Harvesting Honey, Part 3 - Removal

Removing the honey supers and putting them into the car for extraction.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• honey
• bees
• extract
• insect

[VividlyConquered]

I'm kind of a noob when it comes to gardening/bee keeping or any kind of self sufficiency-like hobby. Being 18 and living in suburbia (moving to a move rural area)... I'm curious, is beekeeping a bad idea if you have kids? particularly if they play in the same plot of land where you keep the bee houses? In others words, do the beehives attract a lot more attention in the general vicinity, or do the bees focus only on the hive?

[newpotatohead]

@VividlyConquered - generally, my observation has been that as long as the beehive is left alone, the bees will not bother anybody. However, if some neighborhood children bang on the hive with a stick, chances are good they will get stung. If there is a way to enclose the hive within a fenced area to prevent access from stray dogs, children, etc, I am sure the chances are better that peace will be maintained. BTW, a friend of mine has 2 kids and about 15 beehives in his yard (he has 10 acres)...

[msbunnypaws]

Why do you do this? Is this a hobby? Do you keep the honey for yourself? Is this how you earn your living? Do you bottle and sell it? This seems like an odd thing to do. But I keep a garden and eat the vegetables I grow, so maybe it's like that.

[newpotatohead]

@msbunnypaws - it's like growing your own vegetables, sort of. More like a rancher than a farmer, though. Got to keep the bees happy. I find that I plant more flowers in my garden now, and am always looking for a place to plant more! If I had more room, I would sell any surplus honey, but it always seems to go very fast...

[moonrunrs]

Really interesting. I know nothing about bees, how did you force all the bees out of the top boxes you put in the car? I didn't get that from watching the prior video.

I just discovered a feral bee hive in my backyard today, which is why I'm watching your videos. is it possible or desirable for me to move my bees into a manmade bee hive? I have no idea what kind of bees are or anything though. I don't know if they are a type that produces a lot of honey.

Thanks, great videos!!

[newpotatohead]

@moonrunrs - I used an escape board to get the bees out of the honey supers. An escape board is a device which allows the bees to leave the honey supers, and not get back in.

It is possible to catch a swarm. search around youtube, maybe some kind soul has posted a video of catching a swarm. Good luck!

[huntingsurvival]

where are all the bees :O ?

[moonrunrs]

@moonrunrs Ah, saw the next video and your answer about the honey supers. But what makes the bees want to go down there? Is it because the queen is down there and the bees want to be with her?