When is the best time to harvest honey? A detailed guide to honey harvesting methods

Beekeeping is for harvesting honey, but if the bees are not raised well and there are not enough nectar-source flowers, there may be no honey, and you may even have to invest in feed to keep the colony alive. So when is the best time to harvest honey? How do you harvest it?

1. When is the best time to harvest honey?

1. Honey harvesting season: When keeping Chinese honey bees (Apis cerana), the timing of honey harvesting is very important. If the timing is wrong, problems such as robbing bees and colony absconding can easily occur. If there are rapeseed flower fields nearby, then we can determine the honey harvesting season based on the growth of the rapeseed flowers. Generally, honey can be harvested from the middle of the rapeseed flowering period to the Mid-Autumn Festival. During the middle of the rapeseed flowering period, the reproduction rate of Chinese honey bees reaches its peak, and large numbers of egg-and-brood combs appear. The amount of pollen also increases as a result, but the amount of honey is not very large, so the yield is relatively low. This period is also the swarming period of the bees, and honey yield is highest around three weeks after the last swarm.

2. Honey harvesting time: When harvesting honey, we must not do it in rainy weather. In addition, we should determine the harvesting time according to the weather temperature. If the temperature is relatively warm, then it should be done in the evening each day, because in the evening the bees' foraging activity is not very high, and most worker bees have returned to the hive. After harvesting honey, this ensures there are enough worker bees and enough time to repair the damaged comb. If the temperature is relatively low, then it should be done around noon, when the temperature within the day is relatively high, and the brood comb is not easily chilled. If it is winter, there must be enough brood comb to ensure the bees survive the winter, and it is best not to harvest honey.

2. How do you harvest honey?

Traditional honey-cutting methods are mostly similar. The earlier steps all involve first gently tapping the hive box or hive barrel with the handle of a honey-cutting knife, startling the bees so they suck up some of the uncapped honey, reducing their aggression toward people. Then open the hive lid; if it cannot be opened, pry it open with a hive tool. For upright hive barrels, turn the barrel over, use a smoker to puff smoke toward the comb to be harvested, driving the bees off the comb and exposing the comb that needs to be cut. Then, depending on the different keeping methods, adopt different honey-cutting methods.

1. If it is a box-type or horizontal hive, use a honey-cutting knife to slowly cut down the combs one by one. Cut the old combs first, then the new combs; cut the combs with few brood cells first, and only consider cutting the combs with many brood cells last. After cutting them down, separate the honey combs, pollen combs and brood combs and store them separately, trying not to mix them together. The amount of comb cut must not exceed two-thirds.

2. If it is a hive barrel, place the barrel so that the direction of the combs is perpendicular to the ground, with a wooden block under the bottom, so that the honey side is lower than the other end. Place a clean basin at the barrel opening to catch the honey. If comb honey is needed, use a honey-cutting knife to cut along the bee paths and carefully take out a whole comb. If liquid honey is needed, use a spoon to scoop it out bit by bit, checking as you scoop, and stop when pollen starts to appear. Likewise, at least one-third of the combs must be retained for the bees' living needs, to avoid absconding.

3. If it is a grid box, then harvesting honey is very simple. The honey, pollen and brood combs are all already separated; you only need to use a honey-cutting knife to cut down the honey combs you need and then separate the honey. After separation, if comb honey is needed, cut it as required; if liquid honey is needed, just cut open the capped cells and let the honey flow out naturally.

When harvesting honey, robbing bees are most likely to occur, so you must pay attention to preventing robbing bees. If there are robbing bees, then it should be done indoors. After shaking off the colony, cover the hive box and the box holding the honey combs well, to avoid losses caused by robbing bees. Honey harvesting should not take too long. During the early and middle stages of the Chinese honey bee honey flow period, honey can be harvested multiple times as appropriate. In the later stage, reduce the amount harvested or do not harvest, to avoid the bees starving to death after the honey flow period ends because of insufficient honey.