Plenty of action in the bee hive concludes Edvin, the bee master. The queen, who is marked with red. has bred strong off springs with good ability to fill the hive with honey. To the right - a worker bee taking a short break from the action.

Edvin is filling up the smoker with turf to be used to calm the bees when taking the honey. A well filled frame can host approximately 2 kg of honey. This frame has been filled to the last cell. The water content in the cells has also sunk to the right level.
To the right: Edvin puts down the frame into the frame grip, after brushing it clean, to bring it to the honey house.

The weather has been mild and rainy for a while and the bees might then eat their own honey from the frames. However the sun and heat have returned and the flow to the hives has continued. The rape fields have blossomed with good support from the bees pollination. As a return favour the bees will return to their hive with nectar. They will then process the nectar to honey. Edvin is uncapping the honey filled frames before placing them in the extract.

After a few minutes in the extract the frames become lighter and the fine honey floats down in the bucket besides the extract. The smell from the honey in the honey house is very pleasant.
The extracted honey is stored in barrels until it has reached the right consistency. The honey is frequently stirred during storage to arrive at an even and soft consistency. After this process the honey is tapped on jars. Inger takes care of the jar filling while Edvin puts on the lid and labels the finished product - a jar with a beautiful label and a very tasty content

 

  Edvin Engström