always look on ......

[meetballuk]

i thought i would post some good new as there seems to be alot of doom and gloom in the forum lately.
if its not people giving up, its people loosing hives to wasps and varroa.
all very sad but not many ppl post when its going well.

so here it is:

2nd year in ive gone from one after loosing one in winter to 7 hives and even gave a weak one away to a struggling friend.

ive got bucket of honey a lovely thick toffee floral from my allotment bees

about 25 jars from the farm of a clover esk honey, nice and sweet and yellow

all bees tucked up in bed going strong, one bit week but has been since split in may, but mainly cuz it went 3 ways

not such a bad year and they were all well active last week.

someone else must of had a good year?

 

[aberreef]

Sounds like you've had a busy season, you've done very well for your second year

I had a terrible start to the year having to move my bees to a new apiary and early weather was shocking. Then the sun arrived Of my 5 hives, 3 produced a lovely crop totalling 200-250lbs, 1 was split into 3 and the other, which came out of winter extremely weak, has now built up to a strong colony.

So, end result for this season is 200+lbs honey, 2 new colonies, lots of drawn foundation, a load of wax, 4 litres of honey Vodka and 10 gallons of Mead. I'm very happy

 

[meetballuk]

wooo! thats awsome, fancy sharing the recipe for honey vodka?]

yes aware its only two ingredents but ratios?

 

[enrico]

Well I have had the best crop per hive that I have had for thirty years. Mainly due to an avenue of 17 large lime trees. I could only just keep up!
I have five thriving hives going into winter which have more honey than syrup as I just ran out of kit!
Our group of local beekeepers that meet every three months at the pub has grown to a group of about twenty. We drink and talk bees all night.
I have enough honey to give some away for Christmas presents and have already sold a decent amount.
Woohoo.....love this feel good factor
E

 

[alldigging]

wooo! thats awsome, fancy sharing the recipe for honey vodka?]

yes aware its only two ingredents but ratios?

I reckon not too much honey. About a teaspoon full for 2 measures. Made some with more but it was a bit too sticky.

I have been making a variety of flavoured vodkas - the honey one is instant, but the orange and coffee bean one takes at least a month apparently before it's ready. The mint one smells very minty and I am not brave enough to try the chilli one!

 

[Pete D]

I reckon not too much honey. About a teaspoon full for 2 measures. Made some with more but it was a bit too sticky.

I have been making a variety of flavoured vodkas - the honey one is instant, but the orange and coffee bean one takes at least a month apparently before it's ready. The mint one smells very minty and I am not brave enough to try the chilli one!

Horseraddish Vodka.............. Wash and grate an ounce of root (get someone else to do it cos its worse than onions) add to the vodka and leave for 48hrs, strain and its ready. Or wash and peel a 2'' length of root and leave it in a bottle for a month, remove and drink.
Good for bloody Mary's and the kids dont nick it. (use cheapo vodka from Aldi / lidl)
I made sloe gin last year with honey instead of sugar

 

[For want of a better word]

I took off a super beautifully capped with white cappings and full to the brim in the early summer... and forgot about it!

The hot air gun exposed a million hexagonal sugar treats.......

20Kg of crystalised honey.... uncapped in 4 gallons of hot water... pint of tea ... tablespoon of Marmite.... two table spoons of cake spice... packet of high alcohol yeast.
Fizzing next to AGA!

Looking forward to winter now!
CHEERS!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

wooo! thats awsome, fancy sharing the recipe for honey vodka?]

yes aware its only two ingredents but ratios?

I had a 30lb honey bucket full of drained cappings to which i added a litre and a half of vodka and left for 24 hours - occasionally stirring. I then filtered it all off and this gave a slightly sickly honey/vodka drink which swmbo has 'cut' with some more vodka so next year I'm going to up the ratio by another litre (I think) - good way of washing the cappings clean though!

 

[Queens59]

Started the year with two hives - and ending with 5 good, strong colonies...and took 120lbs of wonderful runny honey (which we have never had before)...and got a stall at the local community market! So for us a good year - except I have just b***ered up my Achilles and taking on 2 dogs have been told 'NO WALKING' - foot in air at all times - sooorry - Dog needs walking...

