The honey harvest is now in house, and here are some glimpses form the past year in the beekeeping department.
Light rape honey and a little darker flower honey.
The bees collect pollen from both rape, fruit trees, roses, wild flowers
... and from the bee flowers that have been planted especially for them. Here is seen bluebell Phacelia.
The year that went
February
This year the season started early. The bees were out and needed drinking water, which Nanna and Lene are making ready here.
The leca nuts in the bucket ensure that the bees do not fall into the water while drinking.
April
Rasmus and Emma are doing the regular check of bee hives. They also make sure that the bee queens are keeping well. The queens use to live in the lower magazines and are marked with a colored dot. To keep track of the year a new color is changed every year.
Here the bee queen has a red dot.
To the left a bee with yellow ‘pollen trousers’ from a collection round.
Philipp is checking the honeycombs.
As the bee families grow and the honeycombs are filled, the beekeeping team makes sure that the hives are enlarged with more magazines.
June
Honey comb with a wax seal, that is scraped off.
Philipp removes the wax seal so the honeycombs can be tossed and the honey extracted.
Here Rasmus is working with the honey extractor for the first time this year in the newly renovated honey house.
By the help of the centrifugal power the honey is extracted from the combs.
Lastly the honey is sieved till it is perfectly clean.
August
Next honey harvest. Philipp prepares the honey for tapping. 30 bee families produce about 1.000 kilo honey in a year.
Philipp is adjusting the dosage pump.
Tapping: the machine can be adjusted to fill a glass with the desired quantity.
The finished glasses, ready for the winter.