Harvesting Honey from a Hive

When is Honey Ready to Harvest?

Before you get too excited about “jarring up” your honey crop, you have a few things to consider. Is the honey ripe or ready to be taken?

First year hives don’t always make enough to share – you may have to wait until the second season.

You must understand how bees make honey – is the process complete? You can’t do your job until they have finished theirs. That means we are looking for capped honey.

Why Bees Cap Honey

Bees collect plant nectar and transform it into honey. Nectar is not honey – but it can become honey with a little time and a lot of work.

Fresh nectar contains too much moisture to be stored safely. House bees reduce the moisture content until the honey is ripe—usually around 18.6% water content.

Once ready, the bees seal each cell with a wax cap to protect the honey and help prevent moisture absorption.

Signs Your Honey Supers are Ready

Honey harvest timing varies by location and weather, so calendars are only rough guides. The best indicator is capped honey.  I can look down between the frames and see abundant white wax being formed.

Remove a few frames and check that most cells are sealed with wax. Your local beekeepers group can also provide valuable insight into typical harvest times in your area.

How Much Honey Can You Take?

Harvesting excess honey may be your beekeeping goal. But, how much honey can you take? That answer will be different for every hive.

Seasonal considerations play a role and you must leave enough honey for the hive to survive Winter. How much honey does a hive need for the cold months ahead?

The amount varies greatly from one region to another. Around 60# of excess stored honey is the average. Hives in colder regions will need more.

In my area, (south – but some cold months) my bees do well one deep box and and 1 shallow full of honey (for them) – but I closely monitor food levels throughout Winter. Other beekeepers use mediums or double deeps.

Your beekeeping adventure will not be successful unless your bees are able to survive Winter. To do that, they need to be a strong healthy colony with plenty of food (stored honey).

Tools Needed

The tools needing to harvest honey depends on the size of the apiary and the wallet size of the beekeeper. There are many things you can buy to make the job easier – but they are not essential.

• bee suit – protective wear
• bee smoker – (lit but not used in my apiary)
• hive tool
• bee brush or blower
• fume board and liquid (or an escape board)
• frame grips
• honey extractor (optional)
• buckets and honey strainers

The equipment needed depends on the size of your operation and budget. At minimum, you’ll need protective clothing, a hive tool, containers for honey, and a method of removing bees from the supers. Additional tools can make the process easier but are not essential.

Regarding smoker use during the honey harvest. I always take my beekeeper’s smoker with me. However, I do not use it during honey collection.

Because of the way smoke affects bees – I feel it is a hindrance instead of a help in moving bees out of the boxes.

Preparing the Hive Before Harvest Day

You can reduce stress on the bees and yourself with good planning. Choose a warm sunny day when most of the foraging bees are out working.

The worst time of day is late in the evening when all the older bees are home. Avoid days of inclement weather as they tend to make bees cranky.

Also, is common for late season colonies to be strong – and you may find more aggressive honeybees than normal.

Have a plan for carrying the heavy honey supers/frames to a bee-safe enclosed space. You will need a processing space whether you use the extractor or crush & strain method.

Step by Step Guide to Harvesting Honey

Your exact process will vary a bit during on the method and tools you want to use.  These are the basic steps that I use when it is time to bring in the honey.

Removing Bees from Honey Supers

It is normal to feel a bit overwhelmed, but taking supers off the hive can be a lot of fun too. In my region, this usually occurs when it is HOT as @#$ so I try to work early in the morning.

Summer beekeeping is no picnic. To begin, most of the bees must be removed from the supers. There are several common methods.

Bee Escapes

These allow bees to leave the super but prevent them from returning. Effective in many regions but require an extra trip to the apiary.

Useful for late season harvests in cool regions, this does not work in my area because the temps are hot at night and bees remain in the honey supers.

Bee Blowers

Often used by larger operations. Using a special blower or even a leaf blower to blow bees out of the honey supers quickly.

A bit messy for smaller scale beekeepers in my opinion. I tried this a few times but due to poor arm strength ended up with dirt in my combs sometimes.

Bee Brush

A simple option for small harvests. Bees are brushed from individual frames before collection. This method works but is very slow and time consuming.

Fume Board

My preferred method. A bee-safe repellent encourages bees to move down into the hive, leaving the super mostly bee-free within a few minutes.

To use a fume board, lightly apply the recommended liquid and place the board on top of the honey super.

Within several minutes, most bees will move into the box below. Once the super is largely bee-free, remove it from the hive and begin collecting frames.

Extract or Crush and Strain?

Many beekeepers use a honey extractor to separate honey from the comb while preserving the drawn comb for the bees to reuse.

Extractors come in several styles, but you don’t have to own one to harvest honey. The crush-and-strain method has been used successfully for generations and works well for small harvests.

What About Uncapped Honey Frames?

In most cases, uncapped frames should remain in the hive for another week or two so the bees can finish ripening and capping the honey.

However, uncapped honey is not always unripe. During seasons when nectar flows end abruptly, bees may not have time to cap fully ripened honey.

If you are considering harvesting uncapped frames, use a honey refractometer to check the moisture content before extracting. Most of the time we aim for 18.6% moisture.

Cleaning Up & Storing the Harvest

If you used an extractor to process your honey, you will have some valuable drawn comb to reuse in the hive. Depending on the number of honey flows in your region, they may go back on the hive.

Otherwise, be sure to store your honey supers properly for Winter to protect them from wax moths and other pests.

Raw honey stores well in airtight containers. Small producers often bottle directly into jars, while larger harvests may use food-grade buckets until bottling time.

Over time, some honey will naturally crystallize. Don’t panic—this is normal and can be reversed with gentle warming.

If you plan to sell honey there may be some special requirements from your state agriculture department.

Also, be sure to create honey labels that meet local requirements.

Final Thoughts