What is happening with honey collection on n Adelaide

Flow Hive
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here’s a view of the observation side- the top box holds a single frame only- not the best photo- and the colony has filled out the hive since it was taken

IMG_0569.jpg1935×2580 2.09 MB
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@Semaphore
Michelle,
I harvested the 6 frames today. 14.8 kg total so pretty happy. However I did one frame last night and only got 1 kg. Very disappointed , but harvested before I inspected frames as end view had shown filled cells for at least 3 weeks. Anyway nobody told my bees to start in the centre and work out that is why the only one kg. I checked other frames today and harvested all. Does taste very good as my first harvest. Am just about to go back outside and wash off all the ants with some soap and water. Might have collected 15 kg if I did not spill any.
Two photos, end shot = full frames and trap for new players
Actual frame= proof is in the pudding but still got 1kg
Cheers

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15kg sounds a bit low fr 6 flow frames, was all the honey capped/ripe?

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I bet the overall water content will be OK- but I would guess some small proportion wasn’t fully ripened. you can see in that frame above that the whole face of that comb was largely uncapped. But I bet there wasn’t much nectar in those uncapped sections either: on my mums hive she had the experience several times where the four internal frames were 100 capped- whilst one face of the two outermost frames was completely/largely ignored.

@Jeffm how did you get ants on the frames? Did you remove them before or after you harvested? Also we have taken to inspecting all our frames before we harvest so we avoid cracking any that are not full. It can be hard to tell if they are full or not just by looking at the rear cells. Oftentimes the rear cells are left to last- they can be empty of half full when the rest of the frame is fully capped.

Anyhow- glad to see you got a good harvest! Lets hope the nectar flow continues into summer and autumn.

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Michelle,
I harvested again yesterday and got 17.6kg so am quite happy. The first harvest was tasted of lemon ( maybe lemon scented gums in north Adelaide) this second one tastes of um, um ,um , honey!!
Jeff

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