Bees

[thoseguys26]

It took a year before I collected rent and these tennants let me know that rent was a little steep. Luckily my 5mm neoprene waders combatted their attempt to impail the landlord and take over the property.

As a good landlord, I gave them an extra top level unit, slightly furnished, and free with no charge......until next summer  

It was a blast! Thanks everyone here for the great info and help to a new bee keeper.

Here's some Bview

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• thoseguys26
• Jul 25, 2013

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• thoseguys26
• Jul 25, 2013

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• thoseguys26
• Jul 25, 2013

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• thoseguys26
• Jul 25, 2013

 

[thoseguys26]

I'm ready to listen to the pro's here to what to do next.

Should I let the honey settle for a few days and skim off any floaties? or combine it all in one container and then try to filter it all with cloth and strainers?

Should I keep it in my hot garage to make the process easier?

Any tips on how to jar it? Should I just put it in canning jars and store in a shaded, cool area?

How about the left over wax? Should I put it by the hive or put it in a shallow super for a week or two? 

I'm in a fenced local area where no bears will get to it but wasps and other critters could get to it..

Any tips would be most greatful! On another note, does anyone have any honey recipes out there? Ways to subtitue honey for sugar?

 

[smker]

hay there

if you like beekeeping there's a group here in Knoxville IA,  i didn't know it when i started work here at he hospital but they hold monthly meetings here,  the last meeting around 2 weeks ago a member brought in a homemade hive you can use in a city or town that would eliminate the fear from neighbors for bee keeping in town,  

thats all i heard about that tho.  

they put out a magazine id say 4 times a year.

if your interested let me know and ill get you his phone number,

 

[thoseguys26]

Thanks smker, there is actually a group 30 min from me that also does monthly meeting, etc.  I would be curious to hear about the hive designed for the city.

I woke up this morning to a delightful surprise. The wax bits all floated to the top! I don't think I'll need to filter it now!

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• thoseguys26
• Jul 25, 2013

 

[pineywoods]

I extract into 5 gal buckets and course filter it as it goes in (they have filters that fit right into a 5 gal bucket) after that I filter it with a fine filter into 5 gal bottling buckets (basically has same valve the extractor has) then into containers. I bottle into plastic honey jars as I sell a lot of what we produce. If you have to filter it then leave it in the garage so it heats up and thins runs easier. Leave the wax sit outside away from the hives and the bees, wasps, etc will clean it up then you can melt it down or what ever

 

[thoseguys26]

Thanks Pineywoods.

What do you do with the wax after you let everyone clean it up? Do you toss the waxy frames or put them back in the supers?

Why plastic vs glass?

 

[pineywoods]

After extracting put the supers right back on if you still have a flow going if not then leave them out away from the hives and let the bees clean them up. After they are cleaned up stack them somewhere where the moths can't get to them. I put them inside stack them up then use para-moth in a tray in the bottom, middle, and top then place a lid on it all. Some people wrap them tight in a cellophane type wrap. If moths do happen to get into the frames then you can put them in the freezer and kill the moth eggs.  As for the cappings you can melt them and use them for candles, soap making, bee balm, etc or when you get a good amount of it many bee supply places will buy it from you.

I use plastic just because they don't break when moving them round

 

[thoseguys26]

So very helpful!

I put an empty new shallow super with new frames back on right away. Is that correct procedure?  I've been leaving the spent ones out for a few hours a day the past few days.

So, the moths help pollinate also?

Here's the glory shot so far! 30 lbs  or a little over 2.5 gal

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• thoseguys26
• Jul 25, 2013

 

[pineywoods]

Put those supers right back on not supers with new foundation if you have a honey flow going. It takes the bees a lot of work to draw comb. It takes them enough nectar and pollen to fill 1.5-2 supers just to draw comb in a super with new foundation. What type foundation are you using?

Moths do not help with anything they will ruin frames and foundation they will lay eggs in the drawn comb.

 

[thoseguys26]

 

[thoseguys26]

What if the wax/comb's from the frames we harvested aren't in perfect shape? Some got crushed, etc. Should those not go back on the hive?

 

[thoseguys26]

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• thoseguys26
• Jul 26, 2013

 

[pineywoods]

The bees will usually fix any damage to the extracted frames unless they are really bad. If there is no flow going then it's more a matter of choice whether to have any supers on. Another thing to consider is that the supers are more area for the bees to have to defend most of the time if there is no flow I take the supers off thus reducing the area that hive beetles or moths to get started.

Are you going to run double deeps as brood boxes or are you going to split off one of the deeps and make another hive?

We're actually having to feed sugar water here right now as we have zero nectar flow. I usually only run single deep brood boxes but do have some double deeps on. When they get about full I'll split the top one off and add a new queen basically making a 10 frame split. I also have some hives that I have supers on but no queen excluders they will work those new super frames easier without the queen excluder. The queen may move up and lay in them but once they draw them I'll put the queen excluder in and let the brood hatch but at least I'll have more drawn comb frames so when we do get a flow the bees will fill them faster.

If the comb is drawn in the super when the flow starts then the bees are storing honey instead of building comb so you end up getting more honey faster. It's a pain getting started and trying to get the equipment you need and the way you need it. Lets say you had two exact same hives side by side when the flow started on one you had a super with drawn comb and the other with new frames and foundation. The one with the drawn comb would be full and you'd add another drawn comb super and it would be full and possibly working on a third one before that other hive with the new foundation gets filled with honey the first time. Now you understand how nice it is to have drawn comb frames and why I try to take such good care of them

 

[thoseguys26]

I was told to leave the two supers on the bottom for the brood & bees to survive the winter and anything above that I can harvest. I guess I'll take off the new empty frames and replace them with all of the harvested frames that are in decent shape. Next time I'll make sure to take special care when capping the frames before extracting honey so I can reuse them.

Thank you for the great info!!

We filtered once and bottled them up.

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• thoseguys26
• Jul 27, 2013

 

[pineywoods]

That looks great. I'd about bet that the bees can use all the frames you extracted cutting the cappings off doesn't usually harm them enough the bees can't fix them. We don't have the harsh winters here so I can get by with just a single brood box but I understand most people north of us use double brood boxes.

I'm trying to get some buckwheat and sun hemp planted so I don't have to feed as much so far I've already used over 500 lbs of sugar this summer and won't have much for them growing around here until Oct unless I plant it

 

[thoseguys26]

Thank you very much Pinywoods. You've been a huge help!

 

[pineywoods]

Glad I could help it's fun playing with the bees most of the time

 

[thoseguys26]

Most of the time..except that one time where I was trying to be manly and check on them with no protective clothing... a few stings later...

 

[pineywoods]

I usually work mine without just a hat yesterday wasn't great for that when a friend who was wearing a jacket, gloves and veil walked in front of the hives which resulted in about 10 stings to me and 3 or 4 through the suit and gloves to him

 

[smker]

Thanks smker, there is actually a group 30 min from me that also does monthly meeting, etc.  I would be curious to hear about the hive designed for the city.

I woke up this morning to a delightful surprise. The wax bits all floated to the top! I don't think I'll need to filter it now!

Screen Shot 2013-07-25 at 9.44.37 AM.jpg

• thoseguys26
• Jul 25, 2013

sorry for the delay,   got real busy the last few weeks,   last week i was on Ragbrai  ( the largest bar hop across  IOWA)  dont ask for details all i remember is starting it and ending it a week later,

ill see if i get you more info on that bee hive for ya.