Pull what you want when you want as long as you leave them enough is what the Oldtimers around here have told me. There is no law stating you need to harvest a super all at once. And yes, give them the frames back. Enjoy. G
Any harm in extracting
I have about 4 shallow frames full and capped right now, I was wondering if it would hurt anything to extract this now? I have a few sales waiting the bees. Also, I was thinking that rather than having the one super full and putting the other super on that is not drawn out that maybe if I extracted and put the empties back in the super it would save them time in drawing out new comb? Any thoughts on this?? Thank you
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I was wondering this as well, I just harvested 1 1/2 supers last weekend and put them back on, they have deeps with plenty of honey as well to get by
If the flow is still on the bees will jump right on those wet frames and tend to refill them. NOTHING wrong with it. I am still cleaning and trying to get ready to extract.
I am going to extract this weekend and put the supers back on the hives......hoping to extract them again in early September!
I only have the one super with drawn comb, and that is on 4 or 5 of of the frames only , wondering if I extract them if I should put them back right where they came out of should I checker board them or what??
1. Extract whatever, whenever --- but the smaller the extraction, the more relatively lost to waste coating the equipment.
2. Don't checkerboard honey comb --- only brood. Checkerboarding honey == the bees will pull out the built comb to very deep dimension and ignore the undrawn frames --- leading to a mess. Only exception is provide a ladder comb to pull the bees into the new box (if necessary). I put the ladder (one or two comb) in the center of the box.
3. If you have 4-5 frames of honey -- that is 9-12 pounds - A gallon or a 1 1/2 gallon. Are you confident you can build winter weight in the August -October period. I go into winter with 10 lbs in some singles, but I also live where banana's grow in yards.
2. Don't checkerboard honey comb --- only brood. Checkerboarding honey == the bees will pull out the built comb to very deep dimension and ignore the undrawn frames --- leading to a mess. Only exception is provide a ladder comb to pull the bees into the new box (if necessary). I put the ladder (one or two comb) in the center of the box.
3. If you have 4-5 frames of honey -- that is 9-12 pounds - A gallon or a 1 1/2 gallon. Are you confident you can build winter weight in the August -October period. I go into winter with 10 lbs in some singles, but I also live where banana's grow in yards.
I'm not pulling out any from the brood boxes, just out of the honey super, I'm assuming they'll have enough honey stores in the brood boxes for the winter, along with what I feed them?1. Extract whatever, whenever --- but the smaller the extraction, the more relatively lost to waste coating the equipment.
2. Don't checkerboard honey comb --- only brood. Checkerboarding honey == the bees will pull out the built comb to very deep dimension and ignore the undrawn frames --- leading to a mess. Only exception is provide a ladder comb to pull the bees into the new box (if necessary). I put the ladder (one or two comb) in the center of the box.
3. If you have 4-5 frames of honey -- that is 9-12 pounds - A gallon or a 1 1/2 gallon. Are you confident you can build winter weight in the August -October period. I go into winter with 10 lbs in some singles, but I also live where banana's grow in yards.
After you extract your small batch, do what the commercial guys do and that is throw a cover over the equipment after getting all out that will drain. Summer honey rarely sugars fast at least here.
I am getting ready to go as I have better than a ton to do I estimate on about twenty hives that will produce a surplus and I made a lot of splits to get my numbers up. Easy to feel like a good bee keeper when you have the flow we are having/had here. It tastes so GOOD!
I am getting ready to go as I have better than a ton to do I estimate on about twenty hives that will produce a surplus and I made a lot of splits to get my numbers up. Easy to feel like a good bee keeper when you have the flow we are having/had here. It tastes so GOOD!
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