subject: Beekeeping and Honey Bees [print this page] Beekeeping and Honey Bees Beekeeping and Honey Bees
Starting a beekeeping hobby or business is fairly easy, and you should become familiar with how bees make honey. The fact is, it is not a very easy job for the bee to make enough honey from the hive. That's why you'll see them out almost every morning collecting nectar to make honey.The Process of How Bees Make HoneyThe process of making honey starts with the flower. Plants use nectar to lure the honey bees to them. The honey bee gathers nectar from the flower by using its straw-like proboscis to "drink" the nectar and store it in its "honey stomach." In return, the honey bee will transfer pollen grains from one flower to another, which pollinates the flower.Making honey from nectar requires more than one be. Normally, the older worker bees are the bees to go out and collect the nectar. The younger worker bees finished the honey conversion back at the hive.Nectar is largely made up of water and it also contains a small amount of complex sugars. Bees convert nectar into honey because honey contains less than 20% water and is more efficient than nectar both in terms of an energy supply and for storage.Once the nectar gets into the stomach, enzymes begin to break down the complex sugars into simple sugars. This break down is called inversion. Once the worker bee gets back to the hive, it will regurgitate the nectar that has been broken down. It will then regurgitate this inverted nectar into a cell of the honeycomb.At this point, the honey bees will fan the nectar with their wings to evaporate any remaining water. Once the water is eliminated, the sugars will make the honey thicker. As soon as the honey is ready, the hive will cap the beeswax cell, which will seal the honey into the honeycomb to be used later.Harvesting HoneyNow that the honey bee has made its honey, it is time for you to get to work. Harvesting honey is a simple process. Harvesting can begin once the frames are full of honeycombs and the bees have covered the honeycombs with wax caps. Once you see this, you can begin removing the honeycombs. The most important thing you can do to prepare for harvesting is to put on your beekeeping protective gear. Once the super is full of capped honeycombs, you will need to remove the bees from the super.To do this you can try applying products like Bee-Go or Fishers Bee Quick. Bees find either one of these products very offensive and will abandon the super once they smell them. Because no damage to the bees and the bees will return, they just give you enough time to collect honey.Once you have access to the honeycomb, you will need to extract it. To do this, use a warm metal knife to remove the wax caps. A warm knife will make it easier to cut the wax. Simply dunk the knife in hot water to keep it warm. Remove the caps with a cheese cloth and place into a pot. The honey will drain right through the cloth. Now it is time to extract the honey.Tips for Selling Honey for a ProfitIf you're running your beekeeping operation as a business you will need to understand how to sell your honey, what kind of honey will sell, and some basic marketing.People tend to buy two types of honey, which are liquid honey and comb honey. Liquid honey is the honey that is extracted from the comb and put into a jar. This type of honey is usually used for cooking and baking. Comb honey is purchased for the taste. People will put comb honey on their toast or mix it with peanut butter.If you only have a little bit of honey to sell, then consider selling it locally to neighbors, friends, and family. If you end up with a farm, then consider current Internet marketing strategies to attract online customers.The honey bee is an amazing insect and creates great tasting honey. You can reap the benefits by harvesting high quality honey by either eating or selling honey. Either way, the honey will be tasty for someone!
