How much honey is left in ‘wet’ supers after extraction is completed?

When you request your bees to dry out your frames for you, have you realised how much honey you (and they) are contributing to their winter stores? The answer is that a box of 11 wet extracted frames in a super contains about 1lb 4oz of honey. So if you ask your bees to dry out 3 supers, each with 11 wet frames, they will be adding nearly 4 lb of honey to to their winter stores. In other words, a full size colony, fed for winter, will increase its 40 lb of stores by about 10% from the wet frames. Or you could reduce the stores that you ensure they have (before drying out) from 40 lb to 36 lb (such precision!).

Don’t forget to tell your bees.

Look out for more exciting wax cappings data in the the December issue.

Geoff Cooper

Honey Show Reports 2022

Surrey BKA Honey Show, Saturday 8th October
This very pleasant event took place at Reigate Division’s Henfold Apiary and was enjoyed by all. Some of our members entered various items and a list of successes is give below. It is worth pointing out that there is a cup – The Vincent Challenge Cup – awarded to the Surrey Division that gains the most points. Weybridge came second in 2021 and again this year. There are some dedicated and extremely successful entrants from Reigate. This year they had 137 points to our 67, so there was a big gap between their first position and our second, but wouldn’t it be good to beat them? How about trying in 2023?

Results in alphabetical order of entrants:
(VHC = Very Highly Commended C = Commended)

Geoff CooperVHCComb suitable for extraction
Marion Cooper2ndHoney biscuits
2ndLemon honey cake
3rdHoney fruit cake
Lisa Davis2ndHoney & beeswax products
Andrew Halstead1stTwo jars medium honey
VHCTwo jars set honey
Jane Hunter3rdHoney biscuits
3rdTwo beeswax candles
VHCHoney fruit cake
VHCBlack and white photo
David Parker1stTwo jars dark honey
1stTwo cut comb containers (Colman Cup)
3rdTow jars set honey
3rdComposite display of four items
CComb suitable for extraction

National Honey Show, 27th – 29th October

Results for Weybridge Division in alphabetical order of entrants:

(VHC = Very Highly Commended C = Commended)

Geoff Cooper2ndFrame for extraction (Surrey member)
Marion Cooper1stHoney biscuits
1stContainer of liquid honey
2ndHoney sultana and cherry cake
3rdSkep
CDate cake
Mather Cup (Surrey member with most points in National classes)
Andrew HalsteadVHCTwo jars set honey (Surrey member)
VHCOne jar light or medium honey (Surrey member)
Mark Hamilton1stTow jars medium honey (Surrey member)
1stOne jar light/medium honey (Surrey member)
1stTwo containers cut comb, free from ling (Surrey member)
2ndTwo containers cut comb, free from ling (NHS class)
2ndTwo jars liquid honey (Surrey member)
3rdContainer of honey, free from ling (National class)
HCOne piece of beeswax (NHS class)
CSix 28g beeswax blocks (Gift class)
Jonathan Kernan1stTwo jars light honey (Open class)
(Mrs BW Hamlin cup – best in Classes 110-115)
1stTwo jars liquid honey (Surrey member) (Egerton Smythe cup)
2ndTwo jars liquid honey (Open class)
2ndTwo jars medium honey (Surrey member)
David Parker1stFrame for extraction (Surrey member) (Hood Chalice)
1stTwo jars dark honey (Surrey member)
2ndTwo containers cut comb, free from ling (Surrey member)
2ndTwo moulded candles (Surrey member)
VHCTwo containers cut comb, free from ling (NHS class)

Congratulations to us all! Please let me know of any errors or omissions and I will put corrections in the December Newsletter.
Thanks to Marion for the time she spent in sifting this from multiple pages of information.