How to Collect Honey Supers From a Beehive
Many beekeepers get into keeping honey bees for the simple purpose of producing honey. With some hard work and a little luck, your bees will be productive and produce a lot of honey for themselves and you. Now it’s time to decide how to collect honey super boxes from your hive – and live to tell the tale. 🙂
Removing Honey from Your Beehive
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Of course, we wish to get the honey from the bees with a minimum of disturbance. If this is your first time, a lot of excitement and maybe just a bit of nerves is normal.
Honestly, the bees will probably not be thrilled about giving up part of their food stores. Also, removing the honey crop is about much more than just taking up the boxes. We have some decisions to make before getting too involved.
Not Every Colony Produces a Large Honey Harvest
In many areas of the country, beekeepers do not get to collect honey from new hives the first season.
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Even with supplemental feeding, new colonies may need the whole first season to get into good shape before Winter. On average, it will be the second year before you can enjoy the golden goodness.
Try to be patient. Taking too much and leaving your bees to starve is not good beekeeping or even smart beekeeping.
How Much Honey Should You Leave Your Bees?
Deciding how much honey to leave your bees is one of the most popular questions in the hobby. Alas, it is very difficult to give a solid answer.
Confer with local beekeepers-as the amount needed depends in part on where you live? Honey bees survive Winter by consuming honey and generating heat within the bee cluster.
Those of you in a climate with long Winter months will require more honey stores. Also, some colonies keep a larger population over the Winter and require more stored food.
Leaving around 60 pounds of honey for the bees is a general number to start with. Experienced beekeepers in your region will know how much honey you should leave on the hive.
How Often do You Remove Honey from Your Bees?
Beekeepers in some regions may have several small harvests during the season. Other beekeepers have a shorter time when honey production is high. They may only pull honey off the hives once a year.
Honey is often collected from the hives after a “flow“. This refers to a period of time when the natural world has abundant nectar available.
Most of the honey in my area is made in the Spring. I do not have a true Fall flow where the bees make honey for me to harvest.
When you remove your honey crop depends on your climate. In my area, I only make excess honey during Spring. So, I will take the ripe honey from the hives in late May or Early June.
If I am lucky, I may get to pull another batch of honey in late July. This will be Sourwood Honey. Other areas experience a Fall flow – depending on the forage available in your area.
Testing Honey Before Collecting
Each cell of honey is sealed with a wax cap when ripe. In general, honey bees will not cap honey cells until the honey is ripe and ready for storage. This usually happens when the moisture content of honey is about 18.6%
In most cases, we want a full frame of capped honey with only a few open cells. If the majority of the frame is not capped, the bees may need a bit longer to finish.
What to do with Uncapped Honey Frames
Bees know best and in most cases we should trust their opinion. However, things happen sometimes. Usually, uncapped honey frames should be left in the hive another week or two.
Can your honey be uncapped and still ripe and ready to take? Yes! I have had some years when the nectar source was abruptly cut short by weather conditions.
Once, several days of storms ripped blooms from the trees. My poor bees had finished the honey making process but they were struggling to cap the full cells. Bees need food in order to produce beeswax. Wax is required to cap the ripe cells of honey.
Using a special tool called a honey refractometer, I was able to test the moisture content of the uncapped frames of honey. Thankfully the frame of honey were ripe and ready to collect. If you need a device, you can purchase a refractometer rather cheaply,
How to Get Bees Out of the Honey Supers
Ok, we have a super of honey that is mostly capped and ready to harvest. But, there’s bees in there! How do we evict the bees from their bounty?
There are several ways to remove bees from honey supers. But, none of them involve using a smoker. Smoke causes bees to move away but they take honey with them. Collecting honey is easier if you set the smoker aside.
- use bee escapes
- remove bees with a blower
- use a bee brush frame by frame
- use a fume board
Bee Escapes
If you live in a region with cool nights, you may use “bee escapes” to separate the bees from the honey. This is a one-way gate. The bees leave the super and cannot return.
This does not work in my area because the temps are hot at night and bees remain in the honey supers. Escapes also require opening the hive twice (once to place them and the next day to collect honey).
They are not my favorite item but may work well for you. Be aware, if you live in an area with Small Hive Beetles you risk them infesting the unguarded honey super.
Using a Bee Blower
Some beekeepers use a leaf blower to blow bees out of the honey supers. They remove the super and stand it on end.
The air from the blower removes the bees. This method is a bit too exciting for me but it works if you need to harvest a lot of boxes. A bit messy for smaller scale beekeepers in my opinion.
Bee Brush
A bee brush is a useful tool for many beekeeping activities. If you have just a few boxes, you can remove the box and gently brush the bees from each frame.
Sometimes this works well but the bees do not like it. If you want to use your brush, have an extra box with a tight lid nearby. After brushing the bees off a frame you can place it in the tight box.
Fume Board & Liquid
The use of a fume board is the most common method for small scale beekeepers. A special non-toxic liquid is sprayed on the inside of a special top.
An absorbent material holds the liquid which emits an odor. The bees move away from the scent, leaving the honey super almost bee free.
This is my way of harvesting but you must have a bit of patience. Fume boards work well but it takes a few minutes. They work better on warm sunny days.
There are several approved liquids that can be used to remove the bees. One works very well but smells like dead things – I do not use it.
Bee suppliers have an almond/cherry scented product the smells great and works almost as well. I would choose either – Bee Quick, Honey B Gone or other pleasant scented liquid.
My Method of Pulling Honey Supers
Want to learn how to collect honey the “Beekeeper Charlotte” way? My harvest begins during early morning. Hopefully, most of the foragers are out working. And remember – no smoke.
The tools include: a fume board, liquid and a bee brush. I also have an extra empty honey super box that I can make “bee-tight” by using several pieces of wood or 2 hive tops.
Spray a small amount of liquid on the inside of the fume board. A “X” shaped pattern is good. You do not have to use very much.
Gently open the hive, remove the outer cover and inner cover of the hive – set aside. Now, place the fume board (that has been sprayed) on top of the first honey super to be removed.
You will hear an increased buzzing. In a few minutes (8-10) the majority of the bees will leave the super and go into the box below. It works faster on a sunny day.
When most of the bees are out (you can check by lifting the fume board to peek in), remove the super from the hive and set it on a nearby stand. Place the inner cover back on the hive to keep the bees inside calm.
Using a hook hive tool (my favorite), and a pair of frame grips – remove each frame. Gently brush off the few bees remaining and place the honey in an extra empty super or tight box.
Perform, a quick check of each frame to be sure it does not contain baby bees. Some beekeepers use queen excluders for this purpose. But it is still a good idea to check.
When you have collected all of the honey supers, close up the hive. Take your harvest away from the bee yard quickly. You do not want it to attract the attention of other bees! They may take it back…LOL
Choose Your Method of Extraction
Process your honey right away, especially if you live in an area with Small Hive Beetles. Any beetle eggs in the comb can hatch and destroy your harvest. Do not leave honey sitting around for days.
A honey extractor is a special piece of equipment used to process honey. Do you have to have one? No? There are several methods of separating the honey from beeswax.
Choosing the best way to extract honey depends your goals, the time you have and the available money to spend. Honey extractors come in many configurations and styles.
As you complete your honey harvest, don’t throw away the left over beeswax. After you clean or process the wax cappings, they can be used for many beeswax recipes and projects. Collecting honey from bees can be messy but it is a lot of fun.
