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

[AWlowry]

sweet pics

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: Oh thanks so much! I'm researching now on supplies I will need. I'm going to get 2 more supers today and get one on the hive. I will look up a fume board and Honey Robber. Good to know on the bees robbing too.

I had planned on getting the bucket with the honey gate. (a couple of them) What filters do you use when it's coming out of the extractor? How much honey comes out of the cappings? Worth it to buy the uncapping tub?

We will likely be extracting in our well house. It's well built and has the room. No sink, but we can have a hose outside.

 

[Happy Chooks]

How long have you had it "up and running"? Nice!

I installed the hive last spring. They have 2 deeps for their brood area. I added the queen excluder and honey super a month ago. They drew out the comb and stored that much already! All of the frames are drawn out right now and they have just started storing honey in the outer frames.

Now I know where the term "busy little bee" comes from.

 

[sgtmom52]

Quote: Oh thanks so much! I'm researching now on supplies I will need. I'm going to get 2 more supers today and get one on the hive. I will look up a fume board and Honey Robber. Good to know on the bees robbing too.

I had planned on getting the bucket with the honey gate. (a couple of them) What filters do you use when it's coming out of the extractor? How much honey comes out of the cappings? Worth it to buy the uncapping tub?

We will likely be extracting in our well house. It's well built and has the room. No sink, but we can have a hose outside.

We have a 7 year old version of this extractor which has a built in strainer ~ http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Compact-Deluxe-Extractor/productinfo/793/

We then use this when draining into the bottling buckets. The honey is nice and clear, but the pollen is still in it.
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Double-Sieve/productinfo/833/

We do have an uncapping tank ~ but that is not really necessary. We always strain the cappings and can get a lot of honey from them.

If you don't want to invest the money in an extractor ~ check your local beekeepers Assoc. Many have extractors they will loan to members. Our club has 2, one large and one small. We also have a honey house at a local orchard where beekeepers can take their supers to extract there. The building is provided by the orchard. They are a very big supporter of our club.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Thanks again for all the help. We have a friend whose father used to keep bees and he has an extractor. He is going to let us use it.

 

[OHhappychicks]

They eggs are from my BCM when they started laying this spring. At the moment they are not as dark but still a beautiful colour. I checked with one of my friends that has bees too and he thinks they left because not enough food. We will se what happens this year.

What does "not enough food" mean?, other than the obvious!

Not enough nectar I presume? Not enough blossoms? I just didn't think of that being an issue.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
They will swarm if they run out of room in the hive, but I've never heard of them swarming for lack of food. But I'm pretty new to beekeeping.

 

[afigy]

My mentor decided it was time to harvest the honey I was not wanting to do it because to start with I got the bees late in the season so I was thinking that it was their food for the winter. It got too cold and I forgot to make nectar for them I did not find any dead bodies so they probably left.

 

[sgtmom52]

Quote:
They will swarm if they run out of room in the hive, but I've never heard of them swarming for lack of food. But I'm pretty new to beekeeping.

Honey bees swarm if they build up so much they are out room. They will abscond (all of the bees leave) if they are not happy with their living conditions. This could be many reasons ~ small hive beetle infestation is a big one.

I rarely advise harvesting any honey from a first year hive. They need that to build comb and increase numbers to get through the winter.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Got my new super yesterday. Do I add it above or below the current super? If I put it below, will the bees finish capping the one that is already there?