Honey from hives for hikers

[Serp]

Quick question, if i were to find a hive in the wild- would i be able to pour water into the combs, through a screen and into a pot.
then boil the pot down to get rid of the moisture and turn it back into honey?

[Robo]

You will ruin the honey by heating it that hot.  You are better off doing crush and strain.

[Serp]

wat about a gradual heating away of moisture? the reason i ask is because i go on hikes occasionally for weeks at a time, this other method u speak of- is it easy and dooes it require any equiptment?

[Robo]

A piece of cheese cloth and a container to let the honey drip into.   Sounds like you would be better of to just chew the comb and spit out the wax.

[Serp]

man, bees rock
the wax is good for candles
and the honey, oh the honey:D

thnx for the method- im mostly interested in storing the honey though, but theres so many predators out there lookin fer this sweet nectar, i dont wanna keep it out too long for that reason- so how long would it roughly take to extract a fair shaped hive? and i take it some residual heat from a fire would speed the process... would u say itd take under a day with the fire?

[johnnybigfish]

Hey Serp,
What I did on my first time to clean burr comb was to put the comb, wax and all in a pot and melted it, stirring it so it wouldnt boil. Then I let it cool. The wax come to the top and turned hard. Then I poked a hole in the hardened wax near the edge of the pot and tilted the pot. All the honey came out and left the wax! Then I dug out the wax the best I could and made a candle! ...Coool, huh?
 It was only a quart pot and there were only 3 little jars of honey but it worked for me.
 Oh, yeh.....I used to backpack the San Juan mountains in Colorado, between
Durango and Silverton.To this day, I still tell people that these trips were the only thing Ive ever done that gave me an idea of what I was made of!
  I'm alot older now and I'm not made of the same stuff anymore.(mostly made of beer and barbecue nowadays!)
well, good luck on the trail and also getting honey!
your friend,
john

[Serp]

kool method-  tht sounds perfect, one last question- since im kinda a hippy, how much of the hive should i leave the bees to make it past winter? (this is for late summer harvesting). And whats the best way to do that?, for instance- if the hive is hanging from a tree, if i just cut the bottom of it off and left the hive still hanging- the honey would drip out, but if i left the bottom of the hive wedged between two branches, would the colony survive?

Also- I know wasps dont make honey, but do all bees?

ohh- and lastly, how do i get the bees out? haha

[Moonshae]

If you are finding open air hives, the honey will be on the outer edges. Take them as whole combs, right to the top. If you're in a place where an open air hive can survive the winter, a comb from each side will probably do you good and them not much harm.

[Michael Bush]

Pick the white comb and eat it as is.  No straining required.

[Scadsobees]

You will have to brush the bees off of the combs that you cut off.  That will make them mad.  So you will want to smoke them first.  And this isn't something that you'd want to do without any protection...a veil, long sleeves, gloves, long pants, etc.  You don't want to get 300 stings and go into shock way out in the woods.

Drop the harvested combs into a bucket then when you are done you can crush them and let the honey drip through a strainer.

If you are in the south..south east or south west, I'd highly advise against this because of Africanized bees.  They will eat you alive.  Until you aren't.

Rick

[Erik T]

Good advice Scadsobees.  Someone inexperienced with bees + lack of equipment + middle of nowhere could add up to a really painful death.

[Kathyp]

Someone inexperienced with bees + lack of equipment + middle of nowhere could add up to a really painful death.

probably you'd pass out and just die.  it would be really painful if you didn't die!

if i were looking at the honey as survival type food, i'd just leave it in the comb.  best way to transport and best way to eat.  it will keep forever.  a few big ziploc bags are much easier to carry than the equipment for crush and strain.

[Serp]

oh yea, i plan to don a bee suit before touching a hive

With this smoking technique do i need electricity?

i also know of a good herbal anti-insecticide formula, its boiled then put into a sprayer, would that work?(considering its herbal AND edible plants that make it, i dontthink itd have an affect on the honey)

[Kev]

I backpack frequently, and I just can't imagine carrying the clothing necessary for protection against a wild hive. (Obvoiusly, they're not all mean, but you've got to prep for the worst.) Not to mention lugging a pot big enough to put cut comb into.

Lastly, I don't think harvesting wild honey fits in with Leave No Trace principles of backpacking. Getting a hive out of your neighbors tree is different than taking it from public land somewhere.

My advice: Leave the wild honey for the wild animals.

Kev 

[Michael Bush]

>i also know of a good herbal anti-insecticide formula, its boiled then put into a sprayer, would that work?(considering its herbal AND edible plants that make it, i dontthink itd have an affect on the honey)

Very doubtful.  Most of the scents that drive away mosquitoes (Citronella etc.) attract bees.  Bees do not respond to insect repellants like mosquitoes do.

Scents that attract some insects (like banana) make bees angry.  Scents that most insects find neutral will drive bees away (like benzaldehyde or almond extract).

Smoke has been universally used to calm bees for at least 10,000 years.  There is a reason.

[Cindi]

The sting pheromone evidently smells like banana, that is why Michael said that the scent of the banana makes the bees angry.  In reference to the statement that some scents that attract insects smell like banana.  Trivia!!!!!  Have a wonderful day, greatest of life.  Cindi