Honey Harvest

Ron Young · Post by **Ron Young** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:46 am

How is everyones honey harvest? I ended up with two suppers of honey, not bad considering that I had both hives swarm, one three times.

ski · Post by **ski** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 4:46 pm

I just got back from Ga where I have one lonely survivor hive.
I took half of the capped frames (took 9, left 9) and got 20 pints of very nice light Georgia honey. Two days after I extracted I took a peak inside and they were already filling the extracted frames with nectar. The local beekeepers indicated that the sourwood is still going strong. Maybe I should have taken a few more frames but I was happy.
Time to check the hives here at home to see if they finished capping several frames.

Kurt Bower · Post by **Kurt Bower** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:52 am

All beekeepers think that they didnt get quite enough honey!
With that said, I will try and remove some more of mine this week.
I expect around 1200 lbs locally.

Kurt

ski · Post by **ski** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:41 pm

Checked the hives here at home and they have made progress over the past 7-8 days but have not finished capping the frames of nectar. Some are only capped on one side some are 75% capped some less a couple almost completely capped. Do I need to rearrange the frames somehow?
Whisper sweet somethings to the young ladies?
Any advise to getting the frames capped.

Kurt Bower · Post by **Kurt Bower** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:43 am

Frame capping is one area that the beekeeper truly can not manipulate.
Humidity has a lot to do with it and sometimes the bees will never finish capping the frames.
If around 85-90% capped I would consider taking the honey but not 75%.
Pull all that you can and put the rest on the strongest hive you have.
Wait, wait, wait!

Kurt

ski · Post by **ski** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:06 pm

Last summer I did a wait wait wait and the bees ate ate ate lol. My wife says they will not cap it because they know I will take it lol.
OK I will pull a frame or two and maybe that will give them less real estate to cover and they will finish capping. I read one post that indicated the bees should be crowded near the end of the honey flow to get them to cap. Maybe a bit late for that. I will try a few things and see what happens. Beekeeping always an adventure.

drewgrim · Post by **drewgrim** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 7:17 am

do we get a fall honey flow here? some of what i was reading says to leave the mediums on until the fall. is that ok to do? i have one super full of uncapped honey and another that i have extracted once and they have it filled again but have not capped it either, i was just going to wait until the fall. should i plan on getting honey from those supers or will they eat it all?