Uncapped honey

[Lindylou]

Hi all,

I am just wondering if there is any reason for my little darlings not capping their honey. There is plenty of uncapped stores in both super and brood box but it has not been capped.

 

[johncorne]

They may not have removed enough water yet....or (given our recent weather)...just keeping it handy for a rainy day!

Jc

 

[Lindylou]

Ah yes of course. Thank Johncorn. Weather been awful here for ages.

 

[wavey100]

If they are working oilseed rape or any other brassica you need to be taking the honey of with hardly any cappings on othierwise it will not extract very well through a radial extractor maximum 15% capped if you give the frame a good hard shake and nothing comes out it is ready to take of .

 

[galileo]

Do they have another super in which to ripen it? Sometimes giving a bit more space will allow them to get the water shifted a bit more efficiently, leading to faster capping.

 

[Lindylou]

Only have one super on at the moment - due to a weak queenless colony 2 weeks ago. Have now introduced a new queen who is laying - thank goodness. Now they need to build up their stores I think. Have got 5 frames of uncapped honey in super.

 

[oliver90owner]

oilseed rape or any other brassica you need to be taking the honey of with hardly any cappings on

Not true, of course. The shake test is the imortant one. I would suspect the honey is down to capping moisture, but as the flow has stopped/slowed, the cesls are not quite full, so not capped. Bees don't needlessly waste energy and effort.

RAB

 

[Pete D]

I have found the 'shake test' works better for me in the mornings.
I guess when you think about it if they 'process' it overnight there is more chance that it is ripe in the morning before they collect more and add it on top. No suprise then on a warm afternoon when the bees are bringing it back wholesale that every frame that isnt capped drips runny honey when shaken.

 

[Lindylou]

Cheers Pete. Makes sense when you think of it like that.

 

[Finman]

.
Capping and rippening honey takes time.

First, nectar flow mus continue that bees get cells full. Thern they will cap them. They do not cap cells, which are not full.

Second: Hive needs lots of farmes where they rippen the nerctar. Otherwise they stuck the brood frames.

One capped honey box needs 2 more boxes where they dry upp the nectar. '
If the nectar layer in cells is thick, drying up is slower.

.

 

[Finman]

oilseed rape or any other brassica you need to be taking the honey of with hardly any cappings on

Not true, of course. The shake test is the imortant one. I would suspect the honey is down to capping moisture, but as the flow has stopped/slowed, the cesls are not quite full, so not capped. Bees don't needlessly waste energy and effort.

RAB

Rab is right. I exctract only capped rape honey. But I do not make shake tests.

Late summer is different. But mostly bees eate the uncapped honey when they rear winter bees in August.

 

[user 6228]

oilseed rape or any other brassica you need to be taking the honey of with hardly any cappings on

Not true, of course. The shake test is the imortant one. I would suspect the honey is down to capping moisture, but as the flow has stopped/slowed, the cesls are not quite full, so not capped. Bees don't needlessly waste energy and effort.

RAB

So if you space the super frames closer together(e.g. brood spacing), the cell length will be shorter and be capped sooner?

 

[oliver90owner]

So if you space the super frames closer together(e.g. brood spacing), the cell length will be shorter and be capped sooner?

I don't see any relevance of this post to mine. Why would anyone go into a part-filled super and reduce the spacing? Anyway they may well be spaced at the minimum already. Very very simple if they are not yet full, but may be shortly, the bees will not cap them -whether at brood spacing or any other.

There are other alternatives to get them capped earlier, of course...

 

[YorkshireBees]

oilseed rape or any other brassica you need to be taking the honey of with hardly any cappings on

Not true, of course. The shake test is the imortant one. I would suspect the honey is down to capping moisture, but as the flow has stopped/slowed, the cesls are not quite full, so not capped. Bees don't needlessly waste energy and effort.

RAB

I agree with RAB and Finman.

I went through 13 supers this weekend extracting osr honey.
Some were approx 2/3rds capped others had no capping.
I used both the shake test and then a refractometer on the extracted honey and had no problems identifying which frames to extract and which to leave.
The honey ranged from 17.6 - 19.0% if I read the refractometer correctly.

 

[tudorcd]

So if you space the super frames closer together(e.g. brood spacing), the cell length will be shorter and be capped sooner?

I don't see any relevance of this post to mine. Why would anyone go into a part-filled super and reduce the spacing? Anyway they may well be spaced at the minimum already. Very very simple if they are not yet full, but may be shortly, the bees will not cap them -whether at brood spacing or any other.

There are other alternatives to get them capped earlier, of course...

Could please expand on "other alternatives".
Thanks.

 

[Finman]

So if you space the super frames closer together(e.g. brood spacing), the cell length will be shorter and be capped sooner?

That is not wise. I use 9 frames in 10 frame box that honey combs are fatter.

 

[Finman]

Could please expand on "other alternatives".
Thanks.

there is no alternatives to cap eralier. You only spoil your hive when start to use these 2-hive owners' tricks.

.

 

[Finman]

I agree with RAB and Finman.


The honey ranged from 17.6 - 19.0% if I read the refractometer correctly.

I do not even have refractometer. What do I do with that?

.

 

[Finman]

There are other alternatives to get them capped earlier, of course...

At least I do not know those and there is a limit, what are you doing those bees .

One basic system is that you have supers. Then you add more and put them between brood and previous honey. Bees fill cells in order. They lift rippen honey up and keep nectar down.

When you have 1 or 2 boxes fully capped, you return empty combs then over the brood box.

If situation is this, that there are 4 capped boxes and I exctract them all, Then I return those 4 boxes. Mostly bees have difficulties to fill so many boxes because they rippen and are filled at same time.

Normally hive is large because expanding colony needs that space.
So bees put honey everywhere. It takes it own time that cells are full and bees can cap it. It is rainy here but bees carry nectar from raspberry at once when sun comes to sight.

Just now I took more boxes to hives. One hive has now 3 langtsroths and 3 mediums. It has 50 kg honey but no capped.

Another hive has 2 langstoths and 4 mediums. It has not much honey. I put that hive on balance.

.

 

[YorkshireBees]

I do not even have refractometer. What do I do with that?

.

You don't need one as you have many years experience and know when honey can be extracted, even if it is not capped.

For me, I bought one when I was interested in checking the honey is ripe before extraction.
I don't use it for that now as I am starting to get the experience to tell when the time is right but just to confirm my feeling I used it post extraction to check as I was interested.

For a beginner or beekeeper of limited experience it can give reassurance that the honey is ok to extract.