Our Week's Upcoming Sweet Adventure: Honey Harvest!
Hello Honey Enthusiasts!
Sorry for taking a few weeks off from the blog. Suffering from debilitating migraines and other symptoms of my chronic illness is not conducive to thinking and typing up a blog post. Plus we're not even sure anyone is even reading (or enjoying) our blogs, so that can bee very discouraging. Hello? "tap, tap" Is anyone out there?
But enough about that sob story. LOL
Again before we get into the main focus of this blog, we must thank all of those who voted for us for Fingerlakes Favorites. We won't find out until August 21 if we made a top spot, but no matter what happens, you guys rock!! Thanks for bee-lieving in our beesness. Now on to the tea. Which reminds us... grab yours with some bee-licious honey and settle in to find out about our exciting weekend to come.
Preparing for the Spring Honey Harvest
This weekend, we will find ourselves knee-deep in honey as we begin our much-anticipated Spring Honey Harvest. The culmination of careful beekeeping since October and the diligent work of our bees, harvesting honey is both an art and a science. We’re excited to share our knowledge and passion for beekeeping with you. Whether you’re a curious novice or someone interested in starting your own hive, we will give you a bee's eye view to learn firsthand about our process of harvesting.
The process of harvesting honey starts well before the actual day. First we had to get our ladies through the winter so that they had a strong start in spring. Our beekeeper has done frequent inspections to make sure the bees are thriving and that the queen is still alive and laying brood. They were fed sugar water and given pollen before the spring flowers arrived. After the flowers began, we no longer fed the strong hives and let the bees go to work.
Upon inspections after the bees are able to get nourishment from the flowers, our beekeeper continues to monitor the hives for continued growth and strength. Most hives have 2 boxes (10 frames in each box) that they live in all the time. These are the bottom two "brood boxes" where the queen lays eggs and those hatch into new baby bees. There is also honey and pollen in there to feed the babies. The queen continues to lay eggs in those two boxes over and over. If the beekeeper feels that the hive is getting "too big for their britches", he might adjust frames to help weaker hives.
Now comes the most exciting part (who are we kidding? It's ALL exciting!!). When ready, beekeepers will add extra boxes on top of those two brood boxes for the bees to make extra honey since bees typically move upwards. These are called "honey supers". Continued inspection allows the beekeeper to gauge the need for more honey supers; a strong hive can have a huge stack of supers. Can the queen lay eggs in the honey supers you might ask? Yes, it can, and does sometimes happen. It is not an ideal situation, so some beekeepers use what's called a queen excluder. This is just a screen placed over the top brood box that only lets the workers go "upstairs" to make the honey comb and fill them with honey, while keeping the queen down in the brood boxes. Then hopefully those worker bees get to work making the honey that we can harvest.
All of this is going on while our beekeeper, aka Tom is also putting up swarm traps (with help from our son, Caleb), checking swarm traps, building hive boxes and frames for the swarms we might catch, installing said-swarms in their new homes, doing spring chores for our homestead, AND working a full-time job. Did we mention this is a busy time of year? But all that hard work by the beekeeper and the honey bees is worth it when spring honey harvest day arrives.
The Big Day: Spring Honey Harvest
Honey Harvest day starts early with the sun shining, as we can't harvest in the rain and hopefully a pleasant temperature as this can bee hot work. We usually try to harvest Father's Day weekend, as it will give us enough time to treat the bees for mites before the next boom of summer flowers begins, to start the process over for our late summer/autumn honey harvest. Typically our beekeeper needs a helper for harvest day as the honey supers can be very heavy. One medium honey super box with 10 frames could weigh up to 60 pounds! We need a heavy lifter, so Caleb to the rescue. (Thank you, Caleb)
They put on their bee suits and all the equipment they need to take off the honey super boxes. Here's a brief look at the process:
Calm the Bees: We use a smoker to gently calm the bees. This makes it easier to handle the frames without agitating the colony.
Remove Honey Frames: Carefully, we remove the honey frames from the hive. Using our hive tool, we gently pry them loose if needed. The frames are inspected to check for capped honey. That means the beeswax cells on the frame are filled with honey and then have a wax cap over the top of them.
Brush Off Bees: Gently, we brush any remaining bees off the frames with a soft bee brush.
Place Frames in Tote and Cover with Lid: Honey frames are placed in lidded totes for protection and transport.
The Sweet Rewards of Beekeeping
After all the frames are removed from all the hives with supers and brought back to the honey farm, we will stack the totes and store them until the beekeepers can rest and then do the next exciting job- honey extraction. However, we will save that for another blog post. Of course after months of hard work, we just can't help but sneak a taste of that sweet honey straight from the frame. Another amazing job by the bees with a little help from the beekeepers! Harvesting honey is more than just collecting a sweet treat; it’s a testament to the harmony between humans and honey bees. The process requires dedication, care, and respect for the bees, but the rewards are worth every effort. As you dip your spoon into that jar of Fingerlakes Honey Company honey, remember this part of the journey from hive to home and savor the fruits of our labor and that of the bees.
PS- Happy Father's Day! Wouldn't it bee a wonderful gift to give them a jar of our honey and share all you learned about the harvesting process with them?
Until Next Time- Stay Sweet!
Tom and Stacie
Our Beekeepers, Tom and Stacie, are co-owners of Fingerlakes Honey Company located in the bee-utiful Fingerlakes region of New York State. When they are not tending to all things bees, they enjoy spending time with their grown children, their dog, and lots of chickens on their homestead. They love learning more about the bees they foster and helping others to learn more about them as well.
NEW PRODUCTS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
Comments