Winter honey stores calculator
How much honey does the hive have going into winter? Enter the frames of honey by box size and roughly how full they are. The calculator estimates the pounds of honey and compares them with a winter target you set, since the right target depends a lot on where you keep bees.
How much honey a frame holds
Published figures for a full, capped frame vary. Dadant says a capped deep frame holds around 6 lb and a capped medium about 3.5 lb. Honey Bee Suite says about 8 lb (4 kg) for a full deep and about 6 lb (3 kg) for a full medium. That is a gap of a third or more, which matters over 20 frames. The calculator starts with Dadant's lower figures, so the estimate is less likely to overstate what the hive has. Type the other figures into the full-frame boxes to see the difference.
The 3 lb for a shallow frame is my estimate, with no published figure behind it: the medium figure scaled by frame height (5 3/8 in against 6 1/4 in, from the standard Langstroth frame depths). If you have a kitchen or luggage scale, weigh a full frame of your own and put that number in.
For the fill, look at both sides of each frame and guess the share covered in honey, capped or not. Two frames each half full count the same as one full frame. Pollen and brood don't count.
Winter targets by region
These are the targets the sources give for a full-size colony. Colder, longer winters need more, and a local club or extension office will know the usual number where you are.
| Source | Region | Honey for winter |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi State Extension, Publication 2941 | Mississippi | 60–65 lb |
| Cornell CALS | Northeast, two deep boxes | 80 lb minimum |
| UF/IFAS Extension, ENY-161 | Northern climates | about 90 lb |
| Honey Bee Suite | Northern US (its general recommendation) | 80–90 lb |
- Mississippi State wants the honey above the cluster in late autumn, and at least 30 lb still left in early spring.
- Cornell puts a two-deep hive with bees, frames and honey at about 160 lb in total, and a nuc at no less than 50 lb of honey, or about 8 deep frames.
- In kilograms: 60 lb is 27.2 kg, 80 lb is 36.3 kg and 90 lb is 40.8 kg.
When to check
UF/IFAS says winter preparation in northern climates usually starts in August or September, after the surplus honey comes off, so there is still time to feed. Its guide also describes a lift test: try to rock the hive forward with one hand on the back handle of the bottom box. If that is hard, it likely has enough food; if it is easy, it probably needs more. Cornell advises 2:1 syrup in the fall and advises against 1:1 then, since the bees have to evaporate the extra water as the nights get cooler. The sugar syrup calculator works out the sugar and water, and how much sugar to feed for winter turns a honey gap into pounds, gallons and bags.
For the sugar to close a gap, University of Arizona Extension (az2014) says one gallon of 2:1 syrup can add about 7 lb to a colony's food reserves. A gallon of 2:1 by weight takes about 7.4 lb of sugar, so the calculator uses 1.05 lb of sugar for each pound of stores. Treat it as an estimate, and lift or weigh the hive again after feeding.
No frame count? Weigh the hive instead: how heavy a hive should be for winter turns a scale reading into honey.
Know the honey and want a date? How long will winter stores last draws them down to a run-out range and a date to weigh by.
Fall is also when many beekeepers check mite counts. The varroa mite calculator turns a wash count into mites per 100 bees.