Bees and Honey

I'm wondering if there are any bee-keepers on this forum? I have a couple of hives in my back yard - used to have a whole lot more! Yesterday afternoon I took some honey from them. It was a lovely light honey with a nice light taste.
Anyone else enjoy some fresh honey! Fresh honey vs store-bought honey from a container is like the difference between apples right off the tree and out of cold storage. Honey tastes great on just about anything!! And remember the Lord promised a land flowing with milk and honey!
I'll add to this thread if there are any bee lovers out there.
(Daryl, I need a little smiley with his tongue out licking up the honey!!)

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There it is. Will that do?

[ December 16, 2001: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]

P.S. I just looked at the date on this post and thought I should remind you lot over the other side of the world that we are a day ahead of you! I robbed and extracted honey on SUNDAY afternoon!!!!!!!!!

Nice one Mikk, I have beekeeping friends, and love their fresh honey!
Be nice to have some information on the subject here.
I only know how to eat it!

[ December 18, 2001: Message edited by: Zita ]

Thanks Daryl. I've only just seen the little smiley with his tongue out licking up the honey. Very good!
btw its been so very dry over here that there seems to be extra ants around now - and they can smell honey anywhere! I have a cotton mesh veil that I put over my head to keep the bees out of my hair and it got a bit sticky the other day. (I'll interject here that when bees get caught in your hair they get frightened and sting! Otherwise 'good bees' can crawl all over your skin or clothes and NOT sting - and I only have GOOD BEES.) I just dropped it on top of the washing machine lid - and horrors! When I went to use the machine the next day the lid and my veil were covered with ants! I washed up pretty quick after that!

Our disasterous wet summer means that there is no manuka honey being produced this summer, and there is a triple price hike predicted.
A beekeeping friend of ours has yet to empty one hive of clover honey.

Hey, all you honey-lovers...It's me, the bird-watcher, now turned bee-watcher. While we were in New Zealand over the holidays (sorry, just on the North Island), we were impressed by the Lord to bring a whole un-assembled hive, smoker, comb starter, veil & gloves back in our luggage to Borneo! We were 66 kilos over weight, but the airline manager would only charge us NZ$100 for the overage. Imagine that! So with all our equipment gathered from all over good ol' En-Zed (that's NZ for you Yanks) we are ready to start. First though we may have to go over to India for the Asian Apiary Convention to figure out how to do this in the tropics. Different sorta bees and other factors. Our host country is very hepped on getting agriculture going, but you ain't gettin' far without enough buzzing bees, are ya?
Well, please pray for the Master's specific orders for this; it would supplement our income here in the mission field.
Write when ya like! Ikan

Ikan, amazing alright!
Glad they let you do it!
Just as well you stayed in the North, might have had to swim back!

Wish you every success in your new exciting venture!
Hope the sun shines!

Ikan that's very interesting about your bee-keeping equipment. I will wait to hear what breed of bees you will be keeping in Asia. I attended a specialized bee breeding school at one of the agricultural colleges some years ago - but it only focused on the main breeds that we use in the european countries. We have native bees in Australia (most people don't even realize they are bees) but apparently they are not useful for collecting any commercial quantities of honey. That apiary school also taught A.I. of the queen bee - micro-surgery - we actually learnt under special dual microscopes - first the student watching the instructors (who had been brought out for the school from a research institute in Austria) - then the student practicing while the instructor watched and offered helpful comments. Absolutely fascinating stuff.
One can't help but say that the whole creation is "fearfully and wonderfully made" (and I can't remember off-hand where that quote is found!!)
Ikan, I will also be very interested to hear how you get on with all the protective clothing/equipement. I started using that when I first kept bees but the Australian climate is far too hot and humid for that to be a real option - so I eventually tried what the old-timers do - NOTHING! Loose shorts and shirt so the bees don't get stuck inside your clothes and sting because they are frightened!! However, I ended up also wearing a light veil over a big sun-hat as I don't like bees getting stuck and frightened in my hair!!!
Zita, I have been wondering how you survived the floods over your way - we saw some awesome photos on the telly news one night. Hope it didn't get too close to you.