Honey Goods Happenings;
Its true harvesting honey and beeswax is part of incentive in keeping Honey Bees. But once we get to know these awesome creatures harvesting a Honey Bee crop is second in nature to how they actually improve our lives through harvesting our own garden varieties and our health.
I hope by sharing with you a peek inside Honey Goods LLC apiary Happenings will help you understand the influence of and becoming a partner with natures beautiful creature, our precious Honey Bee.
October 2025
September 2025
September begins the harvest. Beekeepers can harvest for Honey, Beeswax, Pollen and Propolis. There is also a dearth the Honey Bee’s are experiencing. A honey bee dearth means we are in between growing seasons as the weather is extremely dry and hot. All of the vegetation the honey bees rely on are dry or at the end of their growth. Pollen and Nectar is infrequent right now. It is also the time Beekeepers start planning for winter survival observing how much to harvest if harvesting is an option at all.
Prior to September Honey Bees were busy foraging; bringing in as much pollen, nectar and resin. Feeding the established Queen and encouraging her to lay as many eggs as she possibly can. All of these activities increase the population, ensures the strength to protect, the ability to forage and the capacity to build out the hive with food, sealing the hive with propolis and building up the hive strength with honey comb.
Those pesky Yellow Jackets are in full force attacking the Honey Bees and trying to infiltrate the hive and consume all the protein available. A strong Honey Bee colony can defend against the Yellow Jackets or other aggressive pests. The posted honey bee guards will alert the colony and a devise attack will ensure on the yellow jacket attempting to invade. It takes several Honey Bees to deter a yellow jacket but it is worth it to the honey bees to protect their precious commodity inside.
This is also the time the mite buildup begins. As the Queen lays more eggs, the mites crawl inside each hexagon cell and lays a single egg. If the cell is sealed with a mite inside, the mite will begin feeding off the fat bodies of the larvae. Mites also defecate inside the cell introducing viruses. If the larvae develop into a honey bee they will be born sick with disease and no way to combat the sickness.
The Beekeepers role is to help protect the colonies from yellow jackets, mites and hunger; Keep the colony build up progressing.
Putting out wasp and hornet traps slightly deter the carnivorous pests from the Honey Bee colony. I personally spend an hour each day killing the yellow jackets that are attacking the colony.
Hive inspections are very important and tricky this time too. While a hive box is open, there is heat loss, an invasion of yellow jackets seeking to sneak inside, angry birds have nothing on a hungry colony. Sometimes the Honey Bees can run off the most experienced Beekeeper. We will promptly increase food supply and try again another day.
To investigate for potential mite problems the beekeeper must dive deep in to the bottom two brood boxes to investigate the Queen’s laying pattern. Is there a Queen? A queen-less hive at this time means the yellow jackets were able to invade and kill the protein rich queen. If there is a Queen, are the laying patterns solid or sporadic? If sporadic there is a mite problem and the beekeeper must solve or react with a correct remedy. Is the Queen staying in the brood boxes? If not, a Queen excluder will be placed above the boxes to keep the Queen in the brood box. Are the honey bees producing honey and bee bread? If not, there is a possibility the colony will not survive the winter. The Beekeeper will take appropriate action to improve the situation and the colony is now not a candidate for harvesting honey or beeswax and the Beekeeper will increase mite treatments. Ninety percent of mite treatments cannot be applied when honey is available to harvest. So, the Honey boxes will be removed the mite treatments will be applied. This can be problematic if the mite count is high and the colony must be treated.
Honey Bees are grumpy this time of year. They are hungry and their population buildup is highly competitive for food. Some colonies will rob each other to steal the precious food stores inside a neighboring colony. They may bump into someone too close to the hive giving a warning to back away. During a dearth all pollinators are competing for the decrease in food source. You may even witness a variety of pollinators in conflict over a food source.
Beekeepers prepare a water/ sugar/ supplemental feed for the honey bees. The feed is placed in feeders inside the hive boxes for the colony to consume and feed other bees. To support the wide array of pollinators a water trough can be used to help feed everyone. I believe a water trough brings together a community of pollinators that you can admire up close. And yes, those pesky carnivores can be thumb crushed if you are brave. I do not encourage Humming Bird feeders as it is more problematic for the humming bird than the honey bees.
We have started our honey and beeswax harvest from Colonies that are abundant in their winter stores. What you are witnessing in the five frame nuc box is the giving back to the hardworking girls to clean the beeswax. These are smaller weaker hives that the beekeeper is mindful to increase their stores and help through the winter. You can observe closely their tongues and jaws manipulating the beeswax to get the last drop of honey and even collectively chew the beeswax. The Honey Bees will bring back in to their hive to feed the colony inside or place selectively in a honeycomb cell. When the beeswax is cleaned it is collected and the process of rending beeswax begins.
