Sunday, November 22, 2009

MORE Honey

Honey comes from bees. Everyone should consider keeping bees, because:
  • It takes little money, time, or space
  • Honey is one of the few local sources of sugar in North America
  • Just one hive makes enough honey for multiple familes
  • Gardens everywhere need more bees, thanks to CCD
  • That whole macro-organism vs. micro-organism thing is educationally entertaining
Lots of people have asked, so here are my notes on beekeeping. If I was going to start over, I would start with 2 african hives (not to be confused with africanized bees, which are the Brazlians' fault) and feral bees (which are free, disease resistant, and acclimated to your climate). That would be a total outlay of about $150 (including the bee veil and smoker) and 3 weekend afternoons. From this you can easily expect 50lb of organic honey and 5lb of wax. And for the record, AFAIK no organic beekeepers have reported loss to CCD. Someone should try sticking one in a community garden (I bet that will take care of the tomato-smashers).

Anyways, yesterday Jon and I bottled honey and made a candle from this year's harvest. Pictures:
  1. The bottled honey
  2. Some wax. Enough for about 2 candles and a bunch of chap stick.
  3. Two empty bottles of awesome hard cider from Jon's friend Ben and a freshly-made pine cone candle. Damn good cider.










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2 comments:

  1. billNovember 25, 2009 at 6:29 AM

    Are you using tob-bar hives now? It seems really appealing - One of those ideas that seems too simple to be true. Any difference in over wintering success in top bar hives vs. conventional hives?

    Also - how do you recommend capturing feral bees? Have you had good success with this? I read about smearing propolis in the hive to attract swarms. Wondering about the success rate for this sorta activity and whether it is worth just buying a nuc or 2 to start.

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  2. ChrisNovember 25, 2009 at 7:00 AM

    I am not currently using top bar hives. The tough part about using TBHs is getting the bees; you need to capture a swarm, buy a package, or do a shakedown. So far only the last has worked for me, but I did it too late in the season and they did not have enough stores to make it through a harsh winter. So, I can not speak to the overwintering success as I did not give them a fair start. However, successful overwintering is more an issue of stores and ventilation than hive configuration, so I am not worried.

    An in-between step to a TBH is to make a box to use as a horizontal hive, which uses traditional frames, so that you can start with a nuc. Check the Michael Bush reference page for specifics on that.

    In terms of capturing a swarm, I have only made lazy attempts, including setting out a nuc box with a few empty frames and some pheromone lure. But, it is not high enough, south facing, or far enough away from my other hives to capture one of my own swarms. Capturing swarms it turns out is a lot of work, bee lining might be easier, and buying nucs is def the easiest. But, feral bee genetics seem to be such a powerful part of a successful IPM that I am not going to give up on it. Best case scenario: find a local beek who is interested in genetics and is raising his own queens and will sell you a nuc for $75.

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