A new swarm!

Its been very quiet here at the (B)Hive. I let the girls do there thing over winter and with it being extra cold, and some of the reliable yellow box gums not flowering the hive looked a light on for honey when I peeked inside a few weeks ago.

....and then, spring!  Instantly here in Adelaide we have had warm weather and the flowers are out everywhere!  Takwe  a step out the door and you can smell them everywhere!

A regular morning inspection - I often check in on the girls every morning before I drive to work - just to see them coming and going from the box....but today it was louder and busier than normal!  Where was the noise coming from?  It wasn't the hive....Look up!  High in the Claret Ash above the hive was a huge cluster of bees.  Oooo, a queen is in the middle!  Can I make this into another hive?

A quick you tube look at how to gather them, a text conversation of twenty with my bee man Colin and his mentor Fred and the decision was made to come and collect them.

This girl wasn't going to wait - so I gathered a cardboard box and went out in full martian suit and smoker ready to gather.....they'd gone!


Smelling the pine needle smoke my neighbour came out to investigate and told me they'd noticed bees in the garden this morning.  a quick forage and there they were...low down to the ground in a Grevillea.  OK Tracy, you can do this....fabric under the shrub hand gently going into the foliage with secateurs to trim off the branch - snip, shake into the the box in one firm move and then set aside to settle and gather the rest into it.

After an hour I gathered the box and brought it back into my yard having set  up a spot near to my hive ready for new brood box and frames.

I took this footage quickly - wish Id taken more shots during the process but its is about the bees not photos and I wasn't going to take my gloves on and off I can tell you!


Love the dance they do!  As soon as I turned the sealed box over, they found a gap or two in the bottom and immediately began to do their bee disco!  Great to watch and thus, me running inside to grab the phone to film this!

All dancing and pointing the way in ....amazing to watch .....and within seconds of the box being turned!

You know the best thing?  It was next morning with Fred.  A lovely gentleman and bee guru.  We both stood without  bee suits, hats or gloves  and rehoused the box of bees - there was a huge stack of them - into the new brood box!  I loved standing quietly amongst them as they flew around and resettled.  NOT ONE STING!  They really did have full tummies of honey as Fred suggested - too full to be angry and sting!

The bees are now rehoused in one of Fred's hives.  I will be ready next year with my second hive set up ready for them!  cant wait!

The bees that didn't quite make it into the new brood box buzzed around the spot for the day and I'll go with Fred's knowledge that they will probably be reabsorbed back into my hive as this is the most likely place they came from the day earlier!

Memo to self....Tuck flared legs into socks!

Ouch!  A double sting from two bees that climber up into my jeans while I tended to hive!
Itchy!
Swollen!
Red!

The Girls are doing a great job. I only removed 2 frames and shuffled them all into the Centre. They love that spot rather than the edges!  Of course now they are partying on the empty frames to clean them up, An I smell like a bonfire!  I got the smoker working really well this time.  Each time I am getting better!

I do love being amongst the Girls as they fly around. They make that fabulous hum/buzz/ Wonderful.

It is cooler now too.  I have found extraction and sieving is trickier when the honey is cooler.. Sooooo thick and golden, it his taking some time to go through.  The time to purchase a manual extractor is close at hand.

1 frame gave me a 4 jar harvest!

Wooo-hooo!

4 very full jars of thick super sweet delicious honey! (410g x 4 = 1.6kg of honey!)

First run of labels using the online Avery label 'kit'.

Probably still needs refining....
Happy.  An evening spent on Pinterest and links reading all about honey and extraction and flowers and gardens.....

....sweet......

Playing with labels

I didn't think about using Jam Labelizer!  Doh!  So I played with it and have come up with this design.  I wanted it to 'match' the blog and the overall 'vibe'.....:-)

I love it!
BUT -

• prints too small for the jar size means you cant read it!
• Id like to change the font - the capital H looks like  I made a mistake and corrected it badly....do you see a 'k'?

So, it's off to Officeworks tomorrow to get an Avery stickers kit and try it that way!

Is it full yet?

The 'problem' with a hive is of course that you can  not see inside without opening it up!  I have been anxious that the frames may have been overloaded.  It had been about 3 weeks since I last opened it.

With a cooler day today of 30 degrees Celsius  -  we are in the middle of another block of 39 degree and above days - it was time to don the hot bee gear and crack it open!

I was surprised.  I really did expect it to be overflowing with full frames in the top spare.....but again the middle 5 or so were the most full.  As before I removed just one frame - the fullest in the centre and mover the others in to fill the gap.  The end space is replaced with a new spare.

Everything looked and sounded great.  I love the sound of the bees doing their thing!  I forget they are flying around me when the gear is on, but when I realised Mum was behind me in the garden and I saw the number of bees flying around, it takes me aback - There are so many!  What with the mesh and smoke, I don't notice them around me!

