Day 206 Nabiac Sunday 30th December 2012

Hi folks,

A day of learning for us today. After a sunny start the day gave way to clouds.

After pottering for a while we swung into our task of the day which was honey gathering.

We suited up into our protective clothing which made us teletubby lookalikes. Anna was our instructor and showed us how to smoke the hives, remove the boxes, take out the frames. sweep off the bees and put the racks back in the box to keep bees out. We also had to identify and squash the small hive beetle  which does nasty things to the honey.

The frames were then taken up to the shed for the extraction process. Many hands were on deck including house guests and their children. The wax capping was cut from the front of the honeycomb to allow the honey to be centrifuged out. Susan was also scraping the caps with a metal comb to clean up any non cut caps. The beeswax is used as a base for skin medications.

I was running the centrifuge for the whole day. Generally around three minutes in each direction since the cells have a membrane across the centre to give one cell on each side. The honey was then screened and decanted into the appropriate containers. Total for the day about 157kg. It was a long day but it didn't matter because we were doing something new and interesting. I accepted 1.5kg of honey of a special type known as Jelly Bush honey.  I can't speak for Susan but I sampled a lot of honey today! A very enjoyable day!

T1 &T2

The smoker filled with pine needles

Removing the racks

When there are a large number of bees on the rack a tap on the ground gives you a pile of bees, which walk back into the hive

Moving a rack

Moving the boxes

Colin, a guest, removing the wax capping with knife

Closer up

Susan with the metal comb

Centrifuging out the honey. It looks faster than it is due to the video camera technology or lack of it.

Honey comb after centrifuging

Close of of the hexagon cells made by the bees from wax

Our reward 1.5kg of Jelly Bush honey

night folks

Simon