This put up used to be firstly titled “Do not do that at house” however I in the end opted for one thing somewhat extra informative within the hope of boosting my feeble promoting source of revenue from Google ‘hits’.
In Fife the summer time honey is most often able in early/mid-August. By way of ‘able’ I imply the the bees have capped the vast majority of the retail outlets within the tremendous frames, and the uncapped honey passes the ‘shake take a look at’ indicating that the water content material is low sufficient that the honey is not going to ferment.
My bees are a ways from any of the overdue season assets of nectar e.g. balsam, and it is some distance too quickly for the ivy. Mid-August is due to this fact a herbal destroy in forage availability, and a logical time to take the honey off and get started making ready the colonies for wintry weather.
The honey harvest is a hectic time and comes to a number of paintings; clearing the supers, feeding and treating the bees, transporting the heavy supers to anywhere you do the extraction, preserving on – throughout run after run after run – to an inconsistently wobbling extractor after which (as time-consuming as the entire leisure put in combination) cleansing up afterwards.
All of which means that that the last thing you might need to be doing concurrently is shifting space.
Which, in fact, is what I did 😱.
On the time it appeared like a good suggestion … I would have a van to move the entire supers in combination, the home used to be in large part empty, so I would have area to paintings and may achieve this overdue into the night time, and I would be doing a number of heavy lifting anyway, so a couple of extra containers and buckets would hardly ever be spotted.
Ha!
Queenlessness does now not imply honeylessness
Any common readers will probably be conscious that it is been a fairly ordinary season. The elements has been constantly deficient, queen mating used to be problematic at perfect (and catastrophic at worst) and swarming behaviour has been unpredictable and somewhat uncontrollable.
Regardless of this – or in all probability as a result of of this – colonies constructed up effectively within the Spring, generated a median honey crop in early June after which settled in for the lengthy, scorching ‘summer time’.
Since I knew I used to be shifting I merged numerous colonies in June, leaving me with simply 9 for the summer time honey. Some had been effectively requeened – both with queens raised in hive or mated queens I had reared – however a few 3rd have the similar queen they began the season with.
A number of containers were queenless, or had a minimum of lacked a laying queen, for a chronic duration in overdue June and July. With out a queen and/or very little brood to rear, the bees appear to busy themselves filling the supers slightly than moping in regards to the hive feeling sorry for themselves.
Regardless of the actual (non-anthropomorphic) reason why, there have been a variety of supers, and they might gave the impression reassuringly heavy within the first week of August once I’d ultimate checked.
Supers off, Apivar in, fondant on
Inevitably it used to be raining, albeit gently, once I arrived within the apiary so as to add the clearers.
The rain wasn’t a topic, I used to be now not going to open any of the brood containers (that used to be the next day), however the weight of the supers blended with the greasy/muddy stipulations underfoot had been. Then again, by means of now not making an attempt to boost 3 supers in combination {{1}}, I controlled to keep away from any Buster Keaton-like comedic occasions.
💡
There have been a complete of 30 supers at the 9 hives within the two apiaries (3 in a single and six within the different) to be cleared.
As well as, there have been additionally a few brood containers I would used as supers, both inadvertently (by means of leaving the tremendous above a queen excluder after uniting two colonies after which compressing the brood nest down into one field) or intentionally, having run out of supers. I do not extract from brood frames however cleared those anyway {{2}}.
Supers
The next morning I gathered the supers and stacked them within the van. The clearers I exploit are very efficient with the exception of when a colony is queenless.
I can’t declare that any clearer is useless on queenless colonies, as a result of those are the one clearers I exploit, however would not be stunned.
One colony seemed to be queenless. There have been bees within the supers, a charged queen mobile at the backside fringe of one of the crucial tremendous frames (sure, bees do transfer eggs … however used to be this a worker-laid egg?) and no signal of a queen within the brood field.
In all honesty I did not take a very long time looking for her. The colony wasn’t very robust and there used to be little probability of having a brand new queen mated and laying for it to increase strongly for wintry weather.
