Summer Rain Farm is looking forward to having plenty of honey available this year. As a beekeeper, we know everything depends on Mother Nature. The bees handle every thing from weather, flower availability, wind, pest pressure and of course help from the beekeeper with space.
The brood boxes are on the bottom and are where the queen bee lays her eggs to build up the hive. Each year the hive goes from the over wintered bees of a few thousand to up to 60 thousand during peak production.
Adding supers
Summer Rain Farm was able to add supers on each hive. A super is a box filled with frames specifically used for the bees to fill with honey. This summer, the weather was good, although we had some rain, which is needed for flowers to make nectar and warmth for the bees to dry it into honey.
Extracting honey
Once the supers have been filled with honey and sufficiently dried by the hive, the beekeeper can remove the super. It is then taken to the honey house for extraction. We know the honey is ready to extract once it is capped by the bees. This is usually done once the water content has been reduced to 17%.
The capping is then cut off by a knife and the frame is put into an extractor. This is then spun to drain the honey from the comb. The cappings are kept and cleaned to use as beeswax for a multitude of items from candles, balms and soap.
Jarring up the honey
Our final job is jarring up the honey and putting our label on the front. We at Summer Rain Farm will sell our honey at our farm stand during the growing season from Easter until Halloween.
Getting hives ready for winter
Our final beekeeper’s job is getting the hives ready for the winter season. After we take the honey off the hive, the bees are checked for feed stores and health. We always make sure each hive still has enough honey to support them over our long cold winter.
I make sure each hive has a healthy queen and enough bees to keep the hive warm during winter. They will use their honey to feed on and give them enough energy to warm the hive with their wing muscles. The bees cluster together in a football-size ball and circulate from outside the cluster to the inside as they get cold. They move slowly around the hive box eating the honey and keeping the queen warm.
Beekeeping resources
I took my beekeeper’s course from the University of Guelph; therefore, I recommend to anyone who might be interested in becoming a beekeeper to do lots of research, take a course and join a beekeeper’s local club.
https://ses.uoguelph.ca/course-outlines/apiculture-and-honey-bee-biology-envs2210