Tag: bees

Beekeeping in Turkey

Posted onAuthorAndy

One of the (rather unoriginal) points made about beekeepers is that, if you ask 5 beekeepers a techncal question, you get 10 answers.

One of the regular questions from new beekeepers is about how to organise the hives in their apiary.

It is generally accepted that bees can tell left and right, but no more. For this reason we have our 6 hives in 3 groups of 2. The principle is that bees will always return to their own hive, avoiding problems with robbing and fighting. It is also generally accepted that 40 or so hives is a sensible maximum in any single apiary to ensure that enough forage exists to support the colonies.

We were in Turkey last week and, as usual, we kept an eye out for beekeeping activities.

From the picture below it was clear that Turkish beekeepers have a different view of the optimum layout for an apiary. There must have been 200 plus hives in this apiary, with perhaps 100 per row.

beekeeping in turkey

 

 

 

 

 

turkey beekeeping 2

If you can’t quite work it out, here is a close up.

 

More interesting pictures from Turkey to come.

 

 

New Season Comb Honey For Sale

Posted onAuthorAndy2 Comments

Today we took off the first frames from our garden hives to make comb honey. Most people understand that honey direct from a beekeeper is more likely to be ‘raw’, ‘unfiltered’ or just ‘not messed around with’ and so better for you and, many believe, helpful against hayfever. We are also often asked about the purest way to eat honey. Well, comb honey has to be it.

raw comb honey 4As you can see from the pictures here, the process is simple and involves nothing more than a cutter and a tray.

The frames are first taken from the supers, the shallow boxes put on top of the hive for the bees to store honey in.

 

 

 

raw comb honey 3Next the wax and honey are cut from the frame as a block.

 

 

 

 

 

raw comb honey 2Then a cutter made to the size of the container is used to cut out the right shape from the block.

 

 

 

 

 

raw comb honey 1This section is then dropped into a plastic tray and the lid put on. That’s it, nothing else, it is ready for sale.

As you can see, this means that the honey within the cells has never been touched by human hands or processed in any way. It has to be the most natural way to take honey. The first of these containers took about 20 minutes to go from hive to being on sale.

If you want my opinion as to the best way to enjoy comb honey, remembering that you can eat it all, wax included, then keep it simple. Cut a slice of the wax/honey and spread over a hot buttered crumpet or piece of toast. Nothing better.

If you would like to try it then you can buy it from my sales page here.