There has been a real
'buzz' of activity here over the last few weeks (it must be spring). And a
large part of that activity could be attributed to this year’s addition of our
bee hive; as they fruit trees and veggies have flourished. 
Other than selecting a
position for our hive (preparing and providing some much required TLC to the
previously loved hive and then purchasing our ‘brood’ from a local honey
supplier the bees have pretty much been left to their own devices for the past
six months.

I had (on occasion) made an
attempt to 'check in'; in other words, suited up I took a look at their
progress in the hive... which did result in my being stung! Note to self:
running tights do not make appropriate apiarist attire! Although to be fair in
general they have been mostly placid. The hive is situated at the furthest
point of the house yard, close to the pig pen. This allows for ease of maintenance
(mowing, trimming grass etc). and the bees are situated near trees and water.
We are no bee experts and
are still learning ourselves, so here are a few basics we have had to learn
(and may make this post easier to read)
[if
you are a seasoned apiarist and disagree with any of this, please feel free to
correct me.]
Apiarist is a beekeeper; an
apiary refers to the location of hives.
A hive refers to the structure
or nest occupied by a colony of bees. So hive is the housing and a colony refers
to the bees who occupy it as a group, including their ranks/functions.
Hives may take a number of
forms from wild or native hives (so ones wild colonies construct themselves) to
artificial hives that house domesticated bees.
With domesticated bees, the
internal structure consists of beeswax cells called honeycomb. These maybe artificial
or formed within frames with or without a foundation.
The honeycomb is used by
bees to store food sources (honey and pollen) and their “brood” (their eggs and
larvae). The methods used to host the
bees and therefore harvest the honey really does depend upon the type of hive used.
Probably the most common
(or commercially used in Australia) is the Langstroth. This is the setup we
have used as the hives and parts were easy to source and to 'get started'.-
They are the white stacked style of boxes you have seen and recognised as
beehives
The Langstroth hive is a
modular system consisting of boxes filled with frames. To begin with he
supplied a local honey producer with a box filled with ‘prepped’ frames.
These frames have wire that
permeates through them which can be heated to melt/attach a wax foundation upon
which the bees will (hopefully) build and fill their honeycomb. In this
instance we are hoping for the contents to be a strong “brood” (larvae). Once
this box contained a quantity of honeycomb, larvae and young bees the supplier
then contacted us to retrieve our box.
This then formed our “nucleus”-
brood, young bees and importantly our own queen. This nucleus would allow us to
form our own colony.
The advantage of the
Langstroth hive is that it is modular and the form and parts are common and
easily sourced. So as with sourcing our “nucleus” they are easy to transfer or “split”.
However these are not the
only types of hives. Many prefer the 'top bar', the benefits include;
Lighter to work with and
ease of use- by switching the set up from a vertical plane to horizontal the
honey then becomes front of the hive and brood/nest at the back. This
arrangement should be less disruptive to the bees and therefore many claim they
do not require smoke or bee suits to inspect.
Making this type of hive increasingly
popular with backyard bee keepers/producers, as it is accessible to all ages and
physical ability levels- Langstorth boxes get rather heavy when full, so this
horizontal format reduces/eliminates the need to lift.
This method is also
commonly homemade, with a number of instructions/ plans etc available online
(with a little research), therefore this may be the most cost effective for the
beginner, starting out.
Any also prefer this method
as it is deemed 'more natural'; the bees construct their own honeycomb
structure, also allowing for the honey comb to be utilised. This does however
mean that improperly formed combs can break off and a greater level of
attention and potential intervention is required. Some also experience issues
with ventilation and heat retention over winters (not too much of an issue in
the tropics).

