2018 Honey Harvest

[upr45]

Grandpa had bees, his extractor was a hand crank type. Have good memories of turning the crank and listening to him!

[Wolfer]

It's been a bad year here. I came into spring with 9 production hives. Ive managed to take about 3 gallons from 2 of those. The rest haven't made enough to get them through the winter. My beekeeping buddies have the same story.
I started feeding a few weeks ago. They have took about 100 lbs of sugar so far.

[Reddirt62]

It's been a bad year here. I came into spring with 9 production hives. Ive managed to take about 3 gallons from 2 of those. The rest haven't made enough to get them through the winter. My beekeeping buddies have the same story.
I started feeding a few weeks ago. They have took about 100 lbs of sugar so far.

Sorry to hear that! We are having excellent flows but my hives got into some poison twice this year and had to work hard to come back from that. I have no idea how, what or where the source of the poison was. We have a flow going on right now in fact.

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[texasnative46]

osteodoc08,

You can say that again. = Manual extraction by spinning the wheel is a real PAIN & soon wears one's arms out.
(I never had enough $$$$$$ to buy a fancy electric rig, when we had hives.)

yours, tex

[T-Bird]

I'm gonna keep following this thread

[shooterg]

I'm jealous - our last 2 hives just disappeared -poof ! this past year. Just ain't got the energy to start from scratch again.

[Reddirt62]

I'm jealous - our last 2 hives just disappeared -poof ! this past year. Just ain't got the energy to start from scratch again.

That is the price to pay for post varroa beekeeping....it is much harder now, I know because I started pre-varroa.....so easy back then.

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[woodbutcher]

Nothing better than fresh harvested honey.Except MORE.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Reddirt62]

Nothing better than fresh harvested honey.Except MORE.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

Funny story......I am not a lover of honey...dont hate it, just love bees.

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[Wayne R. Scott]

Honey bees are cool.
Here are some photos from one of my hive inspections showing different frames inside the hive. One with capped honey, nectar, and pollen.

Then one with capped honey and nectar.

Then a frame with capped brood and nurse bees attending to the young emerging bees.

Then a couple of photos of the girls outside of the hive on a hot evening trying to cool off.

[Reddirt62]

Honey bees are cool.
Here are some photos from one of my hive inspections showing different frames inside the hive. One with capped honey, nectar, and pollen.

Then one with capped honey and nectar.

Then a frame with capped brood and nurse bees attending to the young emerging bees.

Then a couple of photos of the girls outside of the hive on a hot evening trying to cool off.

Marvelous! You have a very nice queen!

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[bedbugbilly]

Interesting stuff for those of us that know little about beekeeping. I have some acquaintances that have hives - one lost all o this a few years back due to such a cold winter. I offered them the use of the farm if they wanted to put hives out but both told me that they couldn't due to the herbicides used on the crops. They set their hives out in places where farming is no longer done and a more natural and undisturbed environment.

A question - once the honey is spun out of the comb - what has to be done to the honey comb to harvest the beeswax? Is it totally clean? When melted down is it filtered somehow to remove any foul stuff?

You that keep bees are admired in my book - kind of a lost art and an important thing to keep nature in balance.

[Reddirt62]

Interesting stuff for those of us that know little about beekeeping. I have some acquaintances that have hives - one lost all o this a few years back due to such a cold winter. I offered them the use of the farm if they wanted to put hives out but both told me that they couldn't due to the herbicides used on the crops. They set their hives out in places where farming is no longer done and a more natural and undisturbed environment.

A question - once the honey is spun out of the comb - what has to be done to the honey comb to harvest the beeswax? Is it totally clean? When melted down is it filtered somehow to remove any foul stuff?

You that keep bees are admired in my book - kind of a lost art and an important thing to keep nature in balance.

I melt my wax and pass it thru several layers of flour sack cloth to remove any impurities. The comb itself is cleaned by the bees then stored and reused the next season. Only the cappings and other miscellaneous wax is melted down.

