> Hi, > > First year beekeeper. I've been doing plenty of reading, but ran into > a problem > and have some questions. > > When watching others managing their hives, I've noticed that other > hives > don't seem to have as high a bee population as mine does. Is there > lots > of variation? > > When my two honey supers were mostly capped, I added a third super, > but > "bottom supered". I guess the queen ran out of brood space and ended > up > laying in the the bottom honey super (I obviously didn't use a queen > excluder). > > I live in Massachusetts, so should be medicating now. I received > advice from > folks to locate the queen, make sure she is in one of the two hive > bodies, then > add the queen excluder between the hive bodies and the honey super, > let the > brood hatch out, then remove the honey super for overwintering and > medicate. > > Well, all didn't go according to plan. I was unable to locate the > queen. Again, > the population of bees seems so much higher in my hive compared to > others > I've seen. Each frame is covered with bees, sometimes 2 deep, and > this is mid- > day with good weather. I had no luck in locating the queen (although > there were > very young eggs in the frames of the honey super). In my attempts to > locate the > queen, I spent so much time examining the frames looking for her among > the > mass of bees, the bees were tiring of my examination and were getting > annoyed. > > I was also afraid of accidently injuring/killing the queen each time > I'd replace a > frame, since there were so many bees. > > QUESTION: Is the population of bees ever so high that the standard > 80-90lbs > of honey recommended for overwintering (in the north) is inadequate? > I'm > wondering if I should let them have the honey super for overwintering, > too (I've > already extracted the other two honey supers). The honey super has > two frames > with eggs and brood, the remaining frames are mostly capped honey and > nectar. At this point, should I medicate and leave the honey super on > all > winter? > > My other choice is to again try to locate the queen in the mass (I > still might > not be successful before the bees get annoyed) and exclude, then > eventually > remove the honey super when the brood is all gone. I could then feed > the honey > to the bees in the spring. I could also medicate in 21 days (after > the brood hatch) > but that is getting to be too late for my area. > > Or is it safer to let the bees have the extra honey in the super? > > Thanks for the advice. > > Marc