Decided to test this theory having pulled 32 partly capped frames this morning that the bees have not finished off in weeks... tested each frames uncapped nectar area and got refractometer readings from 16.5 to 14% moisture content! Time to extract! Thanks Kamon for this timely info!
Kamon, Thanks for the video. I stressed over exactly this when I was pulling my supers a few weeks ago. I checked it against the refractometer and it came in at 16%. I only had 5 capped frames out of 30 frames. Not uncapping really sped up the extraction process BTW.
Not having to uncap is a nice perk! It is surprising how often I find uncapped Honey ready to harvest but it is the one time you don't check that it gets you!
Good timely video Kamond. I pulled a full super in May that was completely uncapped but I needed to free up the space. The whole super averaged 15 percent. What a bugger to extract but so delicious!!
Thanks Kamon, as soon as I saw this video I ordered and today received that refractometer. Last year was my first at bee keeping so I didn’t extract any honey but fed it back this spring to my 4 splits. I now have more than 30 of 40 medium frames I can take. Some are 100% capped some 50% I’ll use the Refractometer to pick the correct frames. Forgot to add I checked the calibration with extra virgin olive oil and this unit was properly calibrated from the factory
Thank you, Kamon! Appreciate your videos so much! Bought my first refractometer this year. I just always dependended on my honey being capped. Thanks again!
Good info. A regular teaching I give to mentees about flow stopping and bees not finishing. I learned it on my own the hard way of course by waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting years ago😬😬. A quick shake, a couple days under the fans, refract it, and dance with the extractor, and it’s off to vacation😁😁. Tallow will run 19 under the caps regularly. Gotta dry that stuff in the shed…
Another great video Kamon! Some people still don't believe or understand this, even after you try to explain it to them. They especially don't believe that capped honey can sometimes contain 20% or more moisture
Great video and perfect timing for me. We are at the end of our flow and I’ve had one super remaining with frames partially capped for a bit. Today I pulled all 9 frames and I checked each one with my refractometer. They all varied but most were 15% or so and the highest was under 17. I got a Lot of dark honey from this super! I checked the entire batch in the harvest honey bucket and it was 15.5%. This is my first year and I have found your videos super helpful. Thank you!
Thank you so much ...I just got thru 6 of my hives in this Tn heat and left frames since they weren't capped 😕...I have 7 more to check AND go back with my meter and recheck and pull the first ones...UGHHHH
I have the long sleeve version of those gloves and I love them! The black is hot and I do sweat through the leather but look forward to your opinion on longevity of them. Also need a refractometer to see if my honey is ready.
This was my first year harvesting honey. I had a 1 frame check 13.8. On average I was getting around 15.5%. It took forever to filter that thick stuff haha. Sure tasted good though
Ok, this is great information and will certainly increase my production this year. The question is how do we use this? I have a frame in an 8 frame at 16.5 and an outside frame in a 10 frame at 19.5. Put them together and test? What’s a good test ratio?
The average needs to be below 18 unless you plan on drying them out before extraction with a fan or dehumidifier. I prefer my honey to average 17.0 or lower when in doubt check a few more places, get your average and enjoy all the honey!
I test a few frames and if the average is well below 18 then I extract them all even the 19. Most times I will put them next to a fan and dehumidifier for a couple of days
What if uncapped and water is content high? Would it be acceptable to put the frames in a small warm room with a de-humidifier running with a circulating fan for a few days and then check to see it is below 18%?
Kamon, when you add a box after pulling honey supers. Is it a deep or medium box. If you feed sugar syrup with a medium on how do you keep that out of next extracted honey
Will they convert that syrup to honey, or just put syrup back to super. I've had this conversation with my mentor (35 year bee keeper). He says your putting sugar water in your honey
@@DennisSmith-lj2oj if there are no honey supers, and we aren't pulling honey then it will all go in the brood nest where it will be consumed by the bees.
