Checking on The Girls

It was Warm and Calm and just the right kind of day to inspect the Hive.

I have not been professionally trained in Bee Keeping, so was only able to give it a quick 'once over' while DD was in France.

I cleaned up a bit of mess and swapped in a couple of empty frames.

And mid December, The Flow Hive went on top of the boxes - 

To "Keep the Girls occupied" until DD got home.

A FULL inspection was needed and just as well - What a Mess!

One of the frames I put in earlier in the year had collapsed under the weight of the Honey and The Girls had started to build off that - sticking everything to the floor and sides of the Super.

The Flow frames had been filled, capped with tiny 'scales' of wax and were ready to harvest.

The idea of the Flow Hive is to not disturb the Bees - so removing them is (under normal circumstances) unnecessary.

So - back into their Super they go!

DD was rather excited about her First "Harvest" from the Flow Hive!

No suiting up is necessary using this method.

The Bees are fully occupied with business as usual out the front of the hive, so not concerned about what we were doing round the back!

Well, maybe the odd Bee or Wasp will come and see what is going on, but they are quickly 'shooed' away.

We will look into a better method of bottling the flow for the rest of the frames to avoid this happening in the future.

A simple extension of the pipe that goes directly into a lidded canister will be sufficient.

There is something Magical about being able to have Honey drip from a Hive straight onto your finger.

It is warm, coming out of the Hive at between 30-35℃

And it Tastes... Strongly of Red Gum

Oh WOW!