Before You Harvest Honey

When you start a beekeeping hobby, it becomes clear quickly that there are many rewards you can gain by keeping bees. There are many of them, from the less-tangible benefits like stress reduction and the ability to be outside working in (and with) nature to the more physical by-products our bees share with us, like beeswax, propolis, pollen, and that golden substance we all know and love, honey! 

Many beekeepers who start this hobby just to access those by-products, though, aren’t always successful in the long term because they are sometimes a bit too overzealous in their harvests. When harvesting anything from your bees, especially honey, it’s important to keep the bees in mind first, not as an afterthought.  

Read on to find out more about how you can make sure that you’re doing the right things for your bees when harvesting honey from their hives.  

Choose Your Harvests Wisely

If you plan to harvest honey from your honeybee hives, ask yourself the following questions:  

1. Is my colony strong, healthy, and established enough to spare honey frames? – Here at PerfectBee, we generally do not recommend harvesting honey from any first-year colony, whether it was a newly installed package, nuc, or swarm. Bees need ample honey stores to be able to survive the winter months, even in warmer climates. When it’s a newly established colony, they’ve had less time to build out their space and fill it with their collected resources. Taking any additional honey away from them could lead to you needing to feed emergency carbohydrate sources through the winter, or in dire circumstances, can even cause them to starve and perish.  
   • If the answer is “I have a new colony” or an “I’m not sure” / “I don’t think so”, reconsider harvesting any honey from your hives, and leaving it on the hives for your bees or in storage in case they need it down the line. 
2. Are the cells in stored honey frames at least 80% capped? – Honey is quite a magical substance! Hard-working honeybees fan the nectar before cells are capped to remove moisture so the honey will not spoil. Bees do a great job at ensuring cells are not capped until moisture content reaches the proper amount (18% to prevent fermentation). Consider purchasing a refractometer to check the water content in your honey, just to be sure & safe.  
   • If honey frames are not roughly 80% capped, or they have lots of brood in parts of the super frames, wait to harvest those frames until later, or save them for the bees. 
3. Is it the right time of year? – Most honey harvests are completed in early fall or late spring after the nectar flow has ended, depending on your location. BUT – before harvesting honey any time of year, take note of how many stores will remain once you remove capped honey frames. You should also ensure you are not harvesting too many of their stores during a time of nectar dearth or bees may not be able to build up enough stores to successfully overwinter. 
   • If you have a 2^nd year (or later) colony with two supers full of honey, or more, toward the end of a nectar flow, and bees have some additional stores in the brood nest, it should be safe to harvest some honey for yourself. (As long as the colony is strong and healthy enough, see #1 for more info). A honeybee colony will need roughly 60-80lb of honey to successfully overwinter, so make sure to leave enough honey stores behind so bees have at least this much going into the fall months.
4. Do I have the right tools and equipment needed to harvest and/or extract honey? – Harvesting honey from beehives, like many other beekeeping tasks, requires specialized tools and equipment. It helps to ensure you have the right equipment on hand before you remove any honey from beehives. In our “Learn More” section below, you’ll find a few examples of some honey harvesting and extracting equipment (and some info about what they’re used for) that may be helpful to have on hand.  
5. Did I feed my bees sugar syrup? – Many colonies require supplemental feed during the year, especially during times of a nectar dearth. Most bees use supplemental feed to help build out comb and for energy to forage for additional resources, but in some dire situations, colonies may decide to store sugar syrup instead of nectar. If you harvest stored sugar syrup, it may spoil and will not taste like honey.  
   • If you’re not sure whether bees have stored their sugar syrup, it may benefit you to wait to harvest honey from your colonies.  
6. Do I need to treat my colony for Varroa Mites? – Keep in mind that some Varroa treatments allow for supers to be in place when using treatment, others strictly prohibit honey supers being in place and have a strict timeline for when more supers can be added. Keep your Varroa mite management plan in place when harvesting honey, and learn more about Varroa mite treatments and regulations here.
7. Where are my bees storing honey? – In order for honeybees to store honey in frames, comb must first be built out and available in the supers. Otherwise, bees may store honey only in the supers and will store some of it in the brood nest. Avoid collection of honey for human consumption from any brood frames as the protein from pollen and remaining brood cocoons may influence the honey’s taste and shelf life.

If you’ve answered the questions above and feel confident that your colony is strong enough and has plenty of stores to share with you, you’re ready to complete that honey harvest! Learn more about the steps you’ll need to take in our PerfectBee Snippet, “Harvesting Honey from your Beehive” where we cover the practical side of honey harvesting and extraction.  

Learn More

Honey Harvesting & Extraction Equipment in the PerfectBee Store 

When harvesting honey, having the right tools can make it a much easier and fun process. We’ve got all that you need in the PerfectBee Store, check out some of our favorite harvesting & extraction equipment below!  

