After these swarms I decided to go through my hives/nucs and check on things. I also decided to pull any extra frames of capped honey. My question is this; When you decide to pull a frame of honey are you looking for a frame that 100% capped? I had a few frames that had about an inch along the bottom that wasn't capped. Some other frames were 10%/20% uncapped. Where do you draw the line when it comes to the uncured honey?
75 to 80 percent should be capped before extracting any honey.
What colbees said but you do not want that uncapped area to bee nectar. If you can shake it and liquid comes out, either pick another frame or shake all of the nectar out. Preferably the former.
What I find with my hives is is that the bees will place brood in the lower supers and then stop using the super for brood and then back fill this area with nectar.
No I do not use queen excluders.
Jim
What you're looking for here is overall moisture content, app 18% or less. You can extract "wet" frames so long as your moisture level stays 18% or less. You will need a refractometer to determine that.
If your honey is above 18%, first thing you want to do is let it sit for a couple of days or mix it. The last time I pulled the honey was at 18.5% but that was when I tested the honey in the top of the buckets , right after I extracted it.
After I poured three buckets into the settling tank and let it sit for a week, it measured 18%. You can also put the honey in a dry room and drip the honey from one tank to another. The longer the drop the more it can dry out.
Jim