Jarring Honey

Now https://wmconnolley.blogspot.com/2005/09/beekeeping-jarring-honey.html.

Apistan and return supers

Today (about 5 pm, but it was a warm day) I:

- removed the single apistan strip from hive 3 (bang on time). Hive looks good. Also gave it one of the spun supers for luck.

- put two apistan strips into each of hives 1 and 2 (hive 1 got the other spun super). Bees rather annoyed with this but they didn't get me ha ha. Two were Nikolas (dated 2005/12) and two from JR (undated, but I assume long: the two spare from him I put back in Nikolas packet, so the date looks wrong. Beware). Hive 1, 2 both vigourous though 1 only has brood across 5-6 frames. Shuffle those about into the centre a bit.

- replaced the crown board on hive 2 because it was falling to bits and needs repair: over winter.

- sold £5 (2 jars, runny) to a woman who called by.

Still to do: decant the honey in the extractor.

The picture isn't random: someone asked my permission to use it in an Agricultural Sciences textbook! I said yes, if you send me a copy of the book.

Spinning

Today I spin the 2 supers taken off yesterday. One is very dark (honey and wax) the other light (presumably borage). Both have been robbed somewhat, and the end result is only about one supers worth. D and E both help happily.

A bit more honey; a bit of a mess!

Home at 6pm; decide to see if I can take off the top two supers of hive 1 that were clearer-boarded... oh, about a week ago now. Oops. You shouldn't leave them on for a week, cos the bees find a way in, and... err, there they are, clustered around a teensy hole they have dug in the corner. Ahem.

So, top off (farewell to any idea of doing this quickly) and poke around. Some robbing, but maybe not too bacd. Go through all 4 supers and decide that taking the top 2 off is about OK; somehow do this withou annoying the girls too much.

Intended to spin tonight but my co-owner of the spinner has done a shamefully bad job of cleaning it, so I do it again, but it won't be dry tonight. Hey ho, I have other things to do.

I have on order from John Rayner (Springwell Apiaries, john.rayner (at) dial.pipex.com, 01799 531014) some Apistan strips (for two hives: he will split them up), maybe do that tomorrow. Seems a bit late in the year (I always am) but he says I'm not the latest.

A look and some clearer boards. Summer ending?

Its getting to the end of summer. On sunday I got 2 apistan strips from Nicola but I need two more. I see that the small hive got its one strip on July 21st so its about time to take that out. In a day or two.

So: hive 2 is OK, but not a lot of honey stored after the last take-off, and of that little capped. Leave them in peace. Hive 1 has maybe 1 1/2 supers, so clearer-board that, swapping the heavy supers to the top. *Must* get some proper crown boards, or do some maintenance: the one for hive 2 is falling apart. Hive 3: seems vigorous enough, but plenty of space.

Soir: melt down the honey/wax mixture. Scrape out and clean the extractor.