It's July, and I realized I hadn't posted in over a month. I took June off and spent my profits from selling honey for an all-expense paid vacation to Loami, IL. Mostly, I spent time with bees and my fledgling orchard.
So, let's go out to the hive and see what's going on.
Now that you are pulling frames of honey from your bees hard work, it's time to start your harvest.
First, make a plan. Get your supply list together and in the truck or wagon, so you are ready at the hive. Be prepared to sweat since you'll be there awhile.
Beyond my normal gear: gloves and netting; my list includes the following: cooler that will hold full frames; wagon, so I don't have to carry the cooler; frame holder; alligator pliers to grab frames, extra fuel for smoker; self-lighting propane torch for quick lighting of smoker.
I also bring a bucket with a few frames just in case the harvest is light.
So, let's go out to the hive and see what's going on.
Now that you are pulling frames of honey from your bees hard work, it's time to start your harvest.
First, make a plan. Get your supply list together and in the truck or wagon, so you are ready at the hive. Be prepared to sweat since you'll be there awhile.
Beyond my normal gear: gloves and netting; my list includes the following: cooler that will hold full frames; wagon, so I don't have to carry the cooler; frame holder; alligator pliers to grab frames, extra fuel for smoker; self-lighting propane torch for quick lighting of smoker.
I also bring a bucket with a few frames just in case the harvest is light.
Second, as I get to the hive, I usually have my smoker going. Before I suit up, I walk over and give the girls a few puffs as a preparation for the upcoming activity. This gives them time to settle down. I tend to rely on smoke heavily when I harvest, and try to time the harvest during the sunniest part of the day, as lot of the bees are out foraging. Because of this, I broke open the piggy bank and bought myself a self-lighting torch. This way I can quickly fire up the smoker if it goes out. This was worth the $40.
On a side note, my lovely mother-in-law, Betsy, gave me a bag full of stag-horn-sumac flowers, which are great for the smoker. These take a minute or so to ignite, but hold the smoke for awhile and don't overwhelm the bees with harsh chemicals or nasty smells you get from burning rags or rope. And, like most beekeepers, I'm all about "free" stuff like this.
Well, the title here said prepared and Clean. So my third tip is to clean everything before you begin. Why? Well, the bees like you more when you are scent free. And your equipment works better. Lastly, you are handling food-stuff. I'll go into the cleanliness part in more detail when we talk about extracting next time. And it REALLY counts then.
Until next time, see you around the hive!
tim
Until next time, see you around the hive!
tim
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