The Honey Factory

[duluthralphie]

Mowed around the hives again . Swarm hive still a little aggressive . After they nearly got me I put on my bee suit to finish mowing . Not super aggressive but no mowing around them uprotected . They were not aggressive until the new brood became workers .

I have to wonder who the daddy is .

 

[itsasmallfarm]

added the first honey super to my second box. both have one super on them. stronger hive is about 1 week ahead of the other hive. my mentor said.

 

[duluthralphie]

I had to inspect my hives today. It has been 15 days since I last went in. Way too long for my comfort.

I have been semi-laid up with a knee injury. I was waiting for it to feel better and the weather to cool down. Neither happened.

The swarm I caught was doing great.

The Canooks not so great. It appears the queen is dead or worthless I found a few 10-20 capped cells across 10 frames and a bunch of drone cells. Laying worker is my guess there.

I looked but could not find any queen.

The swarm has lots of brood and a fair amount of honey for 2 weeks worth of gathering.

I combined the two hives. Fingers crossed here that it will work.

The Italians were holding their own. I would have liked more honey in the honey supers. But they looked good.

The Russians are amazing again. The amount of brood is unbelievable. I saw that queen again. She lays every cell except the outside 1/2 inch with brood. I took 3 full deeps from them of honey. I will freeze it and give it back this winter. I am going to make sure they don’t run out of honey.

I have 3 supers on top of the hive. Looking good. Making new comb like crazy on the new foundation.

I replaced some clean comb with my spun out frames. Hopefully they will clean it and refill.

I had given all three hives drone comb. The Canooks snd Italians had a few cells covered not enough for me to pull it.

The Russians had about 1/3 of one side full of drones. They were filling the other side with honey. Silly Russians!

I think I am over heated and my knee hurts like a (words I can’t use here).

I got stung for the first time while working my bees today. I must have not had the suit tight to my shoes. She crawled up my leg and got me on the back of my calf muscle.

 

[duluthralphie]

It appears the drought has taken care of honey production some. We must have a dearth now. I expected more honey.

 

[duluthralphie]

When I captured my swarm I placed them in a deep with a medium above it.

I did not have enough frames to fill the medium so I had left the middle of the medium without frames. This worked out fine as it gave me a place to dump the swarm.

Because poop happens I did not get back into the hive for two weeks. When I lifted the inner cover I found this. It was cool.

it even had a little honey in it. It is now in my wax bucket.

 

[Apis mellifera]

I cant believe the first week of August is already over, that means hive populations in northern states will start to decline and mite populations will rapidly increase if they are not treated. In the next 2 to 3 weeks queens will be laying the first round of winter bees. Now is the time to do a mite count if you haven't been doing them. Any counts of 8 to 10 mites per 300 bees a beekeeper needs to act fast or they wont make it to spring, or like some beekeepers like to say "They're dead, they just dont know it yet."

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I cant believe the first week of August is already over, that means hive populations in northern states will start to decline and mite populations will rapidly increase if they are not treated. In the next 2 to 3 weeks queens will be laying the first round of winter bees. Now is the time to do a mite count if you haven't been doing them. Any counts of 8 to 10 mites per 300 bees a beekeeper needs to act fast or they wont make it to spring, or like some beekeepers like to say "They're dead, they just dont know it yet."

Thanks for the reminder!

 

[itsasmallfarm]

Just did the first and only honey harvest of the year. Got about 30 lbs from 2 hives. We are in a drought my mentor said the honey was dry. Got to filter later today.

No signs of mites but he still recommends treating for them.

 

[R2elk]

This hive has already filled two medium supers.

 

[duluthralphie]

It is getting close to time for me to steal the rest of the honey.

Feed the bees and put them to bed for the winter.

I plan to get an extractor and was wondering what kind you have and what you think of it?

I also read where some people use an electric drill instead of the crank. Anyone do that?

I am going to over winter two hives. The Italians I got this spring that I voiced a concern about whether they were truly Minnesota bees or Texans the guy sold as Minnesota bees, ended up being a worthless hive considering how much promise they showed.

I will be smothering them in next couple weeks. I plan to use their deep supers of honey to help the other hives.

I am also still toying with the idea of adding a little… very little supplemental heat to the hives.

The thermostat comes on at 35 goes off at 45.

What is everyone’s plans? Ideas. Etc.

Also who has pulled honey and how did you do?