Extraction: Round 1

My bees are not done capping all of their honey so I decided to take off the majority of it.

The honey looks great again this year. I was able to find a home for two 30lb pails of honey which I sold at a wholesale price because I was given the pails and it was fairly easy to fill. It also saved me the task of bottling them; labeling them and selling them individually.

Here is the current tally of what my hives have given to date:
Blue hive:                                                                            White hive:
1 deep box =     56 lbs + wax honey                                    1 deep box = 56 lbs + wax honey
2 med boxes =  52 lbs + wax honey                                    1 med box  =  26 lbs + wax honey
TOTAL            108 lbs + some extra (in cappings)            TOTAL           82 lbs
Grand Total: 190 lbs so far (from two hives; was a single hive June 13)

I have still have 2 deep boxes (113lbs + wax honey) + 1 med from another hive at home (26lbs + wax honey) = total of 130lbs more left to extract...

Peak population = Lots of honey

My blue hive was split June 13th. I had found some hatched swarm queen cells so I found the old queen and took her and half the hive and placed it beside the blue hive. I placed a queen cell which was ready to emerge in the blue hive in case there was any issues with the swarm queens.

To say the least, the timing was impeccable. Both hives have been doing very well.

This is the time of the year which the hive is experiencing its' peak population; which in turn means that honey collection is at its peak as well. Look how many bees are in the top box!

Lots of bees!

How am I going to lift this honey off?

I am interested in seeing how much honey I will have this year.

Egg frame: Beautiful

This newly drawn frame has lots of eggs. The queen was busy getting all of those eggs laid. As you can see she did not miss many spots.

Young Eggs (look like grains of rice)

 The weird shadowing is due to the trellis surrounding the hives.

Newly drawn frame has new eggs all over!

Sorry for the short post, but the pictures really speak for themselves.

Drone Layer: Oh crap...

I have been having consistant problems with one of my hives. I trapped the queen in the bottom box by placing a queen excluder ontop of the bottom box. She is for sure in the bottom box. I have found her several times.The brood pattern is poor in that hive, and I have finally figured out why. There is a drone layer in the hive. The following pictures are from above the queen excluder.

Why is there larvae above the queen excluder?!

New egg top left

 I am trying to decide how to remove this drone layer. I have dealt with drone layers in previous years, but this year I want to try something less dramatic/destructive. Stay tuned...

Lavender Bloom

Lavender is a great treat for the bees. I took these pictures of a lavender plant which is continually expanding at my parents.

Lavender plant

Bees love lavender

A nearby plant. Click on photo to spot the ants and spider!

 My attempts to grow lavander has been unsuccessful. I may be selecting a poor variety. I am going to attempt to take some of this lavander to grow at my place.