Thumper, I think you need an observation hive in the living room You'd love that, as long as they don't find a way out to the kitchen!

Whelp….I’m almost done.

Had hoped to be finished before we went on vacation but weather and work didn’t cooperate. Plants are all doing well. Got the stands for the hives done today before the rain hit. Tomorrow I’m installing soaker hoses across the tops of all the raised beds in a loop and then mounting two raised sprinklers on each side of the hives mounting them to the honeysuckle panels. I will put a “Y” with valves to the two system so I can either just soak the raised beds or broadcast water the whole area. It’s taken me a lot longer than I had planned but I like how it’s turned out…. Hope to have bees within the next week or two.

Each stand will hold two hives…



The inside panels have coral honeysuckle and the outside has star jasmine…. Plants are doing well and hopefully will be mostly filled in by the the end of summer…





Part of tomorrow’s irrigation system project….

Finally I am ready for the bees…..

Got soaker hoses over the raised beds and also mounted sprinklers so can water either way…

Looks good

You have everything stocked up to make them happy?

After seeing Bobs observation hive we’ve been looking for somewhere to build one, my wife wanted one in her office but her medical malpractice/liability insurance company didn’t like the idea very much at all but we will have one eventually somewhere around here with a sign that says break glass in case of armed intruders

Good lawd Thumper, think out of the box a little, Them bees are clearly "service bees", tell the ins company you've already ordered the 50k service bee vest...........

How’s everyone’s hives going? We’re about to start harvesting a little honey this week and get a payday to all the stings I endured so far this year

I noticed the they capped most of the frames. And wasn’t putting new nectar in so I pulled 12 suppers yesterday and extracted them today.

I’ll be putting the empty frames out tomorrow for the to clean them out before putting them away. Last year I captured a swarm in the frames when I did this 😊

That’s awesome Steve, how much honey did you get from those 12 supers?

The total was 347lbs. Not all of the suppers were full and I also had 10 frames with wax foundation that I’m going to use for cut comb. First time I’ve done that..

Put the comb honey frames in the freezer for now. I need to order boxes to put 4oz portions in

I had no idea you could do this.

You have to start with wax foundation or let them draw out the comb from a starter strip at the top

I havent hardley went in looking for honey yet, I know I have a few supers rtg, spent so much resources building hives, I don't expect too much.

Great haul Steve, I always just cut the comb to fit in whatever bottle I was using, price is still higher since comb is valuable, I know many like the Ross rounds, but geometrically that seems odd to me lol. I know several places sell the square sets as well

First frame of honey! 14 months in the making. I wasn’t really prepared to take the entire super but couldn’t help myself and just took one frame. So excited!

Looks great. Enjoy the honey 🍯

Brady buck that is awesome and some good looking color, go get the rest before they use it for food in this dearth unless that is your preference.

Beautiful frames of honey!!!

We’ve pulled a little more honey and found a couple today that tasted like citrus and even smelled like it. Any clue where that nectar came from? It’s an extremely light Golden color and I can’t seem to find the source of it. It looks nothing like the other honey we’ve pulled and doesn’t taste like it either. It’s the best tasting honey any of us have ever had and came from 2 hives out in the boonies down in the Red River bottoms. It pretty much tastes like it came straight from orange trees but it has me stumped, any clues?

It’s from locust trees. I get the same type of honey from my hives. Very citrusy and light in color

Your right it does taste similar to orange blossom honey

That would definitely make sense, this area is loaded with Locust tree’s,

Pulled about 80# from 3 yesterday, just a guess on the weight, had to move it in nucs since I'm not supposed to lift 30# or more.

Time to start working out a Mite treatment plan for August! Need clean hives to produce strong winter bees and those damn mites are likely outnumbering bee growth right now. Actually saw a live mite running around on a bottom board, so it's mite wash time for me.

I typically use oxalic acid vapor to treat my hives. I have one of those Lorombbee vaporizers

It takes less than a minute to treat each hive. I’ll treat them every 5 days for 4-5 treatments. I’m up to 19 hives now so this is the most cost effective option for me

I use OA as well, but as many have found, including myself, it has serious limitations at times. I have done the every 3 days for 7 treatments and that was stout. The per box allowed by the epa, has proven half the needed strength according to several universities.

Can't beat OA during low/no brood time in the winter when most mites are out of cells and exposed.

Bees were delivered today! All set up….

Looks great. You may want to consider adding a second brood box to help them manage the heat