Patty,
I hope some other people respond to you too because they might give you good
advice, different advice or better advice than me, but I will give you my
opinion. Since I live further south than you, things may not apply as well.
Around here (central Texas) I've been told that bees need about 50-60 pounds of
honey to get through the winter. That would be the brood box filled with honey
(the part that's not filled with brood) and a shallow super filled with honey.
I think they can probably get by with even less here, but in your area, I'll
bet they'll need that and maybe some more. What I would say is that if you
have two deep supers and the top is completely full of honey that you should
have enough food for your bees to overwinter. I'd worry more about feeding
them in the Spring. Watch them in the Spring. They will move up into the top
brood chamber as they start raising brood in the Spring as they use the honey
in the top brood box, and after the queen and bees have moved up and have
"filled" (not actually full) the top box with brood, you should switch
(reverse) the top and bottom boxes so the queen will be back on the bottom and
the now empty bottom box will be on the top so the bees can use it for Spring
storage of pollen and honey. They may move up again and you might have to do
the switching a couple of times. If you don't do that, the queen will stay up
at the top and the bees will stop using the bottom (now empty) box and you
might have a problem with swarming. Here where we are, we get some warm early
weather, and then some late cold and wet weather regularly in the Spring, so
it's that last cold week when the bees can't forage but are in full gear
raising new brood that is the critical time to feed them so they won't starve.
What I've heard is that if you can see 2-3-4 inches of honey at the tops of the
brood frames, then you have about a week to 10 days worth of food for those
bees to eat before you need to feed them. I would say that because you have
only honey and relatively no brood in your top box is not a problem nor does it
indicate there is any weakness or problem with your bees. See my above
description of the bees moving up and using it to raise brood in the Spring.
It appears to me that you are in good shape for now, and keep an eye on them in
the Spring.
My first year of beekeeping I had the same experience as you when examining my
bees in the late season when they were full of honey stores and high population
of bees. I started getting stung and it really "scared me" to go in and look at
them because they had become so mean, so I didn't do it. I'm probably not the
one to answer that question for you. See what somebody else has to say about it.
I think you'll find that a new smaller colony in the Spring is easier and funner
to examine because they are so gentle, but when they get big and full of brood
and honey stores, the bees that were formerly gentle are now very defensive
because they have something to protect. You need to learn the "behavioral
modification" techniques that are used to make it easier to work with them.
Smoke is a very valuable tool if used judiciously and correctly. If used in the
wrong way, it will just irritate them. Watch an experienced beekeeper
demonstrate how they do it. Watch the weather too. Sometimes you can open the
hive and tell immediately how the bees are going to act that day. If it's a bad
day, it may be easier to come back on a better day. Keep learning, trying,
experiencing and talking to other people and asking their advice and experience
and you will gradually learn what works and what doesn't and then you'll "know
when to fold, know when to hold up, know when to walk away, know when to
keep..." etc. as "The Gambler" would say. Best wishes for success and an
enjoyable experience. Seems to me from your description that you and your bees
are doing fine.
Layne Westover
College Station, Texas
(I tried to send this as a personal response but it was returned to me
as an undeliverable address when sent to [log in to unmask])
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