Historical beekeeping

Anne here, writing about beekeeping.

Keeping bees has been in my family for generations - not as specialist apiarists, but in the same way people used to keep poultry and have a couple of fruit trees and a vegetable patch. We had all of those, and also bees. My great-grandparents were farmers and kept bees as a matter of course, but even after suburbanization, we continued with the bees. And although my parents and grandparents and various relatives had at least one or two hives in the back yard, and a normal sized hive (if there is such a thing) contains around 20,000 bees, I was hardly ever stung. 

So for many years I took bees for granted, and I stuck mainly to the eating honey side of things (which I'm pretty good at.) I'd never eaten bought honey in my life. However, eventually I found myself in a situation where my grandfather was long dead, my dad was too sick to handle the bees any more and I was running out of honey. I wanted to learn how to keep bees... but being busy, I put it off. 

Then the universe gave me a nudge when a swarm of bees landed in a tree in my garden. That's when I realized that despite my heritage, I knew nothing about keeping bees. My learning curve began. (The story of how I collected that swarm is here.  It involves a smoking dog food can, safety lace and I malign an innocent neighbor.) 

People who know about me and my bees have asked me, "When are you going to put a beekeeper in a book?" And until recently, I've muttered something vague and changed the subject, but now my current heroine has declared she keeps bees and so the time has come...

The thing is, people are remarkably romantic about the good old days of beekeeping, and they wax lyrical about the beautiful straw or willow skeps, shaped like "a proper beehive" instead of square modern wooden boxes. And the skeps are beautiful. But the old ways weren't exactly the good old days for bees.

In the wild, bees will nest in hollow logs and other cavities. They build honey comb from wax they make themselves, building it in long twisty sheets and lines, curving it into whatever shape will fit, leaving just enough space between the sheets for a bee to move. This is called "bee-space' and it's the same sized space, no matter where the bees build or how large or small the hive is. Wild honey comb is twisty and irregular shaped. Here are some examples.

Before the invention of moveable framed hives in 1851, bees were kept in a variety of containers including clay pots, hollow logs, and wooden boxes. However, one of the most common was a straw skep. 

Skeps are domed baskets woven from willow or straw or some similar material.They sometimes have sticks or frames for the bees to build the honeycomb from. In this picture of an upturned skep, (from this excellent site) you can see the sticks and the new-made white beeswax. The fresher the beeswax, the paler the color. 

When their home gets crowded, bees will fix the problem by splitting the hive. First the worker bees start to breed up a few new queens by feeding the chosen brood on royal jelly. The old queen and a bunch of her workers leave the hive and go in search of a new home, leaving the hatching brood with the rest of the workers along with plenty of food. This happens on fine, warm days in late spring and summer.

In the olden days, part of the beekeeper's usual routine was to catch new swarms from the forest or wherever, and transfer them to their own hive. In a straw skep the bees will make the combs in a wild fashion that's  still beautifully ordered to bees needs, but will be folded and twisted and all joined up and where brood, pollen, honey and bees are all mixed up. Like the picture below. Eggs, larvae, young bees, pollen and honey all in together, and the queen will be in the middle. The only way to get the honey is to destroy the hive. 

Many did this by simply killing the bees, with sulphur or by other methods. Of course many beekeepers tried not to kill the bees — they tried to drive them away with smoke, but it's not easy to do this — bees will not abandon their queen. Some beekeepers robbed the hive by cutting off some of the comb and hoping the queen was not caught in that section of the hive and others tried to minimize the destruction with various ingenious hive designs. But it wasn't until the invention of the modern removable framed hive that honey could be harvested without damage to the hive.

Everything bees produce is valuable —  wax, honey, pollen, propolis (which they use to seal holes or fill gaps in the hive) and royal jelly, so for many beekeepers in the past, the entire hive was the harvest, not just the honey, so hive destruction was inevitable. The wax was almost as valuable as the honey, and besides, more swarms could always be caught in the forest.

