Beekeeping Basics

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Heat and then cool the leftover comb shards in a double boiler, too, and you'll gain some more honey . . . topped by a solid layer of yellow beeswax. (Don't throw that substance out! You can either use it for making wonderful candles or save it until you accumulate enough to sell . . . to bee supply companies, other beekeepers, or craft shops.)

Because bees use a lot of honey and energy while building their combs, you can harvest about 50% more honey from your hive if you extract the sweetener and reinstall the still-intact cells in the hive . . . rather than cut the combs out altogether. All, but there's a rub: The smallest handcranked extractors cost around $150 . . . more than all the other one-hive start-up expenses combined!

However, if you want the increased yield possible with extracted honey without the full expense of purchasing the necessary machine, you might be able to share the purchase cost of an extractor with some other small-scale beekeepers . . . or pay (with honey) a nearby commercial apiarist to do your comb/honey separating. [EDITOR'S NOTE: There's another solution as well! We'll publish the complete instructions for building your own inexpensive honey extractor in MOTHER NO. 68.]

A VISIT TO YOUR HIVE

To give you a better feel for what it'll be like to tend a "flock" of insect livestock, let's pretend that it's a sunny day in June. Wildflowers are blooming like crazy, your hive seems to be prospering (in fact, you added a honey super to it two weeks ago), and you're a mite curious as to just how well those bees are doing. In short, it's a perfect day to inspect your little apiary.

Having donned your beetight garments and started a steady fume-producing flame in your smoker, you approach the hive from the side and watch for a moment. Yep, there's a good honey flow on. Plenty of bees are flying in and out of the wooden home . . . and the ones coming back are so laden with nectar (bees convert that substance to honey inside the hive) that they almost "droop" their way through the air.

So, you put the tip of your smoker right in the mouth of the hive's low entrance and puff a couple of clouds into the brood chamber. The bees near the entrance buzz around a bit, but soon most of them go into the hive.

A minute later, you lift off the hive's outer cover and blow smoke down the narrow hole in the inner lid. You wait for a short time after this . . . then, using your handy hive tool (an inexpensive crowbarlike implement that's an indispensable beekeeper's aid), you pry the Inner cover's corners loose and lift that thin top off.

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