More Than Honey: The Survival of Bees and the Future of Our World by Markus Imhoof & Claus-Peter Lieckfeld

Author:Markus Imhoof & Claus-Peter Lieckfeld [Imhoof, Markus & Lieckfeld, Claus-Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Life Sciences, Ecology, Animals, Nature, Science, Insects & Spiders, Environmental Conservation & Protection
ISBN: 9781771641005
Google: 8JlwCgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Greystone Books
Published: 2015-09-21T20:52:14+00:00

In November and December, the bees settle in for winter. The bees form a cluster in the hive, and from time to time the bees on the outside move toward the center to warm up. During the bees’ active phase, the temperature is kept at a constant 35°C (95°F). In winter, the bees at the center of the cluster keep the temperature in the hive at 25°C–28°C (77°F–82°F) by shivering—they vibrate their flight muscles but keep their wings still, raising their body temperatures. The queen has priority, and as VIP of the bees, resides in the middle of the cluster. Beekeepers can make use of the dark months for further education and training. There is time to attend beekeeping lectures, for reading, and for improving equipment and accessories. At the Christmas markets, honey and other beekeeping products like wax candles can be sold. All that needs to be done with the hive is to keep a wary eye out for Varroa, using whatever treatment is considered necessary.

If you ask beekeepers what the highlight of the year is, you won’t get the same answer from everyone everywhere, but noticeably often the reply is that it is the moment after extraction when the kind and quality of the year’s honey is revealed. Honey harvesting begins with an act of violence: Someone steals from the bees all that they have stockpiled for their feeding requirements, including their winter stores. But while in the olden days the harvesting of honey went hand in hand with the destruction of the colony, nowadays removal of the easy-to-handle frames holding the honeycomb has a comparatively minor impact. Before getting down to the sticky stuff, the beekeeper checks whether the honey is “ripe.” This happens when the honeycombs are sealed or the honey in the non-sealed comb is so thick that even when the frame is banged against something solid nothing seeps out. Some people like to work scientifically and use a refractometer to measure the water content, which should not exceed 18 percent.

Bees remaining on the comb once the frames have been extracted can be dusted off with a bee brush. In modern beekeeping businesses, the brood combs are separate from the honeycombs so that the bees can be blasted from the honey supers (part of the commercial beehive) by compressed air—which is effective but can damage the wings—or by using repellants to drive the bees away from the honeycombs.

There are a variety of tools and techniques for uncapping, or removing the wax seal of the honeycomb. There is cold uncapping using a broad fork-like tool, and also warm uncapping with a spatula tool that has been warmed before use. Many beekeepers use a heat gun, which looks like a mini hairdryer. The uncapped honeycombs are then placed in an extractor, a centrifuge that slowly builds up speed and forces the honey out of the hexagonal wax cells. The honey accumulates at the bottom of the extractor and is drained into a honey tank where it remains sealed for a couple of days at room temperature.

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