Be joyful though you have considered all the facts
Woah, I just did the most stressful honey robbing yet. A warm (80F) and sunny day, the bees were busy. Hive 3, my Super Hive I brought the super with the frames we harvested last week (green in the image). You return harvested frames to the hive so the bees can clean out the honey …
Continue reading “Robbing Honey and Fall Hive Manipulations”
Yesterday was an animal day. First, I checked on Hive 3 and finally undid the mistake I made over a month ago. Back then  I pulled a deep frame out of that hive’s brood box to give to a friend, bees, brood, eggs, honey and pollen and all, whose hive was in trouble. I pulled …
I have three hives, with four honey supers, chock-full of honey. But how to extract it? What I did two years ago, just cutting off the capping with a knife and letting it drip, takes a long time during which the hygroscopic honey will absorb a lot of water, making it more prone to fermentation …
Continue reading “Extracting Honey with a Home-Made Extractor”
Just for my own satisfaction (sanity?), a reckoning of the elements in place or about to be in place here at Robin Hill Gardens: Veg gardens, all grown from seed (reasonable harvests, gardener needs more experience) Hoop house (12’x20′) Solar PV array (5.1 Kw – supplies 100% of electricity) Medicinal herb garden (minimal, needs more …
Honey bee on Echinacea Humming bird drinking nectar from the Bee balm Humming bird drinking nectar from the Bee balm (messy hoop house in the background)
Yesterday I put the newly made honey supers (painted blue) onto the hives. Right on time for the one in the middle (H3): the honey super already on it (third box) was filled, frame to frame, inch for inch. Some of the outer frames just needed capping, so I left it for a couple more …
Today we built the last five hive bodies: five medium supers (cf. building the hive boxes and building the frames). I just need to assemble the frames and they’ll go onto the hives and collect honey. Finally, after two dry years, I will have honey, because the bee season and the honey flow so far have been …
Left to right: Hive 1 (3 years old), Hive 2  and Hive 3 (from packages, this April) Last week  I had the pleasure of watching our county’s bee inspector, Tom Stefanini, at work inspecting my hives. In the big (swarmed) hive, which has about 50.000 bees now, he pulled out the thirteenth frame in a row …
After checking on a new beekeeper’s new hive, I rushed home to inspect my own hives. I found Hive 3 doing well: lots of eggs, and brood in all stages, also lots of caps, and two frames entirely drawn out and capped, two more getting close. The Queen had lots of attendants around her, grooming …
There were Segway rides After our “sermons”  on Sunday morning, April 29, we ran across the street to the Town Building (I just loved that, that we could just cross the street and be there). Behind the building lies the grassy “courtyard”, intersected by paths. It was already bustling with people, exhibitors setting up their tables, …
Continue reading “Earth Day is Our Day, First Edition, 2012”