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[brewer12345]

Further to what reddirt said, most beekeepers only remove a thin layer of wax that seals the honey in the comb. The comb itself we try hard not to muck up because the bees can refill it.

[bedbugbilly]

Thank you for answering the question I had - that's really interesting! At our old house, we had a "bee tree" go down in a storm. (hollow red oak). I called one of my acquaintances that is a bee keeper and he and the other fellow I know, worked for close to a week to collect the combs and the bees - a fertile colony. The bees had been in it for quite a few years and the comb or combs ended up being about fifteen feet in length up the inside of the tree. It was interesting to watch the work at it and by the time they were done, they had gathered most of the bees with the exception of probably around 300 or so. He transferred them to his hives and was thrilled to get them - and we were thrilled that somebody wanted them. Unfortunately, it was an extremely cold winter and when I saw him and asked how the bees were doing, he said that he had lost them to the cold. That ws the same year that the other fellow we knew who helped him gather them lost his hives as well.

Thank you again for the explanations - I find it fascinating!

My wife and I were discussing the wax harvest and it brought up another question. I understand why you don't take the comb for the beeswax, but years ago - like probably 55 or 60, Iboth she and I remember our mothers buying boxes of honey in wax combs at the grocery store. It was packaged in a box probably 6 inches square and 2 inches thick - looked just like a comb with honey in it. It was GOOD and I remember cutting pieces off and spreading it on toast - IIRC, we chewed the wax. Were these actual honey combs or were the combs "molded" and honey put in it for the marketing aspect? The combs were perfectly square and about two inches thick.

[Wayne R. Scott]

The combs were actual honey combs. The frames in the honey super (box used to store honey on top of the brood nest boxes) do not have plastic foundation for the bees to draw comb. The bees will draw natural all bees wax combs and when filled with honey the frames are removed from the hive. Then the squares are cut out by the bee keeper. They, (the bee keepers) also make frames that are divided into squares using a balsa type wood that the bees will fill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsXp9gWhLxg

[Reddirt62]

50 years ago it was far more common for local beeks to sell comb honey. I have sold it in the past but folks have changed and most these days wouldn't know what to do with it.

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[Sweetpea]

50 years ago it was far more common for local beeks to sell comb honey. I have sold it in the past but folks have changed and most these days wouldn't know what to do with it.

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Well I sure know!

[2wheelDuke]

These bee threads always interest me. I'd like to keep bees someday. I tried to go in on a hive with a friend. I paid a beekeeper to remove them from my property, and we had them placed in my friend's hive box. Either she didn't get the queen, or they just didn't like the box and swarmed off. Actually the queen may not have been caught, because I think there was an excluder plate on the box to not let her out.

I'm actually seeing bees at my kitchen window, so there has to be a hive nearby again. I just haven't been able to spot it yet.

[bedbugbilly]

Thank you! I hadn't thought about that comb honey that we had as a kid in a long time. I've seen beekeepers selling at flea markets, etc. but I have to avoid such things - actually for the last 52 years - as I'm a diabetic . . and . . . while I may "fall off the wagon" once in a great while and put a little dab in a cup of tea, it will sure raise the blood sugar in a hurry! LOL

Reddirt62 - yep, people have changed. I would imagine that if you asked many youngsters today where honey comes from, their answer would probably be the "grocery store".

A number of years ago, I had a foot sore that developed form a blister - can be a very dangerous thing in a diabetic and I had to have infected bone removed form my left foot. Someone told me about "medicinal honey" - something I had never heard about. I did some research on it and ordered several tubes of it - the doctor said it wouldn't hurt anything and who knows it might help - a refreshing thing to hear from a doctor who is open minded. Evidently, the use of it goes back as far as the Egyptians from what I was reading. Medicinal honey is sterilized IIRC. While I eventually had to have th surgery for bone removal and have th wound packed with antibiotic pellets, when the wound began to heal I used the honey and I do believe it helped it to heal more quickly.

Interesting stuff and IIRC, honey is the only natural product that never spoils?

Thanks for the video - makes my mouth water just watching it!