When honey is ready for harvesting is a question of general interest and some
contorversy.   Here are some answers I have heard:
 
1)   100% capped  (required for comb honey)
 
2)    80% capped
 
3)    Unable to manually shake nectar out of open cells
 
4)    Whatever is in the supers at the end of the honeyflow.
 
Personally, I try for 1) but usually end up at a combination of 2) and 3).
  Most years, my honey tests out < 17 % moisture.   Anything that's really
thin gets tested, and if its > 18.6 % moisture will get fed back to the bees
as soon as the flow is over.
 
W. G. Miller
Gaithersburg, MD