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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wknz" data-source="post: 1716" data-attributes="member: 175">This will be my third winter with my bees. The first winter was a new hive so no honey supers. The second, last winter, i left honey super on for winter feed and so had a three box high hive. It got damp in the third box, got mouldy and needed to be removed.I have seen multiple references to packing the bees down for winter. I am thinking of dropping my three box high hives back to two brood boxes.The winter hive has less bees but if i pack down too early i leave too little space for honey frames and they are likely to eat their supplies before they reduce their size. 1. How do you judge when to pack down? When they boot the drones out? Now that the flow seems to be gone / tapering off?2. How many honey frames left on? 4 per box? Plus honey surrounded brood? Swapping in honey frames from the stored super?The girls are still bringing in pollen at present ... and did so all last year. Hard to tell when they are quietening down.</blockquote>

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