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.

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

I found this swarm at my farm last night.  Even though it was in the mid-60's, these bees were ready.

Bee sure to check out this site's write up on swarms (here), if you see one and don't know what to do.  If you are a beekeeper, here's the actions you should take:

So what do you do if you want to capture the swarm?
Gather.
1.  Get a swarm box ready.  Put in some old comb and some fresh foundation, as these bees will be ready to build comb.  You'll put the swarm in this box.  While I use a modified hive body, in a pinch a good cardboard box will do.
2. Put the following in a bucket just in case: bee brush, tree saw, branch loppers, pruners.
3. Bring your ladder.
4. Bring your gloves and veil and smoker:  Even though swarms are generally gentle, I like to get fully "dressed" just in case the swarm is fractious.
   

Grab.
Time to act.  The goal here is to grab the bees without injuring them, and keeping the queen in the center of the cluster.  That way all the bees will guide in on her presence in the box. 

Once you have everything in place near the swarm, take a few moments to strategically place your swarm box under the cluster.
1. Clip small limbs that are in the way of directly accessing the bees.
2.  If possible, cut the main branch and place bees and branch directly into the box.
3. In the alternative, move the box directly under the cluster of bees and give the branch a solid shake, such that the majority of the cluster will drop into the box.  Assuming you got the majority of the bees to fall in the box, loosely cover the top of the box and let the whole operation rest for a few minutes. 
4. You'll know fairly quickly whether you got the queen or not, as the remaining bees will head to the box (if you got the queen) or back to the cluster (if you didn't).
5. Once you have them all, cover the top completely, and once nightfall comes, get ready to move the hive.

Go.
Place the bees in their new home.

Ideally you will move the hive to its new location, at least 2 miles beyond their original location.
1. Prepare the hive body location so you can move the bees into their new home with limited disruption.
2. Lift the frames of bees out of the swarm box and place into the hive body.
3. Shake or brush the remainder of the bees into the front of the hive.  The bees will then fly to where the queen is located and set up their new digs.
4.  Feed the new swarm a 1:1 sugar water to help them produce a lot of wax quickly.  Do this especially if the weather looks nasty for the coming days.
5. Watch for development and growth of the hive.  Recall that it is most likely that this swarm's queen is "old" and may need to be replaced sometime in the fall.  Likewise, check the hive in a few days, for eggs, mites, and general health. 

Well done!

As always, there is always more to learn around the hive.

See you there soon!
tim