[SilverFox]

Sorry Mike couldn't get any Sage, will e-mail,
Anyone know when the best time to harvest honey in the North West? All ready robbed 4 frames and are they ever good. Can the hives be robbed as the frames fill, or is it best to wait and do it all at once????

 

[Michael Bush]

Yes, you can rob them as they fill. It just takes more work for you overall.

 

[ChellesBees]

I extracted four times last year. The first time I pulled about 11 frames, just to do a test run. The second time I pulled about 5 supers. The third time I ended up with 8 supers, and it was more than I really wanted to do. Then I thought I was done, but ended up with 4 more supers to extract when I put them back on the hives for the bees to clean out. Yes it was maybe more work, but it does have some advantages.
I have a small extractor (first year, came with the stuff, will definitly be upgrading) and can only do so much at one time.
Once the frames are extracted, I can give them back to the bees to be filled again, so I don't need quite so many supers, and they don't have to draw as much comb.
By extracting multiple times, I can separate my honeys. The spring stuff was almost white, summer was light yellow, last fall harvest was bright gold. The flavors were different as well.
Do whatever works for you.