According to my previous post, When is It Time to Harvest Honey?, it’s about time to harvest some honey now. Which means it’s about time to add some escape boards so my bees can “escape” from their honey boxes, which then makes it easier for me to steal their honey. You know, I think I might have a video of me from earlier today that shows how this works:

00:00 — Thick frames of honey. The bees draw out thick comb because I space out 8 frames in a box that normally holds 10. The bees usually want to fill in any extra space, and with honey frames they fill the space in with honey. In this way, 8 frames in a box can produce more honey than 10 frames. Here’s a good example.

00:44 — A 9-frame brood nest. Again, putting in less frames in a box that can hold more. In this case, 9 frames instead of 10 makes it easier to inspect the hive, as well providing some other benefits to the bees that are mentioned in this portion of the video.

01:40 — Why thin frames are more convenient. It’s because thick frames (not comb, but the actual wooden frames) can leave little wiggle room in the super. Tightly packed frames are more difficult to work with.

03:00 — Why I want to breed from this queen. Her offspring are extremely gentle, easy to be around, and the bees make a good amount of honey.

03:35 — How the escape board works.
04:25 — A frame of dark honey.
04:38 — A frame of comb honey.
05:15 — Assessing honey production.
06:20 — No queen excluders because it might help reduce swarming.
07:25 — A summary of my honey supers.
07:54 — Honey supers are heavy.
08:30 — Fireweed seeds floating away.
08:47 — A list of conditions for harvesting honey.