Its BEE season!

Aww I love bees! I would totally want to try some of your honey, love natural products! I don't know where the store honey comes from, pff...

I read an interesting (kinda scary) article about that a while ago, can't find it now, though. One of the grocery stores near me has started selling local honey from a farm about an hour away, I've been buying that for about a year. I've recently discovered that a person in the outskirts of my town raises bees and sells their own honey, so I'm probably going to check into that as well. I know that thing about local honey and allergies is supposed to be an old wive's tale, but I figure it can't hurt! Besides, the closer the farm is, the easier it is for me to pop in and buy some, right?
 
Bumping this thread because we just got our first swarm call last night, so it's on again!


In the year that has passed, I have grown my apiary to 11 hives, and harvested about 8 gallons of honey. I leave enough for them, of course, but they are bringing in so much that they run out of room!

Here are some pictures of some honeys we had for a bee club event.
These are all honeys that are all natural, not heated, etc., and from chemical-free hives.

I also went on several swarm calls and these helped grow my apiary as well.
I was able to successfully house all of them, which was awesome!

I missed this pic yesterday :faint: :drool: :drool: :drool: :heart:
 
I read an interesting (kinda scary) article about that a while ago, can't find it now, though. One of the grocery stores near me has started selling local honey from a farm about an hour away, I've been buying that for about a year. I've recently discovered that a person in the outskirts of my town raises bees and sells their own honey, so I'm probably going to check into that as well. I know that thing about local honey and allergies is supposed to be an old wive's tale, but I figure it can't hurt! Besides, the closer the farm is, the easier it is for me to pop in and buy some, right?

YUP!!! You can ask whether he or she keeps bees in Top Bar Hives or standard boxes, and what kinds of treatments are used in the also, you can ask what kinds of flowers he or she *thinks* the bees have been foraging on. Sometimes they know, sometimes they dont.

Here is a picture of honey ready to be extracted from a piece of Top Bar Hive comb...The portion that looks sealed is honey, the open "cells" contain nectar. The nectar is not honey yet, so I used that for mead. This is all gotten by crushing the comb and letting the honey drain through a filter. Then I melt down the wax. But you can see, no bees, they were all brushed off with a special brush before this was brought inside.

Most *local* style/farmers market type beekeepers do not have large commercial operation, and can take more care with extractions, and do not have to resort to harsh chemicals to control hive issues.

Beekeepers with thousands of hives moved throughout the country for pollination services have a different situation and this honey may not be what you are looking for, it is usually in the supermarkets or big box type stores.
 

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YUP!!! You can ask whether he or she keeps bees in Top Bar Hives or standard boxes, and what kinds of treatments are used in the also, you can ask what kinds of flowers he or she *thinks* the bees have been foraging on. Sometimes they know, sometimes they dont.

Here is a picture of honey ready to be extracted from a piece of Top Bar Hive comb...The portion that looks sealed is honey, the open "cells" contain nectar. The nectar is not honey yet, so I used that for mead. This is all gotten by crushing the comb and letting the honey drain through a filter. Then I melt down the wax. But you can see, no bees, they were all brushed off with a special brush before this was brought inside.

Most *local* style/farmers market type beekeepers do not have large commercial operation, and can take more care with extractions, and do not have to resort to harsh chemicals to control hive issues.

Beekeepers with thousands of hives moved throughout the country for pollination services have a different situation and this honey may not be what you are looking for, it is usually in the supermarkets or big box type stores.
^FASCINATING! thank you for posting that pic to give us a visual of what you're talking about. I especially appreciate learning that the "closed" cells are full of honey since I'd assume it was the open ones. this really seems like a work of love. please share all you can or want to...I'm enthralled.


Does it all have the same flavor or does it differentiate from hive to hive?
^I'm no expert in any way, shape, or form, but it's been my personal experience that the honey has different flavors based on the flowers that the bees are "drinking." for example, tupelo honey tastes lemony to me (http://www.floridatupelohoney.com/tupelofacts.cfm), orange blossom honey tastes orangey to me, & I have some wildflower honey from NC that is much darker in color & richer in flavor without much of a floral or citrus taste at all (a bit reminiscent of molases to me). CobaltBlue can provide more factual info I'm sure.
 
