Bee Keeping Today » honey bees

Raw Honey and its Many Uses

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:50:32 +0000

Raw honey is one of the most sought after products on the market to date. Although it can be gathered from certain flowers and other insects the main source of honey is bee keeping. Bee keepers will have acres of large bee colonies in order to meet the consumption demands of the world. Everyone loves honey with breakfast, but it has many medical uses as well. Raw honey is one of the best sweeteners available at the moment, and has been for centuries. It is unburdened by processing, and needs no additives to achieve its sweetness. It is mainly 38 percent fructose, and 31 percent glucose. People love to use it as an alternative sweetener and the demand for it makes bee keeping a very profitable industry. Bees secrete the honey as a form of food to use during the winter months when other sources run low. A typical beehive has one queen, a few hundred males, and up to forty thousand female workers. There are many types of honey and the taste is determined by the flower the nectar came from. Most common honey that you buy in stores is a blended variety coming from several different flowers. Raw honey is taken from most modern bee hives simply by pulling out a wooden slide that has a comb structure built into it. This structure is used by the bees to store the honey so all one has to do is drain it and reinsert it. This leaves the colony intact and only the extra honey is taken. After all taking all the honey would leave none for the bees and a dead bee hive would be bad for bee keeping. Another application that some believe raw honey has is allergy relief. Some people believe that ingesting honey that hasn't been filtered and still has traces of the sealing wax, and other materials can increase allergy resistance. Food agencies have yet to determine if this actually works or not. Regardless bee keeping is a very busy job, and protecting oneself is important. Bee keepers will wear complete screen suits when they walk around their bee hives. Even though they aren't directly threatening the bees there's still the chance of being stung. Of course even with the use of the latest protection one or two stings still manage to get through. Most domesticated bees aren't overly aggressive, but if you threaten their colony you may have a problem on your hands. When trying to get raw honey from a natural hive in the wilderness you run two risks. Number one you are climbing a tree so you could break your neck. Number two if you disturb the hive when everyone is home you may not make it out alive. This is why bee keeping is a safer alternative to natural gathering. Regardless of if you want raw honey for food, or for medical purposes chances are you're not going to get it out of a tree. Most honey that is in stores now is made via bee keeping and is perfectly safe to eat. It's good on everything from biscuits to pancakes, and makes a great sweetener for hot drinks. Some people have even used it to treat burns in emergency cases. Mail this post

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Beekeeping Equipment that all Apiary Managers Must Have

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:43:19 +0000

Beekeeping is a hobby for some people and it has become a career for others. If you are going to be working with these insects you will definitely need the proper beekeeping equipment before you begin. It is important that you have all of the necessary bee equipment in place prior to the delivery of your bee colonies. A Place for Bees to Stay You have to have the right type of beehive for honeybees. Be sure to place the beehives in areas where pets and humans will be less likely to come in contact with them. The hives need to be protected from strong winds as well. Each of the hives must contain 5 supers. These are the areas where the honey is going to be stored and it also serves as the nursery for the new generations of bees. Beehive supers will contain 9 or 10 individual frames, and they can be either shallow or deep. The deeper supers are convenient bee equipment items because you are only required to buy foundations that are one size. However the disadvantage involves the weight of these deep supers once they are full of honey. Each super can weigh 100 pounds or more when it is full. Bee Equipment Includes Your Personal Gear Anyone who is involved in apiary work needs the right kind of protective garments. A veiled head-cover, gloves and a beekeeper jacket are all useful items to have. There is also a full body suit available that offers beekeepers complete protection from head to toe. Choosing the right beekeeping equipment for your personal needs to be one of your top considerations. Spacers and Smokers Spacers and smokers are necessary beekeeping equipment that you will need to have on hand. The smoker will be used less often than the spacers but both are critical to the success of your endeavor. The articles of bee equipment known as spacers are relatively simple items. These are used to maintain equal spacing between the frames in the super. A smoker is another essential piece of beekeeping equipment. Smokers are used mostly when it is time to harvest the honey from the hives. The parts of a smoker include bellows, a funnel and a chamber that is used for combustion. The bellows helps you keep the fire going in the combustion chamber. You can use the funnel to aim the smoke directly into the hive to make the bees leave while you complete the harvesting. Metal Hive Tool This tool is best described as your all in one bee equipment assistant. It has a special design that allows it to be used to open the hives, perform frame scraping tasks and even assists in separating the components within the hive. Bee Brush You should not consider that you have all of the beekeeping equipment necessary unless you have included a small bee brush in your tally. This brush helps you move the bees aside when you need to check the frames or perform other hive related duties. Fumer Board This is a piece of beekeeping equipment that helps you get the bees out of the hive. If you want to remove the honeycombs a fumer board is what you need to get the job done. This useful beekeeping equipment has been impregnated with chemicals that act as a safe bee repellent. Mail this post

