10 Jun Honey Harvest @ KatieBear’s
Honey Harvest @ KatieBear’s
One chilly December day last year we suddenly noticed that our bees were gone? At first there were dead bees and signs of robbery …The robbers had been chompin’ on honey whilst spitting out beeswax. Was it Hornets or Wasps or perhaps another Honey Bee colony that attacked our hive?!
So what had happened to the colony and where’s the Queen at? At this point we can only guess looking at the clues inside of the hive. Annika Blessed Bee, Plant Buddies Guest Teacher, concludes that the Queen must have been weakened at one point looking at her minimal laying pattern and capped brood. She laid in a pattern that was deposited well but scarce. There was plenty of pollen and honey stores but maybe a cold snap had impacted the hive and made it vulnerable to invaders?
Together with the Serbian Carniolian bees we lost half the honey harvest to these attackers but to still be able to harvest liquid pounds of wildflower honey is nothing but pure abundance. Local immune system medicine at its finest. And as local as it gets!
To harvest, clean and inspect the deserted hive with Annika we brought it to KatieBear’s house who magically the night before had manifested an entire honey processing filtering kit that a neighbor was giving away for free! … Universe moves in interesting ways when you work with bees. Needless to say; timing was sweet.
After full inspection of the “the crime scene” we could harvest about 4 full bars of raw organic wildflower honey comb. JayBear, from Plant Buddies committee and who just turned 18 was awarded the 1st jar with a prime slice of honey comb for her graduation accomplishments and all the new freedoms awaiting on the horizon. Congrats young queen, fly free!!
Thank You Annika Blessed Bee for all your help. We love learning from you. There is so much to the nurturing BeeQueendom with all its innovation and abundance of intelligence that might not be visible to the eye until you take a deep dive into the hive.