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.

Splits moved into double boxes

I have moved the single box hives to their more permanent location. This was a feat in itself because it required me to pick up the hives and put them into my vehicle at night. In my first attempt, I was trying to staple a mesh wire on the entrance and it was very warm out and the bees were bearded onto the landing boards. I for some reason forgot to close my veil. Before I realized it, I had 5 bees down my shirt, 10 flying around my face under my veil and 10 stinging me in the face! To say the least, I hadn't ran that fast in quite a while.

Two days later I had a much better strategy. I added a box onto the bigger hive and took off the bottom boards; which left the screened board open. Later at night I just pushed the remaining bees into the hive (which were not many). The entrance was closed with a solid piece of wood and a little bit of duct tape. The hives were loaded into my vehicle and driven 7kms down the road to their permanent home.

Yesterday I was finally able to inspect them and distribute their single boxes into two boxes. The following pictures are what the hives looked like before I split them up.

A look inside the single box hive. Lots of bees

Lots of new honey/wax. Look at how white the wax is.

Almost full frame of honey. Bees are filling and capping.

The single box hives are now doubles.

 The queens are laying well in both hives. I was able to find the queen in the white hive but I was not able to find the queen in the green hive. There was plenty of young larvae in the green hive which indicates that there is a laying queen there.

Honey Flow: Alfalfa

It appears as through one of my hives is enjoying a strong honey flow. I placed empty drawn out frames in their hive 2 weeks earlier and they are putting in a lot of honey and they are capping some even. This will insure that I do receive a honey crop this year.

Honey being capped

This is my blue hive; when I was inspecting it a few weeks ago, I found a swarm queen had emerged and so I did a split and placed my old queen in a new hive beside. This hives' new queen is laying well and the workers are collecting lots of honey.

Side view of honey cells.

A peak into the more center frames show capped frames. In retrospect, I should have taken the frame out to take a picture! It looks like I have a lot of really nice and clear honey.

Capped honey frames

A big thanks going out to my neighbour who has a field of alfalfa in bloom! The bees couldn't have done it as fast without you!

Honey Flow!

Thursday of last week I placed two more brand new short honey supers onto both of my hives in my second yard. These frames were brand new and undrawn.

These are the pictures of the frames when I went to go see the hives this evening. It has been 4 days and there has been two days of partial rain in that mix.

Hives with honey supers on top of brood chambers.

This is what my hives look like now. That is a lot of honey on the left side!

A honey frame after 4 days of work. (Blue Hive)

Close up of honey bees filling in cells with honey (Blue Hive)

Top cover lifted and honey bees at work! (White Hive)

I cannot believe how much honey was collected over the last 4 days. Two of the days had rain!

White Comb

I inspected two of my hives for any indication of swarming. There were some swarm cups present but none had any eggs in them. The honey crop looks good.
Here are some pictures of the honey super that I put on top of my super strong hive on July 19th. It was completely brand new everything. The bees had to draw out all the comb and fill it. They are probably 3/4 or more full now. They are starting to cap some of it. The frame shown is an outermost frame. The honey is super clear and the wax is pure white. There is an alfalfa field which had been in full bloom for the last couple of weeks. I imagine my girls got a bit into that.

See propolis attached to the bees legs on the right!

Outside frame

dripped honey from frame manipulation. See how clear and tongues out!

Under the top box.

A true maze of connecting comb through queen excluder.

By using short honey supers, I will be able to lift them off! It should also allow me to get different types of blooms with different tastes!