Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
A full super of honey frames added to that will give your bees 70 pounds (31.8 kg).
Or, they may have more below and need less above. This arithmetic is necessary.
Don't guess about the amount of honey to leave the bees. Too little and they will
starve in late winter, when the need for lots of food to feed lots of new brood escalates.
In fact, late winter is the time of year that most colonies perish—either because they
simply run out of food, or workers raised in the late summer were damaged by tracheal
or varroa mites.
Several things influence the actual date you will remove honey from your colony in
preparation for the coming fall and winter seasons. Foremost of these is the need to treat
for varroa mites.
If you are using any of the hard chemicals or the essential-oil potions, you must not
expose honey that's intended for human consumption to these chemicals. So, treating
those bees raised in the fall for varroa mite infestations influences when to harvest
honey.
Another consideration for harvest time is your time. If you are removing honey
and giving it away, your time commitment will be minimal—perhaps an hour on one
weekend day. However, if you'll need to prepare a space—the garage or the base-
ment—harvest and move those frames there, extract, remove the frames, and clean up.
It can take the better part of a couple days with one or two colonies. Plan accordingly,
and factor in when treatments will need to begin. Your record book will help here, es-
pecially next year.
Beware of Foul Fumigants
There are other chemical repellents that work, but think twice before using them.
They are toxic, flammable, and the foulest smelling concoctions ever created. They
are effective (Bee-Go and Honey Robber are their names), efficient, and will not
taint honey or equipment. Spill them on your bee suit, in your car, or in the house,
however, and you will be sorry forever or until you move or destroy the fouled
items.
Removing Frames or a Super
The best advice for learning to harvest honey is to help someone else do it before you
have to do yours. But that may not be possible, so here are some hints and tips for mak-
ing this task as easy as possible.
If time permits, the day before you harvest, quickly examine just the honey supers
you will be working in the next day. Smoke the bees a tiny bit so they leave the super