Another increasingly
popular hive here in Australia is the 'Flow hive'. This is a newcomer to the
market being developed by an Australian family, who became one of the world
most successful crowdfunding campaigns. Launching their patented idea on
Indiegogo in February 2015. This product is adaptable to other hive setups (particularly
the Langstroth) and for the lowest box is primarily the same. But the honey box
comprises of two moulded sections creating a honey comb form. These are then
moved (using a key) to split the form, draining the honey content.
The idea being there is less
disruption to the colony when extracting honey, less equipment and time required,
and (according to their website, and the prompt to develop this method) fewer
bee injuries/ squashed during the process. I personally cannot comment on this
as I don't know of anyone who has one, or seen one in action (though I am
curious).
Downside is the initial
purchase is more pricey; although this should be offset by the need for
equipment and time for extracting honey- hot knives, honey extractor/spinner,
filtering equipment etc.
The colony, all members of a honey bee colony start as eggs and undergo complete “metamorphosis”,
passing through the larvae (legless ‘gr
ubs’ that feed on honey, pollen and
nectar to pupal (bee young), before becoming adults that perform specialist tasks.
Queens are the only members of a colony
able to lay fertilised eggs.
Workers bees are the largest population within a colony and are entirely
female, but they are unable to produce fertilized eggs. If there is no queen they may lay ‘unfertilized eggs’, which become male
drones.
Workers forage for pollen tend
to all other bees and larvae, ventilate
the hive and defend the nest. The average life span of worker bees is
approximately six weeks.
Drones are male and have only one task: to
fertilize new queens.
Swarms are a natural part of colony behaviour, and
are generally the result of overcrowding within the existing hive and/or the
presence of multiple queens. In which case the older queens will leave with approximately
half of the hive’s worker bees, leaving the new queen in the hive with the rest
of the workers. Whilst swarming is a
natural cycle for bees, in domesticated
bees most bee keepers attempt to prevent this occurring through “splitting”
hives.
One of the most
misunderstood things I found out from keeping bees, is that whilst swarming
honey bees are generally at their most docile; as they do not have young or a
nest to defend and as such, their incentive to sting is reduced. Although they
will still attack if provoked, as they still have a queen to defend.
In the open a ‘swarm’ maybe
encouraged into an artificial hive; as they are actively seeking a new home.
This is a cost effective means to obtaining a colony given you know what you
are doing. Often mistaken for ‘swarms’ are wild hives that may have been
constructed in hollow trees, building cavities etc. These are far more
difficult (if not impossible) to remove and may require pest management to
assist.
So that’s the basics as I
understand it. So over the past six months our ‘nucleus’ has been allowed to
develop into its own colony within the two box (high) hive. Sometimes I have
heard these ‘boxes’ or layers referred to as ‘super’. Once there was evidence
of the “brood” (formation, larvae etc.) in half of the frames of the second box
we placed a third on top; separated by a “queen excluder”.
This should allow for our
colony to continue to grow, whilst the plastic barrier allows the rest of the
colony to enter the upper most box, but no the queen. This is what is referred
to as a “honey super”. Therefore the colony can build honeycomb and honey, but
there should not be any fertilised eggs (as the queen is unable to get in
there). This allows the queen and larvae to feed from and inhabit the lower box/es,
leaving us harvest from the highest box; safe in the knowledge that we are not
harming the young or the queen, and therefore the future of our colony/hive.
So to our
first harvest!
The top
box, or honey super now had four ‘full’ frames of “capped honeycomb” also known as "capped frames" and two
partials. “Capped” refers to the bees covering the comb with wax once the cell
is full. Therefore you want to harvest the capped frames. Now I doubted myself (given
this was my first harvest) as some of the frames were not filled to the edges
and some were thicker than others.
This is where I wish I had had
another set of hands with me to take photos- I had had the best of intentions
in that respect, however this does become a sticky process. So between not
wanting to aggravate the colony more than necessary and not wishing to sticky
my phone, am afraid I can only try again next time… And in all honestly why I
contemplated not writing this post.
In all
honesty the bees were rather accommodating (may have had something to do with
me being more appropriately dressed- lesson learned). So I swiftly transferred the
four full frames into an unused box- for easier transport.
Then using
a ‘hot knife’, following the frame as a guide. I opened the capped honey comb
into a food grade container, placing each frame immediately into the
extractor/spinner.
I read a
post that suggested capping one side at a time, so the honey wasn’t spun back
on itself. I am not convinced this had any affect, but it did mean the frame
wasn’t oozing as much when I uncapped the second side (given I had spun some of
the honey out already.
After quite
some effort and spinning I did repeat the knife process a few times and
eventually use a needle scraper to open some of the lower cells that the knife
hadn’t reached. And spun some more.
Once
satisfied with my efforts, and if I am honest I wasn’t sure there was that much
in the bottom of the extractor… and there was some still in the cells. I guess
I left I shouldn’t be greedy and leave some for the bees.
I returned
the frames to the top box; leaving the honeycomb formation (and some honey) on
them, ready for refilling.

We then
released the honey into food grade containers before filtering. Now you can
purchase honey vats with filters and taps. To transfer into and then bottle. As
We hadn’t quite got that far (and this is only for ourselves) We filtered the
honey through paint strainer into a purpose bought stainless steel bucket. This
was then siphoned into jars. This is considered raw, filtered honey. This actually produced around 6kg!
The honeycomb
residue and honey mess collected in the food grade container during ‘uncapping’
we transferred to an oven dish (via a sieve- removing the largest particles) and heated until melted. This we removed,
allowed to cool- separating the wax, as it floats to the top and sets and most of the other undesirable particles. Once lifted off and removed we then strained it as before, providing another kilo +. Only we used this honey to
attempt Meade (honey wine), as it is 'heat treated' and often thought to be less suitable for consuming raw. General advise seems to be best for cooking... So will let you know how that goes in 6-12 months.