Honey is the most valuable product that people eat since ancient times. This is a product that must be included in your diet, as it is endowed with amazing healing properties. Even doctors recommend a sweet treat to combat certain ailments. In addition, there are a huge number of folk recipes where honey is used. Today apiaries are being created for these purposes, and honey production by bees has been put on stream, but in order for the product to be of high quality, it must be collected in a timely manner. Bees work from early spring. Therefore, by the time of flowering summer crops and flowers, their honeycombs are already full and urgently require pumping.
When pumping honey, not a single beekeeper will say for sure, since everything depends on various external factors and the state of the family, but you can figure out the approximate dates.
Main indicator
Before they pump honey, be sure to check its maturity. If the product within the framework has not yet been sealed, then the collection should be postponed, since honey is not yet ripe enough. Such a product pours heavily due to the large amount of moisture in it and after collection quickly acidifies, which is unacceptable. To get high-quality honey, you need to pull out the frame and shake a little. If honey does not drip, then you can start collecting the product, and if you immediately started to drain, then pumping should be delayed.
Varieties of honey
Depending on the climatic conditions and the presence of plantings of some crops in certain regions of the country, not all varieties may be present, but mainly in the southern strip the variety has 7 species:
- May;
- lime;
- buckwheat;
- acacia;
- clover;
- sunflower;
- forbs.
Depending on which flowers nectar is collected from, honey can be divided separately into apple, raspberry, cherry, clover and so on, but such varieties are very rare. Most often, beekeepers collect the product after all the fruit trees and spring flowers in May honey, all summer flowers in the meadow or forbs. Only a product from buckwheat, sunflower and linden will always be a separate cell, because when mixed with others, they give all honey a specific taste, smell and color.
Temperate climate features
When the first honey is pumped in the middle band, it depends on climatic conditions. If spring started early, and all the flowers bloomed quickly, then the fence can begin at the end of May. Of course, such a phenomenon is rarely found in the regions located to the north, therefore the first honey there is received not earlier than the end of June, but it happens also in the middle of July. Sometimes the weather does not please with spring notes, and the first harvest is not harvested at all. Even in optimal conditions for this, there is always little first honey, and if the weather did not allow spring flowers to bloom on time, the product mixes with already summer nectar, and honey is collected together in the summer. He will no longer have any particular taste.
First crop
So, when they pump the first honey in the middle lane it’s clear. In the southern regions, this process begins much earlier, always no later than the beginning of summer. You can check the maturity of honey during the flowering of willow and acacia, and this happens in mid-May in good conditions.
It is absolutely accurate to say when honey can’t be started to be pumped, because even in the same climate zone, spring can come at different times every year. It affects the collection and amount of rain, which in large quantities simply will not let the bees fly. As a rule, beekeepers release bees already on dandelions and flowering of fruit trees, when the air has not warmed enough yet, and the feeling of spring is only hanging around.
The most popular among many is May honey, because its aroma and taste differ markedly from subsequent products. May honey is refined and sophisticated, but is collected in smaller quantities than summer herbs.
Last pitching
Depending on weather conditions, honey can be pumped out per season up to four times. To get a product of a certain variety, beekeepers transport an apiary several times during the summer for certain plantings. Beloved by bees, linden can bloom depending on conditions from the end of June and throughout July, so you can tell when linden honey is pumped only by paying attention to these trees in your region. Typically, linden nectar product is second or third after buckwheat.
It is important to take honey during the summer, but not in the fall, because bees need to be given the opportunity to prepare for winter. So the last fence should be carried out no later than the end of summer, and from September onwards leave families to self-sufficiency.
It’s also impossible to say when to download honey in August. And here a lot depends not only on the weather, but also on the state and size of the bee family. Strong and numerous colonies are able to collect the product much faster, which means that every pitching will come earlier. Such bees also prepare faster for wintering.
Collection period
The period when buckwheat honey is pumped depends on the flowering time of this crop. This is directly related to the time of buckwheat planting and varies only from these conditions, the weather does not affect flowering. As a rule, the flowering period of the culture begins from the end of June to mid-July, almost in parallel with the flowering of linden. Interestingly, linden flowers bloom depending on the weather, and in the southern warm regions this period begins much earlier. In order for the linden to bloom profusely and grow actively, it needs a large amount of sun. In such conditions, the tree blooms very quickly, and the bees have to work incessantly in order to manage to collect as much nectar as possible.
Pick time
When to download honey of different varieties, it is clear, but at what time is it right to do it? In fact, there are simply no strict recommendations on this subject. Each beekeeper chooses a convenient time for himself during the day, you should not only disturb insects in the evening, because they need to prepare for rest before the next working day. If the apiary is large, then you can start work in the morning, because you can carry this activity all day. If you have only a couple of clues, you can approach the fence during the day. It is very important to pump honey only in dry weather so that the bees can fly away at this time. It is important that the air temperature is high enough, otherwise the honey will harden and will not be able to drain. In such situations, it is allowed to heat it up a couple.
The number of fences per summer depends on many indicators of family productivity and flowering activity of crops, therefore, strictly individually. If insects are full of energy, then they are able to fill the frame much faster than sluggish relatives. Under any conditions, it is better to periodically check the condition of the frames in order to know for sure when to download honey.
Fence rule
So that the bees do not interfere during the collection of the product, this should be done away from evidence. Experienced beekeepers always have special tents with mesh windows for such cases. They allow fresh air to pass through and do not allow insects to enter. In principle, the rules for pumping honey are the same for all cases, and the technology for this is also the same.
It begins with the installation of removers and the removal from the evidence of frames with honey, after which:
- the product is printed;
- pumped out;
- the framework is put in place.
To do all this with a single-bee house, you need to have a set of tools with you.
First of all, this is a smoker who will drive away the bees during the whole process, as well as:
- honey extractor;
- container for collecting product;
- chisel;
- water;
- brush;
- knife;
- table.
Multi-case evidence requires an additional remover with a Hahnemann grid.
Sequencing
Before pumping honey, from the evening in the evidence it is necessary to install removers. This action can be ignored only in cases where the bee houses have brood within the framework of brood.
The collection begins with the fact that when the evidence is opened, the bees shake off the frame with a light tapping. The remaining specimens are removed with brushes moistened with water. It is important to begin to withdraw the frames not from the extreme, but from the second or third. You should also make sure that they do not have newly hatched bees or their larvae, since such a framework is not removed at all.
When all the honey frames are removed, the evidence is covered. In the room prepared for the fence, the upper honeycombs are cut with a knife. The product can simply drain from them. Further, the frames are installed in the honey separator in the direction of movement only with the lower end. The lower faucet opens only after the honey begins to drain at maximum speed. It is very important to install the frames symmetrically in the apparatus, so that it does not swing much, and additional vibrations are not created. After collecting the frames are turned over, and honey sways on the other side. In the end, they all return to their places in the evidence.
The main thing here is to observe a strict orientation and not to change the frame in places from different families. This can trigger the transfer of disease.
Pumping without a special device
Many beginning beekeepers simply do not have the opportunity to purchase special devices for collecting honey for personal use, so before you download honey without a honey extract, you should familiarize yourself with some of the features of this process.
First of all, you can collect honey without a special device by pressing. It implies the extrusion of the product and the mandatory damage to the framework, which means it is acceptable only in extreme cases. To preserve the scope, you can use manual extrusion, but this process will take a lot of time. The natural process that our ancestors used earlier will also be long. To do this, cut the zabrus from the frame and put it on the table for spontaneous runoff.
In general, it turns out that in the presence of a large number of evidence it is impossible to do without a special device. Experts advise for the first time to purchase small honey extractors, designed for only 2 frames, or cheap devices made of aluminum or galvanized steel.
Unripe Honey Fence
As already mentioned, unsealed frames cannot be used, since such a product is not yet edible. So, download honey: what framework to choose? To do this, get the frame out of the evidence and tilt it a bit. If the product begins to flow out of it, then its collection cannot begin, honey has not yet ripened. Such a product will deteriorate very quickly, because it contains a large concentration of liquid.