• Escape Board – An escape board is a stress-free option for removing bees from supers. Simply place the board between supers and the brood chamber. Bees will be able to exit the super through the escape screen, but cannot get back in. After a day or so (not more than 48 hours, though), you’ll be able to remove your super but not the bees that would normally be within.  
• Fume Board – Another great way to remove bees from supers, but beware, it is a slightly smelly one! Simply apply a bee repellent to the felt underside of the fume board and place it above the honey supers. Bees move down quickly, leaving supers free of bees & ready to harvest. Using the fume board works best on warm, sunny days, as the sun will help to release the scent. For cooler days, consider using the escape screen above instead.  
• Bee Go – A repellent to apply to your fume board, a small amount of bee go can be extremely repellent. Please note, Bee Go is quite smelly, and not exactly a pleasant scent, to beekeepers and bees. 
• Bee Quick – Bee Quick is considered just as effective as Bee Go when used on warm days with the fume board, but has a much more pleasant scent to beekeepers, at least.   
• Bee Brush – If you’ve used your fume board or escape screen & some bees remain in the supers, keep your bee brush nearby so that you can brush them off frames (or try using a goose feather for a gentler approach).  
• Sure Grip Uncapping Fork – Use this handy fork to scrape cappings from comb before extraction. It’s perfect to keep in your beekeeping toolbox, too, as it can help remove comb quickly when a “honey ceiling” is present.  
• Ultimate Comb Uncapper – A quick and effective way to uncap frames and transfer honey into a food-grade plastic bucket.  
• 10 Frame Lifting Wedge – This wedge will help to lift full honey frames above the box to easily remove them for extraction.  
• Cold Uncapping Knife – Easily remove many cappings at once from frames with this cold uncapping knife.  
• Heated Uncapping Knife – Works like the cold uncapping knife, but with the added heat element, uncapping frames and releasing honey can be much quicker & easier!  
• Heated Uncapping Plane – This heated uncapping plane will really speed up the uncapping process. 
• Uncapping Tank – A great way to uncap frames & separate wax cappings from your honey. The included honey gate allows you to transfer honey to a filtering bucket or straight into a bottle. Don’t forget about the cover! 
• Lyson Hobby Uncapping Tank – For those who need a little bit more room to uncap more frames, the Lyson Hobby Uncapping Tank can be a huge help.  
• Stainless Sieve and 6 Gallon Tank – Once frames are uncapped, honey can be filtered and bottled using this tank and sieve.  
• Plastic Double Sieve – Have a bucket and plastic or nylon honey gate already? Simply add this plastic double sieve to help filter your honey, specially designed to ensure honey flows quickly through its large area and double sieves.  
• Pail Holder – A simple tool, but one that can be very helpful! As we know, honey can flow slowly, especially if it’s not warm. The pail holder lets you transfer honey effortlessly from one bucket to another, simply rest the pail holder to allow honey to drain out while you work on other things. 
• Hogg Halfcomb Honey Kit – Comb honey is a great way to showcase the beauty of honeycomb and honey without the mess of extraction and bottling. Simply place the box and cassettes on your hive and bees will build comb and fill it with honey inside the cassettes, forming perfect comb honey sections!  
• Learn more about producing comb honey with these books: Honey in the Comb and Comb Honey Production 
• Lyson Honey Melter – If you have a lot of honey that’s crystallized or starting to, you may need an easy way to melt it, fast! This honey melter may be just what you need.  
• Lyson Sump with Vertical Sieve – Speed up your extraction process with this sump, perfect for removing large wax particles from your extractor’s honey and keeping them away from the honey outlet.  
• 2 Frame Plastic Honey Extractor – An inexpensive way to extract honey for those with just a couple of hives. Includes a plastic honey gate to transfer honey to a bucket for filtering or straight into containers. 
• Lyson Extracting Kit – From uncapping frames to extracting and filtering/bottling, the Lyson extracting kit comes with all you need to extract honey frames!  
• Lyson 4 Frame Extractor – The Lyson 4 frame extractors are the perfect extractors for beekeepers with just a few hives. Available with legs here, or without legs here.  
• Lyson Motor Conversion Kit – Even with the manual hand crank, the Lyson extractors make much easier work of extracting honey. But if you have lots of hives and lots of frames to extract, it may make sense to add a motor to your manual extractor.  
• Honey Super Warmer – Want to warm your supers so that it’s easier and faster to get it to flow through your filtering and bottling setup? Look no further, this super warmer has you covered!  
• Lyson Steam Uncapper – For those with many hives, a steam uncapper can make much faster and easier work of uncapping frames and saving your wax as it falls into the tank below. 
• Honey Super Kit – You’ve removed honey supers from hives to harvest but bees are still bringing in nectar and need space to fill, now what? Pick up a honey super kit to easily add space to your hive.  

Harvesting honey is a very exciting topic for many beekeepers to learn about. We’ve compiled some of our free resources on Harvesting & Extracting honey below if you’d like to explore it further.  

Colony Members, read below to find member-only lessons and Colony Forum discussions about these topics.  