Thank you for clarification. We don't pull all supers in the spring. We do a fall harvest and leave partial supers on till then. I'm still attempting to figure this bee thing out.Thank all for yalls guidance
I have those gloves and absolutely love them for ease of movement/comfort... BUT... I have been stung through them several times in the past month or so! Not sure how the bees find the seams/weak spots... but they do!
@@kamonreynolds I am wondering if I need the next size up just so maybe the stingers won't go straight into me, but I like how they fit because I can manipulate frames really well...
PS I have them in both white and the color you have here - they both seem about the same for me even though these are supposedly the "pro" version or something like that - and I have been stung through BOTH
Great info Kamon. Most frames are capped from the top down in my experience. Is there a particular spot on the frames you would want to test with the refractometer? Say bottom left or right?
I just check 2 spots in the super on different frames then shake one to see if it is runny and call it good. Never had a problem. Bees are very uniform with the honey in the super unless they just brought some fresh nectar in and that will shake out if it is there and then we will know
Hi Kamon. Question. My refractometer says that I (1) need to calibrate it each time using olive oil or a known honey, and then (2) I need to be checking my honey at 68 degrees. So what I have ended up doing is taking a styrofoam egg carton, and scooping out some honey out of the frames I'm checking and then doing a refractometer check inside the house after I turn the AC down to 68 degrees. You did your check out in the beeyard at approximately 100 degrees? I can check in the yard and not have to take samples? Appreciate the response. Regards.
I'm a first year beekeeper and have only had my 4 NUCS since late April. In an effort to speed up comb production I have been feeding my bees 1:1 sugar water. I recently removed several frames from my brood box that were completely full of the sugar water honey and replaced them with new frames. It appears that I got my supers on a little late and I didn't realize it but the bees were backfilling the brood frames with so much sugar water honey that they had very little room for the queen to lay eggs. I did have a hive swarm but was able to catch it and the queen and turn it into a NUC. I'm curious as to what I should do with the sugar water honey frames I removed. I was thinking about just spinning them out and getting rid of what comes out but that seems like a waste. BTW, I live on the North Oregon coast and it's been a very wet spring/early summer and our blackberries are just now starting to get their white flowers for the bloom.
@@gypsygem9395 Only the top 1/3rd is capped but I had thought of that and I do have the space to store it long term if needed. I just ordered the refractometer Kamon mentioned and was thinking about putting a fan on them until they get to the right percentage of moisture.
Hey Brian good to hear from you! Yes they really feel like mechanic gloves and have better dexterity than any of the other leather gloves that I have tried
@@kamonreynolds I don't normally wear gloves, but I did a cutout 25' up and got stung 100 times, so I decided to get a pair for next time, I like em, I always wear mechanics gloves at work.
Kamon, would you please let us know if you get one sting through those gloves...I've used goatskin a many times but got stung alot through them? I see that the top mess is 5mm, but the goatskin in other places-I don't know?
I might check 2 but that would be it per box. Typically the box is the same or very very close. Our flow is over so we haven't had any thin nectar come in for a while
Using a refractometer the way you do, I would be concerned about the distribution of honey vs nectar on the face of a frame. I wonder if you could have 16% water in one spot but 20% in an other spot.
I also shook the frame to ensure there was no nectar in it. None fell out. I know what my bees are doing this time of year... Nothing. All the honey is basically the same stage by this point.
Weird, it's winter shopping time in southern New Zealand and I was thinking about buying a refractometer just this morning 😂 👍 cool video especially for inexperienced beekeepers 👋
@@kamonreynolds anytime you want a weather trade just sing out we will gladly accept your scorching hot north american weather and you can have our southern New Zealand snow sleet and rain 🥶 well, until the Thyme blooms anyway😄 one bonus for a wet winter the Thyme honey crop is epic the following summer
![ILLSLICK - THE KING'S LANDING [Freestyle]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/feIJJnNkTfk/mqdefault.jpg)
Refractometer we used in the video - www.amazon.com/shop/tennessees-bees/list/2XRUBZ67FIJO3?ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d
They are only 22.88 on Amazon today!
