Honey yield calculator
How much honey will a stack of supers give you, and how many jars is that? Enter the super size, the frames in each box and how much of each frame is capped. The result is pounds of honey and the number of 1 lb, 12 oz and 8 oz jars. It multiplies what you enter by a published pounds-per-frame figure, so use it to plan jars and labels. It cannot tell you what your season will bring.
How the number is worked out
Frames to harvest are the supers times the frames in each, minus any frames you leave in place. Each frame is worth its full-frame weight multiplied by the share capped, so a frame that is 80% capped counts as 0.8 of a frame. Then one pound is 16 ounces, and each jar size divides into that. Examples at 100% capped and 10 frames per box:
| Supers | Arithmetic | Honey | 1 lb jars |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 deep | 10 x 6.0 lb | 60.0 lb | 60 |
| 2 medium | 20 x 3.5 lb | 70.0 lb | 70 |
| 3 shallow | 30 x 3.0 lb | 90.0 lb | 90 |
Where the pounds per frame come from
I did not find an extension table of honey per frame. The defaults, 6 lb for a deep, 3.5 lb for a medium and 3 lb for a shallow, are the same ones the stores calculator uses and are on the low side. Dadant gives about 6 and 3.5 lb, Honey Bee Suite about 8 and 6 lb, and Garth Cambray's planning estimates run 7 to 8 lb for a deep in a 10-frame box and about 3 lb for a shallow, more when eight evenly spaced frames are drawn out thick. The shallow figure is an estimate. Type your own number if you have weighed a frame.
Three extension pages give weights for whole boxes, which include the wood, wax and frames:
- University of Delaware: a full-depth super filled with honey weighs over 60 lb, and a shallow one about 35 lb.
- University of Arkansas Extension: a deep honey super can weigh more than 80 lb, a full 10-frame medium 50 to 60 lb and a full 8-frame medium 40 to 48 lb.
- Montana State Extension: a full medium super can weigh 50 lb.
These are box weights, so they cannot be compared one to one with honey alone. A medium at 3.5 lb a frame gives 35 lb of honey in 10 frames. A 50 to 60 lb box includes the wood, wax and frames, which I could not find an extension weight for, so the sources leave open whether 3.5 lb understates a heavy super. Weigh one full super, subtract the weight of an empty one, and divide by the frames to get your own pounds per frame.
Jars, frames left behind and what is not counted
- Jar sizes are net weight. A 1 lb jar holds 16 oz of honey by weight, a 12 oz jar holds 12 oz and an 8 oz jar holds 8 oz. Some honey stays in buckets and on the extractor, so expect a jar or two fewer.
- Uncapped honey may still be nectar. A low capped share is the safer figure for planning, and you can move it up after you look at the frames.
- Frames left for the bees come off the harvest. How much a colony needs to get through winter depends on where you keep bees, and the stores calculator lists the sources by region.
- Wax cappings, the honey that stays in the comb after extracting and the season itself are not modeled.
To see what a hive holds on the scale, use how heavy a hive should be for winter. If you are short before winter, how much sugar to feed bees for winter turns the gap into pounds of sugar.