Troy didn't think he'd be able to harvest any this year because he had a new hive move into the beehive this spring (summer?). Over the long, cold winter both of his existing hives died off. Normally with a new hive just getting established, he would let them have all the honey for the first year to make sure they have enough.
But when he checked on the bees last week, he saw that they have been building like gang-busters and actually expanded into a part of the hive that they're not supposed to use (above the hang bars). So one day, he broke into the hive and cut out those combs.
Later that night when a lot of the bees abandoned the comb removed from the hive, he brushed the last determined ones off, and got the comb into the shop where they couldn't smell it.
Yesterday, he crushed the comb and let the honey drain off in the car. That way the bees still wouldn't smell it and the heat in the car would help the honey drain more easily. And last night we decanted (canted?) seven pints.
It is so good, I licked off the cloth I used to wipe the rim of the bucket we were pouring from!
No comments:
Post a Comment