Honey Bees

[ksgobbler]

This is what a dead hive looks like

 

[SwampCat]

I have seen a few myself. Never a pretty sight.

 

[H20fwler]

Ugh that sucks! Thought I was going to have the same with one this summer but we were able to help it pull out of the funk it was headed in.


Our four are doing very well, I'm starting to get excited about pulling off a bunch of honey in about a month!

The one that was iffy...

the other three

 

[Turkey Creek]

Planning on pulling some honey this week. My daughter who went with me to pick up my first bees will be home for the week before classes start. She wanted to be around when I pulled the first honey.

 

[Peeps]

Cracked the tops of our hives to look at the honey supers. The bees were not happy with that move.

 

[SwampCat]

Planning on pulling some honey this week. My daughter who went with me to pick up my first bees will be home for the week before classes start. She wanted to be around when I pulled the first honey.

My daughter is 31 yrs old and comes home every year when I rob. She is a cap cutting fool. I move the supers around, pull the frames, load and unload the extractor, switch out honey buckets, keep the filters clean, and a variety of other things - and she just keeps at decapping - the part I dislike the most

 

[TreeDaddy]

Re:dead hives

Above pics look identical to one i lost earlier this summer. Similar post mortem wax moth invasion

bill

 

[Turkey Creek]

Borrowed a friend's hot knife, 5 gallon bucket with the spigot and a 4 frame centrifuge. Felt bad he hasnt even had a chance to use the centrifuge yet! I guess somebody has to break it in though!

 

[SwampCat]

I have a hot knife. My daughter prefers our bread knife. She thinks she can more easily get the caps that are below frame surface without damaging the comb - too much. I like the hot knife. Capping scratcher definately a must.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Got a scratcher as well

 

[ksgobbler]

I didnt like the hot knife. I ended up scratching the cells to break them open. I want one of the spiked rollers.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Here is the honey that my daughter and I pulled from one of my hives. 30 pints in total she took some home already before I got the picture. I didnt like the hot knife either. I felt it damaged the comb a lot more and then the honey that was on the knife began scorching and mixing with the honey I was decapping and was afraid it was going to affect the taste.

 

[SwampCat]

I have to clean my hot knife regularly. I leave it plugged in and wipe it with paper towel wet with hot water. I do use a capping scratcher on caps that dont extend above the frame - but the more you use the scratcher, the more caps in the honey and the faster the filter fills up. That might be the lightest honey I have ever seen.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I have to clean my hot knife regularly. I leave it plugged in and wipe it with paper towel wet with hot water. I do use a capping scratcher on caps that dont extend above the frame - but the more you use the scratcher, the more caps in the honey and the faster the filter fills up. That might be the lightest honey I have ever seen.

I dont have anything to compare color to. Seemed to be pretty close to the color of the honey I see in most stores around here. Tastes good!

 

[SwampCat]

I dont have anything to compare color to. Seemed to be pretty close to the color of the honey I see in most stores around here. Tastes good!

Do you have a lot of sweet clover?

 

[cavey]

I have recently heard of people using hot air heat guns to melt the capping off the honey frames... quick and no mess so they say

 

[SwampCat]

I have tried a hot gun. A lot of cells dont drain. And no cappings for lip balm, candles and such.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I have tried a hot gun. A lot of cells dont drain. And no cappings for lip balm, candles and such.

We have some sweet clover, though not a lot.

The heat gun looks like it would take quite awhile to decap many frames.

 

[ksgobbler]

See we just throw the cappings away. We still have beeswax in the fridge from our harvest sept 1 of last year the wife never did anything with. Everyone else honey production is 1/3 to 1/2 due to drought. I am thankful for what I got.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I kept my cappings maybe a gallon of them. Put them in the freezer for the time being, not sure if I will do anything with them. I know places buy them, but I know I wont have enough to make that worthwhile.