The bees themselves heat the honey up to 44 Celsius, to dry it out. So if you warm up the honey to max 44C, you’re not doing anything to the honey, the bees wouldn’t have done to it themselves. It will speed up the dehydration though. So I’d say it’s easy to do it safely without bothering the bees with it (if you let the bees do it, it will cost you honey, because they need to “burn” honey to generate the heat).
Well, I guess I can accept that logic, although 44 C sounds kind of high, as most of the brood part of the hive is kept at 35 C.
Anyhow, my oven doesn’t go down that low, so I can’t do it in that. My sous-vide machine does, but it adds a lot of humidity to the air, so that wouldn’t work. Plus, my concern is how to heat the honey evenly to a very low warmish temp without evaporating volatiles along with the water. Even if you use a band heater around a drum, there will be hot spots. I would rather just freeze it, or let the bees have it back.
The heater-bees have a max temp of 44C. They inevitably have to be able to generate a higher temperature than the 35C, otherwise they cannot compensate for heat-losses in the rest of the hive. They will not generate 44C all the time, the actual temperature they produce is dependent on the localised needs of the hive at that spot (at that point in time).
When the bees heat it, to dry it, they most likely will get rid of the very same volatiles along with the water. The bees are subject to the same laws of physics, they don’t perform any magic when drying the honey.
[quote] Even if you use a band heater around a drum, there will be hot spots. I would rather just freeze it, or let the bees have it back.
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To avoid hot spots, an au-bain-marie heating would work perfectly. But I agree that one would be trading one’s own energy and efforts against a higher net honey harvest from the hive.
Fortunately most of us have a dehumidifier at home.
Your air conditioner on cooling and your fridge are dehumidifies. I’m surprised heating is the only method mentioned so far.
If I had a hybrid flow hive, that is 3 flow frames in the middle and 2 standard frames on either side, would it be a safe bet that if the standard frame closest to the flow frames was 90% capped the flow frames would be ready for harvesting?
Hi Dawn
You could try using the old fashioned light bulbs in a box.
You just try a couple of different wattages to achieve your desired temp.
The ply side was off one side leaving the perspex. I was thinking the same thing myself about perspex. I would have 2 rows of 4 holes that all line up.
I’ll do better than photos, I’ll make a video:)
Jeff did you make the vid for the half super idea shared with HHH? Would love to see it 
We checked our Flow frames manually by lifting them up before we harvested and it is no big deal- it takes just a few minutes. However- having said that- I think with time and practice it will be possible to extract without having to remove the frames first. You can actually tell quite a bit by looking in the side and end windows.
Hi Kirsten, no I never went ahead with that idea. I was only thinking today that I should make myself a special small hive with shorter frames, say 250mm long & the same depth as ideals. Mainly for the purpose of picking up swarms. Those smaller frames could be very convenient to use instead of my usual deep Lang frames.
Did you read my message to Dawn the other night? I picked up a colony that moved into a bird box about a week ago, only a few days after our shortest day. I found the queen in that colony yesterday. Today we found the queen in the colony we rescued out of a hive in a huge tree that broke just above the hive in a huge blow. We bought that colony home tonight. We’re making a video of that, I’ve got a few more bits & pieces to film before I edit the video. I’ll ttyl, bye:)
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I did see that post Jeff, do you think the bird box colony was from a swarm at this time of year or had they been in there for a little while? Would be pretty unusual timing for a swarm even up there I imagine? I was hoping to see some pics/vid of either or both, will keep an eye out for it
Jeff
Do you know I haven’t got a swarm at all this year…
First time in 7 years
Have you got them all?
Thanks Kirsten, it’s only in recent years that I’ve seen swarms this time of year. I’m wondering if the colonies left hives because of shb slyme outs. The colony wasn’t big, which makes me wonder if the colony wasn’t able to prevent the beetle from taking over the hive. That’s all I can think of.
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G’day Dee, that’s no good about the lack of swarms.
I got all the bees in the bird box but sadly we left a lot of bees in the tree cavity. We got the queen on the brood we wired up in a frame into a nuc box, a lot of bees went in but a lot were still crawling all over the inside tree cavity when it was dark & we were freezing & had a 50 minute drive ahead of us in my cold truck. If we were closer I would have left it there for another day. Over a 1 &1/2 hour period, it must have been hard for my nuc box, even with the queen inside to compete with all the pheromones scattered over every nook & cranny of the large cavity they’d been living in for many years.
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Never done this Jeff, but I liked reading about it & really appreciate the effort & special care it must take.
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Jef…you can’t always save them all. A valiant effort. I must remember to include a chainsaw in my bee bag 
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Hi & thanks Dee, I was lucky the property owner had one. Mine needs to get repaired. I hope when the video is finally put together that it all measures up to my description… I’m glad I’m replying to your message now Dee because I forgot the wax in the back room was on. I’d better go & pour it. I nearly went to bed & forgot about it. cheers
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Hi Eva & everyone, here is my video of the bird box bees. I was really impressed with the queen. I’m hoping her progeny is just as impressive. cheers
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Lovely, Jeff, how high up was the box, did you have to do any climbing? Is that the swarm queen you have as your profile pic?
Hi Kirsten, thank you. No, not too bad. They had a step ladder sitting on their outdoor table for me to use. It was tied with 2 cable ties on a type of palm tree. Being nice & light was a big advantage. I might have scored the bird box as well. The lady offered to pick it up at my place next time they’re in the area. The bloke said he’ll phone us if he decides he wants it.
Yes Kirsten, that is the queen in my new profile pic. I liked it so much, I decided to use it as a profile pic. Wilma got 2 stings on the nose from those bees. Admittedly I didn’t use smoke at the time. I just hope her progeny isn’t hard to handle… The bees out of the tree are fairly quiet.
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Wonderful @JeffH
What a lovely looking queen
Hi Dee, thank you:)…