First Harvest - Well Pleased

Beekeeping - Basics
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:smile: I did my very first harvest today, everything went extremely well :+1:. Got a total of 3 kilos from 1 frame, just blown away by that and it tastes amazing. I placed the Flow Frames on 29th January, the bees took to it immediately. Iā€™d like to thank everyone for their help along the way :+1: Cheers Dave.

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Really nice light color to the honey, well done mate. Bet your stoked with that result.
Cheers

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Nice one mate and well done bees. :+1:

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Gorgeous, wonderful, congrats!!

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Thanks Peter, yeah well please with the outcome. Cheers Dave.

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Thanks Greg. Well done to the girls, are yours Bearding a lot? mine are, hope their not going to swarm/leave. Cheers Dave.

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Thank you Eva, itā€™s a wonderfull sight seeing that very first drop of honey drain into the jar. :smiley:Cheers Dave

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Yes, always do this time of year. Hot and humid.
I have found on occasions that after extracting bearding has increased but it was back to normal the next day.
To me it seems bees bearding is a way for them to regulate hive temperatures more so than a prelude to swarming.
Pretty sure they wonā€™t be bearding right now though. :grin:
Iā€™ll be extracting this arvo, weather permittingā€¦

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Itā€™s so exciting! Beautiful!

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Have a look at the two pics Dave, notice the bearding in one pic and none in the next.
It is the same colony, same location, the same sized hive and frame numbers in the brood and the super. All I did was re-house the colony from a wooded hive into a poly hive.
I took the first pic immediately before re-housing the colony at 4 pm and the 2nd pic was taken at the same time 24 hours later with the same temperature and type of day. I figure the bearding was a result of internal hive temperature, given that everything else except for the change is from a wooden give to a poly hive.
Rather than looking at bearding as an indicator of eminent swarming I look under the roof of the hive, I think it is more reliable.
Cheers

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Hi Pete, well done. Thatā€™s a great testament for poly hives & insulation.
cheers

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All four of the poly hive are now in use in the apiary, Iā€™m impressed so far and going to closely monitor those compared to the wooden Langstrothā€™s and the Flow hives so I can do a fair comparison.
Averaging the honey yield between the Flow Hives and the Langstrothā€™s they are near enough to the same over the past three yearsā€¦
Tinkering with the idea if a Flow 6 frame super will fit onto a Poly brood box, the measurements are the same for a 8 frame Langstroth and the poly boxā€¦ :thinking: :thinking:
Cheers

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Hi Greg, how did your harvest go ? Iā€™ve just harvested a second frame today (sunday) 2.85kg flagon.Very happy with the results so far. Had a very small amount of leakage today but it may have been my mistake as the tube was not pushed in correctly.

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Hi Peter, Yes the difference is very clear to see. I did notice on my Flow Hive roof that there are no air vents which there where on the flat roof which came with the original brood box & bees, Maybe Iā€™ll have a look see if some can be added. Cheers Dave

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Hi Martha, yes very exciting just waiting for that first ever drop to fall into the jar. :smiley:Cheers Dave

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Second harvest today, 2.85kg awesome :+1:

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Cheers Dave

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Hey Dave, Yes, you can add a vent at the front and rear of the gable roof, I bought them in pairs at my local hardware store as ā€œkitchen cupboard ventsā€ to fit a 35mm hole from memory. I have them on most of my Langstroth hives that of course have migratory roofs and that made a big difference in reducing bearding in my apiary. I went with migratory roofs on my Flow Hives because of the issues with leaking roof in the rain with the gable roof.
If your climate gets on the higher temperature side it would be worth trying vents out. If the bees donā€™t like the extra ventilation they will plug up the vents. If they reduce the bearding then I would also think it will free up more bees on fanning duties to increase the bees foraging.
Cheers Dave.

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Hiya mate, beware Marri honey crystallises quickly which is why honey jars have wide lids. :wink: besides, youā€™ll be needing those demijohns for mead before long.
All went well here as usual, 6 frames 2 hives. Had a record 3.3 kg from 1 frame!

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Hi Peter, yeah ā€œkitchen cupboard ventsā€ would seem like a quick & simple fix, I might give that a try. Just harvesting 3 more frames now. Cheers Dave.

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Hi Greg, wow 3.3 kg thats fantastic. Yeah Iā€™m not going to keep it in the demijohns I will be decanting into your plastic tubs very soon. Just harvesting 3 more frames now. Cheers Dave

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