Honey bees

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Yes it was probably around 6lbs of bees.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Swarm season has just begun and I'm already at my max. Its awesome that when my colonies swarm, they spend a day under the overhang, so if I want to keep them, I can just scoop them up

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Bees are doing good. I've got 9/10 queenright hives after the splits and 2 swarms. I'm going to check the one that i think does not have a queen mid week one more time. If i am still sure there is no queen I've got a good candidate to combine it with.


This queen was overwintered and was taken as a split earlier in the spring. Her daughter is doing about a well so far.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I'm adding frames tomorrow. The acre of white clover I seeded two years ago his filling in nicely, and blossoming this week. Lots of bees activity on it. I'm still a couple weeks from seeding my acre of buckwheat. All 8 colonies are doing well. Three years into no feeding or treating and we have lost one colony.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Your spring must be starting much later than ours. We already have blackberries and honeysuckle in full bloom. I mowed down my clover this weekend.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Your spring must be starting much later than ours. We already have blackberries and honeysuckle in full bloom. I mowed down my clover this weekend.

We are in zone 5B. So, probably. Our swarm season came a couple weeks early this year, probably due to the warm temps in April we had.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Got 17 more extra deep frames prepped for the hives today.... Only 30 more to go for the season!

 

[Hoot Owl]

Our clover just started showing up last week. We had an early warm up them temps dropped, now they have warmed up and we have had about 4" of rain in the last 2 weeks. I had to feed all of my split's and swarms. I will be checking them tomorrow.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Lets talk about honey extraction. I figure I have about 4-6 weeks left of good nectar flow. I already have 3 full supers and added 2 more last weekend. I'm hoping for 150-200 lbs of honey.

This is my 2nd year and I didn't harvest any honey last year except for some wonky comb that we crushed and strained. So I need to get basically everything required for honey extraction and bottling. I would like an electric, radial extractor. Aside from that I don't really know anything about brands or other considerations.

Anyone that has some good knowledge please share.

 

[ning]

Lets talk about honey extraction. I figure I have about 4-6 weeks left of good nectar flow. I already have 3 full supers and added 2 more last weekend. I'm hoping for 150-200 lbs of honey.

This is my 2nd year and I didn't harvest any honey last year except for some wonky comb that we crushed and strained. So I need to get basically everything required for honey extraction and bottling. I would like an electric, radial extractor. Aside from that I don't really know anything about brands or other considerations.

Anyone that has some good knowledge please share.

See if there's anyone with a setup that will rent it out. Here there's a hardware store owned by beekeepers and they rent out their "honey house" to hobbyists at a very reasonable rate.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I harvest in the fall, after the fall flow. I've never understood harvesting before a dearth?

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Around here the fall flow is goldenrod and the honey smells like wet socks taken off a dog. It's bad.

I'm only going to take the extra.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Around here the fall flow is goldenrod and the honey smells like wet socks taken off a dog. It's bad.

I'm only going to take the extra.

We have lots of goldenrod too, and the smell from the hives, but the honey isn't negatively affected

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I'll pull a little goldenrod honey this fall and see how it is.

 

[Beeenvenue]

I harvest in the fall, after the fall flow. I've never understood harvesting before a dearth?

In north Texas we get a plant called “snow on the prairie” starting in august; dearth is basically July 4th-mid/late august or even September. You don’t want honey from that. At best it tastes “spicy” and bothers digestion. At worst it gives you a pretty bad set of digestive issues (it is listed as “mildly poisonous/irritant”). Best to leave it for winter stores and live with a single honey harvest.

Some people aren’t bothered and even get a taste for it but most stay far far away.

 

[Hoot Owl]

Ask at your local club about renting equipment, or does anyone do it for a small fee?
I started with a 3 frame extractor and buckets from the bakery at our local store. You should have food grade buckets for honey storage. You will also need something to remove the capping's. I have used a hot knife and other tools made for this. I have to admit I liked the fork style tool best as I did not end up with a lot of wax capping's.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Who is getting ready to harvest? I'm going to get my harvesting equipment next week. Shortly after that I'll pull my supers and get me some honey! The spring flow is starting to peter out down here.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I won't harvest til October... But my acre of clover is blooming well, and my acre of buckwheat came in strong, so I'll have that for them to forage on during the summer and fall dearth.

I do have about 30 pounds to bottle from a cutout I did a month ago.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Transferred a colony from a cutout to their forever hive today. Wow they have taken off, considering what they lost during the cutout. Tons of comb building and honey stored!

Also, my buckwheat field has sprouted even in this drought and it's thick! In four weeks the bees will have that resource when everything else is going dormant