# When to harvest honey?



## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

Kelbor,

I harvest from my Warre hives around labor day each year. You can probably harvest this spring, too, since you left all of their stores on for winter. May sounds like a good bet, as the blackberries begin blooming then (our main nectar flow), so the bees will quickly be able to replenish their stores. Just make sure they are nadired, and to expedite things you could move some emptier combs from the boxes you harvest to the nadired box. 

Best,
Matt


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## Groves (Feb 2, 2012)

Cacklewack said:


> Kelbor,
> 
> Just make sure they are nadired, and to expedite things you could move some emptier combs from the boxes you harvest to the nadired box.
> 
> ...


I'm a bit confused.

I was under the impression that when we harvest a box from our Warré stack that it should be completely full of capped honey. If that's the case, then there won't be any "emptier combs", right?

If taking off a box is biting into the brood area, you're better off leaving that box on, yes?

I think most people are using the crush/strain harvesting method, so unless you're uncapping and using a cage and extractor, there won't be any empty comb after harvest either.

If you're talking about some comb that is partial honey and partially empty, but not brood nest, then putting it underneath the brood area is a bad idea. Bees don't take very well to honey that is underneath the brood area and will move it quickly somewhere else. It's actually one way that people trick the bees into filling some cut comb sections.

I'm probably mis-reading you somewhere. Help me out by clarifying what you meant. Thanks.


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

Groves,

I misspoke. Often there will be combs in the hive that are empty -- usually on the outsides of the brood boxes -- and can be moved to the box being nadired to draw the bees downward. Some have had success using this method (including me), as sometimes the bees are hesitant to move down. 

I wouldn't be too worried about putting mostly empty combs below, as like you said, the bees will quickly move the honey up. Then they'd have an empty comb in which to move the brood nest downward. 

Best,
Matt


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## Groves (Feb 2, 2012)

Makes total sense now. Thanks!


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