I due to this fact shook the bees off the tremendous frames and the brood frames. With an afternoon of fine climate forward (for a metamorphosis) they might redistribute themselves to the flanking colonies.
30-odd complete supers weigh so much. I would been excited about them moving about within the van throughout the adventure again to the West coast (25 miles had been on wiggly single-track roads). Thankfully, 4 supers had been precisely the width of a Peugout Boxer van (which used to be precisely the width of the single-track highway), so I stacked them at the back of the bulkhead, held in position with some chipboard cabinets and a few ratchet straps.
In observe, their weight blended with the propolis, supposed that not anything moved in any respect 😄.
Apivar
With the supers cleared and stale it used to be time so as to add the Apivar strips. In Scotland that is my favoured late-summer miticide. This is a temperature-independent, match and do not omit, extremely efficient miticide.
“Do not omit”, as you will have to be mindful to reposition the strips in a couple of weeks, and take away them after 8-10 weeks.
The strips had been positioned each side of the brood nest.
Do not simply wager the place that is … search for the outer body of brood, which is most often adjoining to a pollen-filled body, and position the strips there, at reverse ‘corners’ of the brood nest.
In some hives this supposed the strips had been simply 5 frames aside, in different 9 or extra.
The brood nest and ensuing hive inhabitants are contracting reasonably speedy, and the bees being reared now are nearly indubitably the diutinus (long-lived) wintry weather bees that may stay provide within the colony till the early months of 2025. It’s essential that they’re reared in a colony with low ranges of mites, explaining why rational Varroa keep watch over comes to overdue summer time (slightly than mid or overdue autumn) miticide remedy.
As an apart, a number of correspondents have commented on experiencing top mite ranges this season. In all probability I have been fortunate, or the elements has limited colony dimension (or my queenless colonies skilled extended brood breaks), however I have now not noticed a mite, or a bee with DWV signs, this season.
Fondant
With out a robust nectar drift and no honey, as opposed to a little bit sequestered within the brood field, it is important to feed the colonies if they’re to continue to exist the wintry weather.
I solely feed fondant presently of the 12 months. I have written widely about this in the past, so may not repeat myself.
Each and every colony used to be given a 12.5 kg block, cut up lengthways and opened ‘face down’ (like a mistreated e-book) over a queen excluder (QE). I solely depart the QE in position to make lifting the fondant to reposition the Apivar strips a little bit more straightforward. With out the QE the fondant turns into fused to the highest bars of the frames, and it’s kind of of a nightmare – for the beekeeper and the bees – to get admission to the brood field.
Actually, the bees will almost definitely have completed the fondant sooner than the Apivar strips want repositioning, however it is simply more straightforward to do it this manner. Mild colonies may even want an extra part block of fondant in a couple of weeks, and I take away any uneaten fondant {{3}} which (I think) acts as a heatsink above the wintry weather cluster, and indubitably approach there will probably be an area above the colony which I need to keep away from.
Ahead of someone asks, sure the bees take the fondant down and retailer it within the brood field.
The force west used to be uneventful and tediously sluggish, however I did not arrive so overdue that there wasn’t time to drain the supers and stack part of them on most sensible of my (lidless) honey warming cupboard to heat them and so make extracting more straightforward.
Day after today dawned depressing and rainy … a super day for extracting.
Extraction is a bittersweet enjoy.
There is the joy of the primary run, with the glowing golden honey working out of the faucet, throughout the filter out and into the bucket.
It is a magical sight and one who I at all times experience.
Then there is the crushing tedium of going thru the similar uncap, load, stability, run, opposite, dump, exchange the bucket procedure for hours because the pile of complete supers dwindles and the stack of complete buckets will increase.
However it used to be just about a bittersweet enjoy that did not occur in any respect.
I ready the room, unpacked the extractor, checked I had the whole thing I wanted and decided on an upbeat playlist to paintings to {{4}}.
However the extractor would now not get started.
