Beekeeping

[CloverKnollFarms]

I harvested mine 2 weeks ago. Got honey from 8 out of my 10 hives and ended up with 237lbs to go with the 75lbs I got in July. Yields were down but still a pretty decent amount considering the drought conditions for out area.

We had a pretty extensive drought too. No measurable rain for three months. Brutal.

We had 5 established colonies from last year, the others were all added this year.

I have two new locations that have some great nectar flows, that we just placed hives on this year.

We harvested honey from (4) of the (11) we have going into winter. The first year swarms, except one, didn't make excess. Several new swarms were too weak to put up enough for winter, so they were culled.

Considering the weather and the few established hives we had this year, I'm happy. We earn more from building hives than we do honey sales... I don't think that will ever change.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Off to buy another $1000 in lumber for hives and stand builds this winter.

Its a good feeling having the shop stocked for 5 months of building. Now I can just hibernate.

These new frames are turning out amazing. I think I'm on track to build my 700th frame!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Luckily lumber prices have been really stable.

6 hives there. Some assembly required.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

11 sheets of plywood processed into parts!

 

[drumminj]

Is that an SAF Natura honey extractor in the background 2 pictures up? If so, the layens version?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Is that an SAF Natura honey extractor in the background 2 pictures up? If so, the layens version?

Yessir. Its a SAF

 

[drumminj]

Yessir. Its a SAF

I'm always amused by the details that stick when I'm researching something. The green legs and shape of the tub looked very familiar to me.

The used extractor I bought is a manual 9 frame radial/3 frame tangential SAF. Looking forward to getting to use it next year.

It's crazy how quickly our weather changed here and the bee behavior changed. Went from highs in the 80s and lots of foraging activity on the asters and last of the goldenrod to lows in the 40s and the bees seem to have buttoned themselves up for winter. Didn't see any foragers on the buckwheat in our garden beds today (planted as a cover crop).

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Yeah our flow is over and the bees are quiet. I'm just building boxes and teaching another guy how to build his own... I don't think he will actually do it once he sees the whole process