slow to cap

[Matt NY]

I put a super on my single colony around July 4, another around July 14 and another around July 24. I made sure they were filling before I put on the next super.

The first super was drawn when I put it on and the second was partially drawn the last is drawn but in rough condition.

They haven't touched the top super, but the first two filled quickly, the partially drawn frames were drawn out quickly.

Why aren't they capping? I believe I have good ventilation. The first super has most combs about 50% capped.

They have some nice deep frames full and capped in the top brood box.

Are they eating this or maybe moving it?

I could really use some honey.

Thanks,
Matt

[victor schrager]

Same with me over in SW Albany County. I have been checking frames full of honey since July and they just won't finish capping it! Corners of deep frames below are capped fine. I wanted to get these off to have honey without goldenrod, asters etc so it might not crystallize so much.
Victor Schrager

[jamiev]

I do not have an answer Matt however i have the same problem in one of my hives. There are two med supers being filled with honey for several weeks now but none capped. Yesterday i did see one frame started but only an area 2" square was capped. I am in Rochester Ny The weather here is terrible ..cooler than normal and wet.. Probably part of the reason? I really want some honey since I am a new beekeeper. I also have to make sure their winter stores are adequate so they better get to work. I plan to feed once I take some honey for my own use.

[Matt NY]

Sounds like a regional thing from the source of the repliies. Maybe just too humid to get the water out of the nectar?

[Dwight]

I live in Vermont at about the same latitude as you guys. We have the same problem here this year. I think it is mainly because the season is poor this year with all the rain and cool weather. But even though it is not capped doesn't mean it is not ripe. Shake the frames vigorously and if the honey doesn't fall out then it is ripe and can be extracted. Actually makes harvesting easier because you don't have to do so much uncapping.

[victor schrager]

Did you guys have very slow build up - esp from packages - this year too? The amount of bees and capped brood at the end of August finally looks like what I would expect in early July.

[jamiev]

I have to say that two of my hives built comb/brood very slowly in my newbee opinion. I was feeding and stopped in late June, early July. My frame of reference is my third hive which also built up slowly but very steady and the population was much larger, sooner.
My hives were all started as Nucs in mid to late May.
Dwight I am surprised about the uncapped honey possibly being harvestable. I will bring my refractometer out to the hive in a few days and check moisture levels. Is it possible that if uncapped is under 18% moisture, it may be ok to harvest uncapped? I hope so bc these girls are not in any hurry to cap honey for some reason.

[Mike Gillmore]

I've had the same situation here with the bees not capping the cells. We also have had a very wet spring and early summer. I have been hearing reports from others in Ohio experiencing this also.

A few weeks back 1 hive finally capped off a shallow super and I pulled and extracted it to get some honey before the Goldenrod starts up. I was very surprised when I checked the moisture content with my refractometer and found that it was over 19% ... even though it was capped. Taught me to check first and not to assume that capped honey "always" contains the correct percentage of moisture. I was able to dry it up with a dehumidifier in a small room so all was not lost.

I don't have any answers as to why this is happening... rainy weather, slow or late build up, high humidity, maybe combinations of several factors. It seems to be a fairly common complaint recently in the NE part of the country. You're not alone.

[Dwight]

Jamie,
I do not have a refractometer but my honey seems to be fine. No problems with fermentation or anything like that. It seems to be the same consistancy as capped honey. But I am curious, let me know what your findings are when you check yours please.

[Mitch]

Yep same deal here in Ohio.I am not sure why either.Things went well at the beginning of the flow so i kept putting on more supers as they were filled.I checked and extraqcted some 2 weeks ago alot of filled supers but not all capped.It looked like they were starting to capp most of the filled supers.we have had dry weather thet last 10+ days but rain today and tomarrow.I am hopeing to have most of ther honey off this comeing weekend.

[Konrad]

Thank you all!
The flow is still on, and it was a nice warm sunny day.
Another question..
This was my second take of honey super this year from my 5 hives. Weather condition where the same and found all other hives a little more defensive then last time.

Do bees know, the season is coming to an end and therefore acting accordingly?

>>When you take off honey by the super, the bees are much less likely to go after you.

Perhaps I have to learn this yet!....How do you go about it?
How do I know I got the frames capped when the super is full of bees?
A local keeper said, he stands the box on its side and the bees will go out in a couple of hours.....not for me!
Konrad

[Konrad]

Ups...sorry for this posting!....placed it on the wrong thread!
Hope someone can delete it!
Konrad

[SandyC]

I'm Upstate near Carthage and everything is capped and looks beautiful!!! Things were hot, humid, with little rain in July and early August but nice for the past few weeks.

[sierrabees]

Out here in sunny Cal, I have a similar situation. I'm pretty sure what the cause is here. My bees are still producing lots of brood and I think we have just enough flow going on that they are using it up to feed the brood as fast as they can ripen it. I expect to be buying enough sugar this year to wear out my car hauling it if I want these girls to make the winter.

[jamiev]

Update on the slow capping. Today Sept 9th, I checked out the two honey supers. Very little capping of honey cells is going on here.
Dwight .. I brought out my refractometer... The uncapped honey is 22 - 24 % No wonder they have not capped it! They have filled a few more frames of uncapped honey and drawn out some foundation to do so but there are still some undrawn frames and they are taking their time with all of it.
I checked the top brood chamber and I did find two frames of near completely capped honey on the perimeter of the hive box. They seemed like older honey frames but tasted good and moisture of capped honey was around 18% or less. One of the frames was partly uncapped but that honey was at 20-21%.
I extracted them tonight...A little more than 1/2 gal. from two meds. Not bad.
I do not expect to take more than two or three more frames from this hive. BTW the hive weighed 100 lbs after i removed the two full honey frames so i think the bees will have plenty of honey for winter.