Last year I found a bee box in the back of a friend's shed. I was interested in bees myself but knew nothing so brought it to the shop to sell. One day a cloud of bees appeared and made that box their home. That is when I met David Reinhold.. a local beekeeper. He came and got the swarm and brought the empty box back. After that I noticed that bees still were going in and out of the box. A gal I knew looked in and said that other bees were just cleaning and that there were no bees calling that box home. I watched them all summer "cleaning" and in September I talked to David and wondered if there could be bees in the box after all. He said to look inside. That sounded a bit scary for the "I know nothing about bees" person. But I got brave and lifted the lid. That box was FULL of honey and bees. So full that there was really no room for the bees. David came over and brought another small box to give them space to live. They survived the winter and in the spring I decided to set up a real bee hive. David taught a class at the shop in March and has helped me along the way. Well it is harvest time, nothing I have done before, so I called David. He came over with a bee suit and tools and asked me if I wanted him to do it or did I want to try it. He would walk me through the process. So...
Being our first year and with the amount of bees to feed over the winter, David suggested we do not take out much honey. Some of the frames in the top box were not full so we only got about 2 quarts of honey... not enough to sell at the shop. IT IS AMAZING!! BUT NEXT YEAR! We are splitting this hive in the spring and adding another so fingers crossed we will have honey in the shop next year. Can't wait!
P.S. A bee suit is on my Christmas wish list...
