This year we harvested 144 lbs of honey from four of our seven hives, which is about 96 pints. It's interesting how different each year's harvest is in quantity, color, and consistency. Three of the hives are new, so we chose not to harvest from them, rather let them build up their colony in prep for next year.
This year's harvest appears runnier than previous years and I wonder if that was influenced by the heavier spring rains, since the sugar content in the pollen dictates the consistency and color of the honey. I found a great video on YouTube that explains why some honey is thicker than others if you're interested.
Personally, I prefer the natural state it comes when we harvest and don't mind if some is runnier than others, so I doubt we'll ever attempt to set the honey by adding a set starter. But never say never, we shall see.
This year we've decided to move our hives, so after we pulled the honey supers I setup two new areas along our southern pasture property line, which is closer to a hazelnut orchard and blackberries. It will be interesting to see how, if any, changes are seen in our honey production or health of the hives. Our old setup was out in the open sun more, so I had some makeshift shade, but the new location has trees. It's a much nicer setup and we're hopeful it will be better.
Once we have all the hives moved it will be time to winterize, quilt boxes and candy boards will go on top of the hives to help them regulate moisture and provide resources for the winter since we took most of their honey stores. We'll post some pics after that's all done.
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