To be honest.......
I don't have a clue.....hold on let me find out............ Pargyle - Do i need to put supers on?
Seriously, I am very bad at judging when to add more brood space or supers. The number of "frames of bees" seems to vary, my smallest hive for example is on a single brood. Looking from under the mesh on a cool day when the bees are not flying it has 4 frames covered both sides. But when I looked on a warmer day, there were clearly less bees but spread over 6-7 frames.
It was the same with my big hive last year, when I opened it mid day, it looked like there was loads of space, but in the evening they could barley all fit back in the hive, (thanks Pargyle and others for advising me to put another super on!).
My first year I tried waiting for a nuc to build to 8 frames before expanding and they just swarmed. In my second year I did one hive by the book, but double supered the other in April. The one I was waiting to expand went on to expand into 2 more hives!
So I have not had much luck trying to follow the "standard practice", and things have always gone better for me when I am less causious about adding boxes. I am hoping its something I will learn to gauge better as I gain more experience.
I know the risks associated with adding too much space before time, especially if the weather turns cold. But also don't want to risk kettling them up.
Obviously its best to have the right number of boxes, but I figure its probably better to have one too many than one to few, provided its not too cold.
There are a lot of trees coming into blossom, and I saw my bees bringing back piles of yellow pollen last week. So forage is out there.
Based on bee numbers, I have 2 that need supers ASAP, one I am not so sure about, but will likely add one anyway as its spring.
But Its my small hive on a single brood I am unsure about, I have never added another whole brood before. I was just going to pop it on the top, but may pop it under until it gets started then swap them around.
But thanks everyone for your various inputs. You have helped me think things through and hopfuly make the right choices.