Putting the Bees to Bed for the Winter

This has been the greatest bee season we've had in fifteen years. All three hives came out of the winter strong and healthy. We split all three, gave one to some aspiring beekeepers after it was up and running. We caught a swarm but it later lost its queen and had laying workers. So we took that one down to let the bees find new homes. Another hive had laying workers. We worked to get them to raise a queen which they did, but the hive was weak and was overtaken by wax moth. So we ended up with four hives. They produced so much honey that we harvested twice, the first time in 15 years.

Today we worked to put the girls to bed. We did the last small hive beetle treatment and insulated two of the hives. The only thing left is to put insulation in the top of the last two boxes. Then we will put them in the hands of patrons of beekeepers until late winter when we'll hope for a warm day to check their stores. They have plenty right now and we made sure they are in the middle over where the cluster will form since they move up and not so much side to side. We are thanking God for our great season and all the wonderful honey we have in the cupboard. 

Come visit. We'll have a tea party and say a rosary of thanksgiving for God's wonderful gift of honeybees!

Hoping for a Great Honey Season!

a medium frame with wax foundation

We did a hive inspection a few days ago and five of our six hives are going gangbusters. We added a honey super (the name for the box where you want the bees to collect nectar) to five hives. The only drawn comb we have is full of capped honey from last season and in the refrigerator, but we're sure it's mostly sugar water from feeding last fall so we'll save that for winter food. All the new boxes we added have undrawn wax foundation which means the bees have to draw it all out into little cells before they can start to fill it. The foundation is like the blueprint so the bees do what you want them to do.

July 21, 2016: Adding Queen Excluders in Hope of a Second Honey Harvest in August!

Queen excluder keeps her from laying brood in honey box.

Lots going on in the bee yard and we're in hopes that we'll get more honey frames to harvest in a few weeks. There are lots of full frames in several of the hives, but not 90% capped yet. I think we'll still be able to get more than the current thirteen and still leave plenty for the bees. They have certainly been busy this season! And the honey is delicious with a slightly fruity taste. Today we put queen excluders under the top boxes of both Anya and Bianca's hive. That allows the workers in to do their thing but keeps the queen from laying brood up there. The brood already in the frames will hatch and then they should fill any space with nectar.

Pulling Frames of Capped Honey from the Hives

Checked all four hives this afternoon. The new hive (Madeleine) has a laying queen and we'll need to add a new box since most of the nine frames are filled with brood and honey. We'll add some empty frames with new foundation to all of the hives and fill the new box with frames from the other hives exchanging some frames of brood and honey with undrawn foundation.

We took four frames of capped honey from Bianca's hive and nine frames from Anya's hive. We checked Rachel's but no honey frames were 90% capped and a number of frames with capped honey had brood as well. All four hives look great. Lots of bees and lots of nectar collecting going on.

We took an entire box off of Anya's hive. Eventually we will have all the hives with three boxes as we move into the fall. The bees need about sixty pounds of honey for the winter. We'll start feeding in another month to make sure they have plenty of food. But things are looking very good right now.

I harvested one frame a few days ago so all together so far we have fourteen frames, but we may pull a few more later since there are still lots of nearly full frames in the three large hives.

Honey Harvest. Yum! Yum!

We checked the hives about ten days ago to see what we would have for the honey harvest. We counted twenty frames of good capped honey, but when we went to collect the frames on Friday (July24) for the harvest on Saturday, some of the frames were not 90% capped and the bees had eaten some. (I guess they're entitled!)

If the uncapped honey cells are opaque and "dry" you can treat it same as capped, but if it is shiny and "wet" looking it can make the honey ferment and spoil it. We picked out 17 good frames for the harvest. One frame got dropped (and then there were sixteen), but even though we couldn't put that frame in the spinner, I salvaged the comb and put it in jars which makes a very pretty addition. And some people really like a bit of comb to chew on like gum. We ended up with 48 pounds of beautiful light honey which was probably primarily from the early spring nectar flow since one box was and capped before mid June. What does that mean? The honey taste and color depends on the nectar flow --- what the bees are working and what kind of honey it makes. Our honey probably came at least partly from the locust trees, one of the earliest to bloom in the Spring. We also have a street nearby lined with Golden Rain Trees which we've seen covered with bees. Also our neighbor attracts bees with his oregano patch and has often commented that our bees are over visiting. So all those are probably crops our bees were working.

At the harvest, it was fun to compare the look of our honey with what came from Gordon's bee yard which is only about two miles away from ours as the crow flies. Very different as you can see from the photo below. What's near Gordon's  I'm not sure, but his bees obviously were working different plants since the honey is very different both in color and taste -- much darker than ours, an amber color. Our light honey, on the left below (the dark at the top is a bit of honeycomb), has a flower-life taste; The honey from Gordon's bee yard is more robust. They are both absolutely delicious. And beautiful too. So stop by for a visit. We'll have tea and toast with butter and honey. Yum!