Harvesting a skep

[Torondor the Builder]

Is there something special on how to harvest a skep?  Or is the only way to do that to break it?    
So far I have always had to break mine.  As a result I have had to make sure to propagate my skeps with new ones because when I break the existing ones to harvest them, they either lose the entire population in that instant, or else the population becomes an angry swarm and then vanishes after it tries to kill me.  Help.  I love the bees but I need that honey and wax.

[junawood]

You have to break them. So it's best to have maybe 5-10 or more skeps, always with some populated and some to harvest, and I like to have one populated skep somewhere else where no racoon can break it, just in case. And have some straw dummies close by, so that the bees have something else to attack.  

You'll soon have more honey and wax than you need.

[Torondor the Builder]

Thank you juna!  I will start producing more skeps right away!

[Jason Shipman]

I don’t know what I am doing wrong with skeps.  They are full, I try to harvest them, and it just falls on the ground and I can’t pick it up after I try to break it.  What am I doing wrong?

[Stroam]

Are you sure they are full? First if the fall to the ground get rid of one of your bags to free up a slot to pick it up and put it back. Second, wait until it says harvestable in the tooltip. The entrance will also be darker in color.