Brisbane - Australia
Purchased our first hive in April, and have been amazed by the progress over the past few weeks.
I probably should have waited another week before opening our first frame, but I’m delighted with our first yield, about 2kg, Christmas Day.
Merry Christmas Nathan nice work. I still love the process and can appreciate your enthusiasm.
Were you able to take a quick peek in the weeks before at the flow frames?
It really helps to know which frames are filled.
I keep a register of each frame harvested and it’s fullness so I can always ensure they all get cracked from time to time and know the cells are capped.
2kgs would indicate that the frame was maybe only approximately 75% full.
Good luck.
Thanks!
I checked earlier in the week and I estimated a similar percentage to your calculation.
I expect the water content is higher ideal as a result, and knew that going in, but thought the fact this honey won’t last the week in this household, and that I could share some with family today, was going to be worth it the premature tapping.
The rest of the hive is at a similar percentage, so I’ll be keeping an eye on it over the next few weeks.
Delighted with how it’s come along.
Well done Nathan & Merry Christmas.
I have a tip that I do, especially if the frames are not fully capped. I harvest first thing in the morning. My reasoning is that yesterdays nectar/unripe honey present in uncapped cells has at least been drying out overnight. Harvesting later on during the day will mean that more watery honey, that has just come in could be present in the uncapped cells.
Also if a frame is not fully capped, you can do a face down shake, unripe honey will shake out, reasonably ripe honey will stay put. This is what I do with traditional frames. If honey shakes out, I’ll put it back. If no honey shakes out, I’ll take it to extract.
Thanks Jeff. Really excellent tips, I appreciate it.
That’s great Nathan.
Yes it is hard to resist and makes a great gift.
I saw Jeff’s comments and he has these amazing tips.
When I was monitoring the hive weight with a hive monitor I could see the weight of the hive drop over night as the moisture is extracted.
thanks
Looks like the end frame so you probably have a decent idea through the window for that one, otherwise, wisdom on ripeness and checking frames definitely applies!
Merry Christmas!
Near record warmth here in Ohio, 18°C on 12/25! Bees flying this morning for a poop but nothing but water to be found.
