uncapped honey/nectar

[dave]

I haven't been on for awhile but thought I could ask members opinion on what to do with honey supers where some honey frames are capped and the others is uncapped or nectar.  I plan on harvesting soon and then treating with Apigard which will take me out about 30 days.  During those 30 days what do I do with the uncapped honey or nectar? Do I put them in the freezer if I have room? Do I put the supers back on from the freezer and keep them off until spring and add them back on then?  If the bees don't use it in the spring, I would wait until it is fully capped and harvest at that point. I also don't want to feed to mix the sugar water and the good honey together.

Thank You,

[Perry]

When I do my final harvest I sort through the capped and uncapped stuff and then consolidate all the uncapped boxes, put them in a small heated area with a dehumidifier for a couple days and bring the moisture down to 18% and then it's good to extract.

[Lburou]

When I do my final harvest I sort through the capped and uncapped stuff and then consolidate all the uncapped boxes, put them in a small heated area with a dehumidifier for a couple days and bring the moisture down to 18% and then it's good to extract.

You don't have SHB, do you Perry...When they arrive, you will have to monitor those supers closely while bringing the moisture down.  I leave supers on the hive until it is safe to extract, or there is drier honey to mix with it so the extracting and bottling can get done before SHB eggs hatch.  Thank heaven you don't have SHB yet.   

P.S.  As a rule of thumb, an uncapped area the size of your hand on an otherwise capped deep frame us usually safe to extract.  I bought an inexpensive refractometer to assuage my concerns about moisture content of a given frame or honey bucket. 

[Wandering Man]

P.S.  As a rule of thumb, an uncapped area the size of your hand on an otherwise capped deep frame us usually safe to extract.  I bought an inexpensive refractometer to assuage my concerns about moisture content of a given frame or honey bucket.

Is there a "rule of pinky" for the size of area on an uncapped area the size of on and otherwise capped medium frame?

[apisbees]

A general rule of thumb is for 80% of the cells on a frame should be capped. If your honey from different frames are well blended during the extraction then 2 out of the 10 frames could have very few cappings if the other 8 frames are all capped. But use caution, bees stash honey into cells to ripen it down and once it is close to a stable moisture content it gets moved and consolidated in cells to be dried the last bit and capped. If you are unsure do the shake test. Hold the frame over the super, with the side of open cells of nectar facing down and give the frame a downward shake. If the nectar stays in the cells it is generally good to extract as the bees  have been ripening the honey as they are filling the cells in preparation of capping it.

[brooksbeefarm]

Like Apis said. Also i have many times in late Aug. and Sept. had full frames not capped and no attempt to start capping that checked 18% or under? This is after i have taken one or two capped supers off of them and left the uncapped till it was capped Well i wasn't going to let a bunch of (female) bugs out smart me! I think they Think that if they don't cap it i won't take it . Well that might work on Perry, but i take my refractometer  with me so no female BUG can out smart me. Jack

[apisbees]

As Jack pointed out having a refractometer with you you can use a tooth pick and dip honey out of a few open cells to determine the moisture content. Bees do not fill the cells and them ripen the honey but ripen it as the add nectar to the cells. When high volumes of nectar are being brought into the hives, this is why you will find the bees will be using so many cells that are open and being used to dried the honey. and only as the last drops are dried or cured honey is moved to fill the cells that the bees will cap the cells. If you test the honey for moisture you will find that cells that are nearly full of honey that most of it is ripe and only the last few drops of nectar that were added are still above the moisture content.

Honey being capped does not guarantee that the moisture content is below the 17.8% If you are in a area with a high humidity, the bees will cap over honey that the moisture is still above the safe threshold to keep it from absorbing more moisture from the humidity in the air.
Honey Refractometer's are so reasonable now that every beekeeper should have one. unless you live in a dry desert region like I do in the Okanagan. In 19 years of judging honey at the fair and checking the moisture content of each honey entry I have only had one sample that was over the limit set for #1 grade unpasteurized honey that is 17.8%. and this honey was at 18%

[rober]

if you want to try what perry does you could freeze those frames for a few days 1st. that would take care of hive beetle & wax moth worries.

[brooksbeefarm]

What seems odd to me is, when growing up and having bee hives years ago we never even heard of a refractometer? If our honey was capped or you couldn't shake any out of the frames we bottled it, Don't ever remember having  a problem with it fermenting? Rober, Perry lives in a deep freeze and all he has to do is set his supers outside. . Jack

[apisbees]

I agree Jack. But that is why in most beekeeping books it is suggested the 80% rule. The truth is in most cases In my area at 80% the moisture content is between 15.8 to 16.6 so we were cautioned on the side of being safe. In reality depending on time of year and the flow or lack of flow that is happening. The humidity in the air that the hives are located. it is possible to find frames almost full but hardly no capping over the honey that the honey is rip enough to harvest but you will not know for certain unless you test it.
Also jest because it is capped over doesn't mean it is ripe Efmech grand son had capped honey fermenting in the frames a few years back. A beekeeper up north near the coast found that he had honey that had been capped with a moisture content above 18% during a wet high humidity year.

[Lburou]

Last year I was assisting a family that was new to beekeeping and extracting.  We uncapped & extracted their one super of honey (it was all capped).  For grins, we tested it with a refractometer, it was 23% moisture!!  It fermented before it was completely consumed.  So, it doesn't hurt to test capped honey too. 

[apisbees]

If you are in a area of high humidity or the year has been wet and the humidity has been higher than normal, the bees will cap unripe honey to keep it from absorbing extra moisture from the air.
I have to find my book on honey, It has the list of relative humidity in relation to the moisture content of honey.

[Lburou]

Thanks for that clarification Apis.