Sunday July 5th ...
Yesterday I made another trip to the farm and swapped supers on the northern hive ... pulled the full one and replaced it with the empty super from last weeks' activities.
Today I extracted ... 9 or 10 frames in this super had honey ... another 2-3 gallons ... also cleaned off the wax from the plastic frames in the other super from last week and wash and melted the wax into a disc.
Now what to do with all this honey ... I think I'll have to give Mead-making a try ...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
More Honey ...
10:00pm Monday June 29th ... finally was able to motivate and get the 1-plus supers extracted. The first super was full with 10 frames of lighter colored honey ... probably from this spring floral and nectar flows. The other super with mostly plastic frames was quite uneven in the comb that was drawn and with several frames without comb or honey. The honey in this super was quite dark and I believe was probably from the late fall brasilian pepper flows. Overall my daughter and I were able to get about 4 gallons of honey extracted. It took us about 2 hours from start through cleanup. The honey still needs to be strained from the bits of wax and such ... work for another day. I placed all of it in a 5 gallon bucket and snapped on a lid to await another day.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Summer and the bees are a buzzin'
I arrived at the Farm about 10:00am ... it was already quite hot and the weatherman called for rain showers throughout the day. Clouds were moving in from off shore from the Southeast.
I started out by doing a bit of landscape maintainence around the 3 hives. With a pair of hedge shears, I cut away the tall grass and weeds that had grown around the hives since my last visit. I also cut some overhanging crepe myrtle and several long brazilian pepper branches that were beginning to block the morning sun on 2 of the hives. A rain shower began and so I took cover under the covered work area next to the shadehouse and waited out the rain.
At 10:30 I began by working the 1st southern most hive. After a split about 2 months ago, I was not sure what to expect. Five full frames of brood had been transferred to a new hive my friend had purchased and she had taken them home and installed a new queen. This hive had 3 regular supers and 1 Ross Round super on top of the hive body. With five new frame in the hive body after the split, I was hoping to see freshly drawn comb and a busy queen with lots of eggs, larvae and capped brood. Instead the brood chamber had fully drawn frames, but in the place of the next generation of bees was instead lots of cells filled with honey. I saw no queen or any activity leading to new bees. What does this mean? The supers on top also showed little to no sign of any new comb or additional honey stores. I replaced the hive to order leaving a super partial full of honey with incomplete plastic frames on top. I would perhaps remove this super toward the end of my visit, if I had honey on the others hives that I could retrieve.
It was quite hot and I sat back in the shade and rested and re-hydrated a bit. ...
I started out by doing a bit of landscape maintainence around the 3 hives. With a pair of hedge shears, I cut away the tall grass and weeds that had grown around the hives since my last visit. I also cut some overhanging crepe myrtle and several long brazilian pepper branches that were beginning to block the morning sun on 2 of the hives. A rain shower began and so I took cover under the covered work area next to the shadehouse and waited out the rain.
At 10:30 I began by working the 1st southern most hive. After a split about 2 months ago, I was not sure what to expect. Five full frames of brood had been transferred to a new hive my friend had purchased and she had taken them home and installed a new queen. This hive had 3 regular supers and 1 Ross Round super on top of the hive body. With five new frame in the hive body after the split, I was hoping to see freshly drawn comb and a busy queen with lots of eggs, larvae and capped brood. Instead the brood chamber had fully drawn frames, but in the place of the next generation of bees was instead lots of cells filled with honey. I saw no queen or any activity leading to new bees. What does this mean? The supers on top also showed little to no sign of any new comb or additional honey stores. I replaced the hive to order leaving a super partial full of honey with incomplete plastic frames on top. I would perhaps remove this super toward the end of my visit, if I had honey on the others hives that I could retrieve.
It was quite hot and I sat back in the shade and rested and re-hydrated a bit. ...
The 2nd northern most hive is one of the 2 I split in late April. After smoking the entrance, I took the cover off and the removed the first super. It was quite full ... perhaps 60 lbs. and I took the super and set it aside to home. The other super had some honey stores. The brood chamber looked similar to the first hive ... lots of honey, no sign of a queen, eggs or larvae ... the hive did not look queenright. I reassembled the hive and took another break in the shade.
The middle hive between the other 2 is the other half of the split. The hive had 1 full super which I placed a bee excluder under before putting the hive back together. This hive also did not look queenright ... lots of honey in the brood chamber as the others.
Do I have any of the hives with a queen? What's next? I'll be back next weekend to remove the super from the second hive and check on things. I have questions that I hope others at the next Suncoast Beekeepers meeting can help answer.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Split 2nd hive
Today, Friday April 16th on an overcast afternoon, I met Jennifer about 4pm to split the 2nd hive. Her queen had arrived my mail that morning.
After removing the supers, we began the task of locating the existing queen somewhere on the 10 brood frames completely covered in bees. It is probably a good thing that I split the hive now, as while searching the frames for the queen, I removed several swarm cells.