Back into the kitchen for the next variation of extraction....I must get the spinning extractor soon.  The only way I can extract the honey currently is one frame at a time - that's OK - but I have to wreck the honey comb to do so - and that's why the poor bees are working extra hard to have the honey!  They have to make the comb again!.

Big plastic tub with lid.  35 litre I think. (in case of ants overnight - they are looking for water at the moment in the heat)
Bit of Glad bake cooking paper in the bottom to catch precious drips!
Food safe plastic tub
Fine frypan non spatter mesh cover
Colander
Sieve

Its working quite quickly, but not quickly enough for Mr 3, Charlie...."Will you bring a jar of my honey to me next time?"  Of course I will!

So, I've registered the name!

Not that I'm in this for a business but I decided to register the name.  That meant a whole bunch of government online paper filling....but pretty simple really!

So it's official!

Now I really DO need to get onto that label!

...pretty exciting really!

Bees wax production - low tech!

Not everyone's idea of a fantastic photo opportunity I know, but it is pure beeswax, from one frame!

Ready to refine the bees wax from the sneaky one frame extraction yesterday.

• Wax resting overnight in water to wash off excess honey.  ( I couldn't get any more off...I tried!)  It was a fine shavings consistency once washed!

• Place on paper towel and into sieve, suspended above a bowl with some water
• Into a lidded plastic storage container
• put into car
• time it for two consecutive days of 42C...

....and nothing happened! 

It got steamy, It softened but no melt!  (not like the YouTube clip at all)  I probably had too much wax in the sieve, and the white container probably didn't help...

So I grabbed an old clean tin from the recycle bin and melted it on the stove top, pouring through the sieve into a small takeaway container with water in it.

Result?  40 grams of wax!  Some residue - I forgot to photograph it, but there was some.  Still a bit of residue settled into the base of the wax as the sieve wasn't fine enough I guess.

Sneaking honey like Winnie the Pooh!

Time to check the hive!  The smell of honey is strong in the garden in the afternoon especially as 'the girls' come in on their two flight paths back to the hive!  It's amazing to watch as they all fly in at speed and dive into the 'door'!  We have just had a couple of extreme days here over 42C and as I write there are bushfires in the hills not too far away.

Smoker and water ready, container for the frame, brush for bees, me in suit ready!

Unsure of the honey 'levels' I thought I'd be ready to remove one or two frames and go into basic home style honey production - no fancy centrifuge yet....on the 'wish list' still!

Several You tube clips later, I purchased some colanders and sieves in a range of mesh sizes, some food safe plastic storage containers in a range of sizes and some new jars.  Spending a bit to get organised but each is an investment - and if not in the honey making , to be used in the kitchen!

Very lo-tech for a one frame extraction/destruction

Centre frame activity for sure!

The top box is filling FAST! Summer gardens in flower and the gum trees are in full swing too! I love the sound of all the wings going!  Lots and lots of bees flying around and leaving me alone with the pine needle smoker puffing along nicely.  I've got that going well now.  I removed just one frame and gently brushed and coaxed off the bees to pop it into a large storage box to bring inside.

Ok, a bit too soon to extract but I wanted to give the low tech method a go!

Plastic sheeting over the bench and floor - I know what a mess I can get into - and wooden spoon across the container to support the frame - my goodness they are heavy , and it want even full! Unfortunately I had to destroy the comb to get to the honey....but 'the girls' shouldn't mind, they have plenty to do still and can clean this one off before starting again. there's still some honey on it.

Now for the knife...it took a couple before I settled on the bread knife

drip, ooze, yum!

Sieve on colander, on container....drain and BE PATIENT!  Charlie, 3 and Zoe, 5 popped by to see the progress.  Charlie, the consummate honey consumer, was very excited and had to check with a number of spoons...no double dipping Charlie!  The ultimate test for him is honey drizzled onto a cruskit/cracker.

"Ooo, Yeahhhh..."  I think that is approval!

1 not full frame produced 2 x 300ml jars and some leftovers.  420g in each jar x 2 = 840g!!  WOW!

Oi!  Getyour hands off the jar Charlie!  He took one home with much delight!

After 20 years of trying to grow fruit and vegetables and despite netting and building a fully wired and enclosed fruit house for the quince, fig and apple trees, to no avail.....(possums, mice, tree rats and birds)  I think this honey harvest from ONE FRAME has produced more consumable produce than ever before!   Yay!  I have got produce!

waxy comb residue doing a final drain to get every last bit of sweet goodness!

I'm leaving the wax drain overnight for a final bit in a jar and then into the 'solar oven-wax refining" methods.  More on that as it comes to hand.....

Oh, and how does it taste?  Gentle on the palate, smooth and creamy...
In the words of a honey eating expert...."Ooooo, yeahhhh"