Our first Bee Buddy event of 2021 was held Sunday, June 27. The weather had been rainy for days, but we lucked out and the morning turned out beautiful – low 70’s and partly cloudy. Bill discussed some bee basics, talked about what’s going on with the bees currently, and what he looks for during a hive inspection to know if the bees are doing well or if they need beekeeper help. We also discussed honey bee behavior, and how to avoid stings (pro tip: don’t act like a bear!) After our talk, we donned our head nets and got into the hives. Kudos to all who attended, everyone arrived with their socks pulled up around their pant legs!
We were able to follow Bill and Kate along as we inspected three hives. We even saw the queen bee in one! Then, it was on to the sweet stuff. Bee Buddies watched as Bill cut the caps off honey frames, spun them out in the honey extractor, and Kate pulled the bucket out to bottle some of the bees’ delicious white spring honey. We all enjoyed tasting the honey on crackers – and, let’s be honest – by the spoonful. Everyone went home with a small jar of the day’s extracted honey. We continued extracting after everyone left, and were able to get about 200 lbs of spring honey.
We’re looking forward to another successful Bee Buddy event in July!
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- Bee Yard at the Theosophical Society in Wheaton
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- Bees leaving the hive
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- Bees entering the hive
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- Extraction and Honey Tasting Area
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- Honey Extraction Tent
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- Honey Extraction Tent
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- Bill shares his bee knowledge with the group
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- About to pull a frame out of the hive
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- Inspecting a frame of freshly drawn wax
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- Bees on a frame of nectar
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- Bees hard at work
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- Bill discusses what we saw in the hive
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- Uncapping a thin layer of wax from a honey frame
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- Uncapping the frame
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- A frame of capped honey
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- Uncapped honey, ready for the extractor
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- Wax cappings – we crush and strain these to extract as much honey as we can, then melt down the wax
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- Freshly extract light spring honey, straight from the hive to the bottle