Sunday, July 15, 2012

We extracted 93 pounds of honey this week

We extracted 93 pounds of honey from two honey supers this week. The lime green hive and the pumpkin hive were ready. I had to bring the frames in a few at a time. They were so heavy I could not pick them up. I put the frames on the butcher block Island. Unfortunately, I put them on the end and the weight was too uneven and tipped over. I had to rush to extract the honey that was oozing all all over the floor.
When you open the tap on the extractor it is wonderful to see the results of my girls hard work.

A little worker bee makes less than 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her entire life. They work so hard. They work themselves to death. That is why they only live six weeks in the spring and summer.
God Bless my tiny pollinators.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Things are buzzzzing on Sasserfrass Hill

We are happy to report we are very busy on Sasserfrass Hill this month. We have been checking hives, extracting honey, installing queen cells, cleaning hives and replacing frames. We are checking our bees all around the area. We took a ride to Screven County to check the Woodcliff Girls, while we were in Sylvania we checked Mike Hagen's bees. We checked Cliff's bees and helped him extract his honey. He had five gallons of honey from two eight frame supers. We checked Mary Louise's two hives and her bees are thriving. We went over to Roy Road to check the bees at Tom's and added another honey super to each. 

Mr Gene gave us a big bag of his new wax capping's. One of my favorite things to do is process fresh wax. It took two days to process all the wax. It looked and smelled Divine after it was cleaned. My entire house smell sweet and yummy for days.
It has been exceptionally hot and dry in the C.S.R.A. We did get a short shower last night and I could hear the trees and plants singing in the rain. The nectar flow is almost over. But the lack of rain will hasten the process even faster. We are in a nine inch rain deficit and hope for several more afternoon showers to keep our plants alive. The bees will eat the stored honey if they don't have access to fresh nectar.

I bought a new wooden beetle trap, that attaches to the front of the hive. I am painting it with several coats of primer. I need more green paint so I can finish up and get it on the hive. I hope to catch lots of nasty little hive beetles. I will let you know how the trap works.

I hope you are staying cool... it is going to be a hot one!!
Bee Frosty,
Ms Deb