Our three hives

Honey Harvest

We harvested honey this week. Things went much better than I was expecting. The last time we checked on the bees there was no sign of eggs or larva in two of the three hives, which means the queens were most likely dead. The third hive (the swarm we caught this year) was looking really weak and we thought it was doomed for sure. That was about a month ago. I really didn't think we were going to be able to harvest any honey this year. And the possibility of losing all three hives was looking all too real.

Since then they have started laying eggs and the swarm is growing! We took 12 frames of honey from the two healthy hives (we're going to let the swarm keep what little they make this year.) We took more frames last year but the frames we took this year were much more full.

We took the frames home and extracted them that night. It only took about 3.5 hours this time. We're getting better at it! We ended up with about 3.5 gallons. It's less than last year, but we did two harvests last year, too. We'll see how things go over the next month. Maybe we can get another harvest in this year.

The honey is different than last year. It's more mild. Last year we started at a berry farm then ended up next to a large clover field. We left the hives next to that clover field again, but this year they planted potatoes instead. Too bad. There was a field of red clover about a mile away that must have added to out honey, and of course the wild blackberries, which are a given in this area.

We look forward to a good year of cherry tomatoes in the garden and the delicious salsa that comes from that!

I took this a mile from my house.

(see full image)

Bee lessons learned

This year has been quite a learning experience as a beekeeper. I'm happy to tell you that our hive survived the winter and is going strong. We also had a new addition to the family, if you will. A friend of my mother called us about a month ago and told us there was a swarm in the neighbors yard. We ran over there and captured them in a large rubbermaid tub. We put them in a short box, which was all we had at the time, with the intent of expanding their living conditions a little later on. The next week we got a deep box and added it to the bottom. 

That was a mistake. We add boxes to the top of hives all the time with no problems. Apparently it confuses them if you add boxes to the bottom. The next time we checked on them there was a large cluster trying to get in where the old entrance was, now the middle of the box (you can see it in the photo). We also left a gap in the frames (the spot were we poured the bees into the hive). They built all kinds of crazy wild comb in that spot, and filled it with eggs and brood. The next time we opened the lid it shredded the comb and destroyed their next generation of workers. They haven't done well since then. I've been feeding them, but I'm not sure they're going to make it. 

Now for some good news. Our original hive has really taken off this year! So much so that we split it into two hives a couple weeks ago. This involved finding the existing queen, and dividing the frames equally in two. We bought a queen for the new hive. They always say that the queen determines the attitude of the hive. I always though that was one if those things that you notice once you've been beekeeping for decades. Not so. This new queen is a grouch. I opened up the hive to take out the cage the new queen came in and got stung on the ankle in about 20 seconds. They are very aggressive! We'll be using the smoker a lot with these guys. 

We got a mini beekeeping suit for Ethan this year. He is super excited about it. He has almost always been with us when we check the bees, but he used to have to stay in the car. Now he gets in there with us, moving frames around, and working with the tools. He's lovin' it! It's pretty cute. 

So we are on track for success this year. Even if we do lose the swarm we will still double in size, and hopefully in honey.