Decided to test this theory having pulled 32 partly capped frames this morning that the bees have not finished off in weeks... tested each frames uncapped nectar area and got refractometer readings from 16.5 to 14% moisture content! Time to extract! Thanks Kamon for this timely info!
Thanks Nancy for stopping in and saying hi again! Boy! 14% is thick stuff, bet it is delicious.
Kamon, Thanks for the video. I stressed over exactly this when I was pulling my supers a few weeks ago. I checked it against the refractometer and it came in at 16%. I only had 5 capped frames out of 30 frames. Not uncapping really sped up the extraction process BTW.
Not having to uncap is a nice perk! It is surprising how often I find uncapped Honey ready to harvest but it is the one time you don't check that it gets you!
Good timely video Kamond. I pulled a full super in May that was completely uncapped but I needed to free up the space. The whole super averaged 15 percent. What a bugger to extract but so delicious!!
Yessir 15% makes a noticeable difference through the strainer buts tastes divine!
Thank you for this explanation. I have had wax moths and shb take over hives, because, I waited for the cap it. Lost 7 hives this year.
Me too. Now I know thanks
Thanks Kamon, as soon as I saw this video I ordered and today received that refractometer. Last year was my first at bee keeping so I didn’t extract any honey but fed it back this spring to my 4 splits. I now have more than 30 of 40 medium frames I can take. Some are 100% capped some 50% I’ll use the Refractometer to pick the correct frames. Forgot to add I checked the calibration with extra virgin olive oil and this unit was properly calibrated from the factory
Thank you, Kamon! Appreciate your videos so much! Bought my first refractometer this year. I just always dependended on my honey being capped.
Thanks again!
Kamon, you make a lot of sense with your great content that is also timed perfectly for extracting. Thanks
Good info. A regular teaching I give to mentees about flow stopping and bees not finishing. I learned it on my own the hard way of course by waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting years ago😬😬. A quick shake, a couple days under the fans, refract it, and dance with the extractor, and it’s off to vacation😁😁. Tallow will run 19 under the caps regularly. Gotta dry that stuff in the shed…
That's kind of a weird way to start your vacation
Another great video Kamon! Some people still don't believe or understand this, even after you try to explain it to them. They especially don't believe that capped honey can sometimes contain 20% or more moisture
LOL I was thinking the same thing. "Those people" just move on you can't help them.
Great information Kamon.
Great video and perfect timing for me. We are at the end of our flow and I’ve had one super remaining with frames partially capped for a bit. Today I pulled all 9 frames and I checked each one with my refractometer. They all varied but most were 15% or so and the highest was under 17. I got a Lot of dark honey from this super! I checked the entire batch in the harvest honey bucket and it was 15.5%. This is my first year and I have found your videos super helpful. Thank you!
Thank you so much ...I just got thru 6 of my hives in this Tn heat and left frames since they weren't capped 😕...I have 7 more to check AND go back with my meter and recheck and pull the first ones...UGHHHH
Thank you for your wisdom!
Just stuff I have picked up over the years! Just trying to help people figure it out faster than I did so they can have more fun!
Good to know now. Thanks!
Happy to help!
Nice gloves, somehow I got stung through my crappy pair today. Might need to upgrade.
My wife got my dad and I some of the apis tactical gloves for Christmas. Really like them so far!
Those gloves are awesome..i wear them all the time
I have the long sleeve version of those gloves and I love them! The black is hot and I do sweat through the leather but look forward to your opinion on longevity of them. Also need a refractometer to see if my honey is ready.
Great video! Thank you!
This year with the heat in the northeast the honey was 16-17 uncapped, Still had to hot room it to spin.
