After removing the escape boards, I lean them against the front of the hive so that the bees can walk back into their hive.
The bees are given the harvested honey comb back (boxes in the center) so that they can harvest the remaining honey from the comb and store it in the hives (to the left and to the right). The bees will lick these frames clean and then I can store the comb for the winter (after 24 hours in the freezer).
I have assessed the final weight of the filtered honey and it came to 57 lbs. Excellent! This is equal to an almost full 5 gallon bucket of honey!
They honey is selling a lot faster than I had anticipated. I will be sold out in a couple of weeks, and I have only told a handful of people that I have honey for sale.
I am saving 15 lbs of honey, for myself, to hold me over until the next harvest.
Now I just have to make sure that my bees have adequate foods stores for winter and that the queens are healthy and laying well to ensure that I will have bees in the Spring when I open the hives up.
On Thanksgiving I will wrap the hives in tar paper or something similar to insulate them against the cold of winter, while ensuring that there is adequate ventilation (to allow moisture to escape the hives), and 2 entrances for the bees to come in and out of, when weather provides, to use the bathroom and clean the hives.
Over the winter I will purchase, assemble, and paint 3 more complete hives for the new bees I am going to install in the spring. This will give me a total of 5 hives, which is about the highest number of hives I will have time for, with a new baby on the way in early February and two full time businesses to run.
Its been a great year of beekeeping. I learned a lot about bees, and a lot about myself. At age 31 it amazes me that this journey through life continues to be so astonishing. I am so grateful for that.
