Last week I borrowed one of the honey extractors from Bee School, and collected the honey from the last few frames. It was really sticky, so quite hard to collect - almost like sticky toffee.
After spinning the frames in the extractor, we usualy tilt the extractor to get the last few drops of honey, and sort of push traces of honey down the inside of the extractor with a spatula. Even though we left the extractor propped up tilted overnight - this time the last traces of honey wouldn't really "flow" , and after scraping the sides of the extractor I ended up with a giant spatula honey-toffee lolly ! yum !
We did manage to collect another 2kg of honey, which brings the total for the year to 32.2 kg - very happy with that for my first season - in fact I can't really believe it !
With the last 2kg of honey in the big plastic " maturateur" (covered bucket) I carried the extractor out into the back garden, and hosed it down with a power hose, so I can take it back to Bee School free of sticky goo. Managed to spray myself in the process, as this time really had to use high pressure to clean every inch of the inside.
Other times I've propped the frames - after collecting the honey- next to the hive so the bees can lick them completely clean. But I've read with so many Asian Hornets about at the moment it's not good practsie, so this time I put a feeder tray on top of the brood box, with all the bits of wax from cutting open the sealed frames in the feeder tray, and then on top of that a top box with the harvested frames inside. A week later, the frames are completely clean, and the wax in the feeder tray is pale white and unsticky - amazing!
There is still heather in flower nearby, and a few other flowres, and the bees that are foraging are returning with pads of yellow pollen on their legs as they return. However, I don't think they are likely to build up honey stocks outside of the brood box - so I've now taken the cleaned top box off the hive. As it4s my first season, not sure if this is the right thing to do or not, but with no other guide, I'm following the advice of those at Bee School.
Also, the recommendation is to treat the colony against Varroa mite during autumn, so after removing the top box I've checked the brood box (very full) and pushed two plastic strips either side of the main brood section. The plastic strips are treated with a dose Amitraz at a dose which shouldn't harm the bees, but will quank the little Varroa mites. The bees have to crawl over the strips then carry the chemical to the different cells in the hive, so I need to check regularily they are still in place, and shuffle them a bit over the next 12-14 weeks.
On Friday I visited our bee supplies shop, and bought a big jerry can of sirop, for when I need to supplement the bees stores over the winter months, and also a second hive !
So over winter I can paint and prepare hive N°2, in the hope that my colony winters well, and come the spring I'll try and split it in two... Fingers crossed !