buzzzzzzzzzz new adventure

[tbendl]

http://www.ted.com/talks/anand_varm...tm_medium=email&utm_content=image__2015-05-11
I ran across this this morning and haven't had a chance to watch it so I thought I'd post it here, I usually enjoy the Ted talks. It's about the 1st 21 days of a bees life.

 

[addy1]

They are busy little bees!

We extracted our first super of honey today. by the time we set up the equipment washed everything, chased the bees out of the box, dwelt with a swarm the day was over. BUT we got 34 lbs of honey off 9 frames. It tastes so good!

The first drip out of our extractor, only took around 2000 to get to this point............

and this is 1/2 of our bees and our new queen flying away to settle in a tree to look for a new home, the dark spot middle of the picture is the bees clustering around the queen

 

[tbendl]

So will they move back into the boxes and start over Addy? Or are they homeless now?

 

[addy1]

Should have said top middle a little right of the picture is the swarm.

Welllllllllllll our ladies will either leave to a tree hole , a building, a whatever. Maybe back to the bait hive we set up, but most likely not. The 1/2 of the bees left will grow a new queen and start over. We then need to work on getting them strong enough to survive our winter.

They did what bees have done for years, split to grow in numbers, they just don't know they most likely will die out there due to mites etc.

 

[tbendl]

It's fascinating to me that they leave like that. I hope they are able to start another hive, well I hope both them and you are able to do that. Congratulations on the honey! I bet it tastes amazing! Let me know when you guys are able to sell some, you know to special people... And me.. Hehe

 

[Nepen]

i have a huge gap in the tree next to my house. I was hoping there's honey bee in there but nope

I wish the bees that split will make it!

 

[addy1]

We will never know, but some wild hives do survive not many but some. We baby our bees, they left a very good home for the wild life!

lol tbendl For sure we will be selling some, dear honey can't eat very much if any, He loves the taste but medically a no no. I love it but not a few hundred pounds worth. And if our hives survive the winter we will have more next year.

 

[johan]

Unfortunately wife is allergic to bee stings - severely. Otherwise I'd have done this years ago . Jealous

 

[addy1]

I react but not too horrible, wasps are way worse. I keep a small tub of Unkers in my bee suit, the second I am stung I smear the stuff on and the pain and swelling decreases quickly. It does itch for a few days, but none of the severe swelling and hurt.

We do have epi pens just in case, always carry a cell phone. What could harm us is if we dropped a box of bees. But then again we are never out there without being fully suited up, no matter how hot it is. So we are pretty protected, but then again they always seem to find a spot to get you. If so inclined. Last year around 14 stings, this summer two or three, (learning curve!)

 

[addy1]

Well a bunch of work, around two days of removing cleaning extracting , 1.5 days of cleaning loading bottles, this is what we end up with. One day wiping down all the sticky spots in the house.......... We extracted three of the 12 supers we have on the hives. 86 lbs of liquid honey, 10 lbs of comb honey not packaged yet. A little comb put in the larger bottles, called chunk honey.

Oh and a few days learning two programs to make the labels.

More extracting towards the end of the week.

 

[michey1st]

PHEW, i'm tired just reading everything that went in to this harvest! Do you have to seal/sterilize it like you do with canning? How long will the bottles last in storage?

 

[addy1]

Just clean, the bottles have those little safety seals under the lids. If you cook the honey it ruins it. We use three filters as it goes into the bucket like stocking type mesh, then one filter in the bucket that you pull out after done filling. That removes the pieces of wax bee parts etc. Very seldom have bee parts Do have pieces of wax.

The honey will last long after we are dead and gone, basically it can last forever. It might crystallize, but a warm water bath makes it liquid again.

You do need to make sure you never extract uncured nectar, that can ferment. The nectar will be in uncapped cells as the bees removed the excess water before it is honey and capped by them.

 

[tbendl]

Look what I got! Addy the honey is... well it's better than honey! I had greek yogurt and banana's last night drizzled with this and it was delicious. If anyone else likes honey, order a bottle from Addy, it is wonderful!! Thank you so much. I might see if you've got some left at the end of the season and buy some more for friends. (This bottle's mine).

 

[addy1]

oh my I should have put a better label on it.............. that is one I had printer problems with. ............................

So glad you are enjoying it! I have never had honey that tastes like this one does. The black locust did a great job this year in blooming, hot dry, no storms. The bees did a great job harvesting the nectar.

 

[Lisak1]

Liquid gold!