They used to break up the honeycomb and let the honey drain through fine linen. This was the best quality honey. Then they'd squeeze the honey from the comb —  this was lesser quality honey, and finally they'd press it for the lowest quality honey. Then they'd melt the wax, and the sediments —  dust, brood, pollen etc would sink to the bottom, while the purest wax would float to the top. Beeswax has multiple uses —  in cosmetic preparations, medicine, furniture making, candles —  the most expensive candles were of beeswax—  and much more.

Beehives weren't just valued for the honey and wax, though. Bees pollenate the flowers and while in the past they might not understand how it all worked, they did know that when there were plenty of bees, good harvests followed. So people kept bees on small farms and even on grand estates, and because (I'm talking about the UK here) winters were cold they built bee houses and bee shelters to keep the hives in. Here are some examples. They range from small rustic shelters like that on the left, to grand, purpose-built constructions like the one on the right.

Beekeeping has moved a long way since those days. It's a lot more scientific and humane. In modern hives, the bees make honey comb on straight, flat removable frames, and the beekeeper manipulates the frames to his own purpose, excluding the queen from the areas where honey is stored so the brood is laid in the lower frames while the honey is stored in the higher ones.  The beekeeper takes away the honey filled frames, replacing them with empty frames. They slice the top of the wax comb off —  the caps — and spin the honey out. The frames are left intact and put back in the hive, the bees clean up the honey and reuse the comb. The wax from the sliced-off caps is processed and sold, or recycled to make new bases for comb. There's less waste and the disturbance to bees is minimal.

I could go on forever, but I won't ;) So let's chat. Do you have a bee story? Are you scared of bees? Allergic? Have friends or relatives who keep them? Do you tell the bees your news? Do you like honey?  Or if you have any questions, ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

Comments

[Joanna Waugh]

Fascinating topic, Anne. You most definitely should use beekeeping in a story!

[theo]

I think whoever said that bees are on the decline do not live near me! We have ground bees and I don't think they make honey, but they certainly make HUGE hives (step on one and you may sink two feet) in the ground. This year, they ringed my house. Between the bees during the day (of which I'm highly allergic to) and the mosquitoes at almost any time during a 24 hour period, I didn't sit on my deck once this year :(

We did get up one morning about three weeks ago to find most of the hives dug up and scattered in the yard. I had no idea until I looked it up that raccoons will dig the hive up and eat the bees while they're swarming. I cringe at the thought of eating live bees, but they like them.

I thought that would have taken care of the bee problem. Sadly, I still have almost as many as before the raccoon struck. It makes it hard for my hummers to use their feeder, but they were getting more aggressive by the end of the season and driving the bees off, so I was all for that! :)

I think beekeeping is a fascinating hobby/profession. I'd just as soon mine 'kept' to the nature preserve behind us though and not along the house.

If you ever need any bees though, just let me know. I have thousands and thousands I can send...

;-)

[Phyllis]

L.L. Langstroth, invented the "bee space" in the movable hives that had been invented. I grew up in Oxford, OH, where he moved not long after getting his patent.

(your useless bit of trivie for the day...)

And thank you for the info on what was around before!

[Maggie Robinson/Margaret Rowe]

Reading this made me want to bake biscuits this afternoon and slather them with butter and honey. My grandmother lived with us, and always fixed my breakfast when I was a little girl. She hooked me on honey and bacon on toast (butter optional).My kids used to dip french fries in honey when they ordered fast-food chicken nuggets.What can I say? My family is weird.

I enjoy bees in the abstract but would not have the fortitude to deal with them, but I'm glad someone is!

[Louis]

Very interesting information.
We've had bee swarms land in our trees,then fly away. I did call a bee keeper for one swarm. Have one horse waterer that attracts bees for the water. The bees seem to ignore the many others that we have.

[Sherrie Holmes]

From Sherrie. My neighbor keeps bees, so my flowers and veggies benefit from their industrious forays into my yard. Sadly, more and more honeybees in the US are becoming Africanized.

I always float a stick in my dogs' buckets for bees to climb onto and save themselves from drowning. Otherwise, every morning there would be dead bees floating in the buckets.

