I asked this in a very confusing manner previously, so let me try it again.
I have two hive that each have two medium supers on them. They do NOT have queen excluders.
All frames are drawn out and instead of adding another super, I was hoping to harvest the frames of capped honey and then replace with new empty frames.
My questions are thus:
1. Is this a good idea? Is there any negative to doing this instead of just adding additional supers?
2. Since I don't have excluders on them, it is very possible that these now capped frames once were used for brood rearing. Is this a problem? They all look "clean', but again, once were used for brood.
3. What is the best way to extract 6 plasticell frames without the use of a centrifuge? I can rent one, but figured that with so few frames it wasn't worth it. Any suggestions?
Many thanks to you all in advance!
Why not add the supers? It does not take that long to extract and you can take the super for a day then return it.
There is nothing wrong with taking honey from brood combs. It does not affect the honey at all. They spit shine brood cells before they put honey in them. Instead of extracting those frames I think you can just take your hive too and scrap the comb off the plastic then stick them right back in the hive. I would get others advice on this. I only use wax foundation so I cant tell you that for sure but I have read that problem comb or old comb can be scraped right off and stuck back in hive so I dont see why you can harvest the honey that way.
1.. It's a good idea if there is still a flow. They will not draw comb if there is nothing coming in.
2..I never use an excluder. All my honey supers have had brood in them at some time. Many of them have had brood many times.
3.. Sorry, I don't use plastic. Can't help you there.
If you can get a hold of an extractor, you could extract your honey supers and have them back on top of the hives in just a couple of hours. Also I do pull full capped frames out to extract when a box is not completely full of all capped frames. Queens do get into the honey supers sometimes. Doesn't hurt.
One of my mentors has around 90 hives, he never puts but one super on a hive. He extracts one, two, three or how ever many frames they have capped. He says he gets more honey by doing this because they get lazy when they think their hive is full. I know another beekeeper who has 165 hives who does it the same way. He also says he gets more honey. They extract them put the frame back in the hive with the drawn comb for the bees to refill. :-D.
Lovely!
Really appreciate the responses everyone!
So there is no reason I couldn't just return the frame straight to the hive after I scrap the comb off, correct?
No need for a waiting or cleaning period as I assume that the bees will take care of that in short order.
"No need for a waiting or cleaning period as I assume that the bees will take care of that in short order."
You won't believe how good a cleaning crew you have there. Let them clean them up outside away from the hives and see for yourself.
My little dadant extractor, some supers and everything associated right down to the table we work on is outside getting the cleaning of their lives out back right now.
Joel
"You won't believe how good a cleaning crew you have there. Let them clean them up outside away from the hives and see for yourself."
I would not do this any closer than a 1/4 mile from your yard cause it it will start a robbing frenzy. In twenty minutes you can go from setting extracted boxes out to 1,000,000 bees literally swarming them if a beeyard is around. They will also destroy comb leaving you nothing but wax dust if enough bees are there cause they chew it apart.
I would just stick them back in the hive and make sure you dont drip honey on outside of hive or that will start robbing to in a dearth.
Final Question (for the time being):
Is there any reason that I shouldn't harvest this honey at this time?
For instance, if my deeps did not have enough honey, is it better to leave the supers on and let them use that honey for the winter?
Is it advised to put medium frames (super) in a deep box during winter months to aid with feeding? Or does that just open up lots of space and heat issues?
This is my first year, but here is what I did.
I wanted some honey in a bad way and they were not drawing out the honey super. Its like they didnt want to spend time in "that room".
So one day pulled a full 2 sided heavy frame of honey out of the main hive and replaced it with a new empty plastic foundation frame. I scraped it off the plastic foundation with a metal bread scraper and did a crush and strain extraction. I got some very nice comb off intact that I set aside because I love chewing the comb. I strained the crushed comb honey thru cheese cloth.
I discovered that at one point this frame was used for brood or pollen because underneath the honey comb there were colored stains around the cells.
It was beautiful honey.
I returned the scraped frame, unwashed with honey residue, back to the hive the next day and pulled the replacement empty frame back out.
I too would like to know if I could take one more frame. We have a good flow right now and my hive is doing really well on stores.
If your deeps, I assume those are your hive body, are light, it is time to pull the supers and let the bees pile the honey where they will need it to live on. Take your honey crop and enjoy it. If the honey stops coming in and the brood chambers are still ight, then embark on a feeding program before it gets cold and wet. Find out how much they need from a local old beekeeper and make that happen. Good luck.
Thanks for the info, Vance.
So if I have the 70lbs of honey needed per hive (or anything close to it), then no worries keeping the supers on, correct? Again, I don't use a queen excluder, so they are using it as brood chambers also.
However, if I am light on honey in the hive body, then i should force the bees down and make them work the hive bodies?
Will this possibly create a swarm since I am limiting their space so much?
"Is there any reason that I shouldn't harvest this honey at this time?"
Yes, if your hive is light on winter stores, and you dont have a known flow the next few weeks in your area or if you dont want to feed and wish to let the bees have their own honey. There is nothing wrong with leaving an extra medium or shallow on top of two deeps if you end up light on stores bellow.
However, if I am light on honey in the hive body, then i should force the bees down and make them work the hive bodies?
Will this possibly create a swarm since I am limiting their space so much?
Not likely but I have seen colonies prepare for swarming in September. I just broke a colony up that would have swarmed last week. You have to use some personal judgment here. It is to early to reduce a colony most likely right now to two deeps. The colony will be too crowded with bees. Last year in late October I had one colony that did a super fantastic job that season still boiling over with bees and I had to leave three deeps cause there was just no way they could all fit.
Right now I have a very good flow going with a field of alfalfa mixed with white cover, other fields of alfalfa, golden rod up the wazo and whatever else is about. If I were to crowd all my colonies to two deeps I know 10/20% would attempt to swarm.