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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Tom Wright <twright AT vicksburg.com>
  • To: "Orange County, NC Beekeepers" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] harvesting ubcapped honey
  • Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2006 19:13:27 -0400

Patrick Gannon wrote:
thx tom
the ubiquitous enzymes.
you are right on but the question is do the bees introduce it/them during nectar collection before deposit in combs or is it done [also] by caretakers long after. if the former, seems like dehydration will work. The enzymes are introduced by "receiver" bees before they regurgitate the nectar into the cells. I don't know the relative contribution of enzymes vs dehydration in curing. If mostly dehydration then dehydrator should work to some degree. How will you know that you have reduced the moisture to the point that you don't have to worry about fermentation?
your question about leaving supers on.
1) there is plenty of honey in the 2 brood boxes; 2) why leave on honey they won't use;Depending on the winter, they may or may not use it: the big push comes in the spring buildup. I'd rather have too much in the hive than not enough. Starvation is messy, especially if you get wax moths, and going into the first honey flow with a weak hive isn't much better. If you leave it on, you can always harvest next year. Are you being greedy? and 3) even if if i leave supers on there i think that would be too much open space for a tight winter cluster to deal with [heat conservation].The amount of open space in the hive is basically irrelevant as the bees don't heat what they don't have to, something people haven't learned.Why heat thousands of f2 of space when you only occupy a small part at any given time? As the cluster cools, cool, they move from the outside to the center of the cluster. They are sufficiently efficient at this that "dead air" in the hive is usually very close to the outside temperature. Likewise, you can keep the bedroom very cool if you "cluster" under the covers with a friend.


Tom Wright
 
great list you guys
patrick

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