 

[Suzi Q]

I had a good year, although I only have 3 to compare it to! 4 hives and a nuc coming out of winter, took about 250lbs of honey, and have increased to 7 hives and 3 nucs.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

better add to the feelgood thread (not just drink vodka!) Had a bad spring - lost two colonies (the strongest) out of six after palm Sunday to failed queens, Two others survived but were slow to go anywhere so had to requeen and leave to get themselves sorted. Leaving with me with two viable colonies (one of which i couldn't get to for a few weeks thus swarmed so I decided to make increase rather than honey from it). and a bought in nuc.

The remaining viable colony went great guns requiring seven supers for space (and donated a nuc) the bought in nuc did really well and another nuc made from donated frames and a bought in queen shaped up sharpish.
Got a first and a second for my honey at the Royal Welsh - two firsts for a frame of honey and cut comb at the Gower show. and harvested over 180 lbs of honey which isn't bad considering the nucs I've taken out of them, and a super full of cut comb (all of the comb which I sold in a couple of hours at the Neath food fair for an exhorbidant price!!) Now going into winter with ten good colonies and a nuc and also caring for two other nucs given to me which i am going to give to my association if the survive the winter. Oh and i have two enquiries regards supplying honey to retailers which will do nicely with my existing one.

 

[aberreef]

I had a 30lb honey bucket full of drained cappings to which i added a litre and a half of vodka and left for 24 hours - occasionally stirring. I then filtered it all off and this gave a slightly sickly honey/vodka drink which swmbo has 'cut' with some more vodka so next year I'm going to up the ratio by another litre (I think) - good way of washing the cappings clean though!

That's roughly how I made mine, just mixed the cappings with a few litres of Vodka, mixed and then strained. I had ALOT of pollen and tiny bits of wax in mine so I filtered it through some coffee filters. This took a few hours in total and yes, I was tipsy by the time I finished lol. Also, 'dilute' the mix with more vodka to taste

Job for the next few days is to start 5 gallons each of Beer and Cider (wilkos kits). When they are ready to go into the pressure barrel I'll add a jar of honey to each instead of sugar. It tends to be a bit lively so need to be careful in case the pressure gets too high but otherwise very tasty

Thinking of starting the Alchie Beekeepers Association

 

[pargyle]

Thinking of starting the Alchie Beekeepers Association

Hicc ... I'll join ... form am orderly queue boys and girls ...

 

[REDWOOD]

It did start doom and gloom with a loss of 2 colonies and then the landowner of my apiary decided to sell so very reluctant to make increases but good news tonight (for me ) it looks like he has decided to pull out of the market so look out 2014 full steam ahead and hey ho here we go
And my other apiary at the back of a very large garden where a retired couple wanted bees but did not want anything to do with them and they didn't like honey took great interest in a jar of honey I gave them last week so I might be able to squeezes a couple more hives there
Just one more apiary to consider but having difficulties tracking the people who rent the land, not to far from where I like to dry fly fish for wild trout,
Also the friends you make along the way is a gift not to forget
So all things considered 2013 did not turn out to be to bad after all

 

[Cazza]

Well, I have managed to change my colonies into lovely pleasant tempered bees with some breeding and selection so it's all good here in sunny Suffolk.
Cazza

 

[Itchy]

I inadvertently took up beekeeping!

 

[youngyoungs]

I inadvertently took up beekeeping!

Wow! Even HWMBO would notice if I acquired 12 hives!

 

[Swarm]

Wow! Even HWMBO would notice if I acquired 12 hives!

That must be a typo, shouldn't that be HWMO?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That must be a typo, shouldn't that be HWMO?

Well - they always like us to feel we're in charge - but in reality it's only when the caca hits the fan and they tell us we are

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I've just checked with SWMBO and she said, "Yes, dear. Of course you're in charge".

So there you go! Anyone disagreeing can talk to her.

Dusty

P.s. What did she mean when she told me to stop droning on?