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Spring Honey Harvest

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

On Monday, Gabriel woke up and said, “Today is the day to check the bee hives.” We’ve had so much rain that there really hasn’t been a good time to get into the hives to check them. 

So, I did what any good mom would do, I put on a long sleeve shirt, long pants and a veil and grabbed my camera to take pictures. Phoebe had a friend visiting and I encouraged her to but on a bee suit and be Gabriel’s assistant. Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb. Gabriel first harvested from the top bar hive. A good friend made this hive for Gabriel when he first started beekeeping. It’s a wonderful hive. You can’t expand it so you have to harvest more often to give the bees room to grow. Gabriel leaves a good two inches of comb on the bar for the bees to attach the new comb to. The dark part is old comb. 

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb. If you look, you can see the bees coming home full of pollen on their legs. That is what the orange stuff is on the bee to the far right. Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb. The Langsthroth hives are different in that you can expand them but putting supers on them. Gabriel likes to keep his hives smaller so he doesn’t do a lot of expanding. I’m not sure exactly why but I think because we’ve had such a hard time with the drought – although that cycle seems to have broken. 

He moved some frames from two supers to harvest. While he had them open he removed the burr comb which is just comb that the bees are building outside of the frames. It’s really pretty and white, I will probably buy it from him to use in lip balms. 

He also gave our friend a bee lesson pointing out where they store pollen, the difference between drones and workers and what the different cells look like. Homeschooling at it’s best. 

SP Honey Harvest 9

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb. Gabriel moved the supers out of the beeyard and to our picnic table where he inspected each frame to see if it was full enough to harvest. Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb.

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb. Then he brought those frames inside to harvest. For the top bar comb, he cuts it up and bags it. Carl takes it to work and his co-workers buy it. Since we only have a two frame extractor the langsthroth frames took a while – like all day. But Gabriel enjoys the work and even though many of us offered our assistance in uncapping the comb, he declined the help. 

Our first honey harvest of the year. We harvest from both a top bar hive and two Langsthroth hives. We got about 6 gallons of honey plus some honey comb. If you are just starting with beekeeping or wanting to learn more, you will want to read this article about common mistakes to avoid.   Our other bee updates are here

If you are looking for beeswax we have some for sale in our Etsy shop

Here are some beekeeping item that we use…

How are the bees in your neck of the woods? 

This post is shared at Tuesday Garden Party

 

 

Thanks for sharing with your friends!

Kirsten

Wednesday 27th of May 2015

So you have both a top bar and a Langstroth hive? Do you prefer one over the other? What is the difference in the honey yield between the two? I just got two top bar hives this spring - first time beekeeping - and they are busily building comb these days. One of the two hives has honey in it now. Your bees and comb look beautiful! I hope ours are like that when we get to harvest. Thanks!

Angi Schneider

Wednesday 27th of May 2015

We do have both. I'm not the beekeeper so I asked my son. He said, "The top bar hive is great for pollination and if you are not looking to get a lot of honey. You will need to check it and harvest more often so they don't swarm. It's easier to get into and take the honeycomb out. But it's harder to remove the honey from the comb. The Langsthroth hives are easier in that you can just continue to add supers to expand the hive to prevent swarming. You'll get more honey from a Langstroth hive and it's easier to extract. But they are harder to get into and the hives can grow much bigger." I, personally, love the the top bar hive. Ours has an observation window and I like to go check it out. To me the only drawback is extracting the honey. We leave the honey from the top bar hive in it's comb. Gabriel sells most of it but we keep some of it as a treat. For our honey that we're going to use to cook with or put in tea, we use the honey from the Langsthroth hives.

I'm sure your bees are going to be wonderful, I'm excited for you guys! And, yeah, the comb from the top bar hive is just beautiful.

Nichole

Monday 25th of May 2015

We are EXTREMELY new beekeepers. We just got our two beehives this year (a top bar and a langshorth hive. My question is when do you harvest from the top bar? We have additional supers for the langshorth and we're told to harvest at the end of the season in August but the topbar can't be expanded so I am unsure of when to harvest from it. Thank you!

Angi Schneider

Monday 25th of May 2015

Congratulations on getting bees, Nicole. That is so cool! Just keep an eye on the them, when they have filled about 80% of your top bars you can harvest. Gabriel just cuts the comb off two or three. You'll need to check on them at least once a month, more if there is a lot of nectar flow in your area. But they have to completely build the comb so it takes a little longer than if they just had an empty uncapped frame. That is part of the art of beekeeping. ;-)

Charissa

Saturday 23rd of May 2015

I think my husband might revolt if I mentioned I wanted to add honey bees to my hobby farm someday... the process you documented looks very fascinating! I would love fresh honey from my own bees!

Angi Schneider

Saturday 23rd of May 2015

Oh, he'll come around eventually...they always do ;-).

Kathie

Friday 22nd of May 2015

Such a beautiful process and you captured it so amazingly!

Angi Schneider

Friday 22nd of May 2015

Thank you, Kathie!

Jane

Thursday 21st of May 2015

We used to keep bees. The only time I ever got stung was when I was pregnant. Fresh honey is wonderful in and on everything. Try it on vanilla ice cream or yogurt with a sprinkling of sunflower seeds on top. Yummy! Now I buy it at our local farmers market. Towns around us are changing local ordinances and are allowing homes to have 2 hives in their yards. I may try it again. Take Care!

Angi Schneider

Friday 22nd of May 2015

I've been stung twice but it's really because I don't suit up properly when I go take pictures. That is really cool that your town is becoming more bee friendly. If you decide to keep bees again, I'd love to hear about it.