Harvested Two Bars

Finally, Jaimi and the kids got to taste the fruits of our labor...ok, my labor.  But they had to put up with it while I was building hives last Spring. 

It was quite the ordeal since this was our first time.  Right when you think you've collected everything you needed to harvest you forget something.  In our case, Jaimi had put on the wrong suit (I've since bought her a nice one).  Jaimi put on a tyvek suit that did not have elastic bands in the sleeves.  She didn't think it would be a problem since all she was going to do was film and take pics.  Nope...I needed her help.  So she got stung once on the wrist but that was it....for her.  She panicked a bit and went over by the truck where Zeke was staying.  But the bees were a bit pissed and found him and got him several times (like 15) in the mouth.  Pour guy...he went from a beautiful chocolate lab to puffy Sharpe in a few minutes.  Small dose of benadryl and he was fine.

Here's the results of our harvest.  We only took two bars.  Used a metal cone filter and some cheese cloth to strain and it was absolutely delicious.  Didn't taste anything like the store bought crap. 

We had about two quarts of honey when it was all said and done. 

Hive Updates - it's been a while

This post is about a month overdue - sorry if you've been on the edge of your seats.

About a month ago my brother was in from Chicago and he wanted to take a peak in the Backyard Hive.  We got him all dressed up and we opened it up.  This hive has struggled to build strength, and I take the full blame.  I believe I waited too long to move the follower board back and that made them believe there was a limit to their hive...so they slowed down on comb production when the nectar was still flowing.  None the less, we moved everything back and they are doing better today.

This was the first time in a while I've opened this hive - I like the philosophy of the Backwards Beekeepers which says to let the bees do what the bees want to do.  John was very intrigued with what he saw in the hive. 

The first bar we pulled you could see capped brood, larva, eggs, and low and behold...there was Queenie!  Check it out - look at the second picture below and see if you can find her.  She's golden in color and quite long.

Here's a close up of her:

I harvested two bars of honey from KFH1 a few days before this - I'll post a few pics shortly.