Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: JW_Halverson on September 16, 2015, 11:18:35 pm
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We had all six of our hives survive the winter in great shape. Each hive had a great deal of extra honey left over after eating all they needed to keep warm and healthy thru the winter. Russian strain bees are certainly tough bugs! But then we got socked in for virtually all of June...poor ladies could not catch a break in the weather to get out and get harvesting sweet clover. And what few times they could get out between the rains, the clover was washed clean of pollen and nectar so the bees were struggling to find enough to even feed themselves.
By early July, we had hives swarming and we managed to capture 6 of the swarms, but in the end only 4 ended up being viable and able to establish as a successful hive. One we sold to another beekeeper and we estimated it to be a multiple queen "super swarm" since it appeared to be over 12 lbs of bees in the cluster. That hive has already produced 45 lbs of honey this summer for that beekeeper.
But anyway, back to our girls. We now have 10 healthy hives but have been able to harvest only 40 frames of honey between all of them. First photo is not the worlds largest Pop-Tart, but is a frame of capped honey ready for harvest. Each cell is filled with perfect liquid gold at exactly 17% moisture and capped with a thin layer of virgin bees wax.
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Cooking/Bees%20and%20honey/capped%20Sept15_zpsos5lc1kb.jpg) (http://s365.photobucket.com/user/JW_Halverson/media/Cooking/Bees%20and%20honey/capped%20Sept15_zpsos5lc1kb.jpg.html)
The first sweet flow of honey from the extractor yesterday!
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Cooking/Bees%20and%20honey/Firstflow%20Sept15_zpsft3wk2ej.jpg) (http://s365.photobucket.com/user/JW_Halverson/media/Cooking/Bees%20and%20honey/Firstflow%20Sept15_zpsft3wk2ej.jpg.html)
Straining out the wax cappings from the sweet goodness:
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Cooking/Bees%20and%20honey/Straining%20wax%20out%20of%20sweetstuff_zpsmqumpzbf.jpg) (http://s365.photobucket.com/user/JW_Halverson/media/Cooking/Bees%20and%20honey/Straining%20wax%20out%20of%20sweetstuff_zpsmqumpzbf.jpg.html)
We ended up with about 12 gallons total for the day's harvest. Sounds like a huge amount, but it gets split between four partners. My share then gets broken down into smaller jars and I have quite a Christmas list of family and friends. You would be surprised how fast that 3 gallons disappears!
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Cooking/Bees%20and%20honey/Topping%207%20gal%20bucket_zps3uxtisnc.jpg) (http://s365.photobucket.com/user/JW_Halverson/media/Cooking/Bees%20and%20honey/Topping%207%20gal%20bucket_zps3uxtisnc.jpg.html)
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This beekeeping hobby has costs me almost $2,000 already and I have not sold a pound of honey to recoup costs. Following the modern agri-business model, that means I need to get more hives!!!*
*Sven and Ole up in Nort' Dakota talking after driving a truckload of wheat to the elevator and getting paid figure they lost money on the crop, what with the cost of seed, diesel fuel, spraying for weeds, cultivating, and hiring custom harvesters to bring in the grain. Ole says, "You know vat dat means, right Sven?" And Sven answers, "Yah! Ve gotta get a bigger truck!"
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thats awesome. ive never kept bees. but they are so valuable if you like to garden. i have some raised beds. ones next to my garage door. the problem is that the local bees decided to dig a hole in the dirt and make a hive right in my raised bed. now im a good old guy. i like bees. them being there bennifits my garden 10 fold. problem being that ive been stung like 3 times just trying to get my tomatoes or even into the garage. so what to do? i came up with a solution that bennifits me and the bees. move faster. lol now i timed them bees takes them about 15 seconds once i start picking tomatoes or opening the garage door to get all riled up and stinging mad. well, i just grab up a shirt full of tomatoes or unlock that garage door and get inside in 10 seconds or less. :) . Tony p.s. great looking honey. mmmm
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Last year's honey was almost clear, just the least amount of color. This year it varies from one hive to the next, one was clear, one was pale straw yellow, and the last we harvested looked like it was juice from a fresh split osage orange stave!!!
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JW , nice frame of honey. This is our 3rd year (my son and myself) having bees. The first year we got 1 hive and got 2 frames of honey.(2 more than we expected.) 2nd year we added 2 more more hives. Then lost one. We got 24lbs of honey. Gave it all away to family and friends. 3rd year we caught an early swarm back to 3 total. We pulled 8 frames off of one hive and got 27lbs. 9 frames off the another and got 34lbs. After giving away to close friends and family. My son has sold about $250 worth. I had to hide the last few jars before he sold them. He has already got standing orders for next year and could have sold probably 3 times as much this year.
He wants 6 or 8 more hives. The only problem with that is he wants wants to be in charge of sales and money collection. Then he's got something else that has to done ( not always ☺) when hive work needs to be done. What are dads for huh?☺☺.
Bee watching/keeping is very interesting bobby for sure.
Good looking honey by the way.
David
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Damn I've been licking the screen but I can't taste it.
