Not much honey in 1st year - leave it in hive ?

[BCBEE]

morning all
this was my first year as a BKr and I had a swarm 3-4 weeks after getting my Nuc in may and so the population was depleted for a start.

I have a National hive and one super on this which only has 2-3 full(ish) frames of honey at the moment so i dont expect much of a crop this year.
Am i best to try and harvest this anyway or just leave it for the bees to scoff over the coming winter. I am not too botered if I dont get any honey as its my first year so didnt expect too much.

If harvest is suggested is there a way to do this without buying a centrfigal extactor?

Thanks for looking
Phill

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

morning all
this was my first year as a BKr and I had a swarm 3-4 weeks after getting my Nuc in may and so the population was depleted for a start.

I have a National hive and one super on this which only has 2-3 full(ish) frames of honey at the moment so i dont expect much of a crop this year.
Am i best to try and harvest this anyway or just leave it for the bees to scoff over the coming winter. I am not too botered if I dont get any honey as its my first year so didnt expect too much.

If harvest is suggested is there a way to do this without buying a centrfigal extactor?

Thanks for looking
Phill

If you are not that bothered then I'd suggest letting the bees keep it - you will shortly be feeding them up for winter anyway and honey is better than sugar syrup.

If they are not that big a colony you should be getting them down to the one box for winter - depending on space and drawn frames you could either physically move the honey frames down, or encourage the bees to move the honey themselves by leaving the super above the crownboard and bruising any capped cells.

If you do decide to take what you can then your local association may have an extractor to lend/rent

 

[oliver90owner]

By all means extract any frames that are capped or pass the 'shake test'.

Sugar is cheaper than honey and if you feed sugar syrup after harvesting the super can quickly be filled to capacity. That depends, of course, on how you intend over-wintering them (single brood, or brood + a super of stores).

You don't need an extractor. There are ways and means. Scraping back to the foundation, pulping and filtering the whole comb, borrowing an extractor (as per MA above). Storing any small amounts of honey in the freezer, until needed, for use is another way to beat any fermentation problems.

Regards, RAB