National Honeybee Awareness Day

Saturday August 21st was a national day of outreach and education for honeybee awareness.
I had pulled what little honey stores I could take from my only hive the evening before and was able to take 4 partial frames of honey to the bee event that our local Beekeepers asssociation had at a local park. Other club members had an extractor and were demonstrating how honey is taken from the comb. I was able to extract the frames I had brought ... and secured about 3/4 gallon on honey. I stayed for a while chatting with visitors and helping to extract addtional honey from other members' frames. The event was a success with honey samples and raffles, native plant sales, an observation hive and information about this amazing insects. It was a good day.

G-farm Bee move home ...

Where has this year gone ... its nearing the end of August and my beekeeping has changed quite a bit of the past year. Over the winter I lost 2 of 3 hives at G-farm. The remaining hive I moved the evening of August 17th. Jake and I arrived at the farm just before sunset. A large number of bees were congregated on the outside of the hivebody ... a little smoke and they all returned into the hive. We easily placed a entrance reducer, wooden plug in the smaller opening and tie-strapped the hive together for the 30 mile trip in the back of his pickup to my home in Sarasota.

Over the summer I lost the wild hive of bees that I had captured over the winter. Wax moths, and placement too close to a A/C unit were the probable causes.

I now have only one active hive.