I have been cautioned that on my first year I would not have to worry about honey extraction.
I took that to heart.
Last week, at the association apiary, I was told that I need to clear at least one box asap. The fear was that the honey would set in the frames and be unextractable.
I am not prepared for this.
For those not following my few exploits, I'm running a national footprint with all medium sized boxes (190mm), no queen excluder and foundationless frames.
I received my Nuc on the 14th of May. My hive now stands 5 boxes tall and every seam is full. The top box has a 35mm eke, as 6 of the 11 frames are the DN4's from the nuc that my colony arrived on.
My hive looks like this:
Quaint Gabled Roof
Box 5 Honey on 11 frames, some drone brood that I've been told "should emerge this week by the look of it".
Box 4 New box as of last Saturday, bees already bearding on the starter strips before I put the top box on and I was warned "with the good weather, they'll fill this box in a week"
Box 3 Half brood, Half honey - oddly just that: the "left" half of each frame is all honey and the "right" half is all brood
Box 2 Almost all brood, newly drawn frames, a little honey on the outside
Box 1 Half brood, Half honey - oddly just that: the "left" half of each frame is all honey and the "right" half is all brood
I guess the first questions are:
- Do I really need to extract NOW! or can I leave the honey in the hive? If it hadn't been for the few strips of brood, the mentors felt that these frames should have gone home with me last Saturday.
- Will the honey set in the frames if I leave them in the hive?
- If it does set, is that the end of the world?
The next questions I have are all related to: If I do take home 11 or 22 frames of honey, WTF am I going to do with them!?
- I was planning on turning the foundationless frames into cut comb, and then crush and strain on the remains (man that sounds messy). Has anyone done cut comb in quantity? And do they have any tips? The 6 lbs of honey I took a few weeks ago was purely a rescue job, so I have no experience with making cut comb intentionally. Should I buy one of those comb cutters? Or improvise with some square tin that I find around the kitchen? Or just cut it with a knife?
- What do I do with the 6 wired DN4's with old comb? Do I try and rent an extractor for just 6 frames? Is there a better suggestion on what to do with just a few frames?
- How do I contain the mess of handling cut comb on my kitchen worktop? Do I try and work in a large flat tub that I can use to recover any lost honey?
The current state of preparations:
- I'm going to take my original nuc box to the apiary on Saturday, so in the very least I can swap out the 6 DN4's for appropriate sized medium frames and I'll use the nuc box to carry the capped frames back to the house in.
- I'll have to bring a container to harvest all the low hanging honey on the bottom of the medium frames, as the bees have filled that 35mm space with honey stores, and that space will go away when I remove the eke.
- I have ordered another box, so I can add one flat out (and go for 6 boxes), or replace one that I take, if I need to.
- I have ordered 20 frames; more than enough to fill the replacement box (11) and swap out the 6 DN4's for medium 190mm frames.
- I will make a new dummy board for the new box.
- I ordered a bee brush, as I didn't have one, and it would be useful for clearing frames if I need to.
- I ordered a new crown board with the typical 2 porter bee escapes to act as a clearing board, but as I'm using no QE, I may want to stick to shaking and brushing the frames rather than waiting for them to clear.
-
Help?
I'll know more when I get to the apiary on Saturday, and who knows what surprises the little ladies will spring on me then, but I did want to be prepared...
Any suggestions?
I took that to heart.
Last week, at the association apiary, I was told that I need to clear at least one box asap. The fear was that the honey would set in the frames and be unextractable.
I am not prepared for this.
For those not following my few exploits, I'm running a national footprint with all medium sized boxes (190mm), no queen excluder and foundationless frames.
I received my Nuc on the 14th of May. My hive now stands 5 boxes tall and every seam is full. The top box has a 35mm eke, as 6 of the 11 frames are the DN4's from the nuc that my colony arrived on.
My hive looks like this:
Quaint Gabled Roof
Box 5 Honey on 11 frames, some drone brood that I've been told "should emerge this week by the look of it".
Box 4 New box as of last Saturday, bees already bearding on the starter strips before I put the top box on and I was warned "with the good weather, they'll fill this box in a week"
Box 3 Half brood, Half honey - oddly just that: the "left" half of each frame is all honey and the "right" half is all brood
Box 2 Almost all brood, newly drawn frames, a little honey on the outside
Box 1 Half brood, Half honey - oddly just that: the "left" half of each frame is all honey and the "right" half is all brood
I guess the first questions are:
- Do I really need to extract NOW! or can I leave the honey in the hive? If it hadn't been for the few strips of brood, the mentors felt that these frames should have gone home with me last Saturday.
- Will the honey set in the frames if I leave them in the hive?
- If it does set, is that the end of the world?
The next questions I have are all related to: If I do take home 11 or 22 frames of honey, WTF am I going to do with them!?
- I was planning on turning the foundationless frames into cut comb, and then crush and strain on the remains (man that sounds messy). Has anyone done cut comb in quantity? And do they have any tips? The 6 lbs of honey I took a few weeks ago was purely a rescue job, so I have no experience with making cut comb intentionally. Should I buy one of those comb cutters? Or improvise with some square tin that I find around the kitchen? Or just cut it with a knife?
- What do I do with the 6 wired DN4's with old comb? Do I try and rent an extractor for just 6 frames? Is there a better suggestion on what to do with just a few frames?
- How do I contain the mess of handling cut comb on my kitchen worktop? Do I try and work in a large flat tub that I can use to recover any lost honey?
The current state of preparations:
- I'm going to take my original nuc box to the apiary on Saturday, so in the very least I can swap out the 6 DN4's for appropriate sized medium frames and I'll use the nuc box to carry the capped frames back to the house in.
- I'll have to bring a container to harvest all the low hanging honey on the bottom of the medium frames, as the bees have filled that 35mm space with honey stores, and that space will go away when I remove the eke.
- I have ordered another box, so I can add one flat out (and go for 6 boxes), or replace one that I take, if I need to.
- I have ordered 20 frames; more than enough to fill the replacement box (11) and swap out the 6 DN4's for medium 190mm frames.
- I will make a new dummy board for the new box.
- I ordered a bee brush, as I didn't have one, and it would be useful for clearing frames if I need to.
- I ordered a new crown board with the typical 2 porter bee escapes to act as a clearing board, but as I'm using no QE, I may want to stick to shaking and brushing the frames rather than waiting for them to clear.
-
Help?
I'll know more when I get to the apiary on Saturday, and who knows what surprises the little ladies will spring on me then, but I did want to be prepared...
Any suggestions?
Running "Foundationless All Mediums with No Queen Excluder". Each box is national spec, but 190mm deep.