Comb Honey can be a challenge! Any keeper needs the trifecta for successful production:
- A strong, healthy colony
- Peak nectar flow
- Lots of bees crowded into your hive space
Our recommended approach for supering with SimplKomb:
Pack Your Super.
Loading your 10-frame super with all 10-frames ensures that you are managing bee space as SimplKomb is designed. The bosses on the packages should touch neighboring bosses in order to manage the bee space - this will control the height they build the comb out to in the package.
Squeeze 'Em In.
Ensure your frames are snug together and the bosses are touching each other on neighboring cassettes. Using a follower board or two can help take up any extra room in your box and squeeze your frames together snug. We want to bee sure that we can get the lids to snap in place once we harvest. If the bees are given too much space, they will over build the packages and your lids will not snap shut. Then, you'll have to eat all that delicious comb honey by yourself!
Squeeze your bees in, too. A packed or "crowded" super filled with lots of bees makes light work for comb production. Here are a few helpful super setup recommendations:
- Single Brood Method: Condense a double brood box down into a single brood chamber, add a queen excluder, then your medium super of SimplKomb on top.
- Under-Over Method: Split a double brood chamber by sandwiching your super of SimplKomb between your brood boxes. Adding a queen excluder on either side of the super is encouraged.
Make the Choice Simpl.
Giving your bees access to drawn comb or other locations to deposit honey often results in the avoidance of SimplKomb cassettes. Make their decision simpl by removing any other supers and providing SimplKomb as the only honey storage option. This will speed up their fill time, too!
Start Early in the Season.
Comb Honey is said to be best produced early in the season. While we have harvested late-season comb honey here in Minnesota, we do recommend getting your Simplkomb supers on early. The first sign of a strong nectar flow is your cue!
Give the Bees Something to Buzz About.
Ensuring your cassettes are prepped for the season is critical - the main part of this prep is waxing each package thoroughly. Be sure to get into the corners and along the edges for the best fills. Pay special attention to the top of each cup.
We recommend:
- Brushing melted wax onto each cup, rather than scrubbing solid wax so that you create a thick foundation layer.
- Using a double boiler method or temperature controlled griddle to keep wax between 140°-175°F. Please ensure your wax is not too hot as this could potentially warp the SimplKomb cassettes.
Bees having trouble finding SimplKomb? Entice them into the super by spritzing a few packages with 1:1 sugar-water, 1:1 honey-water, or dab a bit of honey on a few packages. Adding an upper entrance into the honey super can increase the traffic flow and create a path directly to your SimplKomb cassettes for honey storage (as opposed to only providing a lower entrance through the brood chamber)
Again, if you provide other options for honey storage, like drawn frames, this may result in a delay of interest in the SimplKomb cassettes. Remember, we're training our bees by encouraging their natural behaviors: make the choice Simpl for your bees!
Peek from Underneath.
Checking your super frequently is important as the cassettes can fill quickly. We recommend tipping your super on its side and viewing the cassettes from the bottom to check on fill and capping progress.
Try to avoid removing frames from the super while your bees are progress as this will impact spacing or cause damage to the comb.
Harvesting Made Simpl.
Harvesting comb honey has never been easier! Gently remove the frames from your super, use your hive tool to scrape any propolis off then get under the tabs to gently pry your cassette from the frame. Unsnap the lids from the back of the cups, and fold around to close the packages.
Like any comb honey production, folks freeze their product for 48hrs to kill any potential wax-moth larvae in the comb. SimplKomb cassettes nest nicely on top of one another and slide into your freezer with ease. While still frozen, snap the cassette apart into individual packages and use a butter knife to clean up any propolis on the edges, as necessary.
Labeling for Sale.
How you label your filled comb honey packages is up to you! Slap your branded sticker on the front, or scribble a price right on the package. At Fry Family Farms, we allow the comb honey to be the star of the show by using clear labels customized from Better Bee. Here are some places you can design and purchase clear, two-inch labels:
Package weight depends on the moisture content of your honey and any variation in fill or cappings. We find SimplKomb packages weigh about 5.5oz on average, but they can range anywhere from 5.0oz to 7.0 oz! If you like to feature weight on your labels, stack your packages on a scale, then divide that weight by the number of packages for the average weight of each unit.