• Intro to Harvesting Honey: Part 1 – All you need to know to get started with a honey harvest, if your bees have enough and can spare the honey. Colony Members, find Part 2 of this in the member-only lesson section under “Learn More” below! 
• The Tangible Rewards of Beekeeping – Beekeeping rewards us in many ways, from relieving stress to the topic of the hour, honey! Learn more about the rewards it can offer in our article.  
• Why to Store Frames – Find out more about the reasons you should take care when storing beehive frames, especially when drawn comb or honey is present.  
• How Do Bees Make Honey? – Check out our article to find out the answer to this thought-provoking question! 
• The Composition of Honey – Most of us think of it as tasty, but honey is a complex substance. Find out more about what honey’s made of in our article. 
• Honey for Health – Honey’s not just delicious, it has some awesome health benefits, too! Find out about how it might improve your health and happiness with our article. 
• Pollen and Nectar Stores in the Brood Nest – Our Snippet will help you understand what pollen and nectar stores in the brood nest should look like and how to manage it if they are causing a space issue. 
• Nectar Storage and the Honey Ceiling – Bees are sometimes prevented from storing nectar in certain areas above due to a nectar ceiling, find out how to avoid (and fix) it with our Snippet.  
• The Beekeeper’s Role in Avoiding Colony Starvation –  Read our article to learn more about preventing your colony from perishing due to lack of food stores (and how to avoid taking too many of them).  
• The Secrets of Honeycomb – Ahhh, honeycomb… a beautiful and delicate, structurally sound piece of honeybee engineering. But did you know there are some secrets hiding within? Learn more with this fascinating article.  
• A Closer Look at How Bees Make Honey – Our “Outside the Swarm” post examines the way bees go about the process of making honey. 
• Feeding Honeybees – What is Ash Content? – Thinking of feeding honey back to your bees later, or to another colony? Consider the potential for a high ash content. Learn more in our Snippet. 
• How to Make Honey Sticks – Honey sticks are the perfect way to transport honey without making a mess. Our article helps explain how you make them, if your bees had enough honey to share with you. 

Colony Member Resources

Member-Only Academy Lessons 

Colony members, check out these member-only Academy lessons to learn more about pollen and nectar resources and how they may impact your bees. 

• Intro to Harvesting Honey: Part 2 – Expanding upon Part 1, this lesson covers many additional aspects of the honey harvesting process. 
• Understanding the Honey Flow – Knowing when resources are available for bees to make honey is crucial to helping them thrive. Learn more about understanding when and how honey flows with this lesson.  
• Tracking Hive Progress & Keeping Records – Tracking hive progress is always important, especially when it comes to how much honey you’ve harvested and when you did so during each season. Find out more about keeping records in this Academy lesson. 
• The Threat of Robbing – Robbing activity can increase while you are harvesting honey, but following the steps in this PerfectBee Snippet can help mitigate that risk.  
• A Detailed Look at the Flow Hive Beehive – The flow hive is an innovative way to harvest honey a little bit at a time, without any extra equipment. Learn more about it in our article.  
• Making Money with Beekeeping – Though not typically in your first year, making money from beekeeping by selling honeybee by-products, like honey, can be possible. Learn about ways to give it a try with our Academy lesson from Course 3 “Reaping the Rewards”.  

Related Colony Forum Posts 

Many Colony members have asked questions on the Colony Forum like “When should I harvest honey?” and “Is it safe to harvest honey from my colonies?”  

Colony Members, check out just some of the honey harvesting-related discussion threads in the Colony Forum here:  

• Really Runny Honey – Jay has honey that’s runnier than he’s ever seen, and it brings up questions like what could cause this? Is it safe to consume?  
• Queen laying mostly in the honey super –  Kelle finds out that her queen may be acting strange because of a dearth. 
• Newbie Honey Super Question –  Can leaving supers on a hive help during a dearth? Jocelyn finds out more with her question. 
• Combining hives – Patricia asks about combining hives and where the new colony should be placed in relation to her honey supers.  
• New Honey Room in a new barn – PerfectBee Ambassador Janice shares the story of how she got a brand new, beautiful honey harvesting room. To add to our envy, she shared pictures of the awesome setup, what a dream for any honey-harvesting hobbyist beekeeper!  
• Feeding honey in winter – Can you feed extracted honey to bees in winter? What are the concerns? Jay gets some excellent Ambassador insights in response to his questions.  
• Abandoned Super with capped Honey – Jason asks about a super that had wax moths, what’s best to get it all cleaned up?  
• Really strange comb development! – Jay’s bees have built some really wonky comb, making it difficult to figure out how he’ll pull them to harvest, but gets some great input from our Ambassadors.  
• What to do with wet frames – Kelle gets some great feedback on how to handle wet frames. 
• Practices in Other Countries – PerfectBee Ambassador Joe shares some interesting beekeeping tools he’s found from other countries to perform tasks like recycling wax cappings.  
• To use foundation frames or non foundation frames – Brooke asks for thoughts on foundation or foundationless frames and gets some great insight on the pros and cons, especially when it comes to harvesting honey.  
• Adding supers, and a chock full box – Jocelyn is thrilled to have 2 thriving colonies, but now has questions about storing them. Luckily, our Ambassador William had some great input for her. 

Are you not yet a Colony member but want access to awesome beekeeping resources like the member-only lessons and Forum discussion threads listed above? Head to our Colony page here to learn more about all that’s included with membership and to sign up today!