Adrian Dent said:-
 
> If you have evidence that ripened honey remains uncapped, please tell
> me.
 
I looked through a few books last night.  I didn't have time to look
very thoroughly but here are some examples from authors spread around
the world.
 
Ted Hooper in "Guide to Bees and Honey", (UK) says:-
 
"Unsealed honey is unsealed sometimes because it is still being worked
by the bees and has not yet reached a low enough water content for them
to seal it, and sometimes because the flow of nectar has ceased and,
although the honey is up to gravity, the cells are not full and so are
left unsealed while the bees wait for more to arrive."
 
He then goes on to describe the shaking test I suggested yesterday to
determine if the unsealed honey is ripe enough to extract.
 
Richard Bonney in "Hive Management", (USA) and Andrew Matheson in
"Practical Beekeeping in New Zealand", (NZ) are both somewhat less
explicit but also agree that unsealed honey can sometimes be
extractable, particularly at the end of the season, and recommend
the same shaking test.  I notice Richard Bonney has also just posted
something to more or less the same effect here on Bee-l.
 
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