One time a friend and I were riding our horses when my horse accidentally stepped into a nest of ground bees. We roared out of the woods at a mad gallop, angry bees chasing us. We didn't stop until we hit the lake and rode the horses right into the water. afterwards, we found that both horses got stung on the belly and legs, and my horse suffered several stings on a very personal part of his anatomy, poor thing.

Still, I am kind to bees and always respect their industry. Yellowjackets, however . . . Vicious little things! Anne I can't wait for your beekeeper heroine book to come out! This was an utterly fascinating post.

[anne gracie]

Thanks Joanna, I'll try and keep the beekeeping info to what is relevant to the story.

Theo, I've never heard of "ground bees" -- yours sound like a nightmare, especially since you're allergic. Can't you get the colony dealt with?

[anne gracie]

Phyllis, yes, LL Langstroth was the one who discovered the exact size of "bee space" right (3/8 inch) though the phenomena was already known in a general way, and certainly beekeepers of the English-speaking world use Langstroth hives today. I was trying not to get too technical, but also, his hive design came about at the same time as some European designs and discoveries and so I was avoiding naming names, as various aspects of who discovered what bits are disputed.

The exact size of "bee space' is important, as if the space is too small or too large, bees will fill it in with either comb or propolis. A Langstroth hive (an example of which is in the last picture of my post) is designed for the frames to go in vertically and once the comb is built, there will be exactly 3/8 of an inch between the combs.

[anne gracie]

Maggie, my grandmother on the beekeeping side of the family has similar tendencies, though I've never heard of bacon and honey served together (though honey is used to cure ham and I think bacon.) Then again, I'd never heard of maple syrup served with bacon, eggs and hash browns until I visited North America.

But Nana believed honey had healing properties and was very good for you and so anyone who ventured near her kitchen was given honey, either with fresh-made scones or slathered on bread, or with lemon or cider vinegar in a healthful drink. She also believed in treacle and dosing visiting grandchildren with cod-liver oil -- shudder.

[anne gracie]

Yes, Louis, bees are creatures of habit and can become a nuisance using one particular water source. Swimming pools are another attractive source.
Good beekeepers will take this into account when siting a hive and will make sure there is a good water source close by.
My mother used to keep shallow dishes of water and river pebbles in the back yard for the bees. The pebbles were for the bees to land on, so they wouldn't drown as they drank. Very fond of bees, was my mother.

[anne gracie]

Sherrie, great idea on the floating of sticks to stop the bees drowning. My mother would approve.

Ouch at your experience of being disturbed and having to leap into the water.

The problem of bee disease is now a world wide phenomena, and bee numbers are declining. It will become a huge problem for all sorts of food supplies if it gets worse. Most people don't realize how central to our welfare bees are. Honey is just one small aspect — pollination of fruit and crops is the main thing bees do for us.

Places like Australia and New Zealand, because of their physical isolation, have been spared the worst impact of some of these bee diseases, which is why there are such strict laws about what you can import.

[Beth Elliott]

Your article was fascinating. My uncle always put honey [not sugar] in his tea and had smooth, rosy cheeks even into his eighties. But this year there were very few bees and not much honey from the beekeepers. However, I have a little store of local honey and must stop now to go and have a spoonful...

[carol marinelli]

I worked with a doctor who liked Manuka Honey on his patients post op wounds as it kills bacteria. I keep a jar of high grade Manuka in the cupboard and use it on grazes and things and it works really well.
Carol

[anne gracie]

Beth, the beekeeping side of my family is very long lived and healthy, too. Let's hope it's the honey.

Carol, manuka honey is brilliant. For those who don't know, manuka is the NZ name for a particular kind of tea-tree and the honey from that has been scientifically tested for its healing properties and found to be an excellent healer for wounds, colds, all sorts of things. I think (from memory) that one of the first doctors who started studying it scientifically became interested when a patient of his, whose l tropic ulcer had not responded after months of the usual treatments, started using honey on it. The doctor initially scoffed, but the ulcer started to heal. The doctor started to experiment with the honey. It was a local honey made from nectar derived from tea tree.

My Dad's honey had a lot of tea-tree in it -- they lived near the beach, close to a strip of dense tea tree, and my friends used to swear by that honey as having healing properties, too.

