Bought an Extractor

Saturday was a fun day for beekeeping.  I was up at the farm with Aaron and two of his friends for a campout (of course having a heat factor over 100 degrees makes camping a challenge).  While at the farm I checked on the bees and found the new queen in the West hive is still laying eggs and some of her capped brood looks ready to hatch out.  The East hive is making honey, though the honey flow has greatly slowed.  Hopefully, I will have 10 more frames to harvest by the end of the month.

I then made a trip to rural Shelbyville and had a lovely visit with Len and Cathy Chandler.  Len and Cathy recently retired to Shelby County having moved from St. Charles, Illinois.  Len has been beekeeping for 40+ years and has a wealth of knowledge.  At this time he has about 20 hives, is fixing up a honey house, and likes doing things the old way.  Recently he purchased a nice, big new honey extractor and had a couple of antique extractors to sell.  When I finally left their homestead I had picked up several times to try with my bees, a couple of homemade nuc boxes, and a 4 frame honey extractor.

Later that afternoon, back at the farm, I started working on hive components and have 5 bottom boards ready for assembly.  Unfortunately, I didn't bring along wood glue, so assembly will have to take place on another day.