fishin coyote
5 year old buck +
Sweet, I'm going to do mine this weekend.I like your cap remover who makes it
Honey Bees
- Thread starter Peeps
- Start date
We spun honey Saturday afternoon. Had a great time pizza/hot wings & beer plenty of help.
Ended up with nine five gallon buckets by the time I left.
I filter my honey as it comes out of the extractor. When do you filter your honey?
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
A few days after when we get time, lets the little bits of wax rise to top to be skimmed makes filtering go a little better. At the end of the spinning Sunday we ended up with about #750 pounds of honey between a few people, ends up taking a lot of time gets bigger every year.
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
Just plastic needle rollers, don't remember exact brand but you can find them on Amazon.
Must have been honey day. Me and my wife did 250 lbs yesterday. Going to put the supers right back on and see if we cant get some goldenrod honey. Just now starting to bloom
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
So like I said earlier in this post, I am very new to honeybees. We got a ton of honey this year, nearly double what we got last year from just one hive. I did buy another empty used hive in anticipation of catching the swarm in the spring, but when we pulled the boxes this year we heard no humming and saw no bees moving inside the lower 2 boxes. She said she thinks something killed the hive but I was hunting within view of the hive and saw them buzzing in and out from my stand just a couple weeks prior but agree that it appeared they parished. If that is the case I would like to know what caused it to avoid it in the future.
Being a rookie at this, (other than here) what is a good place to reference for honeybee questions, info or supplies? Every blog I read says "do it this way" only to be countered by the next blog saying to do things completely differently than what I just read. I would like to educate myself with honeybees and actually know what I am looking for when I open the hive for inspection.
Being a rookie at this, (other than here) what is a good place to reference for honeybee questions, info or supplies? Every blog I read says "do it this way" only to be countered by the next blog saying to do things completely differently than what I just read. I would like to educate myself with honeybees and actually know what I am looking for when I open the hive for inspection.
fishin coyote
5 year old buck +
Trouble,
Lots of information here. https://www.beesource.com/forums/
Hard to say exactly why they perished or absconded. 90% of the problems in bee keeping anymore seem to be related to varroa mites. I used to stress out about it every year. Now I live by the motto of bees come and bees go. I do my best to keep them healthy but I expect to lose 50% of my hives every winter and if I don’t then it’s a win for me and the bees
Lots of information here. https://www.beesource.com/forums/
Hard to say exactly why they perished or absconded. 90% of the problems in bee keeping anymore seem to be related to varroa mites. I used to stress out about it every year. Now I live by the motto of bees come and bees go. I do my best to keep them healthy but I expect to lose 50% of my hives every winter and if I don’t then it’s a win for me and the bees
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
I do understand that opening up a dead hive is inevitable for anyone that does it, if a hobbyist like myself. In the grand scheme of things, last spring my hive swarmed with 2 queens with bees leaving that I couldn't capture so I had 1 hive, created 2 more and the one that stayed died so I try to view it as a positive. If we get a warm spell, or maybe wait till spring, I will take the hive apart and investigate further as to what happened and try to do better next time. It bothers me that I failed and the bees died because I don't know enough about what I am doing. Bees live naturally without human intervention so I started with a, less is more, kind of approach.
I am already setting aside money to buy 2 nuc's and get things going again this spring. Thank you guys! I am more of a hands on learning kind of guy but will continue learning and go into this a little more educated about what I am doing. I have looked for some local Beekeeper groups and maybe can find a local mentor to help guide me.
Thank you both, I will check out the sources you guys posted! Much appreciated.
I am already setting aside money to buy 2 nuc's and get things going again this spring. Thank you guys! I am more of a hands on learning kind of guy but will continue learning and go into this a little more educated about what I am doing. I have looked for some local Beekeeper groups and maybe can find a local mentor to help guide me.
Thank you both, I will check out the sources you guys posted! Much appreciated.
fishin coyote
5 year old buck +
Take 5 gallons of water some yeast and 15-20lbs of goldenrod honey. Mix together and wait 15 months. The results are tasty 
Peeps
5 year old buck +
That looks interesting. What’s it taste like or comparable too?
fishin coyote
5 year old buck +
Peeps it’s a sweet/semi sweet flowery tasting mead
H2o I didn’t measure it but can tell it’s high, probably in the 15% range.
This the 1st batch of straight mead I’ve made. Typically I add blueberries or red raspberries to it but the last couple of batches came out real dry so I thought I‘d go a different route.
May have to just put it in a cool dark spot and revisit it in another 6 months or so.
H2o I didn’t measure it but can tell it’s high, probably in the 15% range.
This the 1st batch of straight mead I’ve made. Typically I add blueberries or red raspberries to it but the last couple of batches came out real dry so I thought I‘d go a different route.
May have to just put it in a cool dark spot and revisit it in another 6 months or so.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Hmmm interesting! 
Bill Loser
5 year old buck +
I must not get out much as ive never heard of that. How long does it keep? Its not boiled or anything just allowed to sit and steep? Does it seal itself in the jars or does the alcohol content keep it "safe"?
TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
fishin coyote
5 year old buck +
Bill not sure how long it will keep, it doesn’t last long around here:). I’m going to bottle some of it up properly in a corked wine bottle and put it in a cool dark spot for another year or so.
I just let it sit. I started it in a fermentation bucket 30 days later transferred it to a glass carboy with an air lock. I think I only racked it once after that.
I would assume the alcohol keeps it “safe”. I use the mason jars for ease of filling and typically it gets drank right away. I’ll put it in wine bottles if I intend to keep it longer.
Mike
fishin coyote
5 year old buck +
TreeDaddy, I used 1 packet of yeast and I think it was D47 but I’d have to find my notes for this batch.
Mike
Mike