Even capped honey crystallizes
This was my first year harvesting honey. I had a 1 frame check 13.8. On average I was getting around 15.5%. It took forever to filter that thick stuff haha. Sure tasted good though
Good tasting stuff but yessir takes a while to move it thru a strainer!
Ok, this is great information and will certainly increase my production this year. The question is how do we use this? I have a frame in an 8 frame at 16.5 and an outside
frame in a 10 frame at 19.5. Put them together and test? What’s a good test ratio?
The average needs to be below 18 unless you plan on drying them out before extraction with a fan or dehumidifier. I prefer my honey to average 17.0 or lower when in doubt check a few more places, get your average and enjoy all the honey!
So we test each frame in a box? Obviously I would not use the 19.5 one but testing every frame is time consuming
I test a few frames and if the average is well below 18 then I extract them all even the 19. Most times I will put them next to a fan and dehumidifier for a couple of days
What if uncapped and water is content high? Would it be acceptable to put the frames in a small warm room with a de-humidifier running with a circulating fan for a few days and then check to see it is below 18%?
Great stuff thanks 😊
Thanks for saying so! Happy Beekeeping!
I’m so purchasing these gloves. Thanks 🐝 🧤
They are awesome. I use them.
@@jbnnm657 they look awesome! Thanks!!
Kamon, when you add a box after pulling honey supers. Is it a deep or medium box. If you feed sugar syrup with a medium on how do you keep that out of next extracted honey
Remove the super and let the bees open feed it out a 50 to 1 hundred feet away
Will they convert that syrup to honey, or just put syrup back to super. I've had this conversation with my mentor (35 year bee keeper). He says your putting sugar water in your honey
@@DennisSmith-lj2oj if there are no honey supers, and we aren't pulling honey then it will all go in the brood nest where it will be consumed by the bees.
He don't feed the ones he's making honey on, he's feeding new hives he's building. Production hives don't get fed until supers are pulled
Thank you for clarification. We don't pull all supers in the spring. We do a fall harvest and leave partial supers on till then. I'm still attempting to figure this bee thing out.Thank all for yalls guidance
Good advice, Kamon. BTW my significant other said that you have a nice set of biceps.
Thanks PA Beekeeper! Well these bees keep me in shape!
Your videos are great info.👍👍 Do you ever run a dehumidifier on pulled supers to lower moisture? What do you do if capped and moisture is high?
A box fan and a dehumidifier for 2 days can do wonders!
graet info thanx
Thanks for taking the time to say so!
I have those gloves and absolutely love them for ease of movement/comfort... BUT... I have been stung through them several times in the past month or so! Not sure how the bees find the seams/weak spots... but they do!
Thanks for the review Varkgirl!
@@kamonreynolds I am wondering if I need the next size up just so maybe the stingers won't go straight into me, but I like how they fit because I can manipulate frames really well...
PS I have them in both white and the color you have here - they both seem about the same for me even though these are supposedly the "pro" version or something like that - and I have been stung through BOTH
Question. If I had some a little too high and some below 18 can that end up fine in a bucket when mixed?
Great info Kamon. Most frames are capped from the top down in my experience. Is there a particular spot on the frames you would want to test with the refractometer? Say bottom left or right?
I just check 2 spots in the super on different frames then shake one to see if it is runny and call it good. Never had a problem. Bees are very uniform with the honey in the super unless they just brought some fresh nectar in and that will shake out if it is there and then we will know
I just watched another beekeepers video that was wearing those gloves, how do you like them? They look like they have a good fit.
Liking them so far. I will update as I wear them more.
Laurel really liked them more than any others she has tried and she has worn them more.
These gloves increase production by 50%
I tried black gloves 1 time and got stung on my hands several times as soon as i opened the hive. Never again!
Yikes!
Hi Kamon. Question. My refractometer says that I (1) need to calibrate it each time using olive oil or a known honey, and then (2) I need to be checking my honey at 68 degrees. So what I have ended up doing is taking a styrofoam egg carton, and scooping out some honey out of the frames I'm checking and then doing a refractometer check inside the house after I turn the AC down to 68 degrees. You did your check out in the beeyard at approximately 100 degrees? I can check in the yard and not have to take samples? Appreciate the response. Regards.
