Honey left in frames

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dto001

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Feb 14, 2017
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Ireland
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Hi All I still have 2 supers of honey left in the frames from the start of August and due to work I haven't gotten time to extract it. Would it still be OK to do it and will I have to warm the frames to assist extraction?
Is there anything else I should be looking out for?
Thanks
 
Hi All I still have 2 supers of honey left in the frames from the start of August and due to work I haven't gotten time to extract it. Would it still be OK to do it and will I have to warm the frames to assist extraction?
Is there anything else I should be looking out for?
Thanks
Is there any sort of crystallisation of the honey in any of the frames? It might be worth uncapping some to check (if you haven't already checked).
 
Is there any sort of crystallisation of the honey in any of the frames? It might be worth uncapping some to check (if you haven't already checked).
There is some crystallisation. Is there any possibility of fermentation? How would I tell?
 
Your crystallised honey won't spin out. Fermented honey smells alcoholic. I store my frames wet and by spring my shed smells like a brewery.
I should imagine the chances are pretty slim
You could warm the frames and spin out what you can then keep the rest to give back to the bees
 
There is some crystallisation. Is there any possibility of fermentation? How would I tell?
If some frames have some crystallised honey and others don't (or not so much), the extractor can get unbalanced as the runny stuff is flung out but the crystallised honey remains in the frame. I've had frames with crystallised honey in them blow out, mind you, that's in a radial extractor and they can blow out frames easily enough, particularly with newer comb. As to fermentation, are the frames all capped or is there still quite a bit of uncapped honey in them?
 
Hi All I still have 2 supers of honey left in the frames from the start of August and due to work I haven't gotten time to extract it. Would it still be OK to do it and will I have to warm the frames to assist extraction?
Is there anything else I should be looking out for?
Thanks
Put the supers on top of a couple of brood boxes or more if neecessary - put a lamp holder (an old table lamp will do) with a 25 watt bulb (no more - it will be too much heat) .. leave them to warm up ... 12 hours should do it. Check a couple of cells to see if it's runny enough to spin out... the crystallized honey is a lost cause except for feeding back to the bees. Uncap the frames and spin out what will come out. I would not worry too much about unbalanced frames just keep it steady and build up speed. Store the spun supers wet and give them back to the bees to clean up in spring. You might have to use the trick of putting the supers above a crown board with a small hole in it to get them to take it down. Hopefully not too much has crystallised.
 
How do you fwed honey back to bees on winter? I have full frames of wonky comb. The hives are shut down - 2" kingspan on the crownboards.
 
How do you fwed honey back to bees on winter? I have full frames of wonky comb. The hives are shut down - 2" kingspan on the crownboards.
You really can't feed frames back to the bees in winter - the time to do it was in the autumn when they were backfilling the brood nest (method above) - above a crownboard with a small hole in it - usually with an empty super or an eke below the crownboard. Best leave them now until early spring if they need feeding then or if it is honey filling the wonkly combs crush and strain and eat the honey !
 
Thanks, I did leave the supers on until shutting them down. Their super ( brood and a half) is packed but nothing was put in the BB below. Not very hopeful, these 3 swarmed when I was dealing multiple bereavements and just had to tough it out until October.
 
Without a QE in, it is all one big nest, with no distinct BB or honey super. If so small why leave them on brood and half pre winter shutdown? Let the volume of bees and stores dictate the volume of hive pre winter
 
Thanks, I did leave the supers on until shutting them down. Their super ( brood and a half) is packed but nothing was put in the BB below. Not very hopeful, these 3 swarmed when I was dealing multiple bereavements and just had to tough it out until October.
In order to get them to put stores from above down into the brood box you have to convince the bees that it's a source of food they need to bring in .. if it's just a super on top of the brood box then that's where they think it should be - above the brood nest In order to get them to take the stores down you have to separate the stores from the body of the hive ie: above the crownboard with a small hole in it and then a space (either an empty super or a deep eke) then the box on top with the frames of honey you want taken down. Scratch the surface of the combs and when they are in storing mode they will take it down and re-store it above and around the brood nest where they need it. You have missed the boat now but if you are going to run brood and a half now through winter the odds are that they will treat the super on top of the brood box as stores and will just move up into it, so just leave them be and sort things out in Spring.

Please tell me you have not left a queen excluder between the super and the brood box ? If you have - get it off - ASAP.

.
 
Thanks for explaining how they think. Will do as you say next Spring. No QE between, it is stored under the CB.
To answer a previous question, I leave the BB because I have OMF and the hives are on rails about 16" off the ground. Not a good position, they get the north wind so I think it helps keep the draught from coming up. Going to improve my windbreak next week.
 
Thanks for explaining how they think. Will do as you say next Spring. No QE between, it is stored under the CB.
To answer a previous question, I leave the BB because I have OMF and the hives are on rails about 16" off the ground. Not a good position, they get the north wind so I think it helps keep the draught from coming up. Going to improve my windbreak next week.
Do bees think?😎
 
If some frames have some crystallised honey and others don't (or not so much), the extractor can get unbalanced as the runny stuff is flung out but the crystallised honey remains in the frame. I've had frames with crystallised honey in them blow out, mind you, that's in a radial extractor and they can blow out frames easily enough, particularly with newer comb. As to fermentation, are the frames all capped or is there still quite a bit of uncapped honey in them?
Theres a bit around the sides uncapped but not much I left any with a lot of uncapped honey in the hives
 
If it smells fermented can it still be used? (a part from mead o_O)
 
Theres a bit around the sides uncapped but not much I left any with a lot of uncapped honey in the hives
The fermentation (if any) should not be too bad I would have thought. What tends to happen with extraction where there is crystallised honey of differing degrees within frames, is that it the spinning will start out ok but then as the frames get unbalanced (as the runny honey is flung out) the extractor will start to dance (unless you have it bolted down or secured somehow). The vigour of the dance will depend on a few things like the rotation speed at the time, the size of the extractor and the degree of weight difference between the frames ;) . If each frame has basically the same amount of crystallised honey it will be ok of course. Give it a go with care. It will probably be ok.
 
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