honey collection

[p51d]

So far my new hives are doing well. In fact, some are exploding with bees to the point I am worried of a swarm in one.There are honey supers and space yet the hive is either hot, needs another honey super or?

My problem is several hives the honey production seems to have slowed and they still are not capped.

Wait into July and August to see if they cap and I can extract the extra? Or is the dangerous time with little food here?

I know to leave plenty for the winter. Maybe the question is how late do you guys extract in the year?

[Wally]

When you can remove a super of honey and the hive still weighs 100 lb. plus, it is harvest time. The calender means nothing.

[p51d]

But the frames need to be capped for the honey to be ready. Correct? I learned from the course and when I get to come to the meetings not to spin any frames that are not capped.

I have one hive that is mean for italians. yet they are really exploding with activity.

[Wally]

Each frame 90% capped, YES.

Every cell, not necessarily.

[p51d]

Perfect. Thanks Wally.

I believe I might be busy towards the weekend seeing if I can get one or hopefully two supers to rob.

[herbcoop]

Is anybody harvesting their honey supers yet, this is my first year that I'm getting honey (wooohoo) I don't want to pull them off to early but I don't want to le s 've them on to long. Is there a good rule of thumb? The nectar flow is over correct?

[Jacobs]

I have done 2 small rounds of extracting and am about to extract 30 medium frames of honey. If you have freezer space, take capped frames as they become available and warm up and extract when you have enough to make it worth the effort. With 1 or 2 hives, if you are waiting for the bees to cap all 10 frames, you risk the flow slowing and the bees taking the honey to other locations in the hive and having little or nothing to extract. Wally has posted that if a frame is 90% capped, it is safe to extract. I'll go along with that as a rule of thumb for the amount that a frame needs to be capped before you take it.

My impression is that the main flow is over even though the bees are still actively bringing in something. In the last week they have started working white clover where they had been ignoring it before. They are not going crazy over extracted frames, but they are paying attention and cleaning them now. In April and May, the bees completely ignored extracted frames.

[herbcoop]

Thanks Robert I appreciate your answer

[Becky Hampton]

Should I use the refractometer to measure the water consistency before pulling the honey frames out to extract, or is that a less than necessary piece of equipment?

[Jacobs]

If you are entering your honey in a contest, you would want to use the refractometer to make sure you do not have a disqualifying amount of moisture. If you follow the 90% capped wax rule (especially if you try and shake the frame over the hive to see if any of the remaining open nectar will drop into the hive) you should be ok.