Beekeeping: Harvesting our First Honey

As some of you may know, my husband and sister-in-law started keeping bees this spring. And after adding new boxes at the beginning of the summer, the bees were pretty much left unattended to do what they do best- pollinate and make honey! It's pretty common to not harvest honey the first year, since the bees need as much honey as possible in order to survive the winter. BUT, that being said in the middle of August, we decided to check in on the bees and have a little taste of the honey while we were in there! Here are some favorite pictures from our most recent beekeeping adventure.

*above: I changed in to more "Beekeeping appropriate" footwear (it's very rare that I get to participate in this hobby since I'm usually in charge of keeping the toddler from charging the hives! so this was a fun treat for me!)

The beekeepers about to enter the hive.

After smoking out the bees, we find a nice portion of honeycomb, this hive is doing really well!

So we decide to cut a portion to sample the bee's hard work.

The most unbelievable honey I have EVER tasted. There was a lot going on in the flavor department. And we put on our best wine connoisseur voices as we commented on the notes of the local hydrangeas off of route 52, or the neighbors flower trees are really prevalent at the end, yadda yadda. ; ) but it's kinda true, there is a lot to taste.

Capped broods where the eggs are placed and new bees hatch.

And we found a new bee hatching out of the comb! See it on the top left corner?? Its little head and wings poking out, it was pretty cool to witness.

The hive closest to the house is rocking it... but the hive you see Cameron checking out, is not as productive, not nearly in fact. We wanted to discover what happened but unfortunately a thunder storm rolled in and we had to close up shop. My sister-in-law and brother think that perhaps a portion of the bees swarmed and left town, which would explain the tiny population and lack of honey and broods compared to the first hive. Maybe this month we can venture back in and get more clues.

But all in all, it was a fun day to check in on the bees!

A view of our honey from the inside of my beekeeping hat.

We did a little honey taste test against the store bought brand, sorry nature's promise- no contest our honey is rocking!!! 

An Example of some Bad A$$ Beekeeping

word.

I'll stick to the hives two feet off the ground.

Our week in pictures...

I hope you all had a great week and a fantastic long weekend if you do indeed have one! I thought I would share a little round up of my instagram pictures as a look back on our week. There was plenty of time outdoors, gardening and beekeeping... I'm so throughly impressed with the bees, I am guilty of some childlike wonderment for sure. It does my heart good. Thus don't be surprised to see more beekeeping posts in the future! 

Our two new beds look more like coffins, but are a vast improvement from our deteriorating stone bed that was full of ants... We filled them with dirt this morning, which means next up is planting towards the end of the month and a sand box and green teepee for the little one ASAP.

Here I am looking stellar with bed head and garden clothes- and my ghostbuster-esque flame weeder that we used to kill the large ant nests that were built beneath our beds. Some times you have to be extreme. I aint afraid a no ants!

little dogs enjoying the peace that comes with the toddler's nap time.

The little miss before our weekly music class.

Received our saltwater sandals this week. I like the yellow, they will work well with my bone white legs that never tan. And the toddler ones ran big (?) so I might just keep the red ones for the babe to grow into. sizing and colors were limited but the results are cute! ; )

The bees flying around the hive after we smoked them so we could get in their and add a few more screens and replenish the sugar water.

While doing a bit of bee maintenance on Thursday- we spotted the queen of hive #1. She is marked with a yellow dot and has a long solid-tan body. Hello your highness!  So awesome.

The bees made two large combs in the 5 days they have been living in the hives. Unfortunately we had to remove them since they were in the way of where we needed to put other screens, (in the gap created by the queen's temporary travel cage).  It's a shame that their work was in vain, but they can still gather the orange pollen and use it again... very impressive, mad respect!

a little floral treat

Dad and Daughter after nap time... another long week where Cam hasn't seen much of the babe...

Little goodies for the babe's easter basket. I knit her a lamb, and two eggs (I'm under the allusion that I can knit her one more thing by Sunday...!?) and the Boston pillow I scored on FAB back in February after receiving a fatty site credit! Have a great weekend!  

xo

abs

Beekeeping: Releasing the Queen

On Tuesday the beekeepers removed the queen from the cage where she was held during transportation. It takes a while for the group of bees to accept their queen, but once everything looks copasetic, it's game time and the beekeeper can remove her and introduce her to her kingdom. Here are some pictures from this coronation ceremony of sorts. ; )  

The husband lighting the smoker with pine needles. (which heat up fast.)

smoking out the bees.

the beekeepers (wearing their version of beekeeping clothes- i.e. clothes they don't mind having bee poo all over!)

The queen is in her cage which was stapled to the screen on Sunday.

Unfortunately we don't have a picture of the queen, since I had to stay away and continue wrangling our toddler from running towards the excitement. She'll learn, but not today!

Then on Wednesday my brother took these AMAZING images of the bees returning loaded up with Pollen! Dam their awesome!!!

Beekeeping: Introducing the Bees to their Hive

It's been a dream of my husband's to keep bees. He took an apiary class in college and growing up a friend in Alaska kept bees and sold the honey. He seems like the perfect beekeeper, calm and sweet. ; ) But up until last summer we didn't have a place to keep bees... But then my sister-in-law and brother bought a cute little house in Pennsylvania (about a 10 minute drive away). My sister-in-law also wanted to keep bees (along with chickens and other awesome domestic fare). Last year we gave them the Bee Keeper's Bible as a House warming gift and then my husband got one for christmas (it's an amazing book, I highly recommend it!). So after attending a few local beekeeping meetings, they ordered their bees this spring and set to making the hives. Then this past Sunday they introduced their bees to the hives. It was pretty exciting to watch and I thought you might like to see some pictures and see how they did it!

The bees in their transportation hive. Did you know that they only poo when they fly!? so they had been holding "it" a long time during their voyage from Georgia. Needless to say the bee keepers were covered with yellow bee poo.

The Queen Bee arrives in a little cage with bees surrounding her, with a few whose personal job it is to feed her. The cage was stapled to the new hive before the remaining bees were dropped in. This Wednesday, if it appears that all of the bees are loyal to the Queen, the beekeepers will release her from her cage and the bees will get to work!

Hannah dumping the rest of the bees into the hive. While doing this- they sprayed the bees with sugar water to feed them and to ensure they would be full, calm, and a bit slow, not agitated and therefore wouldn't be so ready to sting. If they did sting, the beekeeper's have a spray bottle full of rubbing alcohol that they spray on the sting to remove the scent that calls the other bees to sting. This was only used twice on Sunday. ; )

Then sugar water was placed in the top of the hive. This will feed them while they get adjusted and settled in their new digs. Eventually more screens will be placed in the top for the bees to comb up with honey!

not stinging, just hanging out...

The bees being emptied into the second hive.

Pretty exciting stuff! I'll be sure to report back on how this beekeeping adventure goes. I guess it's rare to have honey the first year, but it would be cool! Regardless, I've read how nice it is to sit and watch bees during different times of the day, coming and going, busy about their task... how calming it is, and how it seems to reset one's own hectic pace of life. I'm in!