how do you know when its time to harvest the honey? I have 2 hives each has a medium super with 9 frames that are filled and capped. Do I leave these for winter or take them? I am very new to beekeeping (4 or 5 weeks) and I will be asking questions as I learn. Thanks, DEL
Whenever the cells of honey have been capped, that honey is finished and ready to harvest. There are many factors to consider when choosing to harvest.
Do you want to wait and harvest all the honey at once? If so, just keep adding supers and wait until the first frost arrives before you pull off the surplus.
How do you plan on harvesting? Do you have an extractor? Do you want to clean it more than once?
When harvesting my own hives, I can take two frames at a time and spin them out in my hand crank extractor, and when I'm finished I can put those wet frames right back in the hive, and either take two more or stop.
But, when I'm workin' for the boss, there is no sense in taking less than 16 supers, get two spins out of the 80 frame extractor.
Depending on what type of boxes you have under those supers, you may need to leave them on for winter. If you have only one deep box under the super, you should leave it, they will need at least a deep and medium to winter over. If you have two deeps under that super, you can take it any time.