Honey Harvest, Part One

On August 11 our beekeeping mentors Kat and Liz came to assess the turmoil in the bee yard. Two people were attacked with multiple stings while trying to mow. Turns out during a hot humid week, the hard-working Carniolans (hive on the left) had filled and capped eight of ten frames of their second super. They were desperate for space. Those lazy Italians, by contrast, had hardly done any work in their single super. Apparently they spent their days drinking Campari and eating pasta.

Kat removes each filled frame slowly, methodically, gently and transfers them to an empty waiting super. Then the eight frames are moved to a space in the garden where each frame, front and back, is uncapped. Two frames at a time are inserted into the hand-cranked extractor and the honey is spun out. When all frames are extracted the wet frames are returned to the hive for repair and refill.

To be continued.

Kat applying calming smoke

Gently brushing bees from the frame

Setting sun shining through the fully filled frame

Uncapping a frame

Honey Harvest, Part Two

Honey flows from the extractor

The extracted honey flows into a clean bucket. Bits of wax and bee parts are included in the flow. The honey sits covered overnight and the wax and dirty bits rise to the top as the heavier honey sinks to the bottom. The next day the waxy debris is scooped away and honey is poured into a gated bucket fitted with a strainer. When all the honey has strained the nylon strainer is squeezed to remove as much honey as possible. The strainer is rinsed and cleaned to release wax and debris which needs further rinsing to clean the wax. The clean honey is then siphoned into jars to be labeled and distributed.

Harvest yield: 18 pounds.

Hive check two weeks later: The cells in the frames are repaired and intact. A small amount of cells contain nectar. Sadly, the Italian neighbors are still lagging. Girls: winter is coming!

Photos by Mary and Liz: Thanks!

Extractors

Tasters

Supervision by Albert

Kat returns wet supers to the hive

Gravity

Finish!