Harvest Question

Pond Creek Farm · June 22, 2009, 11:59:53 PM

This is the first year we will get honey, so I am not quite sure the best way to harvest. We are strictly hobbiests, so it is not like we have hundreds of hives to tend to. Rather, we have six. Only two will give us honey this year. We have one box fully drawn. I suspect capped, but I have not pulled the frames to check. Assuming it is capped, do I take it now, or leave it on as they draw the next box? We will use crush and strain.

iddee · June 23, 2009, 12:04:37 AM

Every beek will tell you something different, so I can only tell you what I do.

I always remove a fully capped super when I find it. I then freeze it if I'm not going to extract or crush it the same day or the next. Freezing kills wax moths and SHB larva and eggs, plus anything else that may be hiding in the frames.

If I need the space, I take them out of the freezer and seal them in plastic bags until time to extract.

PS. I warm them to room temp or more before extracting or crushing.

danno · June 23, 2009, 11:56:19 AM

With only one full I would leave it on and let the bees protect it. I have one of my 30 right now that is going on its 4 super and the season is really just getting started. Next week I will start taking these off and freezing as iddee says

Joelel · June 23, 2009, 01:00:09 PM

Quote from: Pond Creek Farm on June 22, 2009, 11:59:53 PM
This is the first year we will get honey, so I am not quite sure the best way to harvest. We are strictly hobbiests, so it is not like we have hundreds of hives to tend to. Rather, we have six. Only two will give us honey this year. We have one box fully drawn. I suspect capped, but I have not pulled the frames to check. Assuming it is capped, do I take it now, or leave it on as they draw the next box? We will use crush and strain.

Take it from the super when you want,never take honey fron the body.

Natalie · June 23, 2009, 03:16:26 PM

Who would take the honey from the brood box?

indypartridge · June 24, 2009, 09:06:35 AM

Quote from: Natalie on June 23, 2009, 03:16:26 PM
Who would take the honey from the brood box?

Someone who has a honey-bound brood box.

Joelel · June 24, 2009, 03:50:44 PM

Quote from: indypartridge on June 24, 2009, 09:06:35 AM
Quote from: Natalie on June 23, 2009, 03:16:26 PM
Who would take the honey from the brood box?
Someone who has a honey-bound brood box.

If you have one brood box with queen excluder to the supper and honey bound brood box,then you need to add a brood box,not take the honey.

Kathyp · June 24, 2009, 04:00:44 PM

if your brood boxes are becoming honey bound, there is no problem taking out frames of honey, but they should probably be saved to feed back later in the year. as an example, i do not want brood in more than 2 deeps, or equivalent. our winters are harsh and i don't want to cram them down if i don't have to. if i feel a hive is becoming crowded and i can pull a couple of frames of honey, i will do that. i then freeze it and feed it back when the hive needs it later. doesn't happen to often, but i have one now that i am watching. flow is strong and they have stored a huge amount around the brood. much more, and i'll have to pull some. and yes...they are filling honey supers also. no excluder.

Eshu · June 24, 2009, 04:15:49 PM

Occaisionally a flow will end abruptly around here and the bees will uncap and consume or move the honey. Because of this I pull full supers when I find them. I would rather have them move honey from a partial super than uncap a full one.

Pond Creek Farm · June 24, 2009, 10:07:57 PM

I have read with great interest the posts on freezing the supers. Is this something you recommend before any crush and strain or only as a way to hold the honey and do it all at one time? In other words, what is the purpose of freezing other than to preserve the comb until the beekeeper has time to harvest?

Joelel · June 24, 2009, 10:43:36 PM

Quote from: Pond Creek Farm on June 24, 2009, 10:07:57 PM
I have read with great interest the posts on freezing the supers. Is this something you recommend before any crush and strain or only as a way to hold the honey and do it all at one time? In other words, what is the purpose of freezing other than to preserve the comb until the beekeeper has time to harvest?

Freeze the supers and frames in the winter when their off the hive to keep wax moth and other bugs out of them.

tillie · June 24, 2009, 10:57:33 PM

When I bottle chunk honey (a chunk of cut comb in a jar of liquid honey) or harvest cut comb honey, I always leave the comb in the freezer for at least 24 hours. That kills the wax moth eggs and anything else that might hatch out of the comb. Then I can give it away and not worry that my friend will walk in his/her kitchen to find little worms squirming in the bottle of honey.

One of my daughters spent a college semester on a program called Semester at Sea - they sailed around the world, stopping in 13 countries, while going to college on a ship. She brought back a carved wooden giraffe about 3 feet tall from Kenya as well as some other carved wood from Africa. We were told to put the giraffe and any other carved wooden objects from Africa into the freezer for at least 6 months to kill the eggs of whatever might be in it. I recently heard about one of her fellow students on the trip who didn't freeze his giraffe - which crumbled into dust a few months later when the bug eggs in it hatched out and ate the wood!

Hooray for freezers!

Linda T in Atlanta

Pond Creek Farm · June 24, 2009, 11:51:21 PM

Linda, does the same apply for crushing and straining? Should I freeze before I bottle?

tillie · June 24, 2009, 11:57:42 PM

No - if you are filtering, then any eggs should be filtered out. Use the finest filter you can. I've never seen it written anywhere that clear honey should be frozen. The issue is in what's embedded in the wax in chunk and cut comb honey.

Linda T

Brian D. Bray · June 25, 2009, 01:30:38 AM

Quote from: kathyp on June 24, 2009, 04:00:44 PM
if your brood boxes are becoming honey bound, there is no problem taking out frames of honey, but they should probably be saved to feed back later in the year. as an example, i do not want brood in more than 2 deeps, or equivalent. our winters are harsh and i don't want to cram them down if i don't have to. if i feel a hive is becoming crowded and i can pull a couple of frames of honey, i will do that. i then freeze it and feed it back when the hive needs it later. doesn't happen to often, but i have one now that i am watching. flow is strong and they have stored a huge amount around the brood. much more, and i'll have to pull some. and yes...they are filling honey supers also. no excluder.

In the case of becoming honey bound move the 2 outer frames, which are almost always storage frames, into the super for bait frames and put the empty frames on each side of the cluster of frames that still have brood.