I lost 2/3rds of my bees last winter and most of the ones that made it were not particularly strong. I came out of winter with 12 hives. Some of the honey frames were from dead outs, but the bulk were taken off of functioning hives between May 15th and July 15th. I only do pint jars, and had around 450 when all was said and done. Not all hives made honey, but the ones that did, did really well. On occasion, I was able to take an entire medium super or two from the strongest hives. Normally, in our area, I don't get to take a full super at a time. I have to get capped frames as they appear and store them until I have a decent amount to extract.
Ours is not a good honey producing region--our spring bloom is fairly extended and much of what the bees collect goes to feed ever increasing brood. I take fully capped honey frames as I run across them. I also store partial frames of honey in the freezer if I get them (from dead outs or from hives that I reduce in size based on bee population). These go on hives after the main flow as feed and additional space. If the fall flow does decently, these frames may provide the medium super of honey per hive we need for over winter. This year didn't work that way. I could smell the "stink" of fall nectar in hives, but the bees consumed what they brought in. At my home hives, I fed 1:1 until temperatures got too cool. I wanted brood rearing to go as long as possible in these hives. They now have sugar bricks. As weather permits, I may add supers with partial frames of honey from storage and move the shims & bricks above added supers. I have not had to do this before, but flow, weather, and the condition of the hives play a large part in the adjustments I make from season to season.
I try to plan. Nature and the bees then dictate what I wind up doing.
