# Can I harvest and still leave enough for the bees?



## candyknitter (Apr 23, 2009)

I did a bee keeping course 2 years ago with some rather unfriendly people (!) and one thing I never dared ask is is it possible to take some honey and still leave enough for the bees to feed on through winter? 
I haven't started keeping bees myself yet, but when I do I will only be harvesting honey for my family and not to sell so I would only need about 10lbs.
In your experience is this do able? Thank you for any advice!


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## BohemianWaxwing (Sep 13, 2014)

That's kind of the point of keeping bees.  In a good year, a healthy hive will produce more honey than the bees need (they're working toward splitting the hive into two hives by swarming). Harvesting honey can be part of the management process that reduces the likelihood that your bees will swarm. Some bee keepers harvest all of the honey and simply feed bees sugar water as needed.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

In a good year where winter temps can get as low as -30F below zero with a two deep hive set up harvesting one shallow of honey is normally done twice a summer and the bees will still have both deeps full of honey for the winter.

 Al


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## candyknitter (Apr 23, 2009)

BohemianWaxwing said:


> Some bee keepers harvest all of the honey and simply feed bees sugar water as needed.


This is what the keeper teaching the course did. Honey is such a wonderful product, full of goodness and of course the perfect food for bees. It seemed odd to end up feeding the bees sugar water, but everyone there was doing it on a commercial basis.

I really like the idea of letting the bees stick with their natural diet


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## BohemianWaxwing (Sep 13, 2014)

Me too. You should check out www.backyardhive.com. It's the site that first got me to take the plunge into bee keeping and I still keep just a couple top bar hives. If you're going for simple, low-input, minimal "tools/accessories" method of bee-keeping, it's really not possible to beat this system. They're very pro-"let the bees do their own thing", which keeps things simple for me and, I think, is healthier for the bees.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Where I live, bees need 2 deep boxes full of honey to eat until spring comes. And, in late winter beekeepers check their hives too see if the bees have enough feed. 

Anything OVER two deep boxes are harvested by the beekeeper. But, I have heard that in the South of this country the bees only need one deep box of stores. 

So, if I were you, I would find somebody who keeps bees in your country, and ask them how much honey they leave for the bees. How much the bees need will vary from area to area.


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