Busy Bees

 Amy at Homestead Revival is holding a Bee Party so I thought it would be fun to join the party with pictures of my hives.  The picture above and below I took today. The bees are doing pretty well and producing a lot of honey (one hive more than the other obviously!). Last week I checked them and added one more honey super each. Those were my last empty supers so I think I need to do some extracting this week as the bees are still busily making honey!

 After I took a picture of the hives I walked down to the garden and happened to see this bee collecting nectar from the catnip. They really love the catnip plants that I have. We named one of our hives Catnip Castle and that has turned out to be a very appropriate name.

Here are a few other pictures from the year:

 When I first got them (this is my second summer of raising bees but I didn't overwinter them last year because of our cold climate. I do want to try this year so any cold weather overwintering advice is much appreciated!) at the end of April. I bought nucs.

 A hot day in July! (Above)

A sweet treat! One of the frames had honey comb sticking way out on it and I couldn't resist stealing some. We do still have a bit of honey left but not a lot, this summer we have run low enough that we don't really bake with it anymore, just use it in other ways. I am looking forward to harvesting the honey! Harvesting should got fast compared to last year as my Dad found a motor for the extractor.

  This summer I have dealt with a few more stings than before (once when I squished a bee accidently with my wrist in a place where I had only one piece of fabric and another time when my jeans were to tight and 3 stung through them on my thigh) and they have reacted more than before but I am still very much enjoying the beekeeping adventure. God has certianly blessed us with bees that are good producers too.

I love to hear any stories, tips or questions you might have concerning beekeeping.