I modified the fuse … nada.
I checked the mains provide to the socket … nope.
I gnashed my tooth and cursed a little bit … after which vaguely remembered having the similar drawback a decade or so in the past, the reason for which used to be a push-fit spade connector within the ‘keep watch over field’ that had labored unfastened.
The connector is situated within the black keep watch over field, the duvet of which is held in position with quick stainless-steel bolts requiring a 2 mm allen key.
And this used to be the place the issues began. All of my allen keys had been 250 miles away within the Scottish Borders 😢. I requested my rapid neighbour who rummaged round and located a large selection of allen keys, each one in all which used to be Imperial (now not metric), and none of which fitted. I in the end sourced a 2 mm allen key from a chum ‘down the street’, necessitating any other hour within the (fortunately empty) van.
The spade connector had labored unfastened and the allen key allowed me to get admission to it and connect it.
Off we move!
Wobbling repetition
It is the repetition throughout extraction that grinds you down. One or two supers are superb, however by means of ten instances that the newness has effectively and really worn off.
I can’t believe the tedium of doing this type of factor on a industrial scale, despite the fact that in fact the beefarmers have the advantage of a little bit extra automation.
It took me a day, night time and the next morning to get thru all 30 supers. By way of then my left hand used to be calloused and encrusted with propolis, I used to be in part deaf from the extractor and the – of necessity amplified – backing song {{5}}, and I would been reminded of many of the little methods that make the method more straightforward, however that I will omit sooner than doing all of it once more subsequent 12 months.
Unbalanced
Inevitably, the frames will comprise other quantities of honey. You’ll spend ages sparsely guesstimating their weight, distributing them flippantly within the extractor cage and correcting your mistakes as soon as the extractor begins excitedly wobbling around the room.
Then again, it is more straightforward to get right into a regimen that will get it most commonly balanced, after which gently build up the rate of the extractor.
My extractor takes 9 frames and my supers – quell marvel – most often comprise the similar quantity {{6}}. This isn’t a twist of fate. Some supers are packed complete, in others the center frames have a tendency to be heavier than the outliers (the bees in most cases fill the ones within the heart first, within the heat ‘chimney’ above the brood nest). I take the heaviest frames and distribute those flippantly across the cage – as an example, in positions 2, 5 and eight. I then upload the lighter frames flanking those heavier ones.
I at all times try to stay frames of widely an identical weights separated by means of two different frames i.e. at positions 1, 4 and seven or, you get the theory.
Since the entire frames were pre-warmed (above the honey warming cupboard) a gradual begin to the extractor briefly spins out one of the honey from the heaviest frames. Because of this, the weights transform extra balanced, that means the rate can then be higher.
Step by step I ramp the rate up till it’s (rather) easily going ‘eyeballs out’ then, after a couple of mins, I deliver it to a standstill then run it in opposite for a couple of mins.
What number of mins?
As soon as complete pace is reached it is a regulation of diminishing returns … you’ll want to spin for an hour and extract little greater than you get within the first 10 mins. Someday, the viscosity of the honey and the restricted centrifugal drive being carried out are balanced {{7}}, and you could as effectively get started any other lot of frames.
I exploit a torch and glance down on the internal sidewall of the spinning extractor. Vivid glints seem when droplets of honey hit the sidewall. As soon as those are few and some distance between (or very, very small) I prevent the spin.
With pre-warmed supers, a rather well-balanced extractor and reasonably a little bit of impatience, I in finding 4-5 mins in each and every route at complete pace is enough.
It is the little issues
With all that repetition, there is considerable time to note particular person options of one of the frames being treated … the body with a queen cup in somewhat central hole that gave the impression a couple of years in the past, the ages of one of the frames …
… with the earliest I be mindful seeing this 12 months being dated 2009, and the absence of a 2011 body preventing me from getting a directly flush within the tremendous proven above.
I additionally discovered this foundationless body from 2014. This has fishing line to supply structural make stronger and could have been used two times a 12 months for the decade, emphasising how tough those are as soon as they’re totally drawn.
