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Author Topic: Pulling Honey - uncapped cells  (Read 1526 times)

Offline GSF

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Pulling Honey - uncapped cells
« on: May 29, 2016, 09:00:21 pm »
I think I pulled my first honey around six weeks ago or more. I couldn't help but notice that I had more left uncapped than I actually pulled. So today I'm getting hives ready to sell and pulling honey at the same time. Low and behold, some of those same hives, same supers, same location on the hives haven't really made any progress towards capping. That got me to thinking, do some bees just not bother with capping? I pulled a frame of it out. I'd say most of the frames are still 20-50 percent capped. I took that frame and tried to shake the nectar out, temp upper 80's, I think I got one good drop out.
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Offline cao

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Re: Pulling Honey - uncapped cells
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2016, 02:09:33 am »
I have no proof, but I would suggest that if it is still swarm season that they might not waste the time to cap it if they are even thinking about swarming.  Once they make up there minds that they are not going to swarm then they can spend the time and resources to cap it.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Pulling Honey - uncapped cells
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2016, 07:45:41 am »
Gary.
Last year I had the same problem. I left a lot of honey on the hives each time I pulled. I left all of the uncapped for my winter food.
Some of the uncapped honey that I did pull did end up to be very ripe/thick. It seems like some hives do not cap. Maybe they figured out that if they do not cap. We do not steal it.  :smile:
I think a major problem is too much and too little ventilation. I use screen top boards. This year I left the winter  insulation boards on. I also started adding small top entrances to some of the hives. I inspected the top supers of all of the hives and the ones with top and bottom entrances seem to bee the best at capping.
Jim
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Online Acebird

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Re: Pulling Honey - uncapped cells
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2016, 09:11:41 am »
This is another reason why I only harvest in the late fall.  After the first frost the honey and pollen is gone.  What they have is all they are going to have until next spring.  Very little in the supers is nectar.  It is honey even if it isn't capped.  Up here the bees can collect a lot of nectar from goldenrod and aster in the fall and by the time the nectar gives out it is too cool to make the wax to cap it ... that is what I am thinking.
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Offline Barhopper

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Re: Pulling Honey - uncapped cells
« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2016, 12:28:51 pm »
Get a refractometer and test the uncapped. I generally take 75% capped frames for harvesting. I check the uncapped areas for moisture content. Rarely is it different from the capped. Might be the cells are not "full" yet. If I waited for them to completely cap each frame I'd still be waiting on some.

Offline GSF

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Re: Pulling Honey - uncapped cells
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2016, 04:11:54 pm »
I'm selling some hives to an older gentleman close to or passed 80. He said in the 50's they sold honey to the government. According to him, as long as it was about 20% capped they didn't care.

It probably went to the food commodity program and not long after they bought it they gave it away.

I been in my hives today pulling honey and the same thread is throughout. Again, I'll take the frame, turn it sideways, shake the heck out of it and all day I may have got 5 drops. I know dang good and well it's the same frames I left last pull.

Jim, I was thinking the same thing. They've done evolved and figured a way to make us leave the honey in the hive.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline Wombat2

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Re: Pulling Honey - uncapped cells
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2016, 04:21:53 am »
They will stop capping when the flow stops for what ever reason  - from end of season to a couple of days of heavy rain that washes out the nectar from the flowers and flow hasn't started again. New nurse bees start laying down honey elsewhere and are too busy to go back to the old spot. All sorts of reasons.

If nothing comes out when you give the frame a shake face down then it's good enough to harvest - if nectar comes out put it back.

David L

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Re: Pulling Honey - uncapped cells
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2016, 09:42:36 am »
Shake the frame over the hive so at least the bees can clean it up and not lose the nectar.
Brian Cardinal
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