Author Topic: 1st harvest of the year  (Read 5372 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline rcannon

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 423
  • Thanked: 18 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Ft White, Fll
1st harvest of the year
« on: June 13, 2015, 09:55:34 pm »
Pulled 400 lbs today. Boy, am I tired. I got started late and it was hot as it could be. Luckily, my youngest son came home to help.









Offline Jen

  • Platinum Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10175
  • Thanked: 240 times
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Upper California
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2015, 10:26:03 pm »
Hi Randy! Can't get a better frame of honey than that! 400 pounds! Geez!

So how many hives do you have this year?
There Is Peace In The Queendom

Offline Les

  • Gold Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1260
  • Thanked: 97 times
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Kingston, NY
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2015, 10:31:31 pm »
Beautiful frames!  Can't wait till we have honey.

Offline rcannon

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 423
  • Thanked: 18 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Ft White, Fll
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2015, 09:20:53 pm »
Hi, Jen. I have around 30, that number seems to change pretty regularly. 10 of those are nucs and about six are trying to recover from swarming. Its really been a bad year for swarms for me. There's a lot more honey in the yard, but it's not capped yet. The summer dearth is coming, if I don't get the honey before then, the bees will eat it. I waited too late last year and only got about half a crop.

Offline Jen

  • Platinum Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10175
  • Thanked: 240 times
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Upper California
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2015, 10:02:03 pm »
Wishing you the best of luck through the rest of the season  :) Last year was a swarm escapade for me, this year it's queen issues. Presently, So far so..... oooops! I don't say anything, don't want to jinx it  ;) ;D
There Is Peace In The Queendom

Offline pistolpete

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 786
  • Thanked: 20 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Chilliwack, British Columbia
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2015, 12:16:54 am »
nice,  for me 200lbs is a good days work, but I don't have a nice uncapping setup like yours. (I'll put it on the wish list for next year).
My advice: worth price charged :)

Offline riverbee

  • Gold Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 8924
  • Thanked: 410 times
  • Gender: Female
  • ***Forum Sponsor***
  • Location: El Paso Twp, Wisconsin
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2015, 12:18:52 am »
"The summer dearth is coming, if I don't get the honey before then, the bees will eat it. I waited too late last year and only got about half a crop. "

(ps rc fixed your pix..... ;))

i have a question for you. if you remove all the honey, and the summer dearth hits, do you then feed your bees?
i keep wild things in a box..........™
if you obey the rules, you miss all the fun.....katherine hepburn
Forum Sponsor

Offline blueblood

  • Gold Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1768
  • Thanked: 39 times
  • Gender: Male
    • https://www.facebook.com/scottshoneyandlipbalms
  • Location: Central Indiana, USA
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #7 on: June 15, 2015, 12:27:39 am »
Solid work! I was wore out with just 60 pounds!  Can't imagine 400!!!!

Offline Jen

  • Platinum Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10175
  • Thanked: 240 times
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Upper California
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #8 on: June 15, 2015, 12:52:29 am »
"i have a question for you. if you remove all the honey, and the summer dearth hits, do you then feed your bees?
   
      I was wondering about that as well River, because for us here in Cali, I'm going to be feeding all summer anyway due to the drought, bees are still taking a pint a day.

     
There Is Peace In The Queendom

Offline lazy shooter

  • Gold Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1449
  • Thanked: 64 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Brownwood, Texas
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #9 on: June 15, 2015, 07:27:53 am »
Four hundred pounds is a lot of harvest in one day.  Like Blue, fifty or so pounds is about all I can manage.  It sure looked like good honey, and the frames were beautiful.  Good work!

Offline Perry

  • Global Moderator
  • Gold Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 7382
  • Thanked: 390 times
  • Gender: Male
    • Brandt's Bees
  • Location: Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #10 on: June 15, 2015, 07:52:06 am »
The frame was perfect. Well done! :photos:
"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."      
Forum Supporter

Offline Papakeith

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 533
  • Thanked: 7 times
  • Gender: Male
    • Salisbury Farm Apiary
  • Location: RI
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #11 on: June 15, 2015, 10:14:57 am »
Nice looking frames... and 400 lbs seems like a really nice spring haul.  Congrats!
I'm starting to think that the bees are keeping me...

Offline rcannon

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 423
  • Thanked: 18 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Ft White, Fll
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #12 on: June 15, 2015, 08:21:34 pm »
Thanks for fixing my pictures, Riverbee. I used to try to fix them, but now I just upload them and wait on you.  :)
I don't take alll the honey, but I do get most of it. Luckily, we almost always have a little bit of honey coming in, but I do have to feed sometimes during the summer. The hottest part of summer is usually rainy, so the bees can usually find something to gather. We normally have a fall honey crop starting about September, so I don't have to feed too long.
I normally wouldn't pull that much honey at one time, I like to pull a little along and along. But, I have a plant shutdown coming up that'll take a couple of weeks and then a trip to Marquette. So, I won't have a chance to pull any for 3 weeks.

Speaking of summer, it hit 100 degrees here for a few hours today. It's mighty early for that kind of heat.

Offline Jen

  • Platinum Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10175
  • Thanked: 240 times
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Upper California
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #13 on: June 16, 2015, 01:08:02 pm »
Same here rcannon, because my hot hive took the slow boat to china, I have about 20 stored frames that are half pulled and capped with honey, I just switch them out a little at a time.
There Is Peace In The Queendom

Offline tbonekel

  • Gold Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1053
  • Thanked: 25 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Bells, Texas
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #14 on: June 16, 2015, 02:55:08 pm »
Perfect frame is right. One thing that I can guarantee is that my frames will be nothing like that. Well, maybe a couple. Nice job. 

Offline apisbees

  • Global Moderator
  • Gold Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 3723
  • Thanked: 331 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Vernon B.C.
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2015, 07:43:28 pm »
What size of extractor are you running? 10' 20 frame? And are all your honey supers standard depth?
I find that you get a third more honey for doing the same amount of work and time investment when using deep supers for honey.
Great looking frame that would win a ribbon at many honey shows.
Honey Judge, Beekeeping Display Coordinator, Armstrong Fair and Rodeo.

Offline rcannon

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 423
  • Thanked: 18 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Ft White, Fll
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #16 on: September 01, 2015, 09:39:01 pm »
Sorry, Apis, I didn't see this post until tonight. I built my extractor to spin 10 deep frames at the time, so I can extract an entire super at once. I use mostly deep boxes for supers. Deeps for everything. I have a few mediums, but mainly because i sell a few nucs and some folks prefer mediums.
Both efficiency and money-wise, deeps are a better deal than mediums or shallows. Plus, one size frame makes it easy to swap things around.



Offline apisbees

  • Global Moderator
  • Gold Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 3723
  • Thanked: 331 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Vernon B.C.
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #17 on: September 02, 2015, 01:25:08 am »
That looks well built, DC motor with a rheostat. direct drive with a flexible coupler. with it on casters does it dance around a bit if the frames are not balanced?
Honey Judge, Beekeeping Display Coordinator, Armstrong Fair and Rodeo.

Offline rcannon

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 423
  • Thanked: 18 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Ft White, Fll
Re: 1st harvest of the year
« Reply #18 on: September 02, 2015, 08:38:48 pm »
Thanks, Apis. I couldn't find an extractor to suit me, so I built what I wanted. I wanted one that would handle deep frames and had a bottom center drain. A side drain just doesnt make a lot of sense to me. Why would a drain not be at the lowest point?
It wiggles back and forth a bit when I first start it, but after it runs a minute it settles down. I was concerned that the casters would not be a good idea, but they actually seem to help by dissipating some of the imbalance.