Robbing the Bees

Yesterday, we went to our bee mentor’s house to extract honey from one of his hives. He had already pulled the honey from two of his four hives, and he left one for us to do from robbing to pouring.

This unclear picture of Hank's biggest hive is taken from the window of this honey room.

We began by putting on our suits and talking through the process. Hank showed us the best way to get the bees off of each frame and where to place them. I didn’t take any pictures of this set up, but I now wish I had. I had that hot suit on, so I wasn’t thinking about anything but getting this done since it was so hot outside already.

One by one, Patrick and I pulled the super frames (they’re the short ones) out of the hive, shook the bees off, and brushed the strays while taking the frames to the spare super box. Hank had set up a spare super box, covered with a towel, for us to place the heavy frames full of honey in so we could carry it inside better.

Here’s the difference in a super box and brood box. The brood, obviously, is for the brood of the hive. The queen lays on these longer frames and pollen is stored on these. The short ones, the supers, are only for honey storage.

It took us about 20 minutes, at most, to get all the frames free of bees and put into the spare super, but in that short time, we were drenched in sweat. It’s nice to have the protection from stings in that suit, but it does not breathe at all. As soon as this was done, we took the frames inside and changed out of our suits. I had worn short and a tee under my suit, so I changed back into my skirt and tank for the rest of the day.

The rest of this process was completely foreign to us, so Hank and Corey showed us each step, and then let us finish up while they fixed dinner for us.

First, we pulled a frame from the box and used the uncapping tool to pull the caps off of the sealed honey.

Here is a frame full of honey that is completely capped.

Here, Patrick begins to uncap the honey. This is done with a light hand as to not waste the honey.

Up close.

 Be careful.

The frame is almost clear.

Now, this side is completely clear of caps; time to flip the frame and do the same to the other side.

How beautiful!

Once both sides of the frame are free up caps, the frame is put into the spinner (not a technical term).

This spinner (I really should look up the real term) is equipped for two frames, one on each side.

When we had two frames done, we were ready to spin. Hank had calculated that it took exactly 60 revolutions to completely extract the honey. Here, Patrick spins the first side. Once he completed Hank’s required 60 revolutions, he had to then turn the frames so the opposite side was exposed and spin again.

After the first two frames were spun, Hank opened the valve to allow the honey to flow through the filters. Hank’s biggest rule is that you do not touch the honey from this stage until it’s bottled. He doesn’t want it contaminated. But it was nearly impossible not to touch this beautiful liquid gold.

We repeated this process over and over again.

Until we filled the 5-gallon bucket about half-way (not near that full here).

 Once we had the majority of the supers extracted (see the one remaining in the box), we were ready to pour.

The 5-gallon bucket is equipped with an easy pour spout. Here, liquid gold is being poured into a jar.

Almost ready to eat.

Now we get to fill the rest of these. (Not really, we only filled a case to take home, but Hank will fill at least all of these once he extracts from this last hive.)

And, no, there was no Betty with us at Hank’s house, but we did make a kitty friend while there. Hank made some great steaks for dinner, and this old boy ate every scrap of steak we gave him. I think he’s waiting on more steak.

 For breakfast this morning, I had a big buttery biscuit coated in fresh honey from yesterday's spoils.

Bee Addition

This past weekend, we extended our bees. Even though we've only had them about two months, they were incredibly crowded in one brood box. So, Patrick and I bought the materials to build a new one a couple of weekends ago, the weekend we cleared all that dead wood out of the yard.

Here's a picture of the finished second brood box. It was simple to assemble and paint.

After putting it together, we had to build each frame to go inside. This is a ten-frame box, but we bought spacers to make it a nine-frame box, allowing the bees to draw out deeper comb for brood, pollen, and honey.

Here's a peek into the frames with one pulled out.

Saturday, we finally had the time to put the addition onto the old hive. We planned to take all the old frames out of the original brood box and install a spacer into it, then put five or six of the full frames back into the brood box and fill it with empty, new frames. This was going to be a challenge because the box was so full and the bees would be quite upset with being infiltrated, so we needed to smoker to be full. Again, we only owned one bee suit at the time (I bought a second one yesterday), so Patrick would be doing all of the hands-on work, while I simply brought him things and refueled the smoker as needed. I also set myself up to photograph the progress. Allow me to share.

First, P moved the full frames into the new brood box in order to install the spacer. Notice this frame he's holding up; it contains mostly honey. Some of it is capped, but most on this side of the frame is not capped yet.

This is that same frame being put into the new brood box. All of that white is capped honey cells. Honey frames are extremely heavy.

Here's all the old frames in the new box. Lots of bees here, but several still wondering around inside the old box, too.

Next, P installed the spacer into the old box. Notice how he tries not to harm any remaining bees. You can also see the smoker on the ground, letting out a little smoke.

As Patrick was doing this, I went back to get the new frames to be mixed with the full ones in both brood boxes. Here's a stack of them. We actually had one more than we needed. I don't know why Patrick bought an extra one, but I'm sure he has reason.

After installing the spacer, he began putting the old frames back into the original brood box.

Here, he has mixed the old with the new frames.

During this, the bees were most upset and flying all around. I was hiding beside the cedar tree, where they never fly. Betty was sitting alongside me. He doesn't care for the bees so much, and here showed his irritation.

Yet, one little honey bee flew next to me and watched Patrick do his business. I tried to get a picture, but I couldn't get the camera to focus before she turned, saw me, and flew away. Though it's not clear, it'll show you how close I was to her.

Once all the frames were in each box, it was time for Patrick to stack them on top of each other. Notice all the bees flying around.

Next he replaced the inner top, and prepared the outer top piece.

And finally we have a finished double brood hive, perfectly spaced and happy. Well, not quite happy yet. Notice how they are all clustered up at the opening. They are ready to defend, but shortly after leaving them, they settled down and have seemed quite happy since.

Take a bow Patrick; that was hard work.