Second harvest - it's been a good year for our hives

We pulled off three more supers last night and spun it all out resulting in an additional 6 gallons. This second harvest yielded a much darker honey, which I understand is pretty normal. That makes a total of 20 gallons for the year, which is pretty amazing considering many MABA beekeepers are getting little or nothing this year. What makes it even more significant is the fact that both of these hives were new this year, one from a nuc, the other a captured swarm.

There were many frames in both hives that had a significant amount of honey in them, but not enough of it capped to be harvested, so in addition to the second deep brood boxes that have a significant amount of honey, each hive now has a 50% full super going into fall and winter. This should help ensure a good winter and a fast start in the spring.

Recent photos

New nuc

We picked up the new nuc on Saturday, and placed it in our "apiary". Because of the cold weather on Sunday it was decided to leave them in the nuc box until it warms up a bit, hopefully soon. On Sunday, even though it was not very warm and a bit windy, the bees from the new nuc, once oriented to their new location, began to rob the existing, weak hive. It looks like it will remain cold for a few days, but as soon as possilble it will be necessary to go into the existing hive and see if any of these bees survived the attack. At the same time we will move much, if not all, of the stores in this hive into the new hive and install the nuc.

We were hoping for two strong hives this year, but unless I can find another nuc sometime soon it looks like we will be remaining at one.

Trouble in the hive

It appears that we may well not have a queen, and if we do, she is not doing very well. On inspection this past weekend there still is no brood, larvae or eggs, and the queen was not spotted. In addition, there are not many bees in the hive.

As I had ordered a new nuc to start a second hive, it may be best to combine these bees with the new hive.

Photos from over the past year

Here are some photos of our bees