Blinkin' bees won't cap the last two supers so that I can feed them...

[The Riviera Kid]

One of my colonies still hasn’t capped all its honey. Is there anything that I can do to encourage them to “finish it off” so that I can remove the supers and start feeding? The last 2 supers are pure summer honey, no rape, and will be good quality if previous years are anything to go by.

The colony lives on the edge of a wood, overlooking fields and grew to be very powerful through the summer and is good-natured, queenright and in very good general health. They superseded (or the queen died – she was 2 years old) in very late July so I am wondering if this has been a factor. The supers have got just 8 wide-spaced frames in, with the foundation drawn right out in spring and most cells are full or more than half full so there is too much honey there to waste.
The honey is thick – it won’t shake out of the frames so it must be nearly ready…

They have continued to forage well through August and there is lots of pollen and honey in the brood box too – some of it capped so I am at a loss to understand why they are not capping the supers.

Any suggestions on what to do?

Is it time to panic yet??

 

[Winker]

If it wont shake out, its ready you dont have to wait

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Agreed - spin away but check with a refractometer if not sure.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

 

[Gardenbees]

It's a slight drawback of giving them a smaller number of frames and getting the benefit of nice, thick combs... it does take them a while to fill to their satisfaction and get around to capping. As said before, don't be afraid to just spin them anyway if they seem to be fairly well-ripened. A good shake beforehand will dislodge any more recently-filled, unripened cells. I have a superful of honey like this from last week, which was only about half-capped but still produced a nice, thick honey.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Take out the partially sealed frames from both supers and leave 1 super with the remainder.

 

[The Riviera Kid]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think it probably is ready and that the bees were waiting 'til the cells were filled up before sealing. I was just seeking some reassurance!

Take out the partially sealed frames from both supers and leave 1 super with the remainder.

There is very little that is sealed... that was my concern. The last super I took off was probably only about 75% capped but it seemed to be ok. I would say that one of the supers on there still is barely 10% capped.

 

[Swarm]

The deeper cells you get by using wide spaced frames means achieving the end product takes longer, but this does seem excessive.
I use a ten frame system and have extracted the same frames, capped, twice over.

 

[The Riviera Kid]

The deeper cells you get by using wide spaced frames means achieving the end product takes longer, but this does seem excessive.
I use a ten frame system and have extracted the same frames, capped, twice over.

Yes, they really do seem to have taken their time with capping this lot. I was wondering if it were to do with the supersedure. When the new queen hatched, and flew to mate, it was getting towards the end of the season and very little new brood coming through...