Where is the Honey?

I have been busy with what little spare time I have building a new honey/well house (I will talk about in a later post) and so I'm about three weeks late in harvesting some honey. I didn't expect to get much this year as I started with only one hive and it swarmed this spring. I captured two swarms this year so hope to begin next year with three hives. When I inspected the old hive I found yellow-jackets and bald-faced hornets attacking the hive (they have been particularly numerous this year).

There were about three pounds of bees left and the bottom two boxes were empty except for a few guard bees. I reduced the hive down from six to three boxes and found no capped honey frames. Bald faced hornets had been killing and eating the honey bees and the yellow jackets were stealing the honey.

The honey bees were gathering nectar and pollen and all the drones had been kicked out ,but no honey for me this year.

I also found very little brood ( baby bees ) cells but this is often normal in the fall as the hive gets ready for winter.

A picture of one of the frames with only a few bees left on it.
It looks like I will be feeding the bees this year instead of them feeding me!

I went out and dispatched a couple of in-ground yellow jacket nests. How dare they fill up on honey before I get any?

Bee Skeps

Today bee skeps are meant for decoration but these coiled straw hives are made much the same way as they have been for the past 5000 years. While primitive hives were made from clay pots to logs these basket hives were easier to vary in size, small ones were used by beekeepers who wanted their colonies to swarm early to populate empty hives. The skeps provided the bees and their combs with protection; their flight entrances were made small enough for the bees to guard and some had other openings so the beekeeper could get at the honey without destroying the whole hive. (excerpts from The Hive and the Honey Bee)

Primitive beekeeping was little more than catching and hiving bee swarms, much like I did this spring, although I will keep mine through the winter.


Bee Skep

Time to Add Boxes

The weather has cooled and even some rain showers to help water the gardens. The bees are working the sedums and fireweed and I will soon be harvesting some honey.

The new hive that swarmed into the wood shed has grown to fill half the upper box.

While there is still plenty of room I have decided to add the final box before fall. Here in the north I like to have three boxes on the hives to help carry them over till spring. I know I could harvest more honey but then I would be feeding sugar water in the late winter and early spring.

Here is a frame with a few cells of pollen but mostly being filled with honey. Once filled and the right moisture content archived (about 18%) the bees will cap the cells with wax.

There are several sizes of boxes that can be used to make up the hive. The larger are Standard Hive Bodies that provide the living quarters for the bees. The Queen lays eggs and brood is raised here. Honey and pollen are also stored around the brood. The smaller boxes are shallow supers that are used for surplus honey. These are what are harvested by the beekeeper.
A good video series is A Year in the Life of an Apiary with Dr. Keith Delaplane produced by the University of Georgia.

Summer Heat Wave

I have returned from two weeks away on business. I left the 85 degrees of Miami Beach to come home to a 90 - 105 degree heat wave here in the northwest.
I added another box to the existing hive and will harvest the honey when the fireweed stops blooming (three to four weeks).

The new hives that swarmed in are doing well with a little feeding to help out.

During this heat wave the bees need a lot of water to cool the hive so they can be seen frequenting the bird baths...

...and fountain.

We have several varieties of Rudbeckia on our property . The honey bees love them for both pollen and nectar. Much more later!

Away in Port Angeles

We spent this past week in Port Angeles, WA most of the time at business meetings but Kathy and I did get a chance to see the sights and visit a few wineries

.

The first winery was Olympic Cellars with their Working Girl Wines, La Dolce Vida Series, and Dungeness Series.

Many wineries have magnificent doors and we have made a habit of taking pictures of the ones we visit. Doesn't this door look like an entrance to a Hobbit house?

Here are the wines we purchased at Olympic Cellars.

Posing with the unique sculptures.

Entrance to an outside seating area. You can see we had nice weather.

We also visited Harbinger Winery, a small boutique winery with some very good wines. A harbinger is a sign of things to come.

Some of their award winning wines.

While we were away another swarm of bees moved into some empty boxes we have on the property.

They Swarm In

Two weeks ago I checked my one hive and found the bee population had reduced by a third.
Then early this past week a swarm moved into a box I had in the wood shed.

Here is a closer look at them entering. A few minutes later I added another box.
Below is a video I took as the began to swarm in. I'm not sure if they are from the other hive and if they are, where they have been for a week.

Santa on Holiday

We went to my sisters home for the 4th of July. there is a neighborhood parade, great food, and fireworks that would satisfy any enthusiast.

For some reason our grandchildren think their Papa is Santa. I'm not sure where they get that idea but I do love Christmas. Another favorite holiday of mine is July 4th. Maybe its the similarity between lights and fireworks.

Kathy and the beekeeper pose for a picture by the lake side.

Relaxing after dinner! Even Santa needs a vacation.

Ah!! Let the Fireworks begin.