The last few times (between October & now) I’ve harvested from my flowframes very little honey has flowed out, based on this it seems the bees are not removing the crystallised honey. Yesterday I tried again, & was able to draw a small amount from the two outside frames but nothing from the four central frames. From what I’ve read, I think I will have to try removing the frames & warming them - Any suggestions?
Sorry to go back to the basics Kerryn but did you remove the flow frames and check that at least 80% of both sides of a frame were capped before you tried to extract the honey?
I would be thinking with you in Perth it is so warm there that honey wouldn’t crystallize so quickly. I don’t use the windows as anything more than entertainment, don’t rely on them to know the state of the whole frame. You should be getting 2.5 to 3 kg of honey from a fully capped frame. If the honey has definately crystallized then you could remove one frame at a time and put it into a black plastic bag in the sun for a few hours and it should revert back into honey to extract in the kitchen. When drained of honey I would then wash the frame in hot water to wash out the residue honey in case it is a honey prone to crystallizing to readily, like Canola, for example…
Welcome to the forum, lots of nice folk here who enjoy giving a helping hand with advise. Cheers
Hiya khands, welcome to the forum.
Have you harvested from the Fframes previously?
Not sure where in Perth you are but the problem with our great nectar supply is that it is high in glucose which makes it crystallize faster than fructose honeys. Having said that I’ve left a Flow super on over winter and harvested in spring and still got a decent amount from each frame. It did crystallize within a month however.
If you have harvested this season I would not expect the honey to have crystallized already.
What was your indication to say the frames were ready for harvesting?
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