Ok… So I went out today to do a hive inspection… about 2 weeks ago I finally added my first honey super (woot woot)! The bees seem to be taking to it rather slow… I must admit I have been a bad bee keeper and it’s been about 2 weeks since my last inspection! When I pulled the super off to get to the top brood box it seems the bees have filled about 80% of the top brood box with capped honey and the bottom brood box is a good mix of brood and honey! My question… Is it too late in the season to harvest 2 or 3 frames of honey and put them back in? Or should I just wait until spring? Any advice would be greatly appreciated… and I should mention this is my first hive that I started this spring!
This is a perfect time to harvest in your climate, in my humble opinion. Just make sure that the frames you choose are at least 90% capped (lift them out to check), and open each frame in 20% increments to avoid air locking the Flow tube, which will flood the hive and kill bees. Wait at least 5 mins between each increment and check the honey level in the Flow tube before you open any more.
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I think he’s talking about harvesting a couple of frames from the top brood box.
If that’s the case, one or two won’t hurt as long as you spin them in an extractor and get them right back on the hive so the bees can refill them.
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So long as you are only taking the excess and leaving them their winter stores you can harvest just about anytime.
Cheers
Rob.
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