letting the bees keep it

[matty]

Well after such a bad and stressful year for the bees and us i have ended up with only a super and a half of honey.

I have 2 hives on 12x14 and was thinking righting this year off and letting the bees keep the honey hoping that the better nutrition will help them

What your thourghts

 

[priono]

agree. i didnt take any

 

[itma]

... i have ended up with only a super and a half of honey.

I have 2 hives on 12x14 and was thinking righting this year off and letting the bees keep the honey hoping that the better nutrition will help them

What your thourghts

Matty, my first thought is that you need to update your profile! You are showing as having just one National ...

A 14x12 should hold plenty, plenty stores for the winter.
Question is, do yours?
What you might do is depending on that answer.


You might want to put the shallow boxes *under* the brood, and soon, if you are leaving them that honey. And its past time that your queen excluders were put well away from the bees!
But if the brood boxes are well-stocked with heavy frames (totalling 20kg or more in each hive), you might as well have some honey for yourself.
The half-way option is to store the capped super frames through the winter. That retains the option of your giving the bees those frames if they run short towards the end of the winter. But, if those honey frames aren't needed by the bees and don't set solid, you could claim them for yourself in spring ...

 

[Skyhook]

Well after such a bad and stressful year for the bees and us i have ended up with only a super and a half of honey.

I have 2 hives on 12x14 and was thinking righting this year off and letting the bees keep the honey hoping that the better nutrition will help them

What your thourghts

What better nutrition? Nowt wrong with sugar syrup. It also has the big advantage that you can thymolise it, giving them preotection from nosema.

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