Honey Season Winding Down

This was our first year of having hives. We loved learning about them a year before and we loved it in practice as well. We started with two nucleus colonies which did very well and grew into two double deep broods with a honey super each. We split the stronger of the two colonies into a third colony. That third colony is still drawing out comb on it’s second deep. And for our finale, we caught a native swarm that liked one of our empty hives. So with a total of 4 hives in our first year we’re very pleased. I only took 3 frames of honey and left the rest for the bees, that honey was 16.5% water content after examination. In their first year I’m trying to give them every opportunity to excel. We’ve had very little varroa destructor presence after testing but we also had brood breaks. I love beekeeping and my wife Regina who is a huge help prepping and processing loves having bees in the garden. Next year’s growth should be interesting as I’m outgrowing the number of hives I should have on my residential property, time to open a second apiary down the road. Next year’s honey harvest should be far greater with a total of 8 or more hives. This has to be one of my favorite topics, I love learning more about the beekeeping process, queen rearing, and all the scientific information that goes along with biological, ecological and mathematical. I love honey bees.