Today - just in time for World Bee Day - our bee club harvested the first honey for this year. The group, led by specialist teacher Bernd Holzkamp and trainer Barbara Götz, has been in existence since 2013 and was set up to bring pupils closer to nature and to make them more aware of the environment and plants. There are currently a total of 7 bee colonies on the area of the Euro-BBW.

During the honey harvest, the so-called smoker is first filled to calm the bees with the smoke. They then fill their honey stomachs and retreat to the inside of their nests. They are then more immobile and less eager to sting.

Then the beekeepers have to look through the individual hive frames to see if they are covered to at least three quarters with white wax, because then the water content is OK for the honey. In our case, the water content was a perfect 15 %. If the water content was too high, the honey would start to ferment.

The hives are taken out and the bees are carefully swept off with a sweeping broom. The combs that are still open remain with the bees, and the honey is extracted from the others.

Unfortunately, we have lost about a quarter of our bees since last winter. The bees were not able to bring in enough pollen due to the bad weather conditions and were therefore weakened, making them susceptible to the Varroa mite.

Nevertheless, we hope for a good yield.