Bottling honey

Spent the morning bottling up some wonderful comb honey.  This honey is called..."chunk comb honey".  A piece of new honeycomb is placed in the jar and then covered with delicious fresh honey. This is always in limited supply. 

 Remember if the label doesn't say Carolina Honeybees - Pickens.  Then it is not :) Look for the happy bee logo.

Bees in Clover

 Our strange wet weather year continues.  Temps have been colder overall and all the nectar sources are blooming off normal schedule.  We have lots of clover in the yards.  Not my favorite honey but the bees seem to like it.

During really humid weather it is normal to see bees "sitting out on the porch" . They move outside to help regulate the amount of moisture inside. Nectar being brought in increases the humidity inside too and this has to be reduced to process the nectar into honey !

Gathering pollen, just as vital as nectar

Honeybees must have pollen to raise brood (babies) and since workers only live about 6 weeks during the summer, this is very important.  Here a worker is carrying a large load of white clover pollen !

Enjoy my video of the beginning of the honey harvest for this year.  I am not a professional videographer so be kind.

Bees Wax !

Honeybees create beeswax from glands on the underside of their abdomen.   They use the wax scales to form the hexagon shape of honeycomb cells.  The comb will be used as a nursery for young bees as well as food storage.  Beeswax is very fascinating and mankind has not been able to identify all the chemical substances present in this special product.



Memorial Day Swarm 2013

 

Memorial Day 2013 .  It was my plan to spend a relaxing afternoon on the couch.  The bees however had other plans and I spent the hot afternoon getting a swarm down from the top part of a cedar tree.  Oh the joys of beekeeping... LOL