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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>
  • Cc: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Removing capped honey or just leave it alone
  • Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2015 10:44:47 -0400

That's a really good question, John.

When we pull honey frames that aren't 100% capped, the uncapped honey may have been dried but the bees have gotten lazy and just haven't capped it. Often this honey has a glazed, semi-opaque look to it. Whether storing it as-is or extracting it, it is wise to check the water content. An easy field test is to hold the frame horizontally over a flat surface (e.g. a sheet of paper or the hive cover) and give it one very strong up-and-down shake. If the honey is sufficiently dry, it will stay in the frame. If it rains on the flat surface, it is too wet and will eventually ferment.

A more precise test is to use a honey refractometer to determine the actual water content. 18.6 percent and lower is safe; 18.6 to 20 percent is risky; over 20 percent is sure to ferment in a few months.

When we are extracting, it is okay to include a little bit of wet honey as long as most of the honey is dry or very dry, since the final result will be a blend. But honey in the comb isn't a blend so it will all need to be dry for storing, unless we are storing it long-term in the freezer. I am curious as to how much freeze-drying will occur on the wet honey in the freezer -- that would be a good experiment. Maybe storing wet honey in the comb in the freezer for X weeks will result in freeze-dried honey that can then be stored at room temperature? I don't know.

If someone is planning to store frames that still have wet honey in them, one option is to just leave those frames on the hive a bit longer. Pull the good frames and just leave the wet ones. Go back in two weeks and see how they are doing. For most of us, we won't see any new nectar until September so those old frames may now be dry since nothing will have been added. If not, wait a couple more weeks.

Randall



On 7/13/2015 8:33 AM, John Rintoul wrote:
126D37CD-CAF0-417C-8E0F-27C1E412BB06 AT icloud.com" type="cite"> Randall,

From Phil’s message it sounds like many of his frames are not 100% capped honey, but a mix of capped honey and stored nectar. Can a mixed frame like that also be stored in a dry, bug proof container (after freezing) or should it be kept in the freezer. What happens to the nectar during storage? Will it ferment or mold?

Thanks, as alway,s for helping the less experienced among us explore the edges of the beekeeping world.

John Rintoul
(919) 414-4071 (M)

No trees or bees were killed in the distribution of this message, but countless electrons were seriously inconvenienced.


On Jul 12, 2015, at 6:06 PM, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Phil,

I think you've summed up the downside pretty well, plus the fact that the excess honey is essentially going to waste. Five mediums of honey is around 175 pounds, retail price $10 per pound =$1,750. The bees only need somewhere between 40 and 60 pounds of honey to overwinter on. So more than 100 pounds ($1,000) of your surplus is not being used.

Small hive beetles can be easily controlled by managing the patrollable space, strength of the hive and placing hives in full sun. Two deeps and five supers in fall/winter is not managing the patrollable space and problems are inevitable. The hive beetles will take over all that extra space once the bee population drops off as the year progresses. They'll ruin the excess honey by sliming it, causing it to ferment. All that mess and the explosion in the beetle population can cause the bees to abscond or be decimated if they do stay.

So --- if you are going to keep all that extra honey for the bees, don't do so on the hive. Freezing the frames for a few days or so to kill beetle & moth eggs/larvae and then storing the frames in a dry, bug-proof container would work just fine. Or you could extract the honey and feed it back to them as needed, in the same way that you would sugar syrup.

Randall

On 7/9/2015 10:06 AM, Phil DeGuzman wrote:
CAGOFQUx3s-OYaLPchp73j_+LHvqcL3-30Cs_va1bv-GHs0iD8Q AT mail.gmail.com" type="cite" class="">
This year I am not harvesting honey...we ran out of stores this past winter and were saved by a bee-friend who had stored some capped honey from his previous year. So I am curious about whether I should removed and freeze some capped honey (storing offsite away from the hive) OR do i just leave it in place. My concern is whether having a larger hive will give more opportunity to pests (and more area for the workers to guard).

Right now my hives are comprised of two-deep brood boxes, 5 mediums (about 75% full of stores).

My preference would be to leave the resources in place and let the bees manage for themselves. But I don't want to encourage pests or encourage swarming due to lack of elbow room.

Appreciate any thoughts or experiences!

--
"There is nothing quite so useless, as doing with great efficiency, something that should not be done at all." ― Peter F. Drucker


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