Refractor 18% max. And, that's pushing it. 17 and below better.
I'm a first year beekeeper and have only had my 4 NUCS since late April. In an effort to speed up comb production I have been feeding my bees 1:1 sugar water. I recently removed several frames from my brood box that were completely full of the sugar water honey and replaced them with new frames. It appears that I got my supers on a little late and I didn't realize it but the bees were backfilling the brood frames with so much sugar water honey that they had very little room for the queen to lay eggs. I did have a hive swarm but was able to catch it and the queen and turn it into a NUC. I'm curious as to what I should do with the sugar water honey frames I removed. I was thinking about just spinning them out and getting rid of what comes out but that seems like a waste.
BTW, I live on the North Oregon coast and it's been a very wet spring/early summer and our blackberries are just now starting to get their white flowers for the bloom.
If they're capped you could save them for winter feed
@@gypsygem9395 Only the top 1/3rd is capped but I had thought of that and I do have the space to store it long term if needed. I just ordered the refractometer Kamon mentioned and was thinking about putting a fan on them until they get to the right percentage of moisture.
I got some of those gloves the other day, awesome if you like mechanic gloves.
Hey Brian good to hear from you! Yes they really feel like mechanic gloves and have better dexterity than any of the other leather gloves that I have tried
@@kamonreynolds I don't normally wear gloves, but I did a cutout 25' up and got stung 100 times, so I decided to get a pair for next time, I like em, I always wear mechanics gloves at work.
@@BackyardBeesNC Ouch! Same. Mostly no gloves but when you need em you need em!
My refractometer is only Brix all my honey is showing 76-78 brix. Is that bad or does brix measure different?
Kamon, would you please let us know if you get one sting through those gloves...I've used goatskin a many times but got stung alot through them? I see that the top mess is 5mm, but the goatskin in other places-I don't know?
What do you all use to calibrate your refractometers?
I use extra virgin olive oil usually although you can use water too. Instructions came with the refractometer.
Yes extra virgin olive oil does the trick!
Will you check each frame?!
I might check 2 but that would be it per box. Typically the box is the same or very very close. Our flow is over so we haven't had any thin nectar come in for a while
@@kamonreynolds thank you
Using a refractometer the way you do, I would be concerned about the distribution of honey vs nectar on the face of a frame. I wonder if you could have 16% water in one spot but 20% in an other spot.
I also shook the frame to ensure there was no nectar in it. None fell out. I know what my bees are doing this time of year... Nothing.
All the honey is basically the same stage by this point.
Kamon, What can we do in high humidity areas? (Houston, TX)
Check it and then if it is too high use a box fan and possibly a dehumidifier!
Thanks. I pulled some in May that was capped at 19%. I need to extract rest soon, but very little is capped.
Kamon I hit cap supers in middle of flow and it ran at 20 and 1/2
Holy smokes! That is why I have a refractometer you just never know!
Good video on refractometer. Hope you don’t pull it all! Help folks with how much to leave for the bees to overwinter. Thanks!
Why are they doing that ? Why won’t they cap it ?
Kamon, when do you guys usually sale your nucs ?
April and May
Why are they doing that ? Why won’t they cap it ?I understand not I should wait until the video is over 😅
Weird, it's winter shopping time in southern New Zealand and I was thinking about buying a refractometer just this morning 😂 👍 cool video especially for inexperienced beekeepers 👋
Happy winter! We are burning up over here send help! lol
@@kamonreynolds anytime you want a weather trade just sing out we will gladly accept your scorching hot north american weather and you can have our southern New Zealand snow sleet and rain 🥶 well, until the Thyme blooms anyway😄 one bonus for a wet winter the Thyme honey crop is epic the following summer