Posted: 9/2/2014 2:20:52 PM EDT
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How do I judge optimum harvest time?
If top medium super is 1/3 filled and days still into 90's. |
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How many supers do you have on? I usually harvest when the supers are filled with capped honey (at least 8 of the 10 frames...I'll leave 1 or 2 if they are uncapped). I would have thought you would have harvested by now heading into Sept (but I don't know your local weather), but is it getting cooler? I would peek in there every 7-10 days to see how the supers are filling up and being mindful of leaving them adequate winter stores. Is there still a flow on in your area? |
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Quoted:
How many supers do you have on? I usually harvest when the supers are filled with capped honey (at least 8 of the 10 frames...I'll leave 1 or 2 if they are uncapped). I would have thought you would have harvested by now heading into Sept (but I don't know your local weather), but is it getting cooler? I would peek in there every 7-10 days to see how the supers are filling up and being mindful of leaving them adequate winter stores. Is there still a flow on in your area? I know this is in English, but for all I understood it might as well be in Mongolian. |
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So....
Last year we had a hive we never took any honey out of and all the bees starved over the winter we forgot to look after them and sorta figured they had plenty since we didn't harvest). This year we are trying to do a much better job. I'll look to see how much honey is in there, but is there a problem with just leaving them to it over the winter? Especially if there really isn't enough for us to mess with. |
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Quoted:
So.... Last year we had a hive we never took any honey out of and all the bees starved over the winter we forgot to look after them and sorta figured they had plenty since we didn't harvest). This year we are trying to do a much better job. I'll look to see how much honey is in there, but is there a problem with just leaving them to it over the winter? Especially if there really isn't enough for us to mess with. With experience you will be able to simply lift the rear of the hive and determine if there is adequate stores. If not, FEED HEAVILY IN SEPT.! |
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I am not a beekeeper but have a question for them..
What do you guys do with the raw honeycomb? Is that something I can buy or get from some place? Not the melted down honey comb, just the raw empty stuff. Apparently some blacksmiths use it as a finish on their knives and I wanted to give it a try. |
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Quoted:
I am not a beekeeper but have a question for them.. What do you guys do with the raw honeycomb? Is that something I can buy or get from some place? Not the melted down honey comb, just the raw empty stuff. Apparently some blacksmiths use it as a finish on their knives and I wanted to give it a try. It's kept intact and reused. It's the most valuable thing a beekeeper possesses--moreso than the bees themselves. I have cake (melted) wax I can send you. How much do you need? |
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Quoted:
It's kept intact and reused. It's the most valuable thing a beekeeper possesses--moreso than the bees themselves. I have cake (melted) wax I can send you. How much do you need? Quoted:
Quoted:
I am not a beekeeper but have a question for them.. What do you guys do with the raw honeycomb? Is that something I can buy or get from some place? Not the melted down honey comb, just the raw empty stuff. Apparently some blacksmiths use it as a finish on their knives and I wanted to give it a try. It's kept intact and reused. It's the most valuable thing a beekeeper possesses--moreso than the bees themselves. I have cake (melted) wax I can send you. How much do you need? He could get on craigslist and find callings wax that someone is selling. Not hard to find here. Pulling super completely depends on the local forage and the flow timing. Out here the last flow is star thistle that runs from June to August. This year it never came (no rain). So our last nector coming in was done back in early April with wildflowers. This will not apply to anyone outside of the zone I'm in. |
