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Harvest preview

On Friday June, 2nd I took a look under the covers of my colonies to try to get a feel for how far along the honey production was. All three colonies have some completely capped honey while there is still a lot of uncapped honey as well. I took my refractometer along and measured some of the uncapped honey. All samples were under 19.5%. Basically, the honey is dry enough for harvest, as the capped honey probably has a lower water percentage. I decided to wait one more week (this coming weekend) before harvesting.

Today is the day where my three nucs should have their queens hatching. 16 days have passed since I created the nucs. The queens will emerge, and after a few days they will venture out on their mating flights. Ten days from now, I will treat the nucs with lactic acid solution to kill off any mites that they may have. Another seven days after that, I will move them into a more permanent home.

On a side note: I was pleased to discover that along the edge of a neighboring wooded lot, some black locust trees are growing. Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a typical honey flow plant that is typically found in northern regions of Germany. The uncommon occurrence of black locust here in our region was a pleasant surprise. They will provide a wonderful honey flow source to cover the normal dearth that occurs after the canola honey flow.

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