first super and then a second in late December. By Februrary the first super had 6 out of 10 frames 100% capped with the rest being filled/capped, the second super was partially drawn (5/10 frames) with small amounts of nectar/honey. The queen had not laid anything above the first brood box apart from some small areas of drones in the upper boxes so I have not used an excluder so far.
In early March I extracted five frames and got about 14 Kgs of honey. After extracting I was worried about the oncoming winter so decided to consolidate the hive down to two boxes. I used one sticky to cycle an old frame out of the brood box and the other four to give a head start to a package I started last week. I then moved the five partially drawn/filled frames from the 2nd super into the 1st super. Stored the other five leftover frames and hive body.
In the 4-5 weeks since doing that we have had very good rain in Sydney and they have been bringing in nectar everyday to the point where the single deep super is filling up and being capped again as well as a couple of frames of honey in the brood box. Not wanting them to become honey bound and possibly swarm today I re-added a second super of new foundation and placed it between the brood box and honey super.
Just wanting any opinions from more experienced beeks as to whether you would have done something similar? Or have I given the bees too much new space too late in the season? My local area seems to always have something in flower and our winters are usually quite mild.
Thanks heaps :)
Topic: Did I prep for winter too early? (Read 2618 times)