# Question on amount of honey for winter



## remist17 (Mar 30, 2016)

I am in south central PA and this will be my second year with bees. For the life of me I cannot remember when to take off the honey supers. I know I took off honey two times last year but forgot when I am suppose to take off the honey before winter. 
What i do remember is I need to have the bees back fill the deeps with honey before November. I am thinking this year I am leaving one medium super with two deeps to be on the safe side. My gut tells me a cold winter and late spring. 
Please let me know what your process is for preparing for winter up in the north I would appreciate it. Right now I have two deeps, two to three medium supers. I already took off honey once this year, so anything extra is a bonus. 

Last question, when leaving the medium super on do I take out the queen excluders? I am thinking yes so the queen the hive can move up if needed.


Thank you for your time.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

*Put your state in your profile.*

Now see if I can answer the questions. We remove honey supers in mid June here in Michigan usually the spring flow has slowed and our 8 frame honey supers are fully capped.

Replace the honey supers after extraction and harvest again late August, like to be finished by Sept 1st.

Leaving a medium on for winter is fine and do get rid of the queen excluder. Keep in mind if you place the medium on top of a pair of deeps you will end up with brood in it, nothing wrong with that if you do the same every year. Good queens will lay a few eggs all winter and by February start ramping up for the spring flow. 

We keep a journal, We know how old the queen is and where she came from. We know when we pulled the spring flow honey and how many honey super per colony. Also know when We treated for mites and what with, when we did the last stick board test too.
Kare uses those medium size spiral note books two out yards to a book. Hives are numbered west to east with the most east being # 1.

 Al


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