Rankings at the doorways
It used to be a just right summer time for honey. Regardless of all my whinging and whining about awful climate, the bees were busy and – even with fewer hives than customary – they did really well general.
Total I stopped up with a little bit over 280 kg from 9 colonies, so averaging ~31 kg in line with hive or ~9.3 kg/tremendous. For my a part of Scotland that is beautiful cheap, and I am more than pleased with how the season became out.
Any further than that and jarring the honey would transform as tedious as extracting it. 280 kg is ready 800 jars, so you’ll be able to be studying so much in regards to the drudgery of jarring honey over the following few months 😉.
Each bucket of honey will get a code quantity indicating the harvest e.g. GA, GB, GC … GT is that this summer time, and has the load and water content material written at the lid (and within the spreadsheet). I will be able to due to this fact use the buckets with the best possible water content material first, lowering the chance of the saved honey fermenting.
I have no concept how effectively combined the honey is within the bucket and easily take a look at a small quantity the usage of a single-use ‘espresso stirrer’ dipped into the highest of the honey. This 12 months, nearly the entire honey had a water content material of 16-17%. I will write about refractometers someday sooner or later.
Packing up
Beekeeping isn’t an affordable interest. Bees are pricey, hives are pricey and the related – top quantity – apparatus for extracting, blending, warming and jarring may be (incessantly) pricey.
Then again, if taken care of effectively, this apparatus will have to ultimate for years.
My first hive used to be a Thorne’s ‘Bees on the cheap’ cedar hive. It had a unmarried brood field and 3 supers if I be mindful accurately. I bought it 2nd hand (along side the beesuit I put on for 80% of my beekeeping) and it is nonetheless used each season.
The beesuit has been repaired at least one time and the hive won some further screws to carry it in combination a little bit higher.
That tremendous has almost definitely yielded 10-15 kg of honey in line with 12 months for the ultimate 15+ years 😄. That is nearly 1 / 4 of a ton. It will have to obtain a long-service award of a few kind.
Resulting from this longevity, through the years, I have amassed numerous beekeeping apparatus. This is not too obtrusive when 25-30 hives are out within the fields, but it surely turns into an ‘factor’ whilst you cut back the hive numbers and it is all stacked up in large piles in and across the shed.
After I’d completed the extracting I cleared and wiped clean the room, washed and dried the extractor after which began packing the honey, the (spare) hives and the extractor {{8}} into the van for the commute to our new space.
It is a fantasy that shifting space is likely one of the maximum demanding occasions in existence. Then again, shifting space on the similar time as doing the honey harvest and making ready colonies for the wintry weather is numerous paintings, even supposing it isn’t specifically demanding.
The 1600 miles of riding, dozens of containers packed and unpacked, and ~50 buckets of honey stacked and restacked, explains why this put up gave the impression on Saturday morning slightly than Friday afternoon.
Onward and upward.
The Apiarist covers ‘the science, artwork and observe of sustainable beekeeping … so a lot more than honey’ and solely exists as a result of the various hours spent hunched over a keyboard muttering nonsense and typing with two arms.
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{{1}}: Been there, achieved that, spent the night time mendacity at the flooring in agony.
{{2}}: I save the sealed brood frames of retail outlets to make use of in nucs, or complement mild colonies within the wintry weather.
{{3}}: And the queen excluder.
{{4}}: Spotify’s 70’s Disco Hits because you requested.
{{5}}: Spotify’s Ibiza classics 1990-2024 on the second one day … now not as just right, however some vintage anthems should you like that type of factor.
{{6}}: I had so as to add the most often having added the image of the cedar tremendous (under) which has 8, well-spaced and well-filled, frames. Nearly all of my supers comprise 9 frames.
{{7}}: I be mindful studying that ~20% of the honey can’t be recovered in a radial extractor.
{{8}}: In fact, extractors, plural as I even have the hydropress for heather honey.