Bee Escape! Honey I stole the gold!

When it comes time to harvest the honey there’s a great deal to be done.

One of the first challenges is persuading the girls to let you take the stuff away.

To be honest that’s the only real challenge.

You can try approaching the hive, knocking gently at the door and asking politely.

This usually results in a fairly low yield. If you chose to return with a louder response maybe a note for the cashier and weapons, the bees are unlikely to offer you a bag full of gold.

I suspect if you wrote them a letter listing your demands a gentle buzz would be the result.

So what to do?

When we did our bee keeping course we learned the hard way.

Method 1

Step 1

Get your protective gear on, remove rings, tuck trousers in socks, avoid perfume etc

Step 2

Take the lid off the box. Lift out each honey frame and shake or knock the accompanying bees into a large bin or container or into the hive.

Step 3

Be very aware that the bees are crystal clear that intruders are stealing their honey. This may result in an angry response.

Method 2

Step 1

Go and visit the hive dressed as above insert a bee escape under the honey box.

Step 2

Go home.

Step 3

Wait a few days.

Step 4

Return to the hive suitably dressed. Take the lid off. Take the whole honey box out. Be sure that the bees are all ‘downstairs’ one or two might not have exited the honey.

Step 4

Repeat step 2.

Step 5

Spend time uncapping the honey, spinning it and transferring it into clean jars.

You can guess which method we did if you like!