The Wally-Gee Bee Journey 🐝

[WallyG74]

I pulled 2 mediums yesterday with 9 frame spacing. Ended up with about 6 gallons of honey. I bottled until I ran out of bottles. If all goes well I’ll pull the 2 deep supers next weekend. The bees were not happy. They never are.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

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I pulled 2 mediums yesterday with 9 frame spacing. Ended up with about 6 gallons of honey. I bottled until I ran out of bottles. If all goes well I’ll pull the 2 deep supers next weekend. The bees were not happy. They never are.

Did my extracting today. Four mediums and was able to get 13 gallons. Bees still have their top deep full, I won't touch them with the dearth coming on. Bottling Tuesday.

 

[Sally PB]

I plan to order a heated decapping knife. The bread knife was a PITA. Anyone have a recommendation?

The bread knife probably would have worked fine for mediums, but these are deeps, and the knife doesn't span. It was our first time extracting, and I made a bit of a mess on some of the frames.

But we got our first honey harvest!

 

[WallyG74]

I plan to order a heated decapping knife. The bread knife was a PITA. Anyone have a recommendation?

The bread knife probably would have worked fine for mediums, but these are deeps, and the knife doesn't span. It was our first time extracting, and I made a bit of a mess on some of the frames.

But we got our first honey harvest!

The bees are pros at fixing our mistakes. I’m so glad you finally get to enjoy the fruits of your labor! As far as knives go, I would look for a longer bread knife. I know the YT guys are not the end all be all, but I have seen one of them use a hot knife once. He then reverted back to the bread knife.

 

[Apis mellifera]

I plan to order a heated decapping knife. The bread knife was a PITA. Anyone have a recommendation?

The bread knife probably would have worked fine for mediums, but these are deeps, and the knife doesn't span. It was our first time extracting, and I made a bit of a mess on some of the frames.

But we got our first honey harvest!

Congratulations!! Nothing like harvesting your own honey.
I've tried several knives and the best one in my opinion is the Jero double sided serrated knife. It's nice having an edge on both sides of the knife. Dadant still sells them for $40.00.

 

[WallyG74]

I never gave an update on the rest of the honey harvest. The very next weekend I pulled 2 deep supers. In total from both weekends was a little over 15 gallons of honey!

 

[5Australorpasaures]

I never gave an update on the rest of the honey harvest. The very next weekend I pulled 2 deep supers. In total from both weekends was a little over 15 gallons of honey!

Nice haul, around +/- 180 LBS

 

[Sally PB]

I have a swarm question. One of our hives swarmed in June. If I hadn't been out in the garden, we'd never have known. No, we didn't get them back.

I finally found some lemongrass oil. I've read that is a good lure. If I should want to capture a swarm, how do I set up a swarm trap?

 

[5Australorpasaures]

I use an old deep super nailing a piece on the bottom, I had a piece of 5/4 I used for the hanger, then drill a hole to the size of the hole on those round portal disks, has access hole, queen ex and venting holes, some drill the hole on a side, some on the front, bees don't care. 2-4 frames of drawn comb with foundation on either side of that, lightly sprayed with 1 to 1 sugar water. Q Tip with a drop of Lemon Grass Oil on both ends placed in the back of the hive, stuff is pungent. Screw on a piece ply to the top. I paint earth tones BRN, GRN or whatever CAMO spray paint does a good job. Have a tree that has a good cycle of sun and shade and a SE exposer. Heavy duty nail, lag bolt or screw to hang then a rope or ratchet strap to hold it snug against the tree. Check some vids on you tube, there's a 100 different ways and sizes of suggestions.