Harvest honey while bees are eating it?

Hi everyone. I harvested honey in early May, and I was hoping to get some more this weekend, but I noticed the bees have uncapped the combs and are eating the honey. Can I harvest some anyway? Is the honey ‘ripe’?
For context, I am in San Francisco, California. The weather has been warm and flowers are in bloom.
Any help you can provide is appreciated.

Hello and welcome to the Flow forum! :wink:

If they are uncapping the honey, either you have a nectar dearth (tidy uncapping), or you have robbing (untidy uncapping and fighting bees at the entrance), or both. I wouldn’t take honey if the bees need it.

Plants flowering does not mean that they are producing nectar, especially if you have had a dry spell of no rain for a few weeks.

Do you have double deeps for brood? They will need the extra box for food over winter in your climate.

1 Like

Hi, yes, we have two brood boxes. From your description, I think we have nectar dearth. Can you please tell me what makes honey ‘ripe’? Isn’t honey just honey? When can you harvest it versus letting it ripen?

1 Like

Honey is ripe when bees cap it. When 90% of a frame is capped, it is ripe enough for you to harvest it. The other way to know for sure is to use a honey refractometer to measure water content. Below 18.6% water, most honey is ripe. Some of the thixotropic honeys have a higher water content, and honey from oil seed rape/canola will crystallize at higher water contents too. Higher water content means that the honey is not shelf stable, and may well ferment. Then you will have mead, rather than honey! :blush:

As a guide, I only harvest frames that are 90% capped, otherwise i let it ripen. If there is any doubt, and the season has ended (July down here, but yours may last longer), I harvest the super anyway, and test with a refractometer. If I am selling honey, I like it to be <18% water.

Hope that helps :wink:

Yes, that does. Thank you for your help!