Honey Capping Question

[Ron Young]

I have a question. I have always thought that bees capped honey from the top of the hive down to the brood nest. Is this always the case, or do bees sometimes cap close to the brood nest and work their way up? Or will they cap in all honey supers when they are ready? What determines it?

I run my hive in two deeps, and then put on honey supers as needed. Last year, I did not super fast enough, and they swarmed. This year, I put three supers on, and later found them all having nectar in all frames, with some cappings being added in the center of the hive. I got worried, and added a fourth honey super, to give them room. I now have two deeps and four supers. I have about 60-80 percent of the center frames on the top super that are capped. The rest are open nectar. I am not sure what the rest of the supers look like, as I did not take the time to go completely into the hive.

I fear that I may have caused them to focus on the new space, and the result is going to be un-harvestable honey?

I may eventually figure this out. I kind of doubt it though.

[NasalSponge]

Sounds to me like you have an excellent colony there with a good flow going on and the honey will be very harvest-able!!:applause:

The capping of honey is determined by it's water content. Once the bees get it to around 18% (I think) then they cap it.

If the top super is 80% capped I would throw another one on there.

[Ross]

I have one hive that has capped honey in the bottom two boxes and brood on top. Annoying, but they make honey every year. This is the first time they have reversed.

[Ron Young]

The colony is pretty good. I wish I had given them the fourth super earlier. We are now at the end of the spring flow, and the summer flow here is non existent. I will be surprised to see what if any honey I get to take. I will be surprised if they fully cap anything. We have had a ton of rain this spring, and many days that were not good honey making days at all. In addition to that, the poplar bloom seemed late in starting, and yet it finished on time, resulting in a shorter that should have been flow. At least that is what I have seen.

We will see.

[Michael Bush]

Bees put honey where they find room. They cap it when they don't need it for brood and it's dry enough. That's the only pattern to any order of capping.

[Ron Young]

Does high humitity effect the curing out of nectar into honey? Will they cure it out and move it up to fill space, then cap?

[DRUR]

Ron:
I am just now getting started back into beekeeping. I kept bees (as a hobbyist) from the late 70' through the later part of the 80s, flutuating between 12 and 15 colonies. The colonies I kept at my house usually averaged about 3 mediums (100-125# per colony) a during the spring flow which usually ended the end of May. I also had two deep for the flow which usually began (though not strong) around the beginning of April and was in full flow by the 3rd week of Arpil through the middle of May (actually about the 1st week). Then it would quickly begin waning. I had Midnites (Caucasions) which were not bad about swarming, and I usually always requeened them all the previous fall, so they were young and virile.

I would add my honey supers after they began capping honey along the top brood chamber. When 4 to 6 of these frames were capped I would add another Super, after I moved the capped honey to the outside. They would generally then finish capping the rest of the frames recently moved into the middle and moving up towards the middle of the next super. After, the lower super was fully capped I would swith places with the second super, moving it below and the capped super up above. And repeat the process as previously outline with the first super. I usually pulled the first super and harvested before the second super was halfway finished, and then replaced on top of the unfinished super, repeating the process above. Our flows are short and not strong here, probably similar to yours. After harvesting the last of the honey, I always returned the supers to let the bees clean them up for a week or so, then I would remove them. Midnites would reduce brood populations as the honey flow waned, and I would remove the supers and store after the bees worked them over. Our fall flow here is fairly strong, but the honey is dark and strong. I would leave them the fall flow, which was usually probably excessively 1 deep. After requeening in the fall, they built up early the following spring because of the large honey stores I left behind. However, my understanding is that Italians are different and always maintain a large brood nest; and therefore, I suspect different managment techniques will be required. You must adopt for your area and your bees.

Danny

[Michael Bush]

>Does high humitity effect the curing out of nectar into honey?

Yes.

>Will they cure it out and move it up to fill space, then cap?

If it's in their way for brood rearing etc., then yes they will move it. Otherwise they will not.