The First Batch Of Honey

This is a frame of honey caped with wax.

We  use a hot knife to take of the cap.

 You can save the wax to make candles or lotion.  We did not remove the wax from the frame.  We only took the caps.  If you save the wax on the frame, the bees will clean it and reuse it.

 Use a spinner to get the honey out of the frame.  It comes out of the bottom where we put it through a filter.

Here we are bottling the filtered honey.  We sold all 30 lbs.

4 Boxes High

Four Boxes High
The top box is for the bees to store their own honey.  We are using a queen separator to keep the queen from laying eggs in the top box.

 Here are some busy bees capping brood and honey.

Second Check - 2 Weeks After Hiving

We removed the lid and saw busy bees right underneath.

 Under that wooden top we saw busy bees, wax, and very little of our pollen patty left.

 First we re-filled the sugar water again.

 This is a picture of the frame being removed and checked.  We saw larvae which is a very good sign.

 Here you can see the built out comb.

We added another box of frames so that the bees have more space to build.

The First Check - 6 Days After Hiving

 We inspected the hive this week.

We gently moved the frames to look for eggs.

 We see that the workers got the queen out of her cage.

 See?  It's empty.

Here is a frame that is covered in worker bees.  You can see eggs and wax if you look closely.

Putting the Bees in the Hive

The bees were driven up from Georgia and we met the farmer at his house.  We brought the bees home in a Rubber Maid Bin in our trunk!

 The can is foul of suger water.

 Here I am taking out the queen.  She is in a separate screen box.  She can communicate with her colony.

 The Queen.

 You have to take the cork out.  The worker bees will chew in the rest of the way, through some candy, and the queen will be released.  This takes 4 to 7 days.

 Here we are shaking the bees in.

 Queen #2

 You have to gently move the bees to put the frames in.

 See how they stay near the queen?

The Hive Set Up

A screen can serve as a mouse block in the hive's entryway.

You put a feeder in each hive. It takes the space of two frames. See the hole?  Bees can go down into it and get the sugar water.

This is a frame covered in bees wax.

Here is a wooden inner frame with a vent hole.

Here is an outer cover.

This is a brick to keep the cover on.

Water Source

Don't forget, bees need water so we built a water feeder for ours.  This is a picture of it.  It's an upside down pretzel container on a bird feeder.  It has a hole to dispense water.

It is up high so that animals won't get at it.  It has crushed stone  on the flat part for bees to rest on.

Where Do You Set up Your Hives?

If you put pesticides in your grass it might not be a good idea to put your hives on the lawn.  If you do use pesticides in your grass, you can use a rock bed or you could use a place where no pesticides are.

You should have your bee hives facing the sun.  In the winter you should put wind blocking items near the hives so your bees are protected.  Bees Need Resources.  You should put a water supply near your bees.

Bee Keeping Supplies

This is a bee keeping table.  It is  useful to have it to clean out your bee hive.  Ours is pressure treated wood for the bottom and cedar planks for the top.  This type of wood will resist weather damage.  One of the members of the Lexingon 5 built this table!

This is a green drone frame.  This is where the queen will lay drone eggs.  It has bigger hexagons than the white frame.  It is plastic rubbed with bee wax.

This is a honey frame.  This is where they lay worker bee eggs and a new queen  if necessary.

There is another frame that is black and it is for the queen bee to lay eggs in.

This is a hive tool. The red part is for picking up the frame and the silver part is for scraping wax and propolis.

Bee Keeping Suit

The Suit

     We went to a local beekeeper to see what we should get.  I bought a large adult beekeeper suit for my dad and an extra small adult for me and mom to share.    You have to keep the suit clean because bees can smell the past stings of other bees.   If your suit is not clean and they smell that odor it will alert the bees to sting.    The suit is made of canvas so air can go through but stings won't hurt you. It feels comfy.

Gloves

           The glove have canvas from the elbow to the mid-upper arm.  They have netting from your wrist to your elbow.  The hands are very fitted so that you can work easily.  They are made of buck skin leather.