PM me a spoonful ;)
Been a funny year here, good for plums and apples, our pears won't ripen and the blackberries are poor
Del
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JW That looks great. My mouth started to drool looking at those pictures. The best honey I have had was what I got from your generous box full of goodies in the Christmas trade last year. Looks like you have a nice harvest this year.
Mike
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Looks like a good haul JW. :)
Pappy
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I can tell you are a proud Papa, John. Sure looks tasty. :P
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Never heard of honey bees digging a hole and making a hive Riverrat, yellow jackets routinely make nests underground. Yellow jackets are not known for being great pollinators. A cup of gas down the hole followed by covering the hole with a 5 gal bucket after dark will take care of the problem. If they are yellow jackets, they have been known to swarm a person and kill them, bad little buggers.
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Never heard of honey bees digging a hole and making a hive Riverrat, yellow jackets routinely make nests underground. Yellow jackets are not known for being great pollinators. A cup of gas down the hole followed by covering the hole with a 5 gal bucket after dark will take care of the problem. If they are yellow jackets, they have been known to swarm a person and kill them, bad little buggers.
Bumble bees also live under ground.
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That's some good looking stuff there. It helps with allergies when it's the local stuff.
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its bumble bees.i know what yellow jackets are. id get rid of them.theyd hurt alot more too when i got stung. they dont loose thier stingers either.Tony
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JW what's a hive of bee's go for.
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Ya yellow jackets are bad but Bumble bee's hurt a lot worse to me, they just aren't looking for trouble like yellow jackets are. I don't see may bumble bees but got into a nest bushhogging and they weren't very happy, man did the stings hurt. :o Sorry for the high jack JW, again nice haul. I hope to have some hives in the future, I have some guys around home that are planning on helping me get set up but they lost several hives last winter so it will be another year. :-\ They were going to split a hive or two and give them to me to get started. Looking forward to getting into it as if I need another hobby. ;) :) They sell quite a bit usually but not sure if it is really a lucrative business, I think they do it more for fun. :)
Pappy
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It's really profitable with bodybuilders. It helps keep your metabolism going and burning fat. Also people in the region who have severe allergies. The regions pollen is in the honey so you take a spoon full of honey and add it to warm lemon water it keeps your sinuses clear for a few days.
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That's something which has always fascinated me, JW. Cool post.
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JW what's a hive of bee's go for.
A "package" of bees (1 queen, 3 servant bees, and 3 lbs of workers) costs me over $125 shipped here to South Dakota. And because of where we are located, the apiary sending us the bees will not guarantee live delivery. Too far north, too many miles, too much risk.
The full set of structures needed include a bottom board, two deep hive bodies with 20 frames, a queen excluder, two medium honey supers and their 20 frames, inner cover, telescoping cover runs about $300. Then you will want to get yourself a smoker, about $30. A basic bee jacket with an integrated mesh hood will run you $45, gloves with super long gauntlets are another $15. And the last little thing is a hive tool, trust me, you really want one of these, but they are about $6.
So figure a bit over $500 to get started.
Some folks around here are getting $8 a lb for local honey. I have not tapped that market yet because, frankly, I have been giving away too much of the stuff. I gotta admit, the smile I get when people are handed an unexpected jar of honey makes me feel good inside.
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Well JW the jar you sent me was the best honey I ever ate.
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Do you sell any of the wax? I could use some.
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Interesting hobby. Not something I would do, too much history with Bees and I'm not terribly fond of Honey
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I remember those days, my whole family was beekeepers. I grew up robbing supers. We would do it with just a smoker but we went out very regularly and checked on them and they got used to us I guess. I loved it but one day dad was stung and had an anaphylactic reaction and that was the end of that.
We used to see a honeybee fly by and we would follow it back to the bee tree and put a hive by it and cut into the tree and get the queen and put her in the hive and come back the next day to a hive full of bees.
I miss those days, thanks JW for the trip down memory lane.
Grady
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Do you sell any of the wax? I could use some.
We are extremely careful to disturb the wax comb as little as possible in our hives. Bees consume many pounds of honey to exude a pound of honey, so wax production costs your honey production in a great way. Last year we ended up harvesting 22 gallons of honey (I think) and we came up with about a pound and a half of wax total.
I do have a big ol' block of beeswax I bought years ago from a large commercial beekeeper. How much you need and whatcha got in trade? Send me a p.m.
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$8 a pound is cheap, round here its that much for 8oz!
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Man, if I had access to that much honey I'd be swimming in mead!
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Man, if I had access to that much honey I'd be swimming in mead!
Whistling softly to myself.... O:).....
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Man, if I had access to that much honey I'd be swimming in mead!
Whistling softly to myself.... O:).....
lol!
I had a friend who made really good mead, I recall one time when he found a 5gal carboy in a spare room that he had forgotten about, had been mellowing in there for three years! Man that was some good stuff....
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I hate when I forget about my beer for years!
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Forget about beer--------------- you can do that?????
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Forget about beer--------------- you can do that?????
Not good beer. I found a few PBR's in my beer fridge Sunday from last halloween. :o