Luckily for us, we spotted the queen on the 5th frame. The first four frames I had already moved into the new hive. Isolating the frame with the queen, we removed one more frame, giving her 5 full brood frames with LOTS of bees, honey, eggs, larvae, pollen ... everything for a good start. We closed up the existing hive and then proceeded to place the queen in her cage with attendants into the new hive. We closed it up and Jennifer took it to her home for setup. I will check with her in a couple of days to see if the queen was accepted and freely moving about her hive.
I also checked on activity in the two hives I had split 2 weeks ago. I was afraid that all of the bees would mitgrate back into the hive with the queen, since I did not separate this new hive farther than two miles away. To my surprise and delite, both hives had quite a bit of activity at both entrances. I left them alone and I will return another day to look for queens in both hives and do another inspection.
Overall, a successful outing.
After removing the supers, we began the task of locating the existing queen somewhere on the 10 brood frames completely covered in bees. It is probably a good thing that I split the hive now, as while searching the frames for the queen, I removed several swarm cells.
Luckily for us, we spotted the queen on the 5th frame. The first four frames I had already moved into the new hive. Isolating the frame with the queen, we removed one more frame, giving her 5 full brood frames with LOTS of bees, honey, eggs, larvae, pollen ... everything for a good start. We closed up the existing hive and then proceeded to place the queen in her cage with attendants into the new hive. We closed it up and Jennifer took it to her home for setup. I will check with her in a couple of days to see if the queen was accepted and freely moving about her hive.
I also checked on activity in the two hives I had split 2 weeks ago. I was afraid that all of the bees would mitgrate back into the hive with the queen, since I did not separate this new hive farther than two miles away. To my surprise and delite, both hives had quite a bit of activity at both entrances. I left them alone and I will return another day to look for queens in both hives and do another inspection.
Overall, a successful outing.
Removed One Super
On Tuesday, April 7th I called the farm manager and asked if he would bee willing to remove the top super now that most all of the bees shouldbe out. He agreed and we made plans to meet after work in Sarasota so I could get the super.
That evening I worked to extract about 6 frames of honey, resulting in about 19 lbs of a darker colored honey. I was able to get the extracted super back to the farm manager that evening and he agreed to place the super back on the hive the next afternoon.
Thanks Adam ... your kind assistance is greatly appreciated!
That evening I worked to extract about 6 frames of honey, resulting in about 19 lbs of a darker colored honey. I was able to get the extracted super back to the farm manager that evening and he agreed to place the super back on the hive the next afternoon.
Thanks Adam ... your kind assistance is greatly appreciated!
Spring Inspection
It was a beautiful spring day and my friend and new beekeeper, Jennifer joined my daughter and I for a trip to the farm on Sunday April 5th in the afternoon after Quaker meeting.
We started by splitting my 2nd hive which had 2 hive bodies and 2 supers. Not knowing which one of the hive bodies had the queen and not wanting to search 20 full brood frames of bees, we just split the hive, adding one of the hive bodies, a queen excluder and one of the supers to a bottom board set on cinder blocks about 20 feet from the existing hive and topped it with a hive cover. Both hives bodies were overflowing with bees looked very healthy.
Next we turned our attention to the 1st hive. This was Jennifer's first time with bees since childhood ... she had her new bee suit and was ready with hive tool and smoker. We started by removing supers, 3 regular and 1 Ross Round until reaching the 1 hive body. It was again overflowing with bee, which was good because we plan to return in 2 weeks when her mail-ordered queen arrives and we split this hive. We inspected about half of the brood frames looking for mites and hive beetles.
When re-assembling the hive, I place a super that was quite full near the top with the bee excluder in between it and the rest of the hive. I hope to return in 2 days to remove this super and extract a bit of honey.
Overall it was a successful inspection and all is well my apiary.
We started by splitting my 2nd hive which had 2 hive bodies and 2 supers. Not knowing which one of the hive bodies had the queen and not wanting to search 20 full brood frames of bees, we just split the hive, adding one of the hive bodies, a queen excluder and one of the supers to a bottom board set on cinder blocks about 20 feet from the existing hive and topped it with a hive cover. Both hives bodies were overflowing with bees looked very healthy.
Next we turned our attention to the 1st hive. This was Jennifer's first time with bees since childhood ... she had her new bee suit and was ready with hive tool and smoker. We started by removing supers, 3 regular and 1 Ross Round until reaching the 1 hive body. It was again overflowing with bee, which was good because we plan to return in 2 weeks when her mail-ordered queen arrives and we split this hive. We inspected about half of the brood frames looking for mites and hive beetles.
When re-assembling the hive, I place a super that was quite full near the top with the bee excluder in between it and the rest of the hive. I hope to return in 2 days to remove this super and extract a bit of honey.
Overall it was a successful inspection and all is well my apiary.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Adding a Ross Round
My daughter and I had an evening 5K race on Friday March 20th in NW Bradenton, just across the road from my hives. I took the opportunity before the race to make a quick visit and add a Ross Round super to my 2nd hive. It was in-and-out ... I'll be back soon to do splits of the 2nd hive and then when a friend gets her queen in the mail (she's already built the new hive) we'll return to split the 1st hive and install her new queen.
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