I was up at 6:00 this morning!
Barely had a first cup of coffee before Sherry and I were heading out to one of the Beekeepers in our group to watch them harvest their honey.
They have a beautiful place!
All dressed and places to go!
Sherry got her smoker smoking!
The beekeepers had one, as well, and both were needed today.
We drove the truck down to the pasture where the hives are and they rode in their Mule.
What bee wouldn't want to live and work in a place as pretty as this?
The hive on the left was fairly docile.....
the other one was pretty aggressive!
But the aggressive bees make the best honey.
They started with the more gentle bees.....
First of all - you smoke them a little bit which seems to calm them down.
Then you take the frames out one by one - brush off all the bees - and put them in a container with a lid. They used ice chests and that works great.
The first hive had dark colored frames.
The other one was golden. But the bees were SO aggressive - they decided to come back to them later after they had calmed down some. They were hitting our suits and veils like little hailstones!
It's a bit unnerving but we managed to stay calm and trust our suits.
This couple has an ideal set up!!
They know how to do it!
Their son took the caps off the honeycomb with this neat roller tool.
Sherry has one of these.
You just roll it down and the wax caps comes off the comb.
I spied a wax moth and pointed it out.
That may have been the reason those frames were so dark.
There weren't many of them, thank goodness, so they proceeded to extract the honey.
After de-capping them.......
they are put in the extractor.
This one holds 6 frames and is electric.
It makes short work of getting all that honey out!
Ours is a hand cranked one but I bet Louis Dean can come up with a way to hook a drill up to the handle.
Can you see the honey at the bottom of the barrel?
The first 6 frames were darker honey.
The other 6 came from the second hive and was lighter in color.
What a beautiful sight!
From 12 frames they got 2 gallons of honey!
Sherry and I left after this but they had 45 frames total to harvest - give or take a couple that had brood in them.
Before we left, we shared tidbits of advice with each other.
Delores told me I should wear boots - not slide in tennis shoes!
Also, the way my suit is designed - I should wear a ball cap so the bill will keep the netting from my face. The bees can sting through that if you nose is out there touching the net.
Louis Dean fixed one up for me and covered the bill with some white duct tape so it would go with my suit. Bees do not like you to wear bright colors. Or wear perfume. And one should never eat bananas before going to the hives. Bananas make the bees go crazy because they contain a compound known as isoamyl acetate - the very same that is in honeybees' alarm pheromone.
Sherry shared that it's best not to walk and work in front of the hive - where the bees enter.
Stand and work from the sides or back.
We are learning so much!!
Today was a no sting day for all of us except the son.
He had taped his ankles to his shoes - but the bees found a crack.
All in all - a successful day!
I spent much of the afternoon napping since I was too excited to go to sleep early like I had planned.
This evening we have made preparations for our very own - very first honey harvest!
Our jars are all washed and sanitized.
The extractor is clean and set up.
Louis Dean has the leaf blower in the truck and batteries charged - just in case we decide to use it to blow the bees off the frames instead of brushing them.
I have four clear plastic tubs to out the frames in and a marker to identify which hive and top or bottom super. We should have 36 frames from four supers.
Sherry has all her bee tools for opening the hives and getting the frames out.
I won't be taking pictures of our harvest in the morning like I was able to do today since I will be working with the hives.
Dean and Sherry went to town this evening and they picked up some nice French bread for our celebration tomorrow - taste testing our own honey!!
While they were gone, I took some things down to their house and let the dogs out and fed the kitties.
Louis Dean put up the goats and ducks - and chased the geese!
He rescued one duck from Ruger! The duck seems to be okay and went into the pen.
Poor pups! They have so much to learn!
That's about it for today!
I hope I can get some sleep tonight but I must say I am so excited about tomorrow.
We hope our honey is good and our bees are not overly aggressive.
Anticipation!!!
I love the thrill of the anticipation!!
Wear your boots tomorrow - and the hat LD fixed up. Lots of rules about keeping safe.
ReplyDeleteJoy
Louis Dean in the twilight with the sun rays overhead is a beautiful picture. Wow, you sure taught me a lot, it is so exciting and interesting!! I guess the dark and light honeys will taste different. I hope all goes well with your bees!
ReplyDeleteI will be waiting with bated breathe for your report on your own extraction today.. be careful. I could no watch the bee buzzing videos, but that honey is delish and beautiful. I had no idea how much work goes into the honey retrieval process. I will appreciate each jar I buy much more now.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting to be working with your bee hives and harvesting your own honey. Do keep safe to avoid being stung. Hope you had a good sleep for the new day.
ReplyDeleteSo exciting and so very interesting! I am glad that it was only a one-sting day. May tomorrow be a no-sting day. I’ll be praying for you.
ReplyDeleteI remember taking my entire class to visit a farm where the bee keeper (also a writer and a professor) was going to smoke a hive. What was I thinking?! He wore no special clothing and we had no special clothing and here all those children wearing all those bright colors. Yikes! He smoked the bees, which he told us meant that the bees would load up on honey in anticipation of a raid and that would slow them down. I don’t know what prevented the bees from stinging us other than a lot of prayer and all that smoke. I do remember the bee keeper speaking very calmly to both the bees and all of us encouraging us to be quiet and still and peaceful. Hard to do with all those bees and no special gear. Perhaps he was a bee whisperer. That and God is good.
Sounds like a great adventure, and I learned a lot. But, not sure I would be cut out for bee-ing! Guess I'll just be!
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to watch someone else and glad it was a no sting occasion too. Certainly not an easy job and one that takes being able to keep calm. Those aggressive bees would probably be my undoing. Good idea to keep the netting away from you face for sure . So nice you can learn from others before actually doing your own harvest. Hope your lessons on bee keeping help someone else too. That's the nice thing about sharing your experience.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post, so much to learn. I went looking to see the first time someone gathered honey and it was 5000 BC! Honey is the only thing that never spoils, not ever.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fascinating. I also didn't know how much work is involved .
ReplyDeleteOh the sweet taste of your very own honey,,,how wonderful.
I hope today turns out perfectly.
Wow this is so interesting, I never knew there was so much involved in bee keeping and honey gathering, Good luck on your new adventure.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Sue
Excited for you! Have a sweet day! Cheers
ReplyDelete