Of course all honey has healing properties which have been known since ancient Egyptian times. In fact jars containing honey have been discovered in pharaohs' tombs. Honey has such a high proportion of sugars in it, it doesn't go off, so it's a natural preservative and bacteria can't survive in it. As well it contains amino acids (I think) that promote healthy cell growth. It's good for burns, too.

[margaret]

Love honey, grew up with it constantly available because my family were beekeepers. We had several hives at the back of the garden. It was chiefly clover honey. We had beekeeping friends who supplied us with "mountain honey," a specialist type from the flowering of native trees and shrubs growing at a higher altitude.

At present I've got a beekeeper friend and I love following his adventures.

I truly enjoyed this posting, brought back memories a pleasant time in my earlier life!

[anne gracie]

Margaret, one of the things I love about honey is the endless variety of flavors it comes in, from light and sweet to dark and intense and everything in between. It's like wine in that sense, although they don't seem to categorize honey in the way wine is.
People who've only ever tasted supermarket honey don;t know what they're missing.

I've never tasted anything quite like the taste of dad's honey, with its mix of garden flower nectars and tea-tree - strong and tangy and flavorful. But some of the honeys that come from Australian native trees and shrubs are superb. Mountain honey sounds lovely.

[anne gracie]

There's a link here to a transcript of a radio program I heard years ago (2003) discussing the properties of honey as a healer. The ABC is an Australian version of the BBC in the UK - non-commercial radio and TV.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s978921.htm

[Louise Reynolds]

Lovely post Anne. My father used to treat his hayfever with raw honey which he bought, I think, on the comb. There were little bee wings and all kind of stuff caught in it, but he swore by it.

[anne gracie]

Louise, a lot of beekeepers swear by chewing honey in the comb -- there are substances in beeswax that are good for sinus conditions. I keep some honey in the comb for that very reason. Chew on the wax until there's no taste left.
Not sure about the little bee wings, though :)

Propolis is also said to be good for cold and flu.

[carol marinelli]

Manuka honey kills MRSA - a nasty hospital bug. It is also good for infected eczema.
I didn't know it came from tea tree - but that makes sense as tea tree is a brilliant antiseptic, though very strong for topical use.
I didn't realise till I read these posts that the flavour came from the trees and plants! A few weeks ago I was at a health shop and they had samples of organic honey with lemon - all I knew was that it tasted fantastic and I bought it for my daughters sore throat (and my toast). I have just had a look and it is organic clover honey from New Zealand with lemon.

Fascinating!
Thank you
Carol

[theo]

Anne, the raccoon seems to have eliminated the hives around the foundation of the house, but there are still several elsewhere as my property extends into a nature preserve. And unfortunately, as long as I keep feeding the hummers, I guess I'll have bees though in the past several years, I haven't had such an onslaught. This year it's been horrible! I've had to keep epi pens at every entrance to the house.

I'll be bringing in the hummer feeder in another week or so and then the bees should back off. I hope. We have lots of paper wasps and other stinging insects around too though, so I'm never entirely in the clear. lol

These aren't killer bees (those haven't made it to Michigan yet) so if you're interested, I'll gladly have someone box them up and send them to you...

;-)

[anne gracie]

Carol, the variety of honey tastes is endless, which is why tasting any new supply is a delight.

Theo, thanks so much for the verrrry kind offer to send me your ghastly bees. Even if you did manage to box them up, they'd never get here -- thank goodness. Customs Dept would kill them.
Seriously, I'm sure you could get someone out to eradicate them. It must be unbearable to have something like that in your yard, especially when you're allergic.

BTW did you know certified disease-free Australian and NZ bees are actually shipped to Nth America at the end of our summer, which is the beginning of your spring, to give a boost to hives weakened over winter. It's controversial practice, but one I thought you might find interesting.

[theo]

Well, they've gotten the address wrong then and are sending them all to ME! :-P

I really do hate to kill them. They're only doing their job of course. I got mad yesterday when the hummer feeder was covered with them and took a spray bottle of water to them. I hit one dead center in the face, sent it sailing off the top of the feeder and into the rose bush beyond. Then I ran like mad!