^I'm no expert in any way, shape, or form, but it's been my personal experience that the honey has different flavors based on the flowers that the bees are "drinking." for example, tupelo honey tastes lemony to me (http://www.floridatupelohoney.com/tupelofacts.cfm), orange blossom honey tastes orangey to me, & I have some wildflower honey from NC that is much darker in color & richer in flavor without much of a floral or citrus taste at all (a bit reminiscent of molases to me). CobaltBlue can provide more factual info I'm sure.

yeah thats what I thought.

I guess it matters on what Cobalt's bees are feasting on. Does every hive gather from the same places or do they spread out to avoid competition? (as you can tell I'm no beekeeper/honey maker!) I know bees can be "tribal" but don't know how those tribes are defined. Edumacate me! :biggrin:
 
yeah thats what I thought.

I guess it matters on what Cobalt's bees are feasting on. Does every hive gather from the same places or do they spread out to avoid competition? (as you can tell I'm no beekeeper/honey maker!) I know bees can be "tribal" but don't know how those tribes are defined. Edumacate me! :biggrin:

LOL...happy to do so! I love bees and pretty much every thing about them.

Its very interesting, they don't go to the same places. Now, I am talking about, for example, bees in an apiary like mine where there is forage for them in every direction. If I were on the edge of, say a huge orchard, they would probably all go there.

As to their ability to stay in their own colony...
They find their way to their own box by direction and pheromones. Before a bee makes its very first flight, they do little orientation flights around the hive, a few feet at a time, in growing circles. That is how they imprint the GPS, basically, of the hive. And each hive has a unique queen with her own scent pheromone signature. If I took queens from hives two feet away and switched them, the bees would kill each of the queens, her scent basically holds the hive together, and the bees that are at the opening of the hive use their wings to "fan" this scent to returning foragers, this helps verify their GPS, so to speak.

Its pretty amazing, really.....If I took a box more than three feet away, the bees would just keep flying to that spot even though their box was so close.


Anyway,
I have my 10 box hives very close to one another....on one bench there are three and they are only a few feet apart. But, we do fact the openings in different directions, which makes is easier for them to get home to the right hive. (however, a bee returning with pollen or nectar would not be turned away from any hive...) Anyway, one of these hives, the Tower of Power is always FULL of nectar, while the ones two feet away have average amounts. Its weird!!! I can see the bees leave, and I know one hive heads one direction, another goes another direction. They can be bringing in mango, avocado, wild invasive trees, or my garden basils. Only when you place them in a specific, large single forage can you say, oh, this xyz honey. And each of these varietals is distinct, as frick said about tupelo.

But even the "wild forage" honey from my own beeyard can taste and look SO different. And the dark honeys done necessarily taste stronger than the light, its not like beers, for example.

But this is why if you buy local honey from someone like me, you have to trust that they are using methods in beekeeping and that you agree with, and that they will be selling you clean, raw, natural honey, even if it doesn't tast the same from season to season.

I mix all my hives' honeys together, unless one looks really different, darker or lighter than the rest. But I still call them by a by the name of my area and add "light" "amber" or dark....and let people taste them if I am at a market situation.

(Also, some honey crystallizes faster than others, and thats a consideration, too. Some people love that, some don't)

BTW, A bee's forage area maxes out at 4 miles in any direction, meaning a radius of 4 miles from the hive. Most bees won't forage that far, and there would be more losses (tattered wings, etc) but two miles is easy for a bee, and imagine if the flowers are right next to the hives, they can make dozens of trips in a day.

I attached a picture of the scale used to give honey colors a numerical value. Pretty cool, isnt it!! :
 

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Here is some of honey from my girls!

I am ordering cooler jars, but these are good in a pinch and people like them....
 

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Thank you so much! They really are fascinating little guys. One of the only experiences I had with bees were with the ones at our desert house, the "robber" bees that came and went to war with the bees that built a hive under one of our awnings.

I wish I lived closer I would love to try your honey. I am a honey nut and buy from a local place a few miles from here. Its called Isabels.
 
Thank you so much! They really are fascinating little guys. One of the only experiences I had with bees were with the ones at our desert house, the "robber" bees that came and went to war with the bees that built a hive under one of our awnings.

I wish I lived closer I would love to try your honey. I am a honey nut and buy from a local place a few miles from here. Its called Isabels.


They really are amazing...most are female though, you never see the guys doing any work. They mate with a queen and die, pretty much simultaneously. Mid-air. Any that are return to the hive go out the next day to try again. If its overcrowded in winter, out into the snow they go!! They cant sting, though, so there's that...;)
 
LOL...happy to do so! I love bees and pretty much every thing about them.

