After some careful consideration, we have decided to expand operations for the 2024 season. Last week we swaped the insulated inner cover off of hive 4 because the bees decided they wanted to chew the styrofoam version up. While in the apiary, we peaked in on all 6 colonies and found them all to be doing well. If this holds through the remainder of the season, we may have 6 strong colonies in March. Should this be the case, we will have to decide how many colonies we want to manage. It is not unreasonable to expect that we could double the number of colonies to 12 without compromising our honey harvest. There are many factors to weigh when deciding how many colonies we want including costs for hive components, medicine to treat for pests, and sugar to feed the bees through the derth. In addition, our current apiary is full, so we would need to create another.
In consideration of these factors, we have a congregation member with property along Difficult Run near the church who has volunteered to host an out yard. We had very stong honey sales this past year which we hope can support the extra expenses. Lastly, we had a good group of volunteers who helped tend the bees and and extract the honey.
Twelve hives will mean about 4-6 hours a week tending the hives, and 15 to 25 hours to harvest and extract with our 3 frame extractor. We will also need more time to bottle, and label our honey for sale.
We have a some of the equipment together already. In the coming weeks we will rework our inventory and purchase additional materials we need. Below is a photo of what we have on hand in storage.
