# HArvesting honey



## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

So when pulling frames of capped honey should I replace those with empty frames?

I should wait until the frames are completely capped?


----------



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Typically honey frames are harvested by removing a complete box from the hive. But if you want to pull individual filled frames, it would be smart to fill the resulting gap with other frames, otherwise you will be inviting bees to build non-parallel comb to fill the empty space .

The bees typically cap honey cells when they detect that the honey has been dried/evaporated to an appropriate moisture level. If you want to substitute your judgement in place of theirs, using a refractometer to confirm the appropriate moisture level for honey would be a good idea.

.


----------



## Ketuel (May 1, 2015)

I pulled the Honey supers off today so I could treat the hives for Vorroa mites. I was very dispointed to find the supers empty (no Honey). There is Honey in the Brood. Should I put the super back on or just leave it off? The queen I got in March 2014, should I requeen the Hive in hopes that more honey will be produced? I was hoping to have extra honey to help the bees through the winter. Any help or ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


----------



## Belewsboy (Jun 6, 2012)

My bees always start of in the Spring by backfilling the brood box. This will be their honey to get them thru the times when nothing is in bloom this Summer. They eventually start filling the supers and this happens quite quickly as our flow here only lasts 1 1/2 to 2 months. I will have to feed them syrup late this Summer, early Fall to get them thru Winter. 
I assume this is your first year with bees. You will rarely get a harvest from a hive during its first year, so let them have the honey. Yours will come next year.


----------



## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

The nectar flow is about over up here in Northern Virginia so the time for replacing frames has come and gone. I tell ya I was pretty destracted with the swarming and what not. Some frames in the hive didn't get drawn out when I moved stuff around. 

So, since flow is over, and the super has to come off now, I should describe what the honey super on one hive looks like.....one side is capped, the other side is 50-70% capped but the uncapped is dark. 

Have the bees started eating their honey?

I know this honey. It is the end of the flow. The super has to come off , so what do I do with it? I tested some from another frame and it was about 18%.... I will need to check SP. Gr. of this dark stuff to see what it is.



Rader Sidetrack said:


> Typically honey frames are harvested by removing a complete box from the hive. But if you want to pull individual filled frames, it would be smart to fill the resulting gap with other frames, otherwise you will be inviting bees to build non-parallel comb to fill the empty space .
> 
> The bees typically cap honey cells when they detect that the honey has been dried/evaporated to an appropriate moisture level. If you want to substitute your judgement in place of theirs, using a refractometer to confirm the appropriate moisture level for honey would be a good idea.
> 
> .


----------



## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

So...here is a BRIGHT IDEA: Can I place the frames with uncapped honey in an extractor and extract that with the purpose of re-introducing back to the hive during dearth?
then after cleaning the extractor uncapped the good stuff and harvest that?


----------

