Honey Extraction

 

The first time we tried beekeeping we had the hive for about a year and a half and got no honey.  We tried again this year and purchased two nucleus colonies in April.  As luck would have it this is a great year for honey and we have already extracted honey twice (for a total of 47 pounds) and are expecting to be extracting more soon.

Here is a photo of our two hives, the bottom super holds the queen and larvae and the top medium supers hold the honey.  We got the bees out of the honey supers by placing a fume board on the top to drive them out.  My husband then collected the frames of capped honey and brought them into our garage.

Here is a frame that is greater than 90% capped honey.  This is important because it ensures that the honey will be of the right moisture content (around 17-18%) that won't ferment.  The bees know when it is dry enough and cap it off.

 

We then uncapped the honey using an uncapping tool over a bucket.  These can be purchased at Full Moon Apiary at their store in Tupelo's Bakery in Monticello (every time I go there to get new bee supplies I also get a treat from the bakery, yum).

The frames are then placed into the extractor.  We rented this extractor from the Apalachee Beekeeping Association .  Members can rent it for only $10 a day (with a $25 cleaning deposit).  This is perfect for a small operation like ours.

 

When that honey started to drip then pour out of the extractor it was so exciting!  Below it we have a second bucket with filters to filter out dead hive beetles and bees along with any wax (I am trying to figure out what to do with all my wax now!)

 And eventually the bucket had over 20 pounds of honey.

 

This is from our first batch.  Our second batch had even more.  My husband is hoping to make some mead (he is a home brewer) with the large quart jar holding three pounds of honey.

The Garden is Buzzing Again

We tried beekeeping back in 2012, I think our hive lasted almost a year, and then we were not able to keep it queen right and it died.  So, this spring we decided to try again.  This time with two hives (which is suggested by beekeepers).  Once again we got our bee supplies such as hive bodies and frames from Full Moon Apiary  that has a shop at Tupelo's Bakery in Monticello.

We ordered to NUCS (nucleus colonies) from Bobbee's Honey and Pollination Services.  The owner is an old friend of my husband.

 

When our bees were ready my husband went and got them and we installed them in our hives.

We had a chance to educate the neighbor about bees while we did so.  Fortunately he is cool with us keeping bees between our two houses.

Find the queen!  This years queens are marked with a green dot (if your order them marked).  They can be hard to spot when they are not marked, but after some practice you should be able to spot an unmarked queen as well.

At the suggestion of some beekeepers with the Apalachee Beekeeping Association (I suggest that you check them out if you want to keep bees in the Tallahassee area) I got free paint from the Swap Shop at the Solid Waste Authority.  Beehives don't have to be boring old white.

 

I make my husband do a lot of the beekeeping stuff, poor guy.

 

I have to admit, the bees are really fun to watch.

 

The bees seem to be doing ok, we just put a super on the purple hive.  I don't know if we will get honey this year.  Beekeeping is not easy.  Fortunately we have a number of farms that sell locally produced honey.  I am listing a few of them below, I suggest you check them out!

Full Moon Apiary

Orchard Pond Organics

Turkey Hill Farm

 

Adventures in Beekeeping

So last year I decided I wanted to try beekeeping.  I took an eight week course from the Leon County Extension office.  In that course I learned that we have a local beekeeping association.

I started attending the monthly meetings of the Apalachee Beekeeping Association.  The people there are a wealth of knowledge about beekeeping.  Each meeting has an educational presentation and during the longer days of the summer they even hold open hive demonstrations before the meeting.  These have been so helpful in learning how to take care of my hive.  And trust me, there is a lot of information to know. 

Last February I took a shortcourse on beekeeping from the ABA.  They hold it every year and it fills up at 100 registrants so if you are interested be sure to get your spot early.  It costs $50 to register (and includes a year long membership to ABA) and ABA members can attend for $35.  I have been thinking about sending my husband and daughter this year (persons in your household under the age of 14 can join an adult for only $25).  Find out more about it with this flyer:  Apalachee Beekeepers Association Shortcourse

This spring we started keeping a hive out in our backyard.  It has become a family project.


My husband is showing our daughter how to use the smoker

Here they are looking for the queen and checking the health of the hive


I don't know how long my beekeeping hobby will last or how much honey will will get from it (none yet, many people often are not able to harvest honey in the first year of their hive).  But one thing I can tell you is that because of all the beekeepers in this area there are many options for sources of local honey here in Tallahassee.

I often buy honey from the Full Moon Apiary .  We purchase beekeeping equipment from them as well, they have been very helpful.  They are often found at the downtown market and you can buy their products at Tupelo's Bakery and Cafe up in Monticello.  They even hold a monthly breakfast with the beekeeper to answer all your questions about your hive.

Beekeeping isn't for everyone, but you can't beat the sweetness of real local honey.