a recent check-in with the hives told us it was time to add new supers and top bars, and that it's looking to be a good year for our bees. it seems we could actually harvest a fair amount from that tallest hive right now, not having to wait until summer's end like we did last year. this is our fourth year keeping bees and will be our second year harvesting honey. last year we took just 9 or 10 frames and came away with about 1 3/4 gallons. there is the tiniest bit left in the bottom of a half gallon mason jar. it is pretty crystalized and my arm gets all sticky when I reach in for some. this year, we'll stick with smaller jars. a couple weeks ago I bought a little honey bear from a local beekeeper, trying to fill the gap between running out of last year's and harvesting this year's. now that my hot tea consumption has gone way down, we just may make it with that wee little bear. I'm pretty excited about the possibility of getting enough to get us through a whole year this time around. add that to the 2-3 gallons of maple syrup left in the pantry and we somehow have reached (liquid) sweetener independence~
this is our first year using a top bar hive~ a friend gifted us that beautiful top bar hive last fall and we figured if we happened to catch a swarm (having no intention of splitting our hive again this year, not yet), we'd use it. well, that big happy hive swarmed, and we caught it. voila! (a few photos from that process are here) the top bar hive is pretty interesting- the bees essentially string themselves together and form the comb in a kind of upside-down trapezoid shape, which is apparently the shape they'll naturally build it in the wild. harvesting from a top bar is where it gets tricky. we don't want to cut off all that comb, and I don't know of any extractor for it anyway. the bees put so much work into making the comb that it'd just seem heartless to crush and strain it. I think a lot of folks rig something up where there are langstroth supers on top of the top bar base- we'll probably look into something like that.
for now, they are keeping busy and filling the sky above the backyard, figuring out how to drink from the pond without drowning, and don't seem to object to my paint job.
I LOVE bees. I had high hopes of getting my first hives this spring, but it just wasn't in the cards. I think next spring will we make it happen. For now I will live vicariously through you :)
ReplyDeletethey are so fascinating, I'm sure you will love having them in your space when you do get your hives! we thought about it for a while before diving in, but I'm so glad we did!
DeleteThat all looks and sounds like so much fun Amanda. We decided to wait till next year to start a hive so I love seeing your hives and reading about your bees.
ReplyDeletethanks, Tracey! I'm sure you'll love having them around when you get them, they are such fun to watch.
DeleteTruly amazing. I am in awe of one of natures natural produce, great post.
ReplyDeletethey are incredibly interesting, for sure!
DeleteGlad your bees are doing so well. My husband used a homemade Top Bar for a year or two, but as you said, it is then difficult to extract the honey. Good for you for catching the swarm! My husband used to get calls when people had swarms and he always had an interesting story to tell.
ReplyDeleteI bet he did! Mike and a friend cut a wild hive out of the wall of a building that was being renovated so as to avoid them being sprayed/disturbed by the builders. our friend took them home and got them set up but they abandoned the new hive. ah well. I think we'll try to rig up some langstroth supers with the top bar- we'll see. it's only about 1/3 of the way filled with top bars so far.
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