First Honey Harvest of 2007

Over this weekend, I took a super off of Mellona and did the crush and strain method of harvesting. I took 8 frames from a shallow super and got a little over 25 pounds of delicious honey. I didn't like the look of the outside frame on each end of this super - looked too light to me and I didn't want to harvest it. I wondered if they had moved sugar syrup honey up to make room for brood below, so I left it in the super.

I wanted to get some honey this weekend because my 86 year old father just retired from more than 60 years practicing medicine in Natchez, Mississippi. The main hospital in Natchez is having a reception for him this weekend, and I am going to Natchez for the event. He loves the honey from my hives so I wanted to take him some of this year's honey.

The super I harvested this weekend was the first honey super I put on Mellona. This will probably be the only hive from which I get honey this year. I have two supers on that hive for cut comb honey that are almost ready for harvest. On the oldest super with the 7/11 foundation, there are 3 frames with the honey still not quite capped. When I am cutting comb, I don't want to take the honey until all of it is capped . The other cut comb super has about the same number of uncapped frames. I am watching closely because I want to cut the comb while it is still white and gorgeous.

My weak hive, Bermuda, is doing well to build up strength this year and most if not all the honey produced there will be for the bees for the winter.

Proteus is an odd hive. At the beginning it was my strongest hive. The bees practically tripped over each other trying to go in and out of the hive. In the bottom hive body, they grew brood but in the medium box just above it, all they did was store honey in the crazy comb they drew. I added a third box when the second was full, but by then I think they were honey bound - or at least the queen must have felt as if she couldn't find enough space for laying.

Although I didn't see it, I think the hive swarmed. The numbers of bees has definitely decreased. Now there is brood in the bottom deep, honey in the second box, and brood and honey in the third box. The third box looks a lot like Bermuda did when that hive first began to rebuild.

I have wondered why Proteus wasn't making honey and now I think it is because they had to wait for a queen to develop and begin laying. So instead of making honey, this hive is recreating itself. A hive loses about a month while developing a queen.

While I'm sad that I won't be harvesting from this hive, it will be interesting to see if the new queen has babies that are creative in comb drawing or if that crazy comb building left with the swarm that I assume happened.

Of course, the small swarm nuc will not be making honey this year.

So in total I will probably harvest the 25 pounds I got today plus about 50 pounds more from the two 10 frame supers of cut comb honey on Mellona. If I'm lucky, then I may get one more super that I can harvest from one of the hives before the summer is over.