Pollen, Honey, and ?

[Kathyp]

i noticed that my bees were coming in with big pollen loads.  this AM i popped the top to see how things were going.  they are packing pollen in spaces around the honey.  much of the honey is capped.  not all.  they still have plenty of space on the outside frames to put more.  

questions: should i just take it now and give them more frames, or leave them alone to finish?
will the pollen mess up the honey in any way?  do i need to be careful when i take the honey not to mix pollen in?  

the bees were pretty aggressive when i was just looking.  how on earth do you take the honey super without getting stung to pieces and how do you get the bees off the frames?  they were guarding that honey like a bull dog guarding a bone.

[Apis629]

The bees will, in my experience, always be deffensive when garding honey.  Repellants such as honey robber, bee go and frisher's bee quick, when applied to a fume board and, placed 90º off, then moved to flush with the top of the hive after 5 minutes or so will drive the bees down.  If you just place it flush on immediately, the bees will get "drunk" and no amount of fumes will drive them down.  You could also try bee escapes but, you must be certain that there are no gaps or upper entrances that other bees could get in.  These are the best ways I know of to harvest honey and avoid stings.

[Brian D. Bray]

Of coarse you could always use a bee blower.   Just remember that the bees will go anyplace they smell honey so when you harvest just take as much as you think you can extract, filter, and bottle in a single day.  If you do it in the kitchen with the windows open (but the screens on) you'll find bees packing swarm thick against the screen.

I usually use the bee escapes, putting them on in the morning and then pulling the super that evening or the next afternoon.  I use at least 3 escapes per inner top.  Taking it off in the evening doesn't disturb the bees too much as you are not removing the inner top or getting into the brood box.  Pull the supers down to the inner cover and then replace the top.

[Kathyp]

thanks to both of you!  off to the bee store again  :D at least we have one that not to far away......

[Brian D. Bray]

I like your area, I use to have some friends who lived in Sandy.  They belonged to the LDS church, which if I recall correctly was located in some very beautiful senery in Sandy.  You have a better view of Mt Hood than I do of Mt Baker but we both have large mountains in our back yards.

[Kathyp]

the LDS church has a great river valley view.  it used to be rural, but they have built a bunch of homes (boxes) around it.

you mean that we have large volcanos in our back yards!  :) i have a great view of mine.  when it goes, i'll have a front row seat!

[randydrivesabus]

ah....the ultimate smoker.

[Kathyp]

ah....the ultimate smoker.

a pretty dirty, gritty, smoker!

brian, since you are from the PNW maybe you can give me an idea about feeding.  we have not had any rain.  the blackberries are about done and nothing else will be blooming except a little fire weed.  this week we'll go over 100 degrees for several days in a row.  that ought to finish everything alive, off.

should i start feeding?  i know the bee store advises medicating in august, so i'm guessing most people start feeding by august around here.  does that sound about right?

[Brian D. Bray]

I really don't consider feeding for possible winter stores until after I harvest the honey crop.  Until then the bees can live on their stores in case of dearth or drought.  Yes, it might deminish your total crop but it's better for the bees to let them do things naturally as much as possible.
I wait until Labor Day to harvest then re-assess the hive a week or 2 later as to the necessity of feeding.  Just as a final go through--the volumn per hive of honey production will give you a good idea of which hives will need assistance with stores.
Right now there should be California poppies and other wildflowers, especially in the lower mountain meadows, for the next month so I don't think your bees will suffer as much as you seem to believe.  Even after Labor Day it is not uncommon to have a light honey flow from late season flowers like asters to give the hives a boost prior to winter.
Washington and Oregon have very similar climates and the flower species and blooming times coincide quite well besides.  I think your area precedes mine by about 10 days in when a given flower blossoms.