Lughnasa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Artemis Moon<\/p>\n
Artemis Hives have given up their surplus honey, all under the Artemis moon.\u00a0 We started this morning with Kate putting a plastic drop cloth down on the deck while I went out to the colonies to see what was still there.\u00a0 The divide had, as I expected, nothing.\u00a0 That means, oddly enough, that they will need to be fed over the next few weeks before winter sets in.\u00a0 The parent colony, the big dog as far as honey production, produced a good bit.\u00a0 Two full supers plus maybe half of a third.\u00a0 We’re well over three gallons now, probably closer to five.\u00a0 I’ll get an exact count soon.<\/p>\n
Honey extraction has its straightforward side.\u00a0 Take the full frames, stick them long side up in the honey extractor and turn it on.\u00a0 If there is a significant amount of ![\"400_honey-extraction_0239\"](\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/400_honey-extraction_0239-300x225.jpg\" "\\"400_honey-extraction_0239\\"")
capping, there is an additional step, uncapping.\u00a0 Kate did this chore with the electric uncapping knife.\u00a0 We had at least one extractor run with 80% or more capped.\u00a0 This honey was darker.\u00a0 We can bottle it right out of the extractor after filtering.<\/p>\n
(Kate inspecting a frame to see if the honey has been extracted.)<\/p>\n
The rest had less to no capping.\u00a0 That honey has a higher moisture content and, as I said yesterday, has to be heated to kill the yeast and thereby avoid fermentation.\u00a0 The taste difference is insignificant to my palate.<\/p>\n
When we spun out the first six frames, all went well.\u00a0 We emptied the extractor, took the honey in and Kate heated it.\u00a0 By the time I brought the next two supers full of honey frames, however, the bees had found us.\u00a0 It took a bit longer because we were further from the hive than the honey house (at least the building I’d intended to serve as a honey house.), but they found us.\u00a0 After that, all sticky, sweet operations had numerous bees in attendance.\u00a0 They were not aggressive, but they made the process a bit more nerve racking.<\/p>\n
Once again the heat caused sweat to cascade over my eyebrows and into my eyes, inside the bee suit where the eyes cannot be reached by hand.\u00a0 I wore the bee suit because the bees are more defensive during honey removal.\u00a0 Makes sense.\u00a0 But that damned bee suit amps up the humidity and heat.\u00a0 Not fun.<\/p>\n
We now have half-pint, pint and quart jars filled with an amber liquid, a sweet product made, collected and bottled right here at Artemis Hives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lughnasa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Artemis Moon Artemis Hives have given up their surplus honey, all under the Artemis moon.\u00a0 We started this morning with Kate putting a plastic drop cloth down on the deck while I went out to the colonies to see what was still there.\u00a0 The divide had, as I expected, nothing.\u00a0 That means, oddly … Continue reading Bee Diary: Honey Extraction, Day 2<\/span>