How do we make honey?
We don’t. The worker bees do. They work extremely hard from the moment they leave their birth cell and until they fall in flight because their wings have been worn out.
We help the bees along – at least we try. This article is designed to explain:
We don’t. The worker bees do. They work extremely hard from the moment they leave their birth cell and until they fall in flight because their wings have been worn out.
We help the bees along – at least we try. This article is designed to explain:
- Our beekeeping philosophy
- Where do we get bees?
- To treat or not to treat?
- Location, location, location!
- What is in our honey?
- What kind of honey?
Our beekeeping philosophy.
Our backgrounds are in physics and geophysics. Not exactly “bee biology” but we try to follow scientific beekeeping principles. Having read dozens of books and papers, here are the basic principles which work very well in our case:
Where do we get bees?
Every year most beehives in Canada are populated with the help of queens imported from California, Chile and other far-away places. That’s fine and can work well financially because southern queens are ready before locally produced ones. We produce and select our own queens. This helps us to ensure that our colonies can withstand cold Ontario winters. Also by not buying bees we do not import pests and diseases from other colonies. A further advantage is that our method of queen production involves brood breaks, which helps to control varroa mite population without using pesticides. A brood break is when a colony is without a queen, so no eggs are laid and no larvae is developed and sealed by the bees. Mites require sealed brood cells to reproduce.
Our backgrounds are in physics and geophysics. Not exactly “bee biology” but we try to follow scientific beekeeping principles. Having read dozens of books and papers, here are the basic principles which work very well in our case:
Where do we get bees?
Every year most beehives in Canada are populated with the help of queens imported from California, Chile and other far-away places. That’s fine and can work well financially because southern queens are ready before locally produced ones. We produce and select our own queens. This helps us to ensure that our colonies can withstand cold Ontario winters. Also by not buying bees we do not import pests and diseases from other colonies. A further advantage is that our method of queen production involves brood breaks, which helps to control varroa mite population without using pesticides. A brood break is when a colony is without a queen, so no eggs are laid and no larvae is developed and sealed by the bees. Mites require sealed brood cells to reproduce.
To treat or not to treat?
Varroa Mites
Varroa destructor has been a major threat to honey bees since it was imported to North America from Asia in the 90s. Our bees have not developed to deal with the pest – or the viruses that it brings - resulting in annual losses of 30% of colonies (on average - some years are worse than others).
Commercial beekeepers tend to use Apivar or similar “hard” chemicals to control the mite. Others proclaim “treatment free” approaches (usually 1st, 2nd or 3rd year beekeepers). Even if colonies develop hygienic behavior and clean each other from the mites, this never continues indefinitely as colonies constantly mix with other “non-hygienic” bees from the surrounding areas.
In addition to non-chemical methods, such as brood breaks, we use Oxalic Acid Vaporizer (OAV) to treat for mites. Oxalic acid is an organic compound found in many leafy vegetables and fruit (eg. rhubarb). Unlike Apivar, OAV poses no contamination risk for honey and oxalic acid does not accumulate in the brood chamber. We apply OAV twice a year during brood breaks and it has worked for us – last year we had a 100% survival rate of our colonies
Antibiotic use.
Commercial and some small-scale beekeepers use antibiotics to control American Foul Brood (AFB) and several other diseases. We understand why they do it – if a colony gets AFB they have to be burned – along with all equipment. We decided against the use of antibiotics so as not to add to the problem of antibiotic resistance. We minimize the risk of AFB by frequent inspections so that if one hive were to get it the disease would be dealt with before the problem spreads to the whole apiary. Our practice of not purchasing bees also helps to reduce the risk.
Commercial and some small-scale beekeepers use antibiotics to control American Foul Brood (AFB) and several other diseases. We understand why they do it – if a colony gets AFB they have to be burned – along with all equipment. We decided against the use of antibiotics so as not to add to the problem of antibiotic resistance. We minimize the risk of AFB by frequent inspections so that if one hive were to get it the disease would be dealt with before the problem spreads to the whole apiary. Our practice of not purchasing bees also helps to reduce the risk.
Location, location, location!
