My first harvest of honey!

[arthur]

I have a deep and shallow full of brood. Then a queen excluder and a medium.

This is the second year for the hive, started from a Weaver package. They have drawn out the shallow and the medium this year.

I opened up the medium yesterday and it was completely capped. Problem because I don't have another super or frames on hand.

I checked on the extractor that I was gifted (Dadant with plastic gears), and the big gear is broken (Dadant hasn't been good to me recently).

So instead I just took two frames, cut the comb out (had two wires through each frame). Then put in new foundation and put them back in the hive. Filled up a 1 gallon glass container full of cut comb. It was my wife's first time to try honeycomb.

So, my dad is going to help me extract the other 8 frames this coming weekend. And I'll get a new super.

Here's a question: should I allow the extracted medium super to become another brood chamber, or should I have both the extracted medium and the new medium above the queen excluder?

[arthur]

also, I put the honeycomb in the freezer, because I had heard it was possible that wax moth larvae could hatch. Was that necessary?

[ScadsOBees]

Ahhh...that first honey! Nothing beats it! Congrats, sounds like it is going well!

Freezer...probably not strictly necessary, but it won't hurt. A day or two will kill any possible eggs. I think it is probably more useful to keep extra honey there to keep it from crystallizing than to keep away(or kill) the wax moths.

Rick

[cphilip]

Congrats! Good feeling isn't it?

If you wanted to you could just get one of those cheap little crush and strain double bucket outfits from Brushy Mountain (and others) and use that. I still do that and don't have a hankering to get any bigger nor deal with more than two hives and it works well for me. It does lower overall production of honey to make them rebuild comb (of course), but when your getting more than you need who cares? I don't mind losing some production to comb building. I have enough for my extended family and a lot of friends already, even in a poor year. Just at thought.

[arthur]

cphilip, my dad has a press. I could use it if I want, but I don't want to. We actually use quite a bit of honey. So I will keep the honeycomb as it is, but extract the next bit.

My wife was aghast when I suggested we keep the wax we had been chewing on.

[cphilip]

Fair enough Arthur. I got 8 gallons last year (more than needed for sure) and a have a steady outlet for the wax as well. So I just keep the girls working hard on both! I also do some cut comb jars and squares as well for a couple family members. It's all good. They will rebuild.

Sure, melt it down! It will be fine! :D