Highland Honey Video

Here's a pretty good little video about a honey operation in Boulder.  It makes me excited for spring!

The Beekeeper from Spencer Sarson on Vimeo.

Mid January Report

Entrance Activity

The bee girls were out this weekend.  It has been so warm the last few days, as in nearly 60.  Pretty toasty for January, and a welcome relief after some of the real cold days we've had.

I'd checked on them several times and was able to hear them in the hive.  So I knew there were some in there, but I was still a bit worried.  I left two extra frames of supers on, to give them the extra honey stores, but I was concerned that it was too much volume for them to have to heat.  So I've been eagerly awaiting a warm day to do a quick inspection.

Carniolan Cutie

Saturday there was a lot of activity at the entrance, and Sunday actually looked busy.  I popped the top of the have and was able to look down in and see some activity.  They seem to be doing great.  I put out some water for them and closed everything back up.  It's fun just to see them out.

A bit later I was getting into our trailer and one of them was pretty determined to fly into one of the photos on it.  I saw her try four times.  There's nothing to forage, but a few were out having a look.  They haven't touched any of the super frames, so they should have plenty of honey, but I should probably research getting a pollen patty put in for them.

Hooray for the bees!

Winter Buzz

There's not a whole lot going on right now.  It's late December and we've had some below zero weather.  About a month ago, before it really hit, I cut some 2 inch insulation for the bees and covered the hive.  I cut a piece for the top too.

There have been a lot of die off bees at the hive entrance.  I've also seen a lot of dead on the floor of the hive.  But I can still hear the bees in the hive, so I think they are doing okay.  I'm hoping for another really warm day so I can take a peek inside.

Scientists Discover Molecule Linking Neonicotinoids to Honey Bee Viruses

Italian scientists think they've found the molecule that links honey bee immune systems with pesticides . . . let's hope they're right.

http://www.nationofchange.org/scientists-discover-key-molecule-linking-neonicotinoids-honey-bee-viruses-1382712918

A World Without Bees

Here's an article from Time Magazine about the storm of troubles facing bees today.

First Harvest

At the NCBA Beginning Beekeeping Class, they cautioned us not to expect to harvest any honey our first year.  I pulled out five heaping frames today.  I am so excited, and so proud of the bees.  It's been a great year for bees in Fort Collins.

I went up to Copoco's to get a gate valve and a food grade 5 gallon bucket, a scraper, and a a bucket filter.  It's not worth renting/borrowing an extractor for just 5 frames, so I tried scratching open the supers and letting it drain out.  But since it's September and already cooled off a bit, the honey isn't viscous enough to drain out.  We've got loads of flies this time of year too, so I decided it was best to scrape out the comb and honey all together.  It will destroy a lot of work by the bees, but I want the honey that badly.

The scrapped out honey and wax makes a lump that looks a bit like creamed corn.  The golden honey drains out pretty quickly.  After it was mostly drained I took the wax that was left and left it in a strainer overnight to let gravity do it's work.  This separated some more honey, which I ran through the bucket filter to combine with the rest of the honey.

I got some half pint and jam jars (4 oz).  It's one of the lightest honey's I've ever seen, nearly water white on the color grade.  And it tastes AMAZING.  I think because I don't have to over filter it or heat it (because I'm not planning on selling it at this point), the honey is very raw.  And FRESH!!  It was in the hive just a few hours ago and was capped in the last week or so.  It's AWESOME!!

Levi & Rocket's Honey 2013

I wanted to start beekeeping because I know honey bees are in trouble.  Being a gardener and someone who appreciates the earth, I want to help them.  I really love being able to grow and preserve food for myself.

To keep bees is to see the hand of God.  The more I work with them, the more they teach me.

Winterish

We've had a fairly cold week, and a few inches of snow.  It's actually our first week with a hard freeze.  I've been a bit concerned with the bees, and I haven't had a chance to do an inspection because it's been either too cold or very overcast.

Today I jumped at the chance to do an inspection when I heard it was in the 60's.  Sure enough when I got out to the hive, the poor girls were crowded around the small opening of the entrance reducer.  They're still working hard and coming back with loads of pollen.  I pried out the entrance reducer before I got the smoker going just to give them a chance to unload.

The two top supers showed significant improvement.  It's been at least two weeks since I moved the empties out and took off the third one.  There's a lot of newly capped honey.  It even looked like they were laying down more comb.  And there's still a lot of uncapped nectar, which I don't want to take out of the hive, since I can't harvest it.

I wore a white suit today for the first time today. They seemed to be a lot more relaxed.  I smoked them pretty good, but the white suit seemed to really help.  I don't know if it's sting proof, but i suppose I'll find out sooner or later.

I wasn't able to get the frames out of the hive bodies.  they are so caked with propolis, when i tried to pry them loose, it was actually the hive frame that cracked first.  They seem really healthy.  I looked down into the top hive body and it looked completely full of honey.  I looked under the bottom hive body too, and it looked really clean too.  I didn't separate them since I had no idea where the queen might be.

I'll have to do some more research, but I think they are looking good heading into winter.  I'm planning to wrap the hive with some kind of insulation, perhaps styrofoam, to help them keep warm.  I'm really pleased to see how well they are doing and so proud of their hard work.  It's been a fantastic year to start beekeeping in the Rockies!