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Bee Keeping

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:13:00 +0000

Bee keeping is a great hobby that will allow you to reap some great rewards from it. This is how we get the raw honey that many people like to have with a various number of foods or drinks and even in some medicine. Honey is not the only reward that we can receive from bee keeping. We can also obtain bee wax and bee pollen that are used in many different types of items that we use on an everyday basis. One of the first things that you want to consider when thinking of bee keeping is whether you or any member of your family is allergic to bees. If the answer is no, then you can go ahead and start your new hobby. This is a very important question as many people are so allergic that it can place them in the hospital or even become fatal if stung. Getting a started in bee keeping, you do not need to spend a lot of money. You can start your hobby with one hive for around $300 dollars. This is plenty for you to get started with. If you wish, you can expand later and purchase more hives and bees to keep your hobby flourishing. You also do not need a lot of space to have as your hobby area. You want to choose an area somewhere in your yard but far enough from your home that you feel comfortable with. One thing to consider is if you are permitted to keep bees in your local area. Some areas may have laws or ordinances against it. Now, where to get the bees from? There are three ways for you to obtain the bees that you need. You may get them from an existing colony, a nucleus, or a swarm. Of these three methods, the one that will cost you the most is that of obtaining an existing colony. This can usually be done by purchasing them from established beekeepers and supply stores. A nucleus is where a queen bee and several hundred worker bees have left a hive to form their own colony. Obtaining a swarm of bees is by far the most dangerous of the three methods but is also the cheapest. To get swarm you must first locate it. Hives are usually found hanging from the branches of trees. Once you have located a hive, place a box below the hive and shake the branch firmly until the hive falls inside. When you have done this, turn the box upside down and place a stick under the box to allow any scout bees to get back to the hive. The scout bees are the ones that search the area for suitable homes for the colony. Now that we have our hives and the bees, we can start our hobby of bee keeping. There are many techniques that are used for handling bees and retrieving raw honey. It is recommended that you research and know what to do before going headfirst. Providing honey and bee's wax for people that need it is a very rewarding sensation and is a great hobby for anyone that can handle it. Mail this post

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Bee Keeping Equipment You Must Have

