We will not be at the Conway Farmer’s Market tomorrow!
We harvested five gallons of honey yesterday, but sadly, we do not have enough time to have it ready by tomorrow.
Honey
I was so excited about the honey harvest, I made sure we ran the extractor extra long to get every last drop I could.
I’d planned to mow the grass today and then start bottling that honey this afternoon. Then, overnight, we received a wild honeybee swarm, and by noon, there was a second swarm!
We make plans and God laughs.
This happened to us on Easter. So this time, George went into each hive and verified that all our bees were still working in their hives and none had swarmed. I was worried because we had swapped so many frames yesterday during the harvest that maybe we’d missed something. Well, we sort of did.
Honey-Bound
Interestingly enough, though, when George checked all the hives today, he found one hive was honey-bound. What this means is the hive was overly full of honey, and there was no space left for the queen to lay her eggs. We didn’t initially think we were harvesting from this hive because it was smaller. But being honey-bound is serious, as it can cause you to lose your queen. This meant we had to spin four more frames today. Two to give the queen some room to lay, and two for the temporary NUC swarms to encourage their move.
We are so blessed to receive two more swarms of free bees. They seem to love our little plum trees, or the smell left on them by others. If it all works out, we will have eight hives when this is over! We started with only two a year ago. It’s crazy, the goal was twelve, but we thought it would take much longer to get there.
I’d like to give a shout-out to one of George’s mentors, Mike from the BBA, for lending us a NUC today. We don’t know where we’d be without all his help and guidance! If you are new to beekeeping, join a local club and get a mentor – they can save your bees!
♥tootles♥
#apiary #bee #bees #honey #honeybee #beekeeping #pollen #beekeeper #pollinators #honeybees #honeycomb #beehive #savethebees #nectar #hive #pollination #beeswax #rawhoney #pollinator #beehives
0 Comments