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beekeeping year

  • Thread starter Thread starter andrewschwab
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andrewschwab

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So for the other beekeeper's out there. Was wondering how your beekeeping year was this year?
Are your bees ready for winter?
Is this anything you plan on doing different next year?
 
I'm down in sunny Florida and really don't have any type of severe winter weather. This is my third year in Florida, was a bee keeper in Pennsylvania for about six years before moving south. The difference between here and there is amazing. I was loosing two out of four hives every year during the winter up north. Now that I'm in Florida the only hive I've lost was a split that was taken over by small hive beetles. So far this year I have harvested 25 gallons out of four hives and am looking at least that much still on the hives. I currently have one hive that has three full shallow supers and two full deeps sitting on it that need harvesting. My other three hives have two or three full shallows apiece which need to be pulled also. Plans for next year include finding a market for all this honey, think I'll try setting up a table at the local flea market. I've almost run out of bottles and space for all the different meads I have been brewing.
 
I'm sure if you needed to unload some extra honey, you could find some willing takers on Gotmead!!!
 
andrewschwab said:
So for the other beekeeper's out there. Was wondering how your beekeeping year was this year?
Are your bees ready for winter?
Is this anything you plan on doing different next year?
Click to expand...

This was my first year. I started with one package of Italians. They seemed to build up very fast, and it looks like I'll get a decent amount of honey off them and still leave them with more than enough stores for winter. I have yet to to extract, treat for mites and wrap the hive.

Next year, I plan to make a split, run two hives and harvest a lot more honey.

Overall, it's been a fun first year: a hobby that didn't take up too much time and will provide lots of honey for mead and gifts. I'm glad I did it.
 
Just finished my last extraction for the year. I ended up splitting the big extraction into two thanks to hurricane Fay. Pulled 12 gallons of palmetto honey the week before the storm hit. The honey was a little looser than expected, maybe from all the rain and humidity which kept the hive temperature low. No matter, the honey has a great sharp flavor and the gallon of straight mead I started is coming along fine. Just harvested another 11 gallons today, raided the hives this morning and spent most of the afternoon extracting a dark wildflower/palmetto mix. The bees were gentle and not in the least bit aggressive which was nice, sometimes the girls just want to show who is the boss in the worst way. Still need to clean up and deal with two or three pounds of wax but it has been a good day. Total for the year out of four hives is about 45 gallons of mixed honey. Time to get to brewing a harvest (straight) mead from washing the caps and buckets and maybe I'll try a scuppernog grape pyment with some fresh fruit.
 
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