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teeny tiny hive
Here you see the hands of Ken, adjusting the frames of his little model beehive. The wee box is resting on the much larger, normal-sized beehive. Ken is going to leave the small box on the larger box – there’s an opening in the bottom so the bees can come up into it – so the bees will draw out the honeycomb a bit. He doesn’t want them to store honey in the little demo hive, but he does want them to show what they can do in building up the wax in preparation for honey storage. He brings this hive to places where he talks about bees, so people…
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gone in a day
. I sold a container of honeycomb to a friend a few weeks ago, and today she told me “It was gone in a day”. What a compliment! Comments like these make me want to expand my operation by about 4x. It’s a big decision, though, because it takes time and energy. And I’m still learning. Some days I want to give up the idea of selling honey and keep it all for myself – yes, I’m greedy that way – and some days I want to get a few more hives so I have more to sell to all the people who want to buy more when they finish…
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extracting honey
. . I had one honey super with frames that had honeycomb acceptable to use in the extractor. So here they are, in the extractor ready to be spun. First I had to pick off the wax caps covering the cells of honey. There’s a special tool for that. Next, the frames are placed in the extractor in such a way that the extractor is balanced. If this is not done right you could end up with a hole in the wall of your honey house. Due to massive extractor banging around because it’s imbalanced. Fortunately I had some help – Steven was there to show me how to use…
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out of place
. Yesterday I showed some photos of honeycomb that was built perpendicular to the wooden frames. Today, I’m showing you the other half of the honey super – not quite so perpendicular, but still curvy enough that the frames can’t be put into a honey extractor. If you look closely on the left-hand side you can see the wires of the frame. These are supposed to be buried deep in the wax of the honeycomb, and provide support when the frames are spun in the extractor. Not working so well here. Hence the big mashing and straining ordeal. It’s been a sticky couple of days so far – I wash…
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here we go again
. I’m harvesting honey today. The hard way. Like last time. That’s what happens when you let the bees build their own foundation comb. Since the comb is built mostly perpendicular to the frames, I basically need to cut it out and mash it to get the honey out. Beeswax candles, anyone? I’m generating way more beeswax from this honey harvesting event than normal beekeepers would. Normal beekeepers, I’m told, use plastic or wax foundation in their honey supers so that the bees will build where they’re supposed to. Hm. Well. I wanted to try a different technique that I heard about. I got mixed results. One of my honey…
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what not to do
. I made myself a cup of garden tea this morning, and I thought it would be a great idea to throw in a bit of honeycomb, since I’ve got two honey supers sitting in my kitchen. I grabbed my trusty hive tool and sliced off a bit of comb to throw in, and mixed it all up. Well. Not the best idea. I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you like flecks of wax in your tea. Oops. I ended up straining it a few times, and did drink it with tiny particles floating in it. Live and learn. .
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first honey harvest
Since I had a super full of crazy curvy comb - that can happen when you don't use foundation - I couldn't just pop my honey frames in an extractor and give them a spin. First, I had to cut the comb from the frames. I used the wires in the frames as a guide, so it all came out in strips.
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bee escape
Setting up the bee escape and waiting for a few days allows the beekeeper to come back and take the box of honey without having to shake out the bees and piss them off. Or use a bee brush on the frames, which I can't do anyway since the comb is not actually in the individual frames. It's kind of meandering through the honey super. So I need a bee escape. And I need to go check it soon, since it's been on there for a bit. Here's a pic of the escape:
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a taste of honey
I've filtered my first half-cup of honey through this old food mill that belonged to my Grandma - see the honeycomb in the cone - and now I just want to look at it! I've tasted it, but that's all. It's a very light yellow - here's the comparison to Ken's:
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new momma for the girls
Many thanks to Ken for helping me yesterday with my queen and observation hive! The hive is a bit of a beast - it's so much easier with two people and more experience (Ken's, not mine). Anyway, here's the queen cage with queen and attendants - same one we saw yesterday, only in this pic Ken is uncorking the end. You'll notice the white bit - that's the 'candy' that the bees will need to chew through in order to free the queen. The cork is a precaution - there's so much candy there that Ken also made a wee hole through it to get them started.