Honey harvest

[Aggravated]

Looked at my bees yesterday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see nearly a full super of honey. The problem is do I remove all, some or none of the honey, I need to do it now as I want to do an Api-guard treatment.

What do I need to consider

 

[Fahey]

I'm in the same boat myself. Do you know how much stores there are in the brood frames?

 

[Eric knockalt]

I,m in the same boat too,am going to remove supers of honey after checking brood box for stores if ok will start Apiguard treatments on all hives n Nucs at the same time will start feeding at the same time to compensate for supers i am removing if brood boxes have the room to take extra feed they will take if they need,i,m sure someone will advise the best solution .

 

[Aggravated]

I am right in thinking that if I remove the super, there should be enough stores in the brood box to keep the bees going in the winter, as long as I check regularly and feed when needed

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Apiguard should really be done in August, and not September.
It's generally rekoned that a colony of bees will survive on a full broodbox of stores - so 7 frames of capped stores or that sort of amount. However it depends on the bees. Some require more food either because they are a large colony or because they have a high tick-over rate and consume more stores in winter. A.M Ligustica (Yellow Italian bees) are known for this.
Capped super frames might be harvested but you need to be sure that the hives have sufficient stores for winter. If in doubt, leave the food for the bees this year. There are posts on this forum or elsewhere forum about undersupering for winter with no queen excluder and adding insulation on top of the hive.
My own view is that it's better to have sufficient stores going into winter so there's no need to mess about with fondant/candy during winter or spring or worrying about starvation.

Thick syrup should be fed now if the bees need more stores. You should not feed syrup in winter.
Although some say otherwise, Apiguard and feeding can be done at the same time.

 

[Aggravated]

Thank you, I am doing the api-guard now because I thought it was too warm the last couple of weeks

 

[itma]

I am right in thinking that if I remove the super, there should be enough stores in the brood box to keep the bees going in the winter, as long as I check regularly and feed when needed

With a standard national, the brood box can, *usually* (but definitely not in absolutely all circumstances for all bees - so not guaranteed) hold enough stores for overwintering.
For some bees, some sites and some winters it can be a bit marginal. Which is one reason that many prefer to provide a bigger brood stores space over winter. I myself prefer the deeper frames of the 14x12 to the aggravation of multiple brood boxes (double or brood and a half).

Feeding and checking.
You need to be checking now to see how much stores there are in the brood box. And feeding heavy syrup to achieve something like 20kg/40lb stored before (I'd suggest) mid October or so - since you are in warm London. In colder places, the stores should be in place before the end of September. Last year, the bees were still working the Ivy through November down here on the coast.
Then you need to keep checking through the winter. "Hefting" the hive (feeling its weight) is a non-intrusive way of doing that -- you don't want to be opening the crownboard "for a look" during the winter. A see-through (polycarbonate) crownboard allows you to look without chilling! Great thing to have.
Start hefting the hive as soon as possible, to learn to correlate what you feel with what level of stores you can see.
If they run out of stores before spring, you'll have to feed fondant to keep them alive.

 

[itma]

I am doing the api-guard now because I thought it was too warm the last couple of weeks

Too cold and the stuff doesn't work properly.
Too warm and ... the bees might be slightly inconvenienced?
/ but "too warm" is really pretty hot!