> On good hives, I would always try to be at least one super ahead of them, 
> in case you get a sudden flow or can't get back in time. That means one 
> deep or two mediums.

Peter and the others sum it up well.  Lots of room early, and less after 
swarming season.

One reason for lots of room is that nectar takes space and the bees ideally 
spread it out a bit to dry it down.  In a heavy flow, 20lbs or more of 
nectar may come in per day.  That large volume will be distilled down to a 
comb or less of honey overnight, and unless you look at just the right 
moments, you will never know the bees used the space.

Many beekeepers don't super enough, and then congratulate themselves on the 
work they saved by not carting out the supers when they see that the bees 
didn't do much or seem to need the space.

If they had supered generously and early, they might have been amazed to 
have gotten several additional supers of honey and larger populations. 
Maybe they even lost a swarm and never knew.

I have put on thirds early and returned to see the bees still in the 
seconds.  Careful examination, though, showed the bees had, indeed, been up 
and working on the comb, including a good start on drawing a sheet of 
foundation.  They will go up and then back down a time or two if the weather 
is changeable before they expand enough to stay up.  Maybe I'm 
anthropomorphizing, but I believe they know how much space they have and 
develop to use what they have.  Maybe it is not thought, but just the fact 
that there is less pressure on the brood area when a quick flow hits 
allowing the queen to really lay up some brood instead of being cut back 
temporarily.

Just as a swarm will usually ignore a recently placed bait hive, no matter 
how attractive, in favour of a cavity that has been on site for weeks, it 
seems that bees remember the geometry of their hive.  An example that never 
ceases to amaze me is how bees are slow to occupy a new third box -- even a 
sticky one -- if they have never had a third and been confined to two, but 
will rush up into a replacement third when an existing one is taken and 
replaced, no matter how ratty and unattractive the replacement might be. 

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