Honey super on a new hive

[Newbuzz]

Last Tuesday one hive swarmed which I recaptured from the top of an apple tree and started off in a new brood box. I'm pretty new to this and wow there were a lot of bees, but very very calm as well.

I have inspected the hive twice since then and it seems to have a really good nectar flow and there are a heck of a lot of bees in the hive, they were building the foundation at a rate of knots. We are in the middle of the countryside and there is a huge variety of forage here. I'm using 11 frame Segeberger poly hives. Today I had another check and there is loads of open brood and the some capped in the new box, it is really well spread over the frames. They were extending the foundation to the back wall of the box and I noticed two swarm cups being made as well.

My original plan was to put another brood on there and let them settle, but I wanted to ask if it would be worth putting a honey super on now instead. If I did this would they have enough time to build into a second brood chamber after the honey super is off before the winter?

If I go the honey super route would the extra room reduce the possibility of them swarming? All opinions and advice are most welcome.

 

[GuyNir]

This will open up the single vs double brood question. You’ll get 20 opinions from 10 different people...

 

[enrico]

My opinion. Stick to giving the brood more room. You can always spin off the brood frames if they fill them with honey. Don't worry about queen cups.....mean nothing.
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[Bee Boys]

I agree with enrico, give the queen more space to lay.

 

[Finman]

Yes, look how much it lays.

 

[Newbuzz]

The temptation of getting some wild honey off this hive this year really excites me.

 

[MikeWade]

I agree with others. While I'm not a fan of double brood personally. I take the approach of... If the brood box is so full of brood that the queen has nowhere to lay then expand the brood area. If the the queen is limited because of honey stored in the brood box then add a super

 

[GuyNir]

As I run single brood, I’d give them a super, maybe two.

 

[Newbuzz]

I'm going to try them with a super and see what happens.
I'm new to this so here is a silly question, is there any reason not to put another brood and super on at the same time given the speed they have been working?

 

[drex]

Probably better to put them on as they are needed, rather than adding all that empty space in one go, unless you cannot visit for some time

 

[enrico]

If you are going to do that then put the second brood under the first one. They will only use it if they need it. If you put it above the first one they will move up but may abandon the first one if they don't need it. Such a waste of wax making energy!
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