This is what I have going on. I intended on having 5 hives this year as I am a second year beek. I lost a package with a dead queen but caught two swarms so ended up with 6 hives.
I bought 10 med honey supers this year and foundation and already had a honey super and foundation so I have a total of 11 med honey supers. We are having a bumper crop this year that is the good part of the problem. The bad part is I put a fresh Med super on every hive Friday and the have already drawn them and are nearly complete filling them. Yeah I know good thing. And I have a extractor so we were just going to extract and put the supers back on.
Problem is that I just found out on this site about high moister content in the honey is not good. I did the poke test I read about and my honey seems very wet and I am afraid that if I extract it it will go bad. I tested the capped honey. I was under the impression from my studies that if it was capped i was good to go.
I am building a enclosed plastic tent with my very large dehumidifier to lower the moister. Problem is my hives are full to the brim with bees and if I take the supers to dry they will not fit in the hives.
I am out of equipment and can not buy more as I had not planned on needing this quantity.
Some questions?
Can I extract then remove moister?
Should I or where should I get a refractor meter?
Should I even buy one as finance resources are limited?
Should I seek to find a local beek with one to use or a local beek with some supers to through on?
Should I have planned on doing splits and had hardware for that reserved? On new packages?
Don't be afraid to tell me all the beginner mistakes I made. I thought I planned it out buy getting the extractor and additional supers. Honestly I thought it would be like last year and my first year packages would not give surplus let alone every package filling two to four supers. No kidding I have a April package with four Med supers full right now and our flow is still on.
Any advise would be appreciated.
I bought 10 med honey supers this year and foundation and already had a honey super and foundation so I have a total of 11 med honey supers. We are having a bumper crop this year that is the good part of the problem. The bad part is I put a fresh Med super on every hive Friday and the have already drawn them and are nearly complete filling them. Yeah I know good thing. And I have a extractor so we were just going to extract and put the supers back on.
Problem is that I just found out on this site about high moister content in the honey is not good. I did the poke test I read about and my honey seems very wet and I am afraid that if I extract it it will go bad. I tested the capped honey. I was under the impression from my studies that if it was capped i was good to go.
I am building a enclosed plastic tent with my very large dehumidifier to lower the moister. Problem is my hives are full to the brim with bees and if I take the supers to dry they will not fit in the hives.
I am out of equipment and can not buy more as I had not planned on needing this quantity.
Some questions?
Can I extract then remove moister?
Should I or where should I get a refractor meter?
Should I even buy one as finance resources are limited?
Should I seek to find a local beek with one to use or a local beek with some supers to through on?
Should I have planned on doing splits and had hardware for that reserved? On new packages?
Don't be afraid to tell me all the beginner mistakes I made. I thought I planned it out buy getting the extractor and additional supers. Honestly I thought it would be like last year and my first year packages would not give surplus let alone every package filling two to four supers. No kidding I have a April package with four Med supers full right now and our flow is still on.
Any advise would be appreciated.