Going into the winter we have two hives both seem quite large and I'm keeping everything crossed that they make it through the winter.
We have already started feeding them and in the next day or so we will give them back the empty supers that we spun the honey this week, so that can clean them up and get any remaining honey for their stores over winder. Spinning the honey entails uncapping the wax from the supers as seen in the photo below – being expertly done by Master Lucas, placing them in the extractor and pressing the button to start the thing spinning at high speed – thus throwing the honey all around the side which then drains down to the bottom as seen in the photos. In the old days this used to be done by hand, as a child my mother kept bees and spinning the honey was our least favourite and most exhausting task!!! Luckily these days they're now electric. Sadly, we didn't have quite as much honey as we hoped but I'm hoping they'll be enough for those who put orders in, I will keep you posted once we've bottled it in about two weeks’ time once it has settled and I’m back from Scotland.
After the bees have nicely cleaned up the supers (usually only takes a few days) we will freeze them for 48hrs, this is to kill of any potential wax moth larvae that might have snuck into the frames - the they will be stored and ready for use next year! We are feeding syrup at the moment but around Christmas time we will change this for fondant (like icing fondant but for bees (although some beekeepers do use cake icing fondant but the stuff we use is prepared especially to make it easier for the bees to store)). Then it’s just a case of praying they survive the winter. We will also be adding mouse guards to the entrance to help keep them safe from rodent invaders!!! And some hessian cloth to deter the woodpeckers😊
Our Intrepid apprentice Lucas uncapping the honey and doing a fantastic job!
Honey Spinner that takes 4 frames at a time.
Honey draining from Spinner into a bucket through 2 x sieves to remove any wax.
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