Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Late Summer Harvest
Your first-year colony probably won't have a harvestable amount of honey before late
summer, if then. The conventional procedures for harvesting are outlined later and are
simple enough to carry out alone, and even easier with help.
But now, preparations for winter begin in earnest, and they need attention. As day
length shortens and weather cools, the queen's productivity slows and there will be less
brood. Your drone frame may be mostly empty, but keep it in the hive until you harvest,
replacing it at season's end with a full frame of honey for overwinter stores. Check the
brood nest very carefully for signs of disease, because this is when problems you may
have missed earlier begin to emerge in a first-year colony.
There will probably be incoming nectar for a bit, but examine closely the amount of
stored honey, making sure there's at least the 60 pounds (27.2 kg) needed for the slow
season. Be mindful that a first-year colony may need additional feeding to supplement
that ration and be prepared with feeders and sugar.
Removing Honey
If at the end of the season, before fall sets in and before you apply any necessary medic-
ations, your colony has surplus honey, it's time to harvest. Countless beekeeping topics
explain nearly countless ways to do this, but for a hobby beekeeper with only a very
few hives, neighbors, and not much time, there's only one good way to do this.
Fume boards are easy to make. This one is made from scrap pieces of 1″ × 2″ (2.5 ×
5.1 cm) lumber and plywood. The inside is lined with something as simple as thick, ab-
sorbent cardboard. You can purchase preassembled models that come with cloth liners
.
Using a Fume Board
To remove a box with frames full of capped honey and leave the bees unagitated in the
colony below, you must use a fume board. This simple device looks much like a tele-
scoping outer cover, except it is the exact outside dimensions of a super, not larger, so
it sits on top of the super below it. You can make or buy one. The principle behind this
technique is fundamental. On the inside of the fume board is an absorbent pad. It can
be flannel, cardboard, or wood. You apply the correct amount of a chemical repellent
