Beekeepers on here? Lost a whole hive today

[Redneck in training]

Redneck, You have given the reason for the colour yourself. It is dependent upon the plant(s) from which the nectar came. A pale honey can be just as wholesome as a yellow, reddish, mid brown or very dark one. A couple of years ago I was given a jar by someone who had been gifted it (she does not like honey) by a beekeeper. I found it inedible. A few enquiries revealed a fairly common practice of feeding the bees molasses in summer time when it is hot and dry and little by way of forage. Sure it was honey made by the bees of the beekeeper and not messed about with in any way before being put in the jar, but it was not made from the nectar of flowers!

I understand that the color doesn't have much to do with quality of honey. The treatment and sometime also source does. I just noticed regional preferences. People in Russia prefer forest honey because they believe that it has strong medicinal properties. I believe it also. When our kids were young and we saw that they might get some respiratory infection we drove to pine forest for all day. If we caught it early it usually took care of the infection by allowing the immune system to catch up. I just googled it: Pine honey health benefits
My brother is a beekeeper. His place is near pine and oak forest on one side and blooming meadows on the other. He told me that the "second" honey (produced late summer) is from excretion of aphids feeding on the oak leaves. The aphids are "cultivated" and spread by ants. He showed me a bee sitting on a oak leave waiting for the droplet of the excrement come out of the aphid and steal it before the ants get to it.
There is a region in Turkey where beekeepers don't feed the bees with sugar or whatever. They just take part of the honey and leave enough for bees to survive when there is no forage. I think Trader's Joe sels that brand.

 

[Redneck in training]

Great photo! We should have a caption contest - Eye of the Oak? Bee Eye?

It was taken with cheap sureshot digital camera. I used some zoom and flash.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Redneck, Re #21, I think most areas of the world have preferences like you say about Russia. In several parts of Britain it is heather honey that is favourite -although it is a bit strong for some tastes too - sort of catches in the back of the throat.

Very interesting point about your kids' health. I am sure that the urbanisation of the world has a lot to do with allergies. The kids are mollycoddled from before they are born. I saw an article last week espousing early exposure to ward off possible allergies. It cost a lot of money to run a trial that showed giving babies some peanut products prevented peanut allergy later. You, I and no doubt most other country folks could have saved them the expense of the trial because we knew.

Wearing long trousers from toddler age and a shower every day add to the risk of ill health. No proof of that statement of course, but no exposure of skin to the weather and being too clean cannot be good for anybody, especially a growing child. I know a lot of TBNers are well past their three score years and ten, and I doubt if any of them had a shower in the house those 70 years ago. Long trousers were not worn until about 14 or 15 y.o. where I was brought up.

When you think about the "forest honey" as these honeydew ones tend to be called in various parts, it is quite disgusting. Even nectar from flowers and regurgitated does not sound so good, but I have had bees on two farms in the past and eaten a lot of honey without worrying too much about it.

In a good year it was not unusual for beekeepers in places I have farmed to leave the bees their own honey for winter. They forage all year round here so it is a different management system with the long dry summer usually the time when feeding would be needed, if at all.

 

[NorTracNY]

Redneck & OldMcDonald,

You both bring up good points. You also remind me of the sad state of our "food" industry. On the Federal level, there is no definition of honey in this country. There are just a handful of states which do have one. It's even sadder that one would be needed. That molasses fed to bees and then called "honey" is a discusting. Many beekeepers do feed their bees at different times of the year, but they should not be doing it with supers on which are then going to be extracted. Industry fights HARD against defining honey because they want to feed their bees HFCS all year regardless of whether they have supers on.

 

[ovrszd]

While in the timber this morning I took a couple pics of Natural Honey Bee Hives in trees.

This is the most common ones. A simple knot hole that squirrels probably hollowed out and the bees took over. They are relatively easy to spot if active by the tan colored stain around the hole. This one had been active for 4 years that I know of. I see no activity this Spring. Afraid I've lost this hive.

This one is very unique. Looks like a natural fault in the tree, maybe caused by a long ago lightning strike or hard wind split?? Either insects or possibly squirrels have hollowed it out and the bees moved in. It's only been there 3 years. Fairly large hive, lot's of activity. I've checked it 4 times since the weather started warming and I have saw no activity this Spring. Afraid I've lost it too....

 

[Redneck in training]

My brother has eight hives and loses two every winter in average.
Marla Spivak: Why bees are disappearing | TED Talk | TED.com

 

[OldMcDonald]

Redneck & OldMcDonald,

You both bring up good points. You also remind me of the sad state of our "food" industry. On the Federal level, there is no definition of honey in this country. There are just a handful of states which do have one. It's even sadder that one would be needed. That molasses fed to bees and then called "honey" is a discusting. Many beekeepers do feed their bees at different times of the year, but they should not be doing it with supers on which are then going to be extracted. Industry fights HARD against defining honey because they want to feed their bees HFCS all year regardless of whether they have supers on.

I do not know whether the molasses "honey" is sold. I doubt that anybody would buy it twice. It might just be an easy and cheap way to feed the bees and some take it for their own use. In a similar way some of the homemade wines I have been given are even worse. I totally agree that sugar feeds stored in combs should not be extracted, but there are dishonest people in all walks of life.

 

[Ford850]

A few years ago, it was estimated that over 1/3 of the honey consumed in the U.S. was smuggled in from China and was not being inspected for illegal antibiotics or heavy metals. Is this still the case?
I'm lucky to have several local honey producers with products available in many local grocery stores.

 

[NorTracNY]

The honey from China problem was still an issue at least recently. It was part of why the industry fights to keep a definition of honey being established. The China honey was being "re-exported" from different places like Australia and India. Then later it was being super filtered to remove ALL pollen. If there is no pollen, there is no means to determine the origin of it. Glad you have local producers able to get their products into the stores in your area.

 

[GLyford]

A lot of the packagers will say "all of our honey is bought from local farms" but have no restrictions on THEM buying anything. As far as I know the Chinese/hyperfiltered honey is still a problem. I think some of the guys were even cutting it with local pollen for resale to hide their source? People will find an "angle" for a quick buck no matter what the rules are...