Honey Harvest Spring 2022

This year our great friends Mike and Tracy Kiefer joined us for the Spring harvest.  This was their first time in a beehive.  They were a great help to us.  Welcome to our hive enjoy the process.

The Team

The first step involves putting a "fume" board on top of the Honey Supers (top boxes bees make honey in).  This board is sprayed with a product which smells like almonds and drives the bees down into the hive out of the Supers.

Once most of the bees have moved down into the hives we pull the frames.  These frames are filled with honey that is capped with wax.

Once the frames have been removed and are secured in a box that will prevent bees from joining the harvest process we must remove the wax cappings.

Once the wax cap has been removed the frames are put into the extractor and spun. A honey extractor is a mechanical device used in the extraction of honey from honeycombs. A honey extractor extracts the honey from the honey comb without destroying the comb. Extractors work by centrifugal force. A drum or container holds a frame basket which spins, flinging the honey out. With this method the wax comb stays intact within the frame and can be reused by the bees.

Any excess honey from the uncapping process is added to the extractor.

The Spinning

Once the extractor is full.  The honey is released and strained.

The Liquid Gold is released

We harvested 4 gallons of Honey

First Honey Harvest

 

Today we had the pleasure of doing our first Honey Harvest.  Being first year beekeepers we were not anticipating honey this year but our girls have been busy and we got 2 gallons from a Super leaving them plenty to over winter.  

I have done several harvests with my mentors and learned so much about what tools work best.

The Setup:

We used a Fume Board method and brushes to remove the bees from the frames.  This worked very well.  We brought the capped frames indoors to uncap.  

Once the honey was uncapped we used our hand crank two frame extractor to easily spin out the honey.

Finally we released the honey into our bucket.

We harvested just over two gallons of liquid gold.

The last step is the bottling and packaging:

and Limoncello Blossom Honey is Born!

Hive Inspections - August 2020

Today we inspected the honey supers on both of our hives and changed the oil and beetle traps.  There were very few if any beetles present in either hive.  Both Brood boxes were fairly full and our First Super on Hive number 2 is being filled with honey on just about every frame.   The second Super on Hive number 1 which was installed approximately 3 weeks ago did not have any comb on it yet.

Once again we had our Guest Beekeeper Katherine join us for inspections.

Hive Inspections July

Today we inspected both hives and once again our visiting beekeeper, Katherine Scardasis Finn, assisted.  In Hive one we found the queen who was very large  and light in color.  We all wished we took a picture but cameras don't work with the gloves and we wanted to be very careful while holding the frame with her on board.  She was placed gently back into the brood box which was almost 70% full so we decided to add the honey super.  We checked hive 2 quickly to insure that the super was being worked and it appears the girls have been busy making comb and honey.  Both bottom boards were cleaned out and emptied.

Hive Inspection Post Queen Release

Today we inspected both Hives.  We had a special guest, Katherine Finn, join us for these inspections.  She did a great job working the smoker and helping us look for our Queen.   Hive 1 one had multiple Queen cells mid-frame.  One had a large larvae in it.  There is no sign of our Queen.  This hive appears to be Queenless once again.

Hive 2 in thriving and we will add a Super next weekend.

Watch the video to see what we saw and how we came to our conclusions:

Hive Inspections Today

Queen Cage Release

Today we opened the hive to see if our New Queen has been released from her cage.

Video of the Cage Extraction

The queen has been released from her cage.  We will go back into the hive on 06/27 to be certain she is laying.

Hive #2 NUC Install

Then there were two:

Today we went to RWeaver Farms, in Navasota, TX to pick up our second NUC.  The hive was ready and the bees and queen were installed.

To view the full install video visit Hive 2 Install

In the meantime we did a Hive Inspection of Hive 1.  You may remember we did not see the Queen when installing or inspecting the hive and production has appeared to be slow.  With our last hive inspection we did see some capped brood and Larvae.  We also installed a frame of Capped Brood and Larvae from my mentors hive to encourage the queen to get productive.

Today we did NOT note "any" progression in hive #1 - not much new capped brood or larvae.  We also found Queen cells being developed mid-frame.  All of which are signs that our Queen may have died or is not doing well.  5 weeks into our install it was time to take action.  We determined a new Queen is needed.  We picked up a new Queen this morning and installed her this afternoon.  She comes in a tiny box with several nurse bees.  There is "candy" in the box which when introduced to the hive will prompt them to eat her out of the box into the hive. We took a small pin and poked a hole in this candy plug. This will draw the bees to the box and allow them to eat through the plug. This whole process of eating takes about two days. By the time the bees eat through the plug, the queen will have been accepted into the hive. We will do another inspection in one week.   When we make our 1-week inspection, the queen should be out of her cage, and she should have eggs laid in 1 or 2 of the combs. Some queens can take a little longer to begin laying