Honey!

[rae]

Amid all the woes of swarms and associated disaster, how about some good news. We've got honey, lots of honey.

We started with two nucs last year, they grew well and overwintered well. A month ago we artificially swarmed both (queen cells everywhere) and left the old queen + flying bees on the old site with the existing supers. We pulled a super off each yesterday as it was nicely capped, and as there is OSR about, we didn't want to leave it too long.

We sort of thought it would be nice to have a few jars. I suppose the weight of the supers should have put us right. We've got 10 jars (that's all we had sterilised) and a plastic tank with what feels like about 10 kilos of honey in the bottom!

It is quite pale, not strong tasting, I am not a connoisseur of honey, but it tastes good. These supers are the ones the hives wintered with, so there may be a bit of syrup in there, not sure.

Alarmingly, both hives have two more supers that are full, but not capped and still drippy. We've put the old supers back on wet to give them some room, next weekend we may well be doing it again.

So these bees have make all this honey, and created 3 decent sized colonies each. Pretty good!

 

[oliver90owner]

Rae,

Congrats on your first honey crop. Or did you harvest just a little, last season?

Alarmingly

?!?!? No,no, now you have started keep going! Reap your harvest, you have earned it. You are right not to let it granulate. Standard method these days is 10 litre food grade plastic buckets with 30 jars 'equivalent' squeezed in.

about 10 kilos of honey in the bottom!

2 supers - more likely 15kg+ in there!

If you don't have a refractometer and are at all worried re water content, leave a sample to granulate - if the surface is dry, it will be OK, if wet, it will likely ferment. If capped it will be OK as the bees know it is OK for storing.

Well done.

Regards, RAB

 

[dale popham]

me too got loads of yummy honey today my first crop atlast we are in the honey. honey on toast for me in the mornining. thanks to every one for the sound advice.

 

[rae]

This was the first harvest. We've had a few teaspoon-fulls when getting bits of wild comb out, but nothing like this. I'm simply amazed at the quantity - and to think we are going to get twice that in a week or so when the other supers are ready!

I really ought to find out where Mike the Bee got the queen from. She's done the most amazing job this year. First she filled a standard brood. Then we put on a 14x12, and she filled that as well (in two weeks), then we AS'ed her into another 14x12, and she's filled 7 frames of that already. With a bit of luck we will have 4 of her offspring - the two halves of the old hive, and two swarms that came out of the halves of the old hive.

 

[steve1958]

I too was able to take off a super of Honey over the weekend.
Currently have it stored in a large container on the kitchen table


For me it makes everything worth while

 

[rae]

Well, we pulled 5 supers off two hives this afternoon. My 40 litre bucket is nearly full, and I'm just waiting for the last of it to filter through. The supers we took off at the beginning of this thread have been refilled by the bees and capped - and just extracted again....

 

[Somerford]

If you don't have a refractometer and are at all worried re water content, leave a sample to granulate - if the surface is dry, it will be OK, if wet, it will likely ferment. If capped it will be OK as the bees know it is OK for storing.

Regards, RAB

Well I have learnt something today !! I didn't know that was a way of checking. thanks RAB

S

 

[Somerford]

osr honey

It is quite pale, not strong tasting, I am not a connoisseur of honey, but it tastes good. QUOTE]

Yes - sounds like OSR honey. It will start granulating within 2 weeks

S