3/4 capped honey frames

[Deborah Insel]

I seem to have bees that are not interested in fully capping honey frames. This is true of deep honey frames in the brood box and medium frames in the supers. I have many frames that are only 3/4 capped, so I’m wary about taking them out to harvest. This has been for a few weeks now. Thoughts?

Deb

[Paula Breen]

Hi Deb,

I always go by the rule that if you shake the frame and no nectar flies out of the cells then it's good enough. I have a refractometer and I always check the moisture  content when in doubt, but it is always fine. If it stays in the cell when you shake the frame it's sufficiently done to extract. I hope this helps. 

On Fri, May 29, 2026, 8:10 AM Deborah Insel <debora...@gmail.com> wrote:

I seem to have bees that are not interested in fully capping honey frames.  This is true of deep honey frames in the brood box and medium frames in the supers.  I have many frames that are only 3/4 capped, so I’m wary about taking them out to harvest.  This has been for a few weeks now.  Thoughts?

Deb

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[Deborah Insel]

Excellent!  Thank you.  

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[Bees & Beeks]

The cooler weather this May means honey will take longer to cure/be capped. I’d give it more time. You’re lucky to have honey. Most of my hives are barely surviving (granted I’ve dismantled many selling nucs). In past years they simply reQueen and while Queenless produce even more honey- not true this year.

Bee Healthy,
Mimi

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 29, 2026, at 8:10 AM, Deborah Insel <debora...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I seem to have bees that are not interested in fully capping honey frames. This is true of deep honey frames in the brood box and medium frames in the supers. I have many frames that are only 3/4 capped, so I’m wary about taking them out to harvest. This has been for a few weeks now. Thoughts?
>
> Deb
>

[Gerald Przybylski]

Bees actively dry honey. 
Usually over-night. 
Have you been in the back yard when it's dark out, and smelled the honey smell from your hives? 
They're pushing a lot of air through the frames, and pushing the humid air out of the hive, along with the aroma.

If you Harvest your honey in the later part of the day, the day's nectar will be distributed through the hive
and some of it may be in open cells in he frames you have your eye on.

If you harvest before the bees get busy foraging in the morning, the honey in open cells will be mostly dry/cured/ripe. 

I agree with the shake-out test.  If you can't shake a sprinkling of droples onto the hive, then the frame is  probably harvestable. 
It's a dilution issue.  A few pounds of finished honey can't pick up that much excess water from a few ounces of not-quite-there honey. 

Nevertheless, I prefer to harvest frames that are completely capped or mostly capped.  

A refractometer is a good investment and they're not expensive.  GET ONE DESIGNED FOR HONEY OR SYRUP. (not one for brewing or antifreeze etc) 
 a "BRIX" scale is harder to use than the %-water scale. 

Sometimes the line indicating reading in the refractometer is sharp.  That's because the sample on the prism is homoginous. 
When the line is broad and indistinct, the sample is not uniform.  It has lesser and more dried out honey in the sample. 
Get a different sample, or mix the honey and try again. 

that's my 2¢