Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
frame medium super will hold, if completely full, roughly 30 to 40 pounds (13.6 to 18.1
kg) of honey. In the warmer areas, 40 pounds (18.1 kg) is about all you'll need, and
in the warmest areas, where forage is available year round—southern Florida, for in-
stance—additional food is not required.
By midsummer, honey becomes an issue for you and your colony. How much do you
want? And how do you manage that? Certainly nature may make that decision for you,
but during an average season, your package colony may make 40 pounds (18.1 kg) of
surplus honey. It can make more in a good year, but maybe none during a poor year.
You must provide room for honey production—room to dehydrate nectar—using an
additional super or two. Deciding how many supers to provide is definitely an art. If you
provide too much room, the super will remain unused, which isn't too great a problem
the first year. Your bees will store some honey in the broodnest boxes. You want them
to store enough but not so much they fill space the queen needs to continue producing
the next generation of workers. In fact you must prevent this by moving frames full of
capped honey out of the broodnest and up into the honey storage supers.
Surplus
Surplus is the term beekeepers use for the honey they harvest. It is anything more
than the 40 to 60 pounds (18.1 to 27.2. kg) the bees need to overwinter. Your pack-
age colony—playing catch-up because of having no stored honey, having to build
the entire wax comb, and raising young—starts the season essentially at a deficit.
To store surplus honey, your colony needs to first produce the equivalent of
about 60 pounds (27.2 kg) of honey plus continue to feed a growing population of
young bees. Your package bees have to really hustle just to stay even. And, if the
season's off, they may never get even, and you'll need to feed them most of the
summer. Next season, they'll have a reserve of food to feed a growing population
and won't have to produce nearly as much wax.
Laying Worker Colony
Though uncommon, bees in a colony that have gone without a queen for a while
may begin to lay eggs them-selves.When examining the colony you may see some
brood present where there wasn't any a week ago. Usually the brood will be
scattered over the surface of several frames, with no order or plan to where it is
put. If it is there long enough—six days—the bees will cap it with large, bulging