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:01:36 +0000

Whether you want to start bee keeping as a hobby or as a business, you must have the proper bee keeping equipment. Bee keeping is a fun hobby that can also provide you with an additional source of income. You can collect the honey for your own use or sell it. You can make candles from beeswax. Of course, you will need a hive for your bees to live in. The beehive is a wooden frame box that contains multiple parts. The outer cover must be weather resistant in order to protect your bees. Your hive should also have an inner cover to act as insulation. The inside of your hive will have important pieces of honey bee equipment called honey supers. The bees use these removable frames for storing honey. When you are ready to harvest honey, you simply slip out the frames. The beehive will have a lower compartment that contains honey supers also but these are for the bees to use to raise their young and store honey to be used as food. A hive stand is required in order to keep the bottom of the hive dry and to provide insulation. A valuable piece of bee keeping equipment is the smoker. A smoker is a small pot that you fill with grass or burlap and set it on fire to create smoke. The smoke billows out a directional nozzle that you aim towards the beehive. The smoke does not hurt the bees; it simply makes them calm so you can remove the honey supers without being stung. Most beekeepers add a veil and gloves to their list of necessary bee keeping equipment. These protect your head, arms and hands from being stung. Some experienced beekeepers prefer to work without the heavy gloves since it is easier to use the hive tool to pry open the hive without them. Full protection is recommended for beginners. The gloves should be made of leather or plastic so a bee stinger cannot penetrate them. Beekeeper suits are available also; these offer protection to the entire body. You will need honey bee equipment that processes the honey after you remove the honey supers from the hive. You can purchase extracting equipment which separates the honey from the comb. You can also choose the easy and less expensive method of buying honey supers designed for making comb honey. With these, all you have to do is cut the honeycomb from the frame. Other bee keeping equipment to consider includes food, feeders and medication. You should provide supplemental food to your hive to keep them healthy when nearby nectar is not available. Providing a water source helps keep your bees away from your neighbor's swimming pool. Finding honey bee equipment is not difficult. You can contact your county extension agent for advice on setting up your bee colony as well as advice on where to buy your supplies. You can also buy everything you need online if you cannot find it locally. Using the proper bee keeping equipment will help your bees stay healthy and protect you from stings. Healthy bees means more delicious honey that you can harvest from your hive. Mail this post

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Bee Hives and Proper Handling

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:41:57 +0000

When talking about bee hives and raw honey people often think of having to scale a tree to get them. This is often not the case as several professional bee keepers have popped up around the globe and have their hives at ground level. This makes extracting honey from the hive easier, and safer. There is however still the risk of getting stung, but at least you don't have to worry about breaking your neck. Bee hives have been the primary source of raw honey since the dawn of recorded history. Archeologists have found cave paintings of people climbing trees to get honey out of suspended hives in various locations. History does not tell us when we started domesticating bees but we do know that we were actively practicing it around 2400 BC. Historical evidence shows that early bee keepers used logs, pottery, and even baskets for bee's to build their colonies in and raise young. Early beekeepers had to use crude methods of obtaining honey from bee colonies that they tended. In most cases, they suppressed the bees with smoke then smashed into the hive and ripped out the honeycombs. These were then mashed up and the honey was mixed with the larval eggs, the material of the honeycomb itself, and then crudely strained. This worked in getting the honey but destroyed the hive completely. Luckily, bee hives have evolved considerably since those times and extracting the raw honey does not harm the colony. Modern bee farmers use slide out hives that have a comb like structure that can easily be emptied, and then replaced. This ensures that the bee colony will be safe, and can produce more honey later. Honey that's harvested is then run through a complex system of filters to make sure it's clean, and safe for consumption. Until the 18th century, we didn't really know much about bees. What we did know revolved around superstition, folklore, and old wives tales. Scientists at the time had had enough of this and started actively dissecting and analyzing bee hives, bees, and the raw honey they produced. This laid the foundation for what we know about bees today. Insect behavior is quite complicated, even though it appears simple. Bees communicate with body language, pheromones, and sometimes a combination of the two. This can lead to some interesting activity if you have a colony with a glass window. People have been observing bees and other insects like this for decades and it never ceases to fascinate the curious mind. Not only do bees produce honey, but they are essential to the ecosystem of our planet. These sometimes-tiny insects can pollinate many hundreds of flowers in a day. These flowers then support a myriad of other insect and animal life that makes up our food chain. Even the smallest of bugs can have an insurmountable impact on our planet. At the moment, bee hives are still the only source of raw honey we have. Sure, you can try to imitate it with artificial flavors but nothing comes close to the real thing. Honey is an integral part of breakfasts across the globe and many start their day with it. It also has many medical properties that make it highly sought after. Mail this post

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