# Persistance/duration of honey in a hive.



## pseudoacacia (Sep 23, 2019)

Good morning all.

Question for the people who know more than me. How persistant is early spring honey in a hive? Specifically, I have some hives that came off of almonds and actually had a decent amount of capped honey early this spring. It didn't taste very good, which was fine because I intended to leave it for the bees. I was going through some hives yesterday and found a couple recently queenless hives that had built up well through the spring and summer, and amassed a sizeable honey crop. Being queenless this late, I intend to just combine them with some other hives. There are extra frames of completely capped honey. 

What is the likelihood that some of this is still capped honey from when they came off of the almonds vs. that honey being consumed and replaced with out local wildflower honey? I broke a few cells and tasted some and it tasted good. I guess worst case scenario I extract it and it just doesn't taste great and I have some honey I don't sell or find someone who wants to use it in soap or something.

Any thoughts? How frequently does a strong hive 'turn over' their honey stores? I presume it depends on how strong the nectar flows are during the course of a season.

Thanks all!


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## Marcin (Jun 15, 2011)

pseudoacacia said:


> How frequently does a strong hive 'turn over' their honey stores?


I've had hives that never moved capped stores. They dabbled here and there, but majority of the frames were untouched.
Now I use those capped frames of "unsure" source to feed to spring splits. Scratch the cells open, put it next to brood and they mostly moved it or consumed it.


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## pseudoacacia (Sep 23, 2019)

Marcin said:


> I've had hives that never moved capped stores. They dabbled here and there, but majority of the frames were untouched.
> Now I use those capped frames of "unsure" source to feed to spring splits. Scratch the cells open, put it next to brood and they mostly moved it or consumed it.



What about consuming it during the course of a season? Do they uncap and consume honey if there is a flow occurring? Or do they feed on nectar being produced during that flow?


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## Marcin (Jun 15, 2011)

Nectar is their preffered food, so as long as there's nectar coming in, I don't see them uncapping stores and moving them. I've heard of beekeepers sticking honey frames between brood frames to get bees to move that honey out. But I imagine there is a season to that as well.


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## username00101 (Apr 17, 2019)

_Do they uncap and consume honey if there is a flow occurring? _


That old honey is likely still in there somewhere if it's been a flow since that time.


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