# Uncapped Honey (Green Honey) along with Capped Honey on a frame extract or not?



## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

The instructor is correct. Ripe honey won't shake lose, unripe nectar will.
Some frames never get fully capped especially at the end of the flow.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Can one take a few drops of the uncapped portion and check the % water???if 18.6 or less would it then be OK to extract?


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## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

sure. many have.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

The only way to know for sure is with a honey refractometer. The instructors method works fine.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

The instructor makes a good point and I do that when I pull frames and find a partially capped one. I've never been ill from green honey but then again, I rarely spin nectar filled frames.


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## mythomane (Feb 18, 2009)

The easiest way to know is just to taste it. It will taste off.


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

What is green honey?????????????


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## Pathfinder (Sep 7, 2014)

mgolden said:


> What is green honey?????????????


You know.....from that Dr. Seuss book green eggs and ham....


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Your local weather and nectar type will have some influence on how dry the honey is before they cap it. Here if a frame is 75% capped the average moisture content will be OK. Last year was an exception and I had whole boxes that were not getting capped. They passed the shake test without spattering but I was not happy. I bought a refractometer and found that it was all dry enough. As clyderoad mentions there was little flow. Some of that uncapped honey had lower moisture than earlier honey extracted from 75% capped frames.

Rotating the outside frames in to the centre will help get them capped more uniformly.


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## Giorgio (Mar 26, 2010)

Green =unripe


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

19% honey doesn't shake out either. Our capped honey here ranges from 15% to 17.5%. So even if some around the edges is at 19% it will all average out when mixed in the extractor. I use a refractometer and find that at the end of the flow (end of July for us) all of the honey, capped or not, is at 17.5% or lower. Bees will not cap cells that don't get full so if you are using drawn comb in your supers and the flow stops before cells are filled, those will stay open. The only time I find 19% honey is when I try to extract during the flow.


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