Growing monocultures (thousands of acres of the same produce) seems to work for our food supply but all those almonds and blueberries have to be pollinated by honey bees. Bees are transported in time for the “flow”, resulting in a good crop, lots of varietal honey and a decent profit for the beekeeper and the farmer. Unfortunately, most pollinators can’t survive this type of operation – the hectares of almonds are an effective desert to them.
Honey bee colonies are transported for thousands of miles with their populations artificially controlled for these “just in time” conveyor belt pollination operations. This tends to stress the colonies which would much prefer a constant flow of nectar from different flowers providing them with the full range of minerals required for a honey bee to stay healthy.
We are lucky to be located in Wellington County surrounded by forests and tiny farms growing a wide variety of crops and weeds. This provides our honey bees with lots of healthy nutrition from spring to fall. Good nutrition minimizes the risk of diseases. As the Romans used to say: “Mens sana in corpore sano” which roughly translates as “Heathy nectar, healthy brood."
Growing monocultures (thousands of acres of the same produce) seems to work for our food supply but all those almonds and blueberries have to be pollinated by honey bees. Bees are transported in time for the “flow”, resulting in a good crop, lots of varietal honey and a decent profit for the beekeeper and the farmer. Unfortunately, most pollinators can’t survive this type of operation – the hectares of almonds are an effective desert to them.
Honey bee colonies are transported for thousands of miles with their populations artificially controlled for these “just in time” conveyor belt pollination operations. This tends to stress the colonies which would much prefer a constant flow of nectar from different flowers providing them with the full range of minerals required for a honey bee to stay healthy.
We are lucky to be located in Wellington County surrounded by forests and tiny farms growing a wide variety of crops and weeds. This provides our honey bees with lots of healthy nutrition from spring to fall. Good nutrition minimizes the risk of diseases. As the Romans used to say: “Mens sana in corpore sano” which roughly translates as “Heathy nectar, healthy brood."
Our Black Locust Trees in Bloom
What’s in our honey?
Nectar and some pollen too. In spring our bees tend to feed on maples, willow trees and dandelions. Coming into summer, they enjoy our fruit orchard, haskaps, raspberries, white clover and black locust (the source of the famed Acacia Honey)
In the fall goldenrod tends to be the most important source of nectar in our area, giving us honey of a deep golden colour with warm caramel and butterscotch tasting notes. The smell reminds me the freshness of a wild Canadian forest in the middle of summer (sans mosquitoes) and I love it!
Nectar and some pollen too. In spring our bees tend to feed on maples, willow trees and dandelions. Coming into summer, they enjoy our fruit orchard, haskaps, raspberries, white clover and black locust (the source of the famed Acacia Honey)
In the fall goldenrod tends to be the most important source of nectar in our area, giving us honey of a deep golden colour with warm caramel and butterscotch tasting notes. The smell reminds me the freshness of a wild Canadian forest in the middle of summer (sans mosquitoes) and I love it!
Honey Extractor
What kind of honey?
“Raw honey”, “unfiltered honey”, “pasteurized honey”, “creamed honey”, “comb honey” – the proliferation of terms can be confusing and it doesn't help that the terms are often defined differently in different sources. Here is what we do:
“Raw honey”, “unfiltered honey”, “pasteurized honey”, “creamed honey”, “comb honey” – the proliferation of terms can be confusing and it doesn't help that the terms are often defined differently in different sources. Here is what we do:
- We extract honey using modern stainless steel equipment (2019 make). This ensures there is no lead contamination often associated with the older equipment. Incidentally, inspectors who test honey are located in Guelph, which tends to result in Wellington County beekeepers having their honey tested more regularly than any other beekeepers in Ontario.
- Our honey is never heated to temperatures higher than those maintained by the bees in the hives. This means that our honey is not “pasteurized”. Pasteurized honey does not crystallize as fast as the raw honey and is clearer but pasteurization destroys bee pollen which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, bee propolis, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and amino acides.
- We do filter using a rough strainer. This ensure that there are no bee body parts or large chunks of wax in the final product but leaves all the pollen and all the other goodies the raw honey has.
- Our honey is not “creamed”. Creamed honey is crystallized honey which is then processed to ensure that the size of crystals is so small that it feels almost like butter. However, we have found that our honey naturally crystalizes to a small grain, resulting in a similar texture which is soft and can be easily spread on a toast.
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