# First Honey Harvest



## SWAT253 (May 11, 2015)

I completed my first year of beekeeping in March. I'm on my 3rd queen ( that I know of); my colony outgrew itself and has survived at least two large swarms. My TBH has been at 100% capacity since April, but I have no room to expand to more colonies due to HOA restrictions. My neighbors have been very tolerant, but I don't want to push my luck.

Last year, I successfully fought the urge to take honey. I left everything in place and the bees wintered well and came back with a vengeance this Spring. It was well worth the wait. Last week, I caught my queen looking around on a honey bar, so I took four bars that were 75% capped honey and the rest pollen and larvae. I figured I'd avoid having too many mixed bars and I didn't want to do a lot of cutting and sorting. I left 5 honey bars that were mostly uncapped honey. 

I did a crush & strain process that yielded about 2.5 - 3 gallons of honey. I filled every empty jar I had and had to buy more. The honey was thin and runny and had a sour smell but tasted great. I ordered a refractometer to get a better idea if my honey was in a safe range. 2 days later, (Thanks, Amazon Prime!) my first sampling came in at slightly over 20% water content. I emptied the jars into a very large plastic bowl, placed a cooling rack on top and used a USB computer fan plugged into USB phone charger to blow air over the honey for about 48 hours, while stirring several times a day. The result was slightly less than 17% water content and a thick luscious nectar that is hard to beat. I could have taken it lower, but I was happy with the outcome after 2 days. Many people say, "if it's capped it's ready" and that may very well be true, but the quality of a few percentage points was very noticeable in my case.

I am attaching a photo of what is left; funny how many people "LOOOOOOOVE HONEY" after all the work has been done... I've gifted several jars and will save some for the holidays. I've made sure my immediate family (my most supportive fans) receive all they want. The rest is to hold us over until next summer while making sure the bees get to keep a fair amount. I just have to remind my wife not to give away any more pints!!!

I learned a lot from my first harvest; I will probably take design some type of excluder to keep the queen off the honey bars, plus I'll may figure out a way to add a a "top bar super" on one end. I plan to expand to more colonies if I can find the space, so the " super" idea may not be an issue. In any case, the rewards are too many to pass up!







The small jars contain cut-comb. Just enough to hook the end user...

So grateful for my bees and for everything I've learned from them and from reading the many informative posts on this site. Now, the wax melting begins... Thanks!


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## sakhoney (Apr 3, 2016)

those look great / good job


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## Richard P (Feb 12, 2016)

Lookin good. I just saw some comb in honey at Publix the other da. It was in a 12 oz. jar. said it came from a Ga. company, but a product of Hungary. They were getting 13 bucks for it. good luck... They look good


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## SWAT253 (May 11, 2015)

Thanks! I'm really impressed with the process and it's a boost to my motivation to make arrangements for expansion. I'm getting rave reviews on the honey! My mother in law has already asked for refills and has started saving jars... &#55357;&#56863;


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

Congrats on the harvest.
Now, that would be a good thing to put on a label "MIL Approved".

Alex


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## SWAT253 (May 11, 2015)

AHudd said:


> Congrats on the harvest.
> Now, that would be a good thing to put on a label "MIL Approved".
> 
> Alex


Exactly! I won't steal your idea though! Unless I go with a larger label next round... Not plugging a specific vendor but, I whipped these up on VistaPrint in less than 5 minutes and they were cheap to boot!


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## Beau Diddly (Dec 28, 2015)

SWAT253 said:


> The honey was thin and runny and had a sour smell but tasted great. I ordered a refractometer to get a better idea if my honey was in a safe range. 2 days later, (Thanks, Amazon Prime!) my first sampling came in at slightly over 20% water content. I emptied the jars into a very large plastic bowl, placed a cooling rack on top and used a USB computer fan plugged into USB phone charger to blow air over the honey for about 48 hours, while stirring several times a day. The result was slightly less than 17% water content and a thick luscious nectar that is hard to beat. I could have taken it lower, but I was happy with the outcome after 2 days. Many people say, "if it's capped it's ready" and that may very well be true, but the quality of a few percentage points was very noticeable in my case.


I'm new to beekeeping as well, but haven't had my first harvest. Which refractometer would you recommend? I'm curious of the experience of others as well. I would not have guessed 3% would make a difference, but for a $20 tool, maybe its worth it.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

I run queen excluders in my TBH's with entrances on the long side. Put it 2/3 of the way back and move the "mostly honey bars" behind it. The foragers can come in one of the entrances and not have to squeeze through the excluder. To make it, I just cut a plastic horizontal excluder to the shape of my division board and put it vertically.


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## AvatarDad (Mar 31, 2016)

Beau Diddly said:


> I'm new to beekeeping as well, but haven't had my first harvest. Which refractometer would you recommend? I'm curious of the experience of others as well. I would not have guessed 3% would make a difference, but for a $20 tool, maybe its worth it.


Some websites say "don't buy a cheap one" but that's exactly what I did. I was not ready to drop $200 on one. I bought this for less than $30:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S2E4P4/ref=cfb_at_prodpg

For the most part I've been happy with it. It was calibrated properly (checked with olive oil) from the factory, and I have used it on 3 different harvests. My only complaint is I wish the gauge was a little easier to read. when the honey is at 17% it is easy to decide "this is ok", but I had to pull a partially capped super as part of winter prep the other day, and it was "18 point something". Maybe 18.5... maybe 18.9... it was hard to tell. I'm dehumidifying it just to be safe.

So, I'm not necessarily recommending this one, but if I gave it a letter grade I would give it a "B". Pretty good but not stellar. For the money, I consider it a great value.

Mike


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## typhoontx (May 1, 2013)

My Dad keeps asking me what are I am going to do with all that honey, I tell him so far I've not had any problems getting rid of it, most people once they have had a taste of raw fresh honey will beg you for it  I give my sister in law priority as she has bad allergies and is trying to regularly eat some honey every day as its said that it can help with pollen related allergies but can take a year or more to get any benefit.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

typhoontx said:


> My Dad keeps asking me what are I am going to do with all that honey, I tell him so far I've not had any problems getting rid of it, most people once they have had a taste of raw fresh honey will beg you for it  I give my sister in law priority as she has bad allergies and is trying to regularly eat some honey every day as its said that it can help with pollen related allergies but can take a year or more to get any benefit.


I found it to benefit the allergies within weeks of starting to take the bee pollen on its own.


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