This is what I've been doing for quite awhile. 5-6 frames of brood, and a good
queen at the beginning of May. That's about all you need here in the northern
Champlain valley of NY and VT. Colonies with less brood than that get frames of
brood from strong colonies. This is a good time to requeen the weak ones. Any
strong colonies left at the end of the yard get split. This seems a better plan
than fighting with them all summer trying to stop swarming. Doesn't insure a
honey crop though. As Charlie Mraz says, you get a honey flow when god turns on
the faucet. I guess that must be so. In a good year, even the weak colonies
make a crop. In a bad year none of 'em do. Having a standard starting point for
a colony in your area, at a specific time in the bloom cycle should be a better
approach than waiting to see what kind of year it will be, and then trying to
play catch-up for the rest of the season. Mike
 
Joel Govostes wrote:
 
> Late last summer a NY commercial beekeeper wryly commented to me, "You
> know, I think I've got it -- I think I've figured out how to make honey!"
> He was grinning as we continued along, harvesting yet another yard's worth
> of heavy supers.
>
> At first I wasn't sure just what he meant.  "How to make honey??"  He went
> on to explain that just what he was referring to was how the colonies are
> prepared in the spring.  Divisions made early in the season would build up
> just right and in time for the main nectar flows, resulting in large crops
> and very little swarming.
>
> He had come to the conclusion that a 6-frame spring division (or
> thereabouts) was ideal, and the most profitable, at least in this part of
> the country.  THe size of the initial colony is the KEY.  Such a unit is
> strong enough to maintain itself and thrive, can build up quickly in time
> for the honey-flows, and isn't likely to swarm in the meantime.  The result
> has been very large per-colony yields, with minimum labor.  ("Minimum
> labor", in a manner of speaking -- after loading and unloading load after
> load of full supers, my back and I can attest to that.)
>
> The guy has been running between 600 and 1000 colonies for many years, and
> over the past several seasons has come to this conclusion.  He now has the
> "formula."  The practice apparently has been paying off nicely.
>
> So... I wonder if anyone else has noticed similar results, or has
> determined what comprises their <<optimum>> colony at the beginning of the
> season.
>
> I had noticed before that ~6-comb divisions of my own, made in early May
> and kept on 1 to 1-1/2 brood-chambers would do a tremendous job, sometimes
> filling more honey-supers than overwintered colonies that were full
> strength right along.  Perhaps colonies like this are kept in
> "growing-mode" through the swarm period (not shutting down like bigger
> colonies that become congested) and once the main flows hit, they are all
> set to go like gangbusters.  The term "colony morale" comes to mind.
>
> thanks for any comments on this...
> JWG