Bees not capping honey

[Aroc]

A few of our hives have plenty of stores and honey for harvesting...problem is they aren?t capping some of the honey. 

5/8ths of the frame is capped but for a couple of weeks now the last bit remains open.  Do we just play the waiting game? 

Is there a reason the last bit isn?t getting capped?

I understand humidity is a factor but that doesn?t really explain why all isn?t capped and it has been so long being uncapped.

[BeeMaster2]

What is your average humidity?
We have constant high humidity levels. It can be a problem. Sometimes I find that the uncapped honey is below 18%. If the flow ends before they cap it, sometimes they do not have the nectar to cap it.
Jim

[Acebird]

They are not going to cap it until they know they don't need it.  We are creeping into August when the hive prepares for winter.  My advice is wait.  Honey doesn't spoil.

[Aroc]

What is your average humidity?
We have constant high humidity levels. It can be a problem. Sometimes I find that the uncapped honey is below 18%. If the flow ends before they cap it, sometimes they do not have the nectar to cap it.
Jim

Montana is generally fairly dry.  Humidity is usually 25-35 %.  We did have a wet spring and early summer,  but we haven?t seen any rain now for several weeks.

[BeeMaster2]

What is your average humidity?
We have constant high humidity levels. It can be a problem. Sometimes I find that the uncapped honey is below 18%. If the flow ends before they cap it, sometimes they do not have the nectar to cap it.
Jim

Montana is generally fairly dry.  Humidity is usually 25-35 %.  We did have a wet spring and early summer,  but we haven?t seen any rain now for several weeks.

Wow, our humidity runs fro 85 to 95% during the summer. We have a hard time getting the house humidity down below 50% to dry the honey when extracting.
Jim

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Jim, in Montana, it?s not unusual that the humidity is single digit, like 8 percent.  That is not a typo, eight percent, and the forest fires are extreme when this happens.
Blessings

[Dallasbeek]

Jim, if the house humidity is even 50%, how are you able to dry honey to less than that?  It looks like the honey would be drawing in moisture rather than losing it.  Enlighten me, please.

[BeeMaster2]

Luckily for me 50% is low enough to dry honey but not real fast. I am now using a dehumidifier to get it lower. 35% is the lowest it can take it down to.
Jim

[Aroc]

Jim, if the house humidity is even 50%, how are you able to dry honey to less than that?  It looks like the honey would be drawing in moisture rather than losing it.  Enlighten me, please.

I have often wondered this myself.  I?m assuming it has to do with thermal dynamics or something I don?t understand.  Moisture must evaporate from nectar in cells to get to 18%.  Even at high humidity liquid does evaporate....just might take longer.

[Dallasbeek]

Jim, if the house humidity is even 50%, how are you able to dry honey to less than that?  It looks like the honey would be drawing in moisture rather than losing it.  Enlighten me, please.

I have often wondered this myself.  I?m assuming it has to do with thermal dynamics or something I don?t understand.  Moisture must evaporate from nectar in cells to get to 18%.  Even at high humidity liquid does evaporate....just might take longer.

Yes, I agree that I don't understand this.  After my last post, I looked up relative humidity in various places and was surprised that the average annual humidity was as high as it is in places like Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Phoenix.  The lowest seem to be in Nevada.  And none were as low as I had thought they would be.  When I lived in Albuquerque, I had a humidifier on my a/c to keep from drying out everything.  I grew up in south Texas, where the humidity was like yours, Jim.  I'd take a shower, dry off and immediately be wet again.  I moved to Albuquerque and had to humidify, but I still don't understand it.  I'll try to read up on it.  Have a good week.

[Dallasbeek]

Jim, if the house humidity is even 50%, how are you able to dry honey to less than that?  It looks like the honey would be drawing in moisture rather than losing it.  Enlighten me, please.

I have often wondered this myself.  I?m assuming it has to do with thermal dynamics or something I don?t understand.  Moisture must evaporate from nectar in cells to get to 18%.  Even at high humidity liquid does evaporate....just might take longer.

That was my point-- if the ambient temperature is 80 and the temperature in the comb is 90 degrees f., for example, I don't see see how you can lower the temperature of the honey in the comb to 60 degrees;  if the ambient relative humidity is 50 per cent and the moisture level of the honey in a comb is 25 per cent, how do you reduce the moisture level in the comb to something lower than 18 per cent?

[Acebird]

Don't confuse relative humidity with percentage water content.  There is always more water molecules in a liquid form then in air.  At 100% RH it rains because the air cannot hold any more moisture, but it is still mostly air.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Aroc, your bees may not be capping honey because they are eating the stuff.  If you are in a dearth the bees will leave some uncapped honey for their food source.

Is this honey ripe, that is 18 percent or less????  A simple test, shake the uncapped honey and determine if any honey fall out after shaking the Honey frame.  If no honey falls out it is less than 18 percent and very thick.  If a bunch of honey falls out of the uncapped frame then the moisture is most likely above 18 percent.

Humidity is the percent saturation of water in air at a given temp.

Percent moisture is the amount of water in a substance without regard to temp.

Just clarifying what Ace said, same thing.  Well said Ace, good morning.
Blessings

[Dallasbeek]

Thanks, Ace and Van.  I guess I need to do some reading on that subject.