I'm not going to be able to get the top box off of Colony Square without a ladder! And the nectar keeps coming. The tulip poplar flow is long over but the bees are finding other sources - probably sourwood, sumac, mimosa, and garden flowers. It's amazing. The golden flow of bee bodies flying up into the air from the hives is going on when I wake up and still going on when I come home just before dark. Amazing year!
After two years of no honey harvest, this looks like a really good year.
In Lenox Pointe, the bees had not moved up into the empty top box although the box below it is full of burgeoning honey comb as you can glimpse in this picture.
So I moved two of the fat combs from the box above into positions 2 and 3 in the empty box below and put the box on the hive below a full box. We'll see if that works.
In the moving some honey leaked onto the inner cover. Who sends out the alarm, I wonder? Before you know it, there's a line of bees sucking it back up to return it to the hive. At the lower left of the picture, one bee is transferring what she just lapped up to the mouth of another bee! How do they get the message?
Meanwhile I also went over to Stonehurst and here's what the gorgeous honey looks like over there.
After two years of no honey harvest, this looks like a really good year.
In Lenox Pointe, the bees had not moved up into the empty top box although the box below it is full of burgeoning honey comb as you can glimpse in this picture.
So I moved two of the fat combs from the box above into positions 2 and 3 in the empty box below and put the box on the hive below a full box. We'll see if that works.
In the moving some honey leaked onto the inner cover. Who sends out the alarm, I wonder? Before you know it, there's a line of bees sucking it back up to return it to the hive. At the lower left of the picture, one bee is transferring what she just lapped up to the mouth of another bee! How do they get the message?
Meanwhile I also went over to Stonehurst and here's what the gorgeous honey looks like over there.
I'm so glad you're going to get a great harvest this year Linda!
ReplyDeleteI think we are in Missouri as well. This is my second year, and first to get honey, but I can hardly keep up with all the supers.
ReplyDeleteKeep stacking those suppers. I'm hopeful that I will get a decent honey harvest this year too. With your new bee venture are you going to be using an extractor this year, or sticking with crush and strain?
ReplyDeleteI've been following your blog for a while now...and just helped in a honey harvest this past weekend. I know you may have plenty of help, but if you need another person I would be happy to help you with the harvest.
ReplyDeleteTeena Bare
678-749-0018
East Point, GA