First honey super

[Mymwood]

Can anyone please advise how soon after placing a clearing board beneath my (first) honey-filled super, I should remove the super? How long does it take for the bees to vacate it?
Also, if I open up and there are still a few bees inside, what is the next step? Replace and wait? Or something else?
I put the clearing board in place yesterday evening.

 

[drex]

Depends on what sort of clearer mainly. Rhombus , porter etc? In my experience I usually get total clearance from a rhombus overnight. Porters I used to leave for a good 24 hours but still have bees hanging g about. Brush or shake any stragglers off

 

[Mymwood]

Depends on what sort of clearer mainly. Rhombus , porter etc? In my experience I usually get total clearance from a rhombus overnight. Porters I used to leave for a good 24 hours but still have bees hanging g about. Brush or shake any stragglers off

Porters. 24 hrs, thank you

 

[enrico]

There are usually a few stragglers left with porter escapes. If there are loads still left after 24 hrs then put an eke underneath to give them a bit more room to get out but take it off when you take the super off. Rhombus are far superior. I find if you put the super in a dark room and leave it open then the bees fly towards the window and you can let them all out in one go. But ...... Whatever you do don't leave the window open......

 

[Mymwood]

I'm pleased to report the porter bee escapes worked well and there were no bees in the super when I removed it, 24 hrs later.

I have now extracted the honey and have decanted it into a plastic tub (with a lid) ready to be filtered and put in jars.

Question. The honey is cloudy. Is this a temporary thing due to the aeration caused during extraction?

2nd Q. I replaced the super onto the hive after extraction. Was this the correct thing to do. I did think about putting it on a weaker
colony but feared this may cause robbing?

Mart.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes and yes
Did you put it through a double sieve from the extractor? In which case it won’t need filtering but it will need the top skimming.
A good way is to put it into a settling tank with a tap. Keep it somewhere warm for a couple of days then you can run the clear honey off.

 

[drex]

The cloudiness may be caused by crystals starting to form, in which case it will set. Wait and see. I leave mine in airtight buckets for a couple of weeks to see if it remains runny or will set. To me that dictates how I will process and sell it.

 

[StephenT]

We put ours through a double sieve and it’s always a bit cloudy but not as a result of crystals. Pollen I guess. We have explained to people in the past that it is not fine filtered.

 

[Mymwood]

Yes and yes
Did you put it through a double sieve from the extractor? In which case it won’t need filtering but it will need the top skimming.
A good way is to put it into a settling tank with a tap. Keep it somewhere warm for a couple of days then you can run the clear honey off.

Thank you

 

[Bee1withnature]

Hi all

Brand new to this bee keeping, I had my hives since April this year.

One hive was absolutely full of capped frames so I took 6 out to extract as a trial run.

Put the frames in the extractor, spun and emptied honey through double ss sieve into bucket. Then left until today to jar, after jarring the honey is a little cloudy, will this clear??

Plus this is what I have left, what can I do with this

 

[Swarm]

All you should have left is cappings, how did you end up with broken combs?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hi all

Brand new to this bee keeping, I had my hives since April this year.

One hive was absolutely full of capped frames so I took 6 out to extract as a trial run.

Put the frames in the extractor, spun and emptied honey through double ss sieve into bucket. Then left until today to jar, after jarring the honey is a little cloudy, will this clear??

Plus this is what I have left, what can I do with this

Hi. Looks like you ran the extractor too fast and trashed the combs?
If you spin more slowly and turn the frames if you have a tangential spinner you will preserve the drawn comb which is a valuable thing. The bees will reuse it next year.
Tell us how you spun those frames out.
Cloudy Honey...full of pollen?

 

[enrico]

Not to say that honey with pollen in it is bad by the way. It is fine. All honey is different. Some will be clear and stay runny, some will set in a couple of weeks. Colours and consistency change throughout the year depending on nectar. As far as the cappings go it looks as though you may be cutting the cappings off a little deeper than you need so there will be quite a lot of honey in them. Put them in a rapid feeder, without putting the cup in the middle and put them over a crown board with a feeder hole in it. The bees will remove any honey and leave you with clean wax you can melt down and use or swap for foundation.
Well done, you will never forget your first jar of honey!

 

[Bee1withnature]

Not to say that honey with pollen in it is bad by the way. It is fine. All honey is different. Some will be clear and stay runny, some will set in a couple of weeks. Colours and consistency change throughout the year depending on nectar. As far as the cappings go it looks as though you may be cutting the cappings off a little deeper than you need so there will be quite a lot of honey in them. Put them in a rapid feeder, without putting the cup in the middle and put them over a crown board with a feeder hole in it. The bees will remove any honey and leave you with clean wax you can melt down and use or swap for foundation.
Well done, you will never forget your first jar of honey!

That’s great thank you

 

[Bee1withnature]

Hi. Looks like you ran the extractor too fast and trashed the combs?
If you spin more slowly and turn the frames if you have a tangential spinner you will preserve the drawn comb which is a valuable thing. The bees will reuse it next year.
Tell us how you spun those frames out.
Cloudy Honey...full of pollen?

Hi, yes I think I did spin too fast, thanks for your help.