Hello all,
I still have three supers on in michigan. They are full of honey but it has been almost two weeks and they have not capped them? It has been raining and humid. How long can I wait to pull them? They are still bringing stuff in but the goldenrod and buckwheat is finishing up pretty fast now.
You have to wait until they are capped before pulling them. It is up to them to cap. Talk with them, and see if they will hurry up. ;)
if it is humid it may take longer for the nectar to evaporate to the proper density for honey, kind of like when it takes paint longer to dry on a humid day.
capping is a excellent sign that the honey in the comb is cured (water reduced to something less than 18%). uncapped honey does not absolutely mean the honey in the comb is not cured.
here we have periods of time when it gets extremely dry. any uncapped honey taken during these period has never represented a problem. I would not think about extracting the same uncapped honey if the climate was (or had been) humid for any significant period of time.
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Bees cap the honey when they get combs full.
It would help if you ut one box under brood box. They lift the honey upp and get combs full.
When it is humid, the nectar has so much water that after drying not much sugar will remain.
They eate that and rear new bees.