I will give a presentation on overwintering to a local bee club so have been into the literature, especially feeding, and the old stalwart The Hive and the Honey Bee says that 3 deeps is best for cold winters. So the Minnesota and Maine connection is consistent with that.





Seems to me the reality is there is a huge difference in honey production vs wintering setups.  If you wish to maximize honey  then singles do a great job,  but as noted overwintering in them can be difficult.

But therin lies the beekeeping.  Its easy to put bees in 3 deeps, and say they winter well.  And it seems you get reduced honey partially because you need to leave more for the bees because of cold a portion of it also lies with random honey distribution and other factors with big hives.

But IMO that’s also lazy beekeeping.  It works so fine...  But if we as beekeepers are managing for honey,  it appears that this is not the requirement.  Many overwinter in 2 deeps,  or singles even in the north.

When we step back and say "we don't make honey anymore" and we are practicing techniques such as 3 deeps,  is our claim valid? If we actually managed hives differently ( I almost said properly) such as singles with supers and such  would our honey yields be as they were?


Some strong evidence tells me yes.  We can produce the numbers we used to see if we are actually doing manipulations.  Singles all summer is showing to produce 180-200 lbs in OH,  and here in IL.  How much you leave for winter is still a variable, But I do see that managing singles seems to make more honey than managing doubles....  3 years in a row now.


The point of the note is not to start a heated debate on best practices,  that will go on forever,  but to just provoke a thought. My honey numbers continue to climb as I work out the details and leave doubles and 1 1/2 hives for everyone else,  and move to singles. Based entirely on what some good old-timers are showing me.


Charles

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