honey harvest

29 AUGUST, 2015

It's the end of winter and I thought more space was needed in the bee hive as the bees were starting to beard but the top box was too heavy for me to put back on top of three boxes, so I made a last minute decision to harvest the honey from it as it was all capped in the top box (no more brood).

Harvested some amazing honey, received a sting to my eye lid and am still left with the problem of only three boxes in my hive.

The weather is heating up fast, so hoping my local beekeeping friend will help me harvest another box soon, or at least add an empty box to the bottom of the hive for the expanding colony.So glad they're a strong colony and they seem to be keeping the hive beetle to a minimum.

I think the cool east facing position under my lovely neighbour's huge Morten Bay Fig tree is absolutely ideal. Will leave them for the first month of spring and add the box in mid October as the third box only had a small amount of comb in it and still loads of room for growth.

Preparing the new box with beeswax strips glued on with melted beeswax candles to ensure straight comb for easy honey collection.

Dark comb still in the frame - pollen i think

Virgin comb and comb filled with darker pollen

Capped comb