Honey Supers - bees capping or uncapping?

[JonnyPicklechin]

I've been harvesting a bumper crop...Noticing something I hadn't before. The pattern of an "almost finished" super. See the attached picture...Are the bees uncapping a finished super for food? Do they take from the centre in an arch fashion? Or indeed do they finish capping in this pattern?

I was unsure as to whether to take the the supper or leave it for the next harvest round...?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

I've been harvesting a bumper crop...Noticing something I hadn't before. The pattern of an "almost finished" super. See the attached picture...Are the bees uncapping a finished super for food? Do they take from the centre in an arch fashion? Or indeed do they finish capping in this pattern?

I was unsure as to whether to take the the supper or leave it for the next harvest round...?

its pretty normal for them to leave an arc shape where the brood would go and fill it last or sometimes not at all

is that what you mean?

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

My enquiry is if the arch is due to bees taking the honey (as there has been recent dearth of nectar) or is the store-cap pattern? Or possibly both?

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

And ultimately should I harvest or leave?

 

[Swarm]

What does your refractometer tell you and is their general stores level acceptable?

 

[RichardK]

What does your refractometer tell you and is their general stores level acceptable?

As an aside, if the refractometer says it's OK even when not capped I presume.....it's OK to harvest?

 

[Wilco]

As an aside, if the refractometer says it's OK even when not capped I presume.....it's OK to harvest?

Yes.

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

I must admit I've not been a refractometologist. Perhaps this is the time. Is a test of the open honey cells a good indication of the whole frame's readiness?

 

[Wilco]

I must admit I've not been a refractometologist. Perhaps this is the time. Is a test of the open honey cells a good indication of the whole frame's readiness?

The capped ones are likely to have a lower water content than uncapped ones as the bees cap when it's safe to store. I'd expect that bottom centre uncapped cells would be the ones to test as they're usually the last to be capped.

The other option is the shake test though.

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Since this is the beginners forum. And I'm lazy. Shake test method please?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hold the frame top bar down and give it a good shake ( like you do to shake bees off a frame) if nectar falls out it’s not ready.

 

[StephenT]

@JonnyPicklechin I‘m not far from you and if my hives are anything to go by, the bees have been filling supers at a massive rate for about 10 days now so would not have been uncapping for that period. Did have about a 2 week gap before that when I had to give one hive a frame of stores to tide them over.

 

[Dutchman]

I recently harvested about 9 supers full of combs looking like that, I was at first hesitant , wanting to wait till they had capped it all but I think its what happens if a flow comes to an end and they have a bit of a break with nothing coming in, they ripen whats there but wont cap the cells that are not fully filled. I thought I should take what was there before they used it up again so I went ahead after shake test and extracted. Got 80kg , refractometer showed 16/17 % so well ripe even though a lot wasn't capped.