2nd colony!

When we did the big move in May, I left the old box with the old frames in the apiary. The thinking was that if Genesis did swarm, they may well go into this "bait hive". Well, Genesis has not swarmed but a swarm from elsewhere has taken up residence!!!! There were some spare super frames in a box above the main box and they have drawn comb on these and are storing plenty of nectar and pollen. There are a decent number of bees but no eggs or brood yet. They seem of good temperament too. I condensed the frames down to one box and put it all back together. I put the remaining frames in a box in front of the hive for them to rob out any honey and pollen in there. I will check them again next week. If there is a queen there, which I guess there is, and she mates then we may start to see eggs soon.

Extraction

On 22nd May, Steve and I took off the first super. We just had to brush a few bees off the frames. We brought it home in the car on an upturned lid - no drips came out.
I then sliced the wax cappings off with a bread knife and put them into a large sieve. The frames were then put into a nine frame radial extractor borrowed from the BADSBKA. We spun and spun, fast and slow, in both directions and the frames emptied themselves of their golden honey. I left it in the extractor overnight and then ran it into a bottling tank the next day. (Remember to wash out the extractor with COLD water - put plenty in, leave it for half hour and then rinse). From there it was straight forward to put it into jars - got about 22 lbs of Spring honey. Sold most of it to church members!