Harvesting My Honey

It has been a while since my last post but not much has been happening with my hive. Last time I had made a visit to my hive, before now, was two weeks ago and that was to check to ensure that my queen was still laying. One benefit on that visit was being able to see the birth of a bee.

Bee Birth

 When I went into my hive yesterday though, I had the intent on harvesting some honey. I have been keeping an eye on the nectar flow and it seems to be settling. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to see if I could collect honey from my bees. With this being my first hive, I was told that whatever my bees were able to harvest during the nectar flow would be used during any dearths and the winter months. I know that they will need 60-80 pounds of honey in order to survive this winter. 

It has been a tremendous nectar flow and knowing that my bees were working extra hard, I had the mind set the I may harvest some honey this year. My hive was bursting with bees when I took off the top.

Bees on Inner Cover

I was not expecting such a strong colony. Last time that I had went in, there were a lot of bees in the honey super but not to this current capacity. Once I took off the inner cover I was able to see that all the frame were drawn out and most of the center frames were capped (Yay!) 

Capped Honey

I started pulling out frames and found that all my frames had honey. Most frames were either fully capped or had patches of capped honey except for the outed two frames. I brought 4 empty frames with me to exchange out for honey frames (did not expect 4 frames of honey to be so heavy). I didn't intend to collect much therefore I did not see the reason in using a honey harvesting tool other than my bee brush. I now regret not using Natural Honey Harvester or an Escape Screen. A bee brush removed a few bees but more were flocking to the frame (I knew that I would be taking some to the extracting room).

While I was in my hive I thought it would be best to check my lower chambers to see how everything looked. I knew that I would not be collecting any more honey this year, so I went ahead and removed my queen excluder. 

Brood Chamber

As I began to remove frames from my brood boxes, I guess my bees became agitated because two of them were able to sneak some stings past the jacket I was wearing.  I assume that when a bee stings you, they release some type of pheromone indicating an attack, because after the two stings, my hive became chaotic. It was only time before a couple bees found there way into my veil and I knew it was time to close up and get out. I was able to escape with four stings (3 on the arm and one on the head) but I found this rational with the four frames of honey I am able to extract.

Tomorrow I Extract!

Adding a Honey Super

It has been a couple weeks since I have had a chance to check on my hive. The nectar flow has been tremendous with little spurts of rain here and there. To give you an update on where I am with my hive, I took a picture of the three brood chambers.

Bee Hive

Here is a time frame of what I have done since purchasing my hive:

Weekly Time Frame	What was done during the week
Week 1	I purchased my Hive Equipment along with a package of bees. Painted the outside of all wooden components. Set up my hive in its location.
Week 2	Installed my package of Bees
Week 3	Removed the queen cage from the hive. Made sure she was released and laying. All was good and experienced my first bee stings of the season.
Week 4	Installed another Brood Chamber
Week 6	Installed another Brood Chamber
Week 8	About to install my first Honey Super

When going out to check on my hive, I was hoping to find that my third Brood Chamber would be filled with eggs and larva, just ready to burst. With that expectation in mind, it was a great sign when I removed the inner cover to find all my frames had drawn out comb. Removing the first frame I did not see any sign of brood or larva within the cells, only nectar and pollen. As I began to move into the center frames, I was finding the frames were mostly honey and nectar rather than laid eggs. This was not a good or bad sign, it just meant that the nectar flow was so good and the queen didn't find any need to continue laying in the upper brood chamber, at least I was hoping so.

Checking the Frames

I started working down into my next brood box and I began seeing plenty of eggs and larva within the cells. My queen was present and still laying, she just did not have the need to move into the upper brood box. My intent was to add a honey super onto my hive and after speaking with my mentor, he suggested that I take the center four frames from my upper brood box and transport them into my honey super. With it being mostly nectar and pollen in these frames, it will give the bees incentive to move up and begin to work the other frames in my honey super.

Removed Four Frames

Note: If i was not able to transfer these frames into my honey super I would have sprayed my foundation with sugar water to entice the bees to move up.

When talking to another beekeeper, he had mentioned that another option would have been to add a super beneath the brood chamber that was mostly nectar and pollen. He said that this would relieve congestion within my hive. 

I went with my mentors approach and transported four frames into my honey super and replaced them with frames containing foundation. Placed a queen excluder on top of my brood chambers, set my honey super on top and closed off my hive. By placing a honey super on so late I probably will not be able to harvest honey this year. Those frames that do contain honey will more than likely be used as feeding frames.

I can still hope though!

Beekeeping from the Beginning

To give a background on me and what I hope to develop this blog into I will start with:

My name is Daniel and I recently joined Brushy Mountain Bee Farm's team. I have to admit, before I was employed at the Bee Farm, I had no idea what beekeeping consisted of. After reading through catalogs and checking into books, and yes I did read Beekeeping for Dummies, I felt like I had a grasp on what it would to be a beekeeper. After being employed for a month and a half I felt like it was in my best interest to go beyond the books and see what the hype was all about.

This is going to be a blog about Beekeeping from the Beginning. I am starting my first beehive, with no experience at all, and through my blog postings I hope you the reader will gain some insight through any problems that I might run into.

Starting from the very beginning: I placed an order for my Bee Package. I had the option of purchasing a NUC (nucleus hive) that would give me five drawn frames, an already laying queen and a NUC box if I ever needed it for future use. I skipped out on the NUC and went with a package instead because I wanted to start at square one. With my package of bees ordered and ready for pickup at the end of March, I need to get my hive setup before they come.

English Garden Bee-Ginner's Kit

Materials List:

• English Garden 8-Frame Bee-Ginner's Kit 
• Inner Cover
• Copper Top
• 2 Medium Depth Cypress Supers
• 16 Grooved top/bottom Medium Frames
• I.P.M. Bottom Board
• 16 Sheets 'no hook' Crimp Wire Foundation
• Hatless Veil
• Plastic Gloves
• Brushy Mountain Smoker with fuel
• Bee Brush
• Hive Tool
• Plastic Entrance Feeder
• Beginner's Book
• Instructional DVD
• White Paint and Paint Brush (purchased at Lowe's)