Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Potlicker1 on April 09, 2009, 11:35:38 pm

Title: Old honey from cutout
Post by: Potlicker1 on April 09, 2009, 11:35:38 pm

Last Saturday I did my first cutout and all went well from bee-vac to hiving the colony in their new home. What I ended up with however was a large amount of honey from an abandon hive just 30 feet from the living one. I'm assuming it's at least a year old and very dark in color compared to the live colony cutout. Also it smells very strong and almost alcoholic. I'm comfused why the existing colony didn't rob it out. Is this honey worth saving for crush and strain or to feed it back to my bees? The honey in the live hive was all light and sweet. Any ideas on it? Here are a few pics of the old honey and the cutout.

(http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/6512/img1833y.th.jpg) (http://img17.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1833y.jpg)
Old Honey

(http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1168/img1852m.th.jpg) (http://img17.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1852m.jpg)

(http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2596/img1841r.th.jpg) (http://img5.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1841r.jpg)

Title: Re: Old honey from cutout
Post by: bailey on April 09, 2009, 11:42:09 pm

if it was in an old abandoned hive i wouldnt trust it.  could be fermented or worse.

bailey

Title: Re: Old honey from cutout
Post by: JP on April 09, 2009, 11:47:55 pm

Sounds fermented, don't trust it, like Bailey said.


...JP

Title: Re: Old honey from cutout
Post by: Potlicker1 on April 09, 2009, 11:48:34 pm

Will the honey ferment even though it was capped? and what danger is it to the bees. Won't they know better than to eat it?

Title: Re: Old honey from cutout
Post by: bailey on April 09, 2009, 11:52:17 pm

fermented honey is great for people :-D and will kill bees.

bailey

Title: Re: Old honey from cutout
Post by: JP on April 09, 2009, 11:55:50 pm

No, the bees don't always know better, especially hungry bees.


...JP

Title: Re: Old honey from cutout
Post by: fermentedhiker on April 09, 2009, 11:59:08 pm

I'm pretty sure I read an article in the most recent issue of bee culture about the affects of alcohol on bees.  They found bees willing to harvest the equivalent of 80 proof.  It didn't do them any good that's for sure, but they were willing to take it.

Title: Re: Old honey from cutout
Post by: Potlicker1 on April 09, 2009, 11:59:33 pm

I put a small hunk above the inner cover as an experiment but i think I'll remove and pitch it all. I tried a bit and wow it was strong.Thanks