This year has been quite the ride. I took on a total of 15 hives this year, and put three of them in Kenya Top Bar Hives, as an experiment. Just something a little different to keep things interesting. So I started the year with 5 each of Italians, Carniolans, and Minnesota Hygenics. I had only two hives swarm that I know of; the Minnies in the KTBH and one hive of Carnis also. I was called to catch a couple of swarms, and ended up about even on the year.
This year I also consolidated my hives at the North Madison apiary. We built really nice hive stands, which raise the hives off the ground and make them level. In the past I'd had two hives at home, and two or four up at the Johnson Farm, but the North Madison site is just so much better in terms of sunlight, especially in the winter. It was very nice to stop driving all over the island during feeding season.
I had two hives die in the first two weeks; not sure the cause but possibly starvation. As the weeks wore on, several hives became really strong, and others were faltering a bit. By early July, the blackberry was open and none of my hives were really getting busy on honey production. I ultimately decided to combine a few hives to give strength, and ended up with a total of 9 hives (2 Kenya TBHs, and 7 standard Langstroth hives). The bees then went crazy with the hot weather, and over the next 2-3 weeks produced about 275# of surplus honey. Whew...after last year's 30#, I really needed some surplus to offset some of the equipment costs I've incurred over the past two years!!! Last year I purchased a very nice extractor, and this year I went to all-Western size hive boxes (which has been a VERY nice change in terms of my back!). Beekeeping on a small scale is definitely a labor of love, but it's always nice to at least pretend you're close to breaking even, ha!
We extracted honey this past Wednesday, and then I bottled most of it yesterday. I am planning to experiment with creamed honey this year, so held some back for that and some for personal use over the next year.
Here are a couple of shots of bottling day, the bear army is coming...
And here are the packages I have for sale for 2010--left to right,
1/2 lb. cork bottle ($6)
2 lb. hive jar ($17)
1 lb. hive jar ($9)
2 lb. soft bear ($17)
3/4 lb. soft bear ($7)
3/4 lb. hex jar ($7)
All the best,
Ben McCafferty
ben@kbmc.net
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