A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[sgtmom52]

You could try it, but first I would just go down during the day ~ preferably in the afternoon and watch to see if they are flying. There should be foragers coming and going as long as it is not raining. If there is no activity you should check inside. Unless it is very warm and the hive is in full sun ~ bees tend to be late risers and early to bed.

Even if there is activity you could still take a quick look inside if you want too. Just open the lid and take a look ~ you should be able to see the bees without taking out any frames or disturbing them too much.

What type of feeder jar are you using? If it is a front entrance feeder ~ they are not supposed to drip. They have very small holes that the bees put their proboscis into and suck out the syrup. They can get clogged with dried sugar though.

 

[OHhappychicks]

You could try it, but first I would just go down during the day ~ preferably in the afternoon and watch to see if they are flying. There should be foragers coming and going as long as it is not raining. If there is no activity you should check inside. Unless it is very warm and the hive is in full sun ~ bees tend to be late risers and early to bed.

Even if there is activity you could still take a quick look inside if you want too. Just open the lid and take a look ~ you should be able to see the bees without taking out any frames or disturbing them too much.

What type of feeder jar are you using? If it is a front entrance feeder ~ they are not supposed to drip. They have very small holes that the bees put their proboscis into and suck out the syrup. They can get clogged with dried sugar though.

There is a lot more activity today. And I am using the front entrance feeder. I thought they were to drip. Thank you again for that tidbit of info!

We have so much to learn!!! We are going to try to go to our local beekeepers meeting next month. We intended to go this past meeting, but something came up.

 

[1muttsfan]

Sounds like you are off to a good start

 

[OHhappychicks]

Sounds like you are off to a good start

Hope so!

 

[sgtmom52]

We pulled 9 honey supers off of our hives yesterday, and will be extracting them this afternoon. Our 10 year old nephew helped. It is great when you can get kids involved.












This is a frame of natural comb for comb & chunk honey. Not quite ready for harvest yet.

 

[Happy Chooks]

How much honey did you end up with off of those 9 supers?

 

[Eva2012]

Hello everyone!
I wish I still had my 9 hives and my extractor. I love the smell of honey and miss it. The entire kitchen was perfumed to perfection.

I only have a rescue hive. I rescued them from a sprinkler underground irrigation box. They came from a local park 2 years ago and I stuffed them into my Warre hive. They are still alive and doing well.

 

[sgtmom52]

How much honey did you end up with off of those 9 supers?

We extracted over 200 pounds and are still straining the cappings which could give us 10 to 20 more pounds. Some of the honey was medium amber and some was light amber. We put the different colors in different buckets so we can bottle them separately. We will let the buckets settle for a few days them bottle some of it. We store it in the 5 or 6 gallon buckets and bottle as we need it to sell.

 

[Eva2012]

We extracted over 200 pounds and are still straining the cappings which could give us 10 to 20 more pounds. Some of the honey was medium amber and some was light amber. We put the different colors in different buckets so we can bottle them separately. We will let the buckets settle for a few days them bottle some of it. We store it in the 5 or 6 gallon buckets and bottle as we need it to sell.

OMG, I am drooling

 

[1muttsfan]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

So do you call the processing building a Honey House? Like a maple syrup Sugar Shack?