Still Smarter

I have a few bee's and find them fascinating.

I run the warre hive system, with great success.

Anyone else a beek?

What's a beek?

Tell me about it. I am considering new hobbies. Enjoy wood work. Enjoy alcohol.

I like little critters, big bees are lovely.

WelshGin wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 6:51 pm What's a beek?

A quicker way to type Beekeeper…

I have a friend that not only is a Beek, he sells.
And if I'm not careful he'll tell me a lot more about bees and honey than I really need to know.
We've been swapping out different types of honey for some of SWMBO's homemade sourdough bread.
Off on a tangent, I mentioned to him that I was interested in making "some mead".
He gave me two one- pound (16 ounce) bottles of honey that had crystalized so he can't sell it.
I'll skip the details to put in a separate thread if it's worthwhile.

Go for it. I want to know now?

Mash along with producing honey do you ever render and keep the bees wax from the cappings and combs?
It’s very effective in fixing small leaks or weeps on barrels as well

Personally no, but my late father did - he used to keep his hives on the railway embankment behind their house - and given the kind of flora found on railway embankments, the honey was very good.

The only reason he didn't bring his hives back from when they moved up to the Herefordshire area, was to do with him winding down the beekeeping and the hassle of getting movement order approval from DEFRA (bees are considered "livestock" in the same way as other fauna, and it's all about control of parasitic mites, and moving them potentially from region to region).

As for the comments about making meads? It actually needs more honey than might be normally considered. To make a "traditional" mead, it's about the 3.5lb of honey in an imperial gallon (4.55 litres). Plus there's lots of different views about yeasts etc.

If someone wanted to produce what's generally sold as mead hereabouts, then it'd be as above, using a more "gentle" yeast (not the unfeasibly unsuitable "champagne" yeast - so not one that's known for blandness and pushing all the aromatics straight out of the airlock). Then once the ferment has completed, stabilise and back sweeten (commercially produced have been found by me to have a finished gravity IRO 1.030-1.040) only then clearing it down (honey used in back sweetening can often cause a haze, which apparently, is to do with proteins in the sweetening honey, except if you sweeten as above, any haze that might develop will drop out with the lees).

Copperhead road wrote: Sun Feb 08, 2026 5:42 am Mash along with producing honey do you ever render and keep the bees wax from the cappings and combs?
It’s very effective in fixing small leaks or weeps on barrels as well

Hell yeah. It's THE important part that I use in beekeeping.
My beekeeping is (as far as possible) all natural, so their wax is important.

Thanks @phantom

I didn't explain the massive amount of honey that mead needs very well. Cheers.

The Joe Mattioli recipe makes up nice. I also did some with hops, lively but v nice.

First time I have ever heard about movement licencing for routine movements. 3 feet or 3 miles yes, but nothing more. I better do some research

In Australia you are allowed to move bee hives within the state you live without any permit or license.
I don’t realise they are considered as livestock though.

In Australia you are allowed to move bee hives within the state you live without any permit or license.
I don’t realise they are considered as livestock though.

Permits required for moving fish too eg trout from trout farms for stocking lakes.

I have regularly moved pigs with licenses, but I can't find anything about bee movement licenses. Just compliance to standstill orders or reportable deseases. Hmm.

Have moved a few bee hive (which itself is quite alarming) I am now wondering if I was right to do so

Still all very interesting. Life/wife wonderful eh? If I pick up another hobby my wife will feel unloved, that then costs too much in frocks.......

Saw my local Beek at Church today. Mentioned to him that a friend where I moved from had posted a Facebook picture about "the first Swarm" of the year. And the local guy proceeded to tell me ALL about swarms.
It was kind of interesting but TMI! Mostly I want some more of the throwaway honey he has.
Is that wrong?

TDick wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2026 2:14 am Saw my local Beek at Church today. Mentioned to him that a friend where I moved from had posted a Facebook picture about "the first Swarm" of the year. And the local guy proceeded to tell me ALL about swarms.
It was kind of interesting but TMI! Mostly I want some more of the throwaway honey he has.
Is that wrong?

Is that when they all leave the hive or something?

Copperhead road wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2026 2:58 am

TDick wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2026 2:14 am A friend where I moved from had posted a Facebook picture about "the first Swarm" of the year.

Is that when they all leave the hive or something?

Mash wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 4:46 pm I have a few bee's and find them fascinating.

She's cuter than either of my two friends. I'll let her explain:
Mash, does that cover it?

https://youtu.be/2ZBla-0UHRI?si=KMIM6CXDMP_X80_7

Cheers TDick… you bloody love YouTube clips don’t you lol

Nice clip. Nice watch. Some of her facts are a bit wide of the mark, but hey ho.

Copperhead road wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2026 5:07 am Cheers TDick… you bloody love YouTube clips don’t you lol

It's where I get ALL my news!

Mash wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2026 5:24 pm Nice clip. Nice watch. Some of her facts are a bit wide of the mark, but hey ho.

Mash you don't mean to imply that Youtube videos may NOT be correct?!
NO WAY!

Mash wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2026 5:24 pm Nice clip. Nice watch. Some of her facts are a bit wide of the mark, but hey ho.

I can not stand YouTubers… especially the distilling ones.

It would seem the beekeepers are no better.