Harvesting the Summer Flow
Arbeiten am Bienenstand
The last harvest of the year. Here too: only harvest ripe honey, meaning predominantly capped combs and a water content under 18 percent, as the German Beekeepers' Association requires for Real German Honey.
The last harvest of the year. Here too: only harvest ripe honey, meaning predominantly capped combs and a water content under 18 percent, as the German Beekeepers' Association requires for Real German Honey. With summer and trickle flows, however, the honey can already be ripe before the combs are extensively capped; then the refractometer reading decides.
Forest honey and leaf honeydew are more viscous and need a warmer extraction as well as more patience when straining. Their high content of indigestible minerals strains the bees' rectum and makes them unsuitable as winter feed, which is why they are harvested after the summer flow and the colony is fed with sugar solution instead.
The summer treatment against the varroa mite begins immediately after clearing the supers. The bee institutes advise starting it right after the last honey harvest.