How sweet it is.

Well as usual August is like a whirlwind. Here it is the 20th already and I am so far behind I think I am first.
Its been a very unusual year. Started with a long cold winter that seemed like it was never going to end. Spring finally showed up fashionally late but showed up never the less. Then the heat came. Hot and dry and that played havoc on the forest fires which are still going strong. They say we may see the smoke until winter. We had what seemed like a couple weeks of smoke covered mountains. You could smell it. The bees weren't too impressed either. When we stood there watching them during those smokey days, it was like they were moving in slo-mo. It was bazaar.
Because we were so busy with the motel work and then the evacuees, I thought how clever I would bee if I would removed frames of during the summer, instead of all at once. It worked for a while. I took 9 frames and put them aside. They looked nice and even though it had been so hot and smokey, it appeared we may get a little for ourselves.

So a few days ago, we decided there was enough time to extract the honey. We are so not set up for honey production here at the motel but we were going to make it work. Last year we did it in the kitchen and didn't cover the top of the extractor while spinning it off. Jeepers I swear I was cleaning up honey for a month. So this year we made a cover for it (a sheet of plastic). I had also bought a 36.00 free standing laundry sink and made it into a uncapping  tub. It worked really good. Except I needed a piece of screen or perforated metal for the bottom of it to stop the cappings from going into the bucket below.

So what I did was lay an old rack out of a fridge across the top of the sink, then when I cut off the capping's they would fall thru the rack and lie on the bottom of the sink. The honey then drained thru all the mess and fill up the bucket below (which had a sieve on top of it). I also raised the back of the sink so the honey would drain. The total cost of my uncapping tub was 36.00. I got the fridge rack from the local transfer station for nothing.
Below is our very vintage 2 frame extractor. It isn't pretty but she still works fine. I do have plans on buying a new once we sell out and head back home

Also new this year is this bucket which I splurged on. I love it. It came with the gate valve and 3 filters. Once the honey is run through the finest filter it is so clear. Well worth the money. 

Well that's it for now. Chat soon.

The smokey days of summer

Holy moly, where is the summer going. One minute we are removing the winter wraps, the next we are getting ready to take off the honey.
Its been a whirlwind summer. Things have been crazy around here since the beginning of June.
Last year after having a busy summer at the motel, I didn't get the honey off till the end of August and swore I would never leave it that late again. So Aug 1st came, the rooms were cleaned, laundry was on the go and I said,  that's it, I am going to go pull some frames of honey...well at least start anyways.
So I went out and pulled 6 frames and it looked so nice. I think we will get more than I had thought.

Its been a weird summer. Because of all the forest fires in BC we were smoked in for a long time. When I would go out to the bee yard, it was like the bees were flying in slow motion. They were still going out foraging but were slow. So when I opened up the hive I was surprised.
Today I went out again, I ended up only pulling one frame. There was lots of new honey but some was not capped yet, so would imagine in this heat, it wont be long.
I got to say, our bees are pretty relaxed, even when taking honey...or maybe I am getting used to them giving me heck for opening the hive.  Because I haven't mastered the smoker yet...I don't use it.
I can't wait to get in that hive we combined and get it sorted out. Because we have been so busy, I didn't make the time to organize the hive after they got settled in. So because of my neglect...I have get it in order once the honey comes off. But all the hives seem to be doing good. I have no doubt there will be enough honey for them to eat during the winter and for us to enjoy also.

In my next blog, I will be chatting about the capping tub I am going to build on a budget and talk about our bee club meeting we are having here at the motel.
Take care, I will bee back in a few weeks.