Using the Other Products of the Hive

Click here and send the message to have this article posted to you by email (don't write anything else, as the process is automated!)...

This article appeared under my pseudonym, Skep, in the NZ Beekeeper No 193, Autumn 1987, pp 15, 18-19.

You are able to make and use equipment that would be too complicated on a commercial scale. You are able replace equipment more readily, and keep your few hives looking really top notch.

Even when it comes to enjoying the fruits of your labour, as a hobbyist beekeeper you have the opportunity to do things that a beekeeper with a larger number of hives would not find either economic or feasible.

Take, as an example, the honey itself. If you manage your hives carefully, you should be able to sort out different varieties of honey and extract them separately. You could, if you wanted to, take off a super of an early source, extract it and then replace the super for the main honey flow.

For a larger beekeepers to do this, they need to have enough of an extraction 'run' of a specific source to make it worth their time and effort. You could do it for a relatively small quantity of a certain source if felt like it.

The same goes for actually enjoying the honey in its finest form, still in the comb. Rarely would a season go by that I don't spot a new frame of honey, with wax drawn freshly from foundation, that I don't spirit away to my own table. Being able to appreciate honey in this form, just as the bees produced it, complete with all the delicate flavourings and aromas, must surely be one of the finest of reasons for being a beekeeper.

You needn't do anything elaborate, either. At its most basic, you could just place the whole comb in a large plastic container and eat from it directly. I generally cut mine into more manageable pieces, first removing the wires from the frame. Its really just the reverse of the frame wiring procedure. Snip the wires at the end bar, then use a low voltage DC transformer, or even a 12 volt battery, to heat the wires up. At just the right time, pull the wires out with a pair of pliers.

Now you can cut the full comb from the frame and cut it to whatever size you wish. Without doubt, honey from the comb must be the finest way of appreciating its full flavour.

As a hobbyist, you've got all sorts of other advantages over the commercial beekeeper. You are able to do things, and make use of some of the other products of the hive, that the larger beekeeper would not have the time for. Propolis is a good example.

Only in the last few years, and only on a relatively small scale, has propolis been anything other than a nuisance for most beekeepers.

On a personal basis, I have been accused of sounding something like a 'snake oil' salesman when I start talking about the value of propolis. I am always quite cynical and loathe to back 'miracle cures', but I have had enough success with propolis to recommend it for a variety of uses.

I have found it excellent for mouth ulcers, taking away the pain almost immediately and healing the ulcer within just a day or two. I also use it for sore throats and impending colds. In both these cases, I just roll a small piece (pea sized) around in my mouth, sucking on it. Its something of a acquired taste (in other words, most people think its revolting...) and you have to keep it moving to avoid having it stick to your teeth. I have also used a piece of propolis, warmed to make it workable, directly on a skin infection, held in place with a sticking plaster.

It's easy enough to collect. Whenever you are working with your hive, especially in the autumn, keep an eye out for especially 'clean' looking deposits of propolis. If you have given the hive supers with new frames, check out the area on the top bars. Look also at any other openings in the hive. In the photo, you can see where the bees have propolised the small opening in a division board that was placed upside down on the hive to give some upper ventilation. All you have to do is scrape it off with your hive tool and put it into a container to keep.

Propolis is antibiotic, antibacterial and antiseptic; altogether, one of the real 'miracle products' of the hive. Even the name itself is interesting.

Propolis comes from two Greek words: PRO and POLIS. It means, simply, 'in front of the city'. This refers to the bees' tendency to place it around the entrance of their hive. Some races of bees with virtually close off the hive entrance by reducing it in this manner.

Another product that you can make better use of as a hobbyist is beeswax. For commercial beekeepers, beeswax is simply a commodity, collected through the year, melted down and sold to be converted into wax. There they do have the advantage of you. You'd never be able to collect enough to make conversion worthwhile, and you'll have to pay full price for the sheets of foundation you need.

So why not make good use of the wax you do collect? Build a solar wax melter and throw all the little bits of scrapings and old combs into it through the season, then make candles with the results. It may not be the most economical thing to do, but the smell of a pure beeswax candle is in the same league with the smell of fresh baked bread, one of life's simple pleasures.

I prefer poured candles as they burn longer, but if you want a simple beeswax candle, you don't need to go any further than your sheets of foundation.

The wick size is the only thing you'll need to take special care with. You can, of course, go out and buy special candlewick material, but I have had good results with 'make do'. I bought a length of cotton pajamas cord. It must be cotton, of course, rather than nylon or other synthetic material. Unpick the individual threads from the plaited cord until you have 6 or 8 of them in a bundle. If you don't use enough, the wick will not burn strongly enough to properly melt the candlewax. If you use too many strands, it will burn like a blowtorch.

I have an old electric fry pan I use for all sorts of odd beeswax melting jobs. By pouring a cup or two of water into it, I get the same results as using a double boiler, reducing the danger of fire caused by boil over. Beeswax can be very dangerous when heated; use care and don't ever leave it unattended.

To make the rolled foundation type candle, I first dip the right length of wick into beeswax melted in the fry pan. Lay the wick on the edge of the beeswax foundation sheet, and tightly roll the foundation around it. When you get to the other edge, paint a little melted wax onto the edge to seal it firmly. Remember, the more tightly you roll the candle, the better it will burn.

Depending on the size and shape of foundation you use, you can make all sorts of candles. Long, skinny candles, short, fat candles, even candles that taper from base to tip, if you use triangular pieces of foundation. Experiment to see which you like to look at and which burn at a reasonable rate. You'll find there is an optimum size, depending on the size and type of wick you use.

If the candle doesn't work right, toss it into the fry pan to melt down! You can decorate the finished candles in any way you think appropriate. Some good ideas I have seen are waxing small straw flowers or other such things onto the sides. Another idea is dipping the top and bottom 25 mm or so of the candle into another container of wax that has been coloured by the addition of a few crayons, resulting in coloured bands that give a completed, professional touch to your work.

If you get really keen, there have been articles about candle making in bee magazines that might interest you. One type of candle making that I have intended to try is dipped candles. Though rather time consuming to make, I feel they are without a doubt the most attractive candles around. To take it back to the 'fresh baked bread' analogy again, you can of course buy good commercially made candles, just like you can buy good bread in the shops. But there's something just that much more pleasing about that you have made yourself, even if it takes more time, costs more for materials than the commercial finished product and isn't 'economic' in the strict sense.

I'd welcome comments from any of you out there who have other uses for some of these bee products that they would like to share with the rest of us. There are, of course, many many more uses of beeswax, for example, and I would welcome any tried and true recipes for such things as homemade cosmetics and furniture polishes. Most of the ones I have seem to call for unusual ingredients or massive quantities And then there's that other alternative use for the honey from your hives, one that I haven't even mentioned in this article. What better thing to do with your honey crop than to turn it all into a delicately flavoured, slightly dry mead?