I did it.
I was really really scared, but I did it. While Mr. Boom and Chirp-chirp watched from the safety of the indoors, I went back out to the beebox (fully suited up this time), and grabbed myself a big old box full of honey and bees, and carried it back up to the porch. I smoked out the bees and I got me some honey.
I did it.
Sweet, sweet, sweet success!This will make the appointment with the hand surgeon
on the 15th much easier to bear. I'll just lie back and think of honey...
How exciting. Very proud of your bravery too by the way. I do have one question...is it normal to be able to harvest honey this quickly or did the hive you got in already have a significant build up already? I am impressed with your extraction method too as I had heard that you needed to by a centrifuge set up etc etc which equalled $$$ so I'm really glad to see it doesn't have to involve a lot of money. I forgot, did you buy the smoke pot? If so how much approx and any other suggestions about that?
ReplyDeleteTanya~ Had this been an actual "new hive" I wouldn't have been able to harvest honey this year. In fact, the man I bought the set-up from told me that I wouldn't get honey this year, even though it was a pretty well established hive. However, just a few weeks after I brought the box home there was evidence of overcrowding and LOTS of honey-making happening, so Mr. Boom built a honey super and those little gals started to put honey in. There really wasn't a lot of honey, but more than enough for me to be happy with for a first little mini-harvest.
ReplyDeleteI'v ebeen searching for the site where I learned about the crush and strain method of honey extraction. There was a gorgeous shot of two mason jars on a deck railing with a little bee licking at the side of the jar. The image is clear in my head, but I can't find the website for the life of me.
Anyway, the method is working, although it's a bit too cold here right now so the honey stopped flowing through the cloth. Patience, patience, patience!
In a previous post (http://thebobwhites.blogspot.com/2010/07/been-shopping-by-kat.html) I talked about the equipment I bought, although I do seem to have left off the bit about the smoker. Smokers range from $15-$50. I think I paid about $20. I use newspaper in mine, not the fancy fuel pellets you can purchase. I also tried burning burlap, but my allergies went into serious overdrive and I'm not going to do that again!
Hope this helps!
Wow. I'm mightily impressed. And envious.
ReplyDelete