Darker cappings

[Aroc]

We have pulled all the frames we are going to harvest this year. 

Before we extract I would like to find out about some of the capped honey looking darker.

Can?t share a pic as I?ve never been able to upload a pic on this forum from my phone.

The cappings covering some of the honey frames appear darker than others.  Normal?  Are the cappings just thinner, thus showing more honey color through?  Is there something wrong with the honey in those frames?

[BeeMaster2]

Aroc,
What you are looking at is a wet capping. Sometimes when you have a good flow the bees will fill the cell all the way out and cap it with the honey touching the cap. Most of the time there is a small air gap behind the cap and it makes it look lighter colored than the wet cap.
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

Aroc,
To bee able to post a picture from your phone, you need to resize it. In the ap store, look for Resize It.
It looks like this:
 


When you open it, look at the bottom left side. There is an icon of a photo. Click on it and open the camera roll or what ever your camera calls your photos. Select a photo and then at the bottom of the page, select the Resize It icon. When it opens, change the larger number to 600. It automatically sets the other number. Then at the top left corner, click Done. At the bottom of the page, click on the circle with the down arrow. Then find the Save Image icon.
Open BeeMaster. To post the pictures, click on Attachments and other Options. This will open up Choose file. Click on it. I then use the Moments file because it puts the photo that you just resized as the last photo. Select the photo, and then click on the insert attachment. If you are going to add another photo, you must use the hive more attachments button.


You can also crop the photo with this tool.
Jim

[sc-bee]

Cappings--- wet, dark, light, air space etc can also be a hereditary trait. That is why good comb honey producers evaluate a hive and go forward from there.

[TheHoneyPump]

Dark cappings.  Dark brown cappings.  These occur in my hives on frames that are getting alot of traffic.  For example it could be a brand new frame!  Just drawn, filled, and capped.  But if that new frame is near the entrance and it is the main ladder frame to the honey super above, the cappings get trampled and alot of dirty bee feets darken the wax.  Like having alot of people walk through the house with shoes on trampling the carpet.

The honey underneath is fine.  The comb is fine.  The only the top cappings are tarnished.

For this reason I put the oldest nastiest comb as that first frame at the entrance.  They can dirty the old dirty comb all they wish. 

Other than that, I sure hope you are talking with certainty of honey comb and honey cappings, not mistaking any brood cappings. 

Hope that helps!

[Michael Bush]

Bees often reuse wax from somewhere else and it can be quite dark.  Also, as mentioned, there are "wet" cappings and "dry" cappings where the bees put a little air between the honey and the cap and the cap looks white.  A genetically mixed up colony will sometimes do a mixture of both.  The AMM usually do dry.  The Italians usually do wet.

[charentejohn]

I know I am reviving this but ties in with what I have, I think ?

Attached a couple of photos of what is under one of my hives, they have always been the same.  I have one that drops light wax and this one that drops darker wax (and bee parts etc) and wondered if this looks like what was discussed.
The lighter wax lot were built out on 3 frames and doing well, have always bee the more active.
The darker wax lot (slightly darker bees but all 'mutts') were on 5 full frames and although don't seem as active must store a lot.  Both from the same source and started at the same time.
The amount of debris below is constant as some is cleaned up but always looks the same.

Just checking that it sounds right that the ones with the darker wax would be likely to pack the cells to the brim.  May also explain the bits of bee if they are so packed in there :)   Seems wierd that the busiest as regards coming and going would store less.
The hive with the lighter wax are also avid pollen collectors and always seem to have it.

 

[Bob Wilson]

When I asked about dark cappings a month ago, one answer was that after the honeyflow, and into the dearth when they are not making new wax, bees will dry out the remaining nectar and cap it with used wax, scavenged from inside the hive.

[BeeMaster2]

Bob,
My observation hive will sometimes put a thin layer of wax, usually starts out as dots, all over the glass. It stays there all through the flows. During the dearth?s and winter it will start to disappear. By spring the glass is usually pretty clean. They use it to cap the brood, especially after the winter solstice when the queen starts s laying again.
Jim Altmiller

[charentejohn]

Interesting as could be re-used ?  This hive has always been the same, compared to the other one seems less activity but more dark mess below as opposed to lighter wax, like they did more work indoors than the other one  .  Initially they both ripped out the wax foundation (warre top bars) and did their own hence the lighter stuff initially.
As this hive was packed when it was set up could be as they are producing less bees they are re-using more from inside the hive.  In spring I will be nadiring a new warre box and removing the Nuc type adapers.  When that happens I will see what they have done inside and the colour of cappings as I will harvest the honey to feed back. 
 

[The15thMember]

When that happens I will see what they have done inside and the colour of cappings as I will harvest the honey to feed back.
 

This is kind of off topic, but what is the purpose of harvesting honey just to feed back to them? 

[Ben Framed]

When that happens I will see what they have done inside and the colour of cappings as I will harvest the honey to feed back.
 

This is kind of off topic, but what is the purpose of harvesting honey just to feed back to them?

I agree with Member.  Very good question. Remember be patient, I am still learning.