Controlled burn planned for fall of 2014.

Our two hives are at the edge of our ~40 acres of restored prairie.  This fall, we plan to do a controlled burn of the prairie.  To minimize property damage, fatalities, and other catastrophe, the fine folks at Prairie Restorations, Inc. will be helping us.

The image below is not mine, and comes from here.

A prescribed or controlled burn of a prairie.

Bees died over the winter of 2013 - 2014.

The 2013 - 2014 winter in Minnesota was a tough one for bees and certainly for my two hives; they both died.  In late December, we think that we saw evidence of cleansing flights, and I saw live bees in the hive when I looked through the top open hole.

But, come spring, both hives were dead.  When we opened each hive, we could see bees next to capped honey.  They died "head down" in the cell as if they were trying to get the last bit of honey out of the cell.  The mite counts were low going into the winter, and I saw no evidence of disease of infestation. So, it may be that the cold was just too much for the cluster of bees to move to new areas of honey.

In the spring/summer, we harvested the honey.  There wasn't a great deal of it, so we used the crush and strain method with a household stainless steel mesh strainer.  The harvest is below.

Honey from hives A and B (mixed) before final straining.

We also used a double-boiler to melt and purify the wax.  We now have about 2 pounds of pure beeswax.  (No picture currently available.)  There are still fine bits of wax in the honey.  We eat it this way.  But, before we give it to others, we have been using 4 layers of cheesecloth as a final straining.