Bees amaze me. Absolutely.
When we checked on our bees in the spring, we were able to see that they had officially made it through the winter and were healthy. They had the same queen that they came to us with (marked with a little dot on her back and still sporting her little clipped wing) and were busy bringing home pollen, making nectar and taking care of all their brood.
We had hoped to be able to harvest some of their leftover stores of honey from the cool months, but they were really running low in the honey department, so we decided to leave them all that they had and not stress them out in the hopes that they would have a productive summer and perhaps some excess honey to share…eventually.
In hindsight, it seems that was the perfect decision to make! When we got into the hive last weekend, everything looked wonderful! There was lots of capped honey, new brood and a new queen! Yep…a new queen. She was huge, healthy, beautiful and busy running around making sure everything was going according to plan 🙂 She must’ve killed off our original queen at the beginning of the summer which makes sense since our old queen did not seem to have a very good laying pattern. Bees really do know how to take care of their own. Amazing. This new queens laying patterns are much more organized and everything looked just as it should. She must also have a good disposition because the hive was quite calm while we were in it.
I don’t blame them for their agitation, though. If someone walked into my pantry and started taking all the food I’ve put up for winter, I’d be pissed, too 😉
All our research has told us that a top bar hive needs approximately 45 pounds of honey to get them successfully through the winter. After counting up all their full and half combs stocked with honey, we guess-timated that they had about 65 pounds of honey…way more than enough to get them through the winter!
Since one portion of the hive had combs that were crossed (one comb that is built over two bars…not a good thing), we decided to take a few of those, give them new boards and let them start over again (hopefully straighter, this time). So, all in all, we wound up taking 3 honey combs. This broke down to a little over 6 pounds of honey that we left in little, pretty chunks of comb and approximately 90 fluid ounces of pure, delicious honey.
With this harvesting, we have left our bees with 45 to 50 pounds of honey in their stores and more than a month of warm weather to continue stocking up. We’re feeling pretty good about the whole experience. We’re also feeling super grateful to our hard working bees for such a beautiful, sweet treat.
PS just following your blog, 101 baby!! Love your Urban Farm economics, we have chickens & ducks, just loving it, best activities for children EVER. Egg collecting is so much fun, a gorgeous surprise every day & our chickens laid all through Winter (we live in the coldest city in Australia, so we’re impressed!!) Love Posie
Hi Posie! Welcome! Thank you so much for finding my space! Having our little urban farm has been the best experience for us…we just love it! And yes, collecting eggs is so wonderful! It really is like a little surprise every single day!
Goodness, there is nothing like fresh honey, that looks amazing. Love Posie
We’re really impressed. The learning curve for bees seems so steep. And the work. It sure seems daunting. Worth it though, I’m sure.
The whole thing is a little intimidating…especially since figuring out my bee sting allergy…but is totally worth it! Once they’re set up and happy, they really take care of themselves. We check on them every couple of months in the warm months as long as their behaviors look normal (no swarming, orientation flights happening, lots of pollen being brought in). When we do check on them, it takes a good hour to go through the whole hive. All in all though, the time it takes to care for them is minimal…they pretty much just take care of themselves 🙂
Wow that is amazing and so so cool! Sounds like you guys did the right thing. I thought that bees swarm if a new queen emerges? I still have lots to learn…
Lovely to read your bee update and enjoy that honey! xxx
HI Astra! If a queen is not performing to it’s best abilities several new queen cells will be created. The first queen to emerge will kill the other queens while still in their cells and then she kills the old queen. It’s pretty intense to think about, but very cool!
WOW! How totally amazing, cool, beautiful and awesome. Enjoy it!! And thanks for sharing.
Thanks, 1st Man! It’s been kind of mindblowing to have our very own honey 🙂
Ditto, 1st Man 🙂 So amazing and beautiful! Congrats on a successful honey harvest! I’d love to keep bees…some day – one thing at a time 🙂
-Jaime