Its very interesting, they don't go to the same places. Now, I am talking about, for example, bees in an apiary like mine where there is forage for them in every direction. If I were on the edge of, say a huge orchard, they would probably all go there.

As to their ability to stay in their own colony...
They find their way to their own box by direction and pheromones. Before a bee makes its very first flight, they do little orientation flights around the hive, a few feet at a time, in growing circles. That is how they imprint the GPS, basically, of the hive. And each hive has a unique queen with her own scent pheromone signature. If I took queens from hives two feet away and switched them, the bees would kill each of the queens, her scent basically holds the hive together, and the bees that are at the opening of the hive use their wings to "fan" this scent to returning foragers, this helps verify their GPS, so to speak.

Its pretty amazing, really.....If I took a box more than three feet away, the bees would just keep flying to that spot even though their box was so close.


Anyway,
I have my 10 box hives very close to one another....on one bench there are three and they are only a few feet apart. But, we do fact the openings in different directions, which makes is easier for them to get home to the right hive. (however, a bee returning with pollen or nectar would not be turned away from any hive...) Anyway, one of these hives, the Tower of Power is always FULL of nectar, while the ones two feet away have average amounts. Its weird!!! I can see the bees leave, and I know one hive heads one direction, another goes another direction. They can be bringing in mango, avocado, wild invasive trees, or my garden basils. Only when you place them in a specific, large single forage can you say, oh, this xyz honey. And each of these varietals is distinct, as frick said about tupelo.

But even the "wild forage" honey from my own beeyard can taste and look SO different. And the dark honeys done necessarily taste stronger than the light, its not like beers, for example.

But this is why if you buy local honey from someone like me, you have to trust that they are using methods in beekeeping and that you agree with, and that they will be selling you clean, raw, natural honey, even if it doesn't tast the same from season to season.

I mix all my hives' honeys together, unless one looks really different, darker or lighter than the rest. But I still call them by a by the name of my area and add "light" "amber" or dark....and let people taste them if I am at a market situation.

(Also, some honey crystallizes faster than others, and thats a consideration, too. Some people love that, some don't)

BTW, A bee's forage area maxes out at 4 miles in any direction, meaning a radius of 4 miles from the hive. Most bees won't forage that far, and there would be more losses (tattered wings, etc) but two miles is easy for a bee, and imagine if the flowers are right next to the hives, they can make dozens of trips in a day.

I attached a picture of the scale used to give honey colors a numerical value. Pretty cool, isnt it!! :
^I'm dying...I'm so happy reading your posts. please treat this thread like a blog & post something about bees in here every day. I love learning about bees & honey.

I'm in awe that you sell your honey at a farmer's market. it's like a dream to me. if I lived near you, I'd be your best customer (what a TREAT to think that I could get fabulous honey whenever I wanted).

I wonder why the tower of power has so much nectar. is it just a random thing? or is something special going on with that colony?

I didn't realize bees flew that far away. are you considering planting your garden to provide for the bees? or are you just letting them do their own thing?

I'm one who gets frustrated when my honey crystalizes. I don't know what to do with it then.

my wildflower honey is super dark amber. it has a very floral smell...& maybe even herbal too. I love to cook with it. it has such a unique flavor. I found a pic in my photobucket.




I find that tupelo honey is a medium color, & orange blossom honey is light. the dark wildflower honey is my favorite to cook with (I'll be so sad when that jar is empty). I like tupelo & orange blossom on a biscuit, in tea, or straight up :biggrin:


Here is some of honey from my girls!

I am ordering cooler jars, but these are good in a pinch and people like them....
^beautiful! I like those jars a lot. you'll have to show us your new ones when you get them.
 
Well, it definitely is swarm season. We have picked up three just this weekend!!!

*faints*

Yesterday I was working in the yard and I heard a huge roar as they took off from the beeyard. it was like in the cartoons, a cloud of bees. I got them though!!

Two more swarms, from other locations, and an unwanted hive getting picked up tomorrow.

That is roughly an increase of 100 thousand bees in two days!
 
Well, it definitely is swarm season. We have picked up three just this weekend!!!

*faints*

Yesterday I was working in the yard and I heard a huge roar as they took off from the beeyard. it was like in the cartoons, a cloud of bees. I got them though!!

Two more swarms, from other locations, and an unwanted hive getting picked up tomorrow.

That is roughly an increase of 100 thousand bees in two days!

WOW!!! so cool! you're really a mama bee :biggrin: