honingoogstenIn May you can harvest the first honey. If you find that there is too little nectar and pollen, you can feed extra sugar water. In July, the second extraction. About 15 kilograms of honey per box is a good catch. After the second harvest beekeepers let the bees alone. They can be at ease and stockpile to overwinter.

If frames are sealed for ¾, honey is sufficiently mature. If in doubt, do the impact test: we knock firmly on the upper bar of the honey frame, when the honey is not “raining” out, he is sufficiently thickened and may be extracted.
A forward-looking beekeeper placed in the spring a queen excluder (where the queen cannot pass), so almost certainly no brood is in the honey super. We never take honey frames with brood to maintain the population.

The day before extraction you place an bee escape or clearer board which let the animals out, but not inside again.