A few more cuts with the chainsaw and there were LOTS of bees coming out of the log!!
So, using the block-buster, I split open the rounds of wood that had the most amount of bees coming out of them and we found...a native bee hive!!
After a great deal of effort (mostly on my behalf as Dad wasnt so eager to get in on this one) I managed to break away the bulk of the hive and place it in some freezer bags Dad keeps in the car for the express purpose of collecting dingo scalps. The bags, however, were brand new and clean so I deemed them fit for the purpose of holding a bee hive! :)
Let me just emphasise the amount of effort that was involved...for starters, there were several pieces of the log to break open and thus raid, also there was enough of the 'honey' part of the hive to fill 3 extra-large freezer bags. This effort was compounded by the fact that some pieces of the 'honey' hive looked identical to pieces of the inner log and the only way I could tell the difference was AFTER I broke a couple of nails (turns out the hive is easier to break away than the wood LOL). And as if this wasnt enough difficulty, try adding several hundred native bees to the mix who DO NOT WANT YOU THERE!!!
I ended up picking bees out of my hair, ears, shirts (I had multiple layers on as it was still early morning), socks as well as flicking them off of my glasses and hat! Talk about traumatising!!! (for me, I meant!)
Anyway, after an interesting half hour, we finally (and by 'we' I mean myself and my not-so-helpful-in-this-instance father) took the 'honey' hive back to Mum and Dad's house to 'sift' it. Here's some photos:
Yes, there are some pretty keen bees still on there, making sure they're doing their job of protecting it!
Pretty cool, eh?!
After all of this (and with 'sifting' the 'honey' hive for several days) we ended up with about 700mLs. We could have gained much more, but the reamaining bees had started to re-build the hive and so we decided to re-instate the hive in a nearby tree (one we wont cut down) and with some moderations (adding a plastic drum with strategically cut holes and slots in it) it will make a very nice home for them.
If we had gone ahead with gathering more honey from this hive, it would have entailed entirely destroying it to 'squeeze' the honey out...this didnt seem like a Christ-like thing to do, particularly since they were trying so hard to re-build.
The honey is incredibly rich with a slightly bitter aftertaste. It is very runny and is great to use as a substitute for sugar in a nice, hot cup of tea :)
Hey. It's Michael here. Just letting you know that the bee hive looked really cool as I had never before seen a native bee hive but I'm not a huge fan of the honey because of the bitter after taste. But I'm really glad wife likes it so much! :)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Bec! I'm not sure that I would even have known that it was a hive, since it's darker in colour than I was expecting. How did you 'sift' the honey from it without destroying it? Do you scrape part of the wax coating off to let the honey out? Will you be able to milk the hive again? Do you know how often you can do this? Thank you for the pictures!
ReplyDeletexo
To 'sift' the honey we suspend it over a bucket using a very clean piece of cloth. We then lay another piece of cloth (also very clean *wink*) over the top of the whole thing - this prevents the die-hard bees that are still on it from escaping into Mum's house, and it also prevents other contaminates from entering it.
ReplyDeleteIts actually very soft and just lifting it gently will cause honey to ooze out of it - there's no need for scraping.
We are hoping to raid this hive again, but will probably just observe it for the next few months to see how they're adapting to its new placement. Mum and I are very happy with its new location so close to the homestead, as this will allow more of our flowers to be cross-pollenated.
I dont know how often you can raid a hive as usually (in the normal process of collecting the honey) the bees abandon it, and we kind of crush it beyond being salvagable anyway...so this is a kind of cool science experiment :)
I see that I failed to mention the interesting fact that Native Bees do NOT have stingers - this is the ONLY reason why I was able to collect the hive...I am HIGHLY allergic to the sting of European Bees, and would quite simply die of an serious allergic reaction before we could drive to the nearest hospital. Therefore, we do not keep 'standard' hives on the farm. There are still European Bees here, but they are only really common during the height of summer. Mostly we have Native Bees.
Thanks Bec :) I wonder if native bee honey is better/not/the same nutritionally than usual honey? Interesting. You can see why people become fascinated with bees...
ReplyDeletexo
Wow - I just read how allergic you are to European bees!! :S But the native beehive is AWESOME, and well done!! That's quite a bit of honey really - and I'm guessing after they rebuild it'll be a semi-regular source??
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping so Abby - but as we've never done this before it may be a hit and miss kind of thing :)
ReplyDeleteYeah the allergy thing can be a bit of a worry sometimes...last week I was the only one on the farm (closest neighbour about 6kms away) and a European Bee came and landed on my shoulder blade while I was out doing some gardening...there may or may not have been a panicky moment before I gently brushed it off...and then SQUASHED the buggery out of it with my trowel!!! BAHAHAHA!!!