Dead Bees

This last winter I forgot to treat for mites.  I had a hive die on me :( I believe it was because they were already week from the mite infestation. Last weekend I moved my bees back to the bee yard. I hope they do as well as last year. I forgot to take picturtes of the move and the bees, but I will get some the next time I go out. My first year I had bees they did not live over the winter either, but that I believe was because they starved to death. I found this good video of what that would have looked like.

Richards Bees

I was such a good beekeeper last year that I talked my brother into becoming one too. Well at the Utah County Beekeepers Association they have a program called "Be A Beekeeper". This program allows kids who are enrolled in a public or private school to enter into an essay contest for prizes to help them get started with beekeeping. My brother Richard wrote an essay and won 1st place! He won 1 complete hive, helmet, veil, gloves, smoker, package of bees with a queen, hive tool, Utah County Beekeepers Association membership, free beginners class and free UDAF licence (all these items were donated by members, companies or payed for by the association). He has started his own blog to write about his beekeeping experiences at http://richardsbees.blogspot.com (link on the right).

Honey Tasting Contest

Last year I had my bees on a field about a mile from my house. I had a great time and learned a lot of new things about my bees and bee keeping in general. The farmer who let me place my hives on their field sent me this wonderful email and I would like to share parts of it:

Stan,

Just double checking to see if you still wanted to put your hives on our property. We would still love to have you. My two sons would also like to start beekeeping. Would it be possible for you to be their mentor? I am not going to have the other beekeepers on the property this year...

Also I wanted you to know that your honey won a tasting contest at the State Tax Commission. The instructor is a beekeeper and every year he has a tasting contest during a course that he teaches for all the county assessors. Yours won hands down!!!

WOW!!! what a great compliment! That made my day.

Honey 2009

I know this happened a long time ago but I forgot that I had not made a post about the honey extraction. Because this was so long ago I have forgotten many of the details (good thing I took some pictures).

The black thing on top of the hive is a fume board. on the inside is a felt fabric that I spray a stinky liquid called Bee Go or Honey Robber. The top is an aluminum sheet so that when the sun hits it it warms up really fast and vaporizes the liquid. The bees really hate that smell so they want to leave the hive for a few minutes. That is why you can see so many bees on the outside of the hives.

Here is my setup for extracting. Full boxes of honey on the left then the uncapping tank, next comes the extractor followed up with the bucket with a filter in it.

Here I am using my electric knife to cut off the cappings on the frames to get it ready for the extractor.

My wife was a good help.

After you spin the frames the centrifugal force pushes the honey to the outside of the extractor and it drains into this cool bucket with a filter. The filter is there just to make sure all the little wax pieces and bee parts are not in the hone when you eat it.

My family had a lot of fun helping me out.

Getting every last sweet drop out.

Here is what my hives looked like when I left them with only their brood boxes for the winter.

My hives are at my house for the winter so I don't have to trudge though the field to clear off the hives when it snows.

And in case you are wondering, I harvested 180 lbs of honey from my two hives. That is the same as 7 gallons. I cant wait till next year.