Slow to cap honey

[user 3509]

Has anyone else noticed that the bees seem to be very reluctant to cap their honey this year? I have spoken to a few beekeepers in our area and they report the same as us, that the supers are full of nectar but the water content is still too high and there is no sign of capping taking place.

 

[Ian123]

The flows still on and there filling the cells wait until it starts to slow up or finishes then they’ll cap it. Ian

 

[Erichalfbee]

That’s because nectar is coming in so fast. When the flow slows the bees will have time to cap the honey

 

[Erichalfbee]

The flows still on and there filling the cells wait until it starts to slow up or finishes then they’ll cap it. Ian

Snap

 

[polymath]

Lucky you here in Surrey talking to quite a few beekeepers we had no spring flow and have no real summer flow to date, with nearly 10 honey producing colonies i reckon lucky if i have 50lbs of honey between them.

 

[user 819]

Not to far away in West SX, crop thus far is looking quite good, though it's taken time. Only had 25lbs capped spring honey, but spring in to summer looking at about 80- 100lbs per colony currently.

 

[gmoore01]

Same here in West Sussex, had a good early spring flow (15kg per hive) then the dire weather put a pause on that until a week ago. Drawing and storing now thankfully, not much capping but hopefully they'll start doing that when it's showery at the weekend and they're stuck indoors...

 

[Nannysbees]

Same her with us, four supers on one of our hives full of nectar but nothing capped.not happy in the heat first time ever hubby got stung twice at the bottom of the garden,hope that's not going to be the normal!!!!! Hopefully the heat

 

[Finman]

When bees get mote nectar, they dry upp it. Then they fill cells and cap them.

When the hive makes one capped box, it needs two more boxes where they store daily nectar and dry them up. A new empty box should be put lowest in the super pile.

Bees lift the dry honey topmost and nectar lowest. If you are lazy and you put empty box topmost, bees' instinkts do not work properly.

 

[REDWOOD]

Bees not capping honey is an indication that swarming is around the corner but this year I thinks it’s a case of what was said in previous posts that there is a good flow of nectar on and the bees using their resources to collect as much as they can

 

[Finman]

Bees not capping honey is an indication that swarming is around the corner but this year I thinks it’s a case of what was said in previous posts that there is a good flow of nectar on and the bees using their resources to collect as much as they can

My opinion is that when it is swarming fever, bees are lazy to forage honey.

Swarming has nothing to do with capping.

 

[REDWOOD]

Same thing, they won’t swarm on an empty stomach so why cap it and then uncap it

 

[Dutchman]

I checked one tower of a Commercial broodbox with 7 supers , wanted to extract some because I have run out of supers but none of them are as yet fully sealed, even the middle ones that are nearly there still drip a bit when you shake them so I will have to be patient and wait till the weather breaks and this flow slows down to give them a chance to process it.

 

[Swarm]

The bees are not slow to cap the honey, they will get around to that job after they finish filling the supers with nectar. Mine are rammed, they are starting to cap some but with nectar still pouring in they need more space. I've been putting deeps on them today, half of them are hanging out of the entrance or covering the front of the hive.

 

[enrico]

Likewise, using old brood boxes as I have run out of supers!

 

[drex]

Me too

 

[user 819]

Not enough beeks use BB's for honey boxes, it's a simple solution to give and use excess components to do the same job. Though heavy when filled up, they don't have to go at the very top.
I make use of them every season and it is a simple and easy opportunity with a good flow on to have new brood combs produced for the following season.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Not enough beeks use BB's for honey boxes, it's a simple solution to give and use excess components to do the same job. Though heavy when filled up, they don't have to go at the very top.
I make use of them every season and it is a simple and easy opportunity with a good flow on to have new brood combs produced for the following season.

I always use 3 or 4 as supers to produce nice drawn comb for next year. This year I've got 7 on because I've run out of just about all my supers and made up all my spare kit.
The only things left at the moment are 5 14x12 boxes and 50 frame and it takes a long time to spin them out tangentially

 

[robmort]

As my bees have still only half capped most frames in the top super and these are mainly or partly from OSR, I'm not sure whether it's best to extract these before they crystallise or risk waiting till they are capped?

 

[Ian123]

As my bees have still only half capped most frames in the top super and these are mainly or partly from OSR, I'm not sure whether it's best to extract these before they crystallise or risk waiting till they are capped?

The weather is warm so osr will be slower to set, if your wanting to wait have a poke in some of the frames you suspect being osr and see what it’s doing.