Brian Ames's Profile
Honey is not supposed to spoil
While there is always some truths to every news story, the doom and gloom aspect of the bee losses I feel are overblown.
Most of the losses are being experienced by what I have coined "feedlot" beekeepers. Around 1200 large operators control roughly 60% of the hives in the USA. Pollination of almonds has become more profitable then producing honey. Keep in mind more then half of the honey consumer in this country is produced in China or South America and is imported at prices below the cost of production here. (We have no Country of Origin Labeling required for honey so most of it is passed off as a domestic product)
1.2 million of the aprox 2.2 million hives in the USA are required to pollinate this the largest cash crop in CA. Hives are moved in from out of state in late fall into early Feb when bloom starts. Many hives are fed HFCS and soy flour in advance to stimulate the hives into laying more brood as they do in spring (simulates nectar and pollen) .
Ask your self what is wrong with this picture when in nature bees would be laying low for the winter and we would not normally have an Asian tree, the almond blooming in the middle of winter.?
The unusually large concentration of hives simulates the conditions feedlot animals face, that in which natural viruses, and in the case of bees parasites are easily transferred in the holding yards and orchards. In nature a bee hive was naturally spaced 1/2 mile apart. Subsequently massive losses occur and will continue to occur as this Industrial Scale monocrop grows larger each year as more trees are planted. Last winter the largest beekeeper in the USA lost a reported 28,000 hives in a massive holding yard of 40,000 hives. Is this a mystery? I think not.
Additional problems result from the feedlotting of bees in CA each year. The diseases and parasite they share in CA are then transferred to the stationary hives back in the states these migratory beeekeepers originated from. The unnatural rearing of brood year around also creates a more productive setting for the parasite varroa mite which ALL honeybees now have almost in every corner of the globe thereby creating a situation many large beekeepers combat by putting harsh chemicals into their hives..
Anyhow there is much more to this story then I have time to explain. Bottom line....support local stationary sustainable beekeepers! and don't believe half of what you read on the Internet and news media. The honeybee has become the iconic symbol for many doom and gloom agendas and story lines in general. This is not to say there are not serious man caused environmental concerns affecting bees, its just one needs to keep this story in perspective.
Death of the Honey Bee...
Do a search on Google for China and hand pollination.
The alternative is millions of people using paint brushes to pollinate crops and plants. Since some portions of China are so toxic that no pollinators can survive they have gone to hand pollinating.
Death of the Honey Bee...
Good luck navigating life if you want eveything to be "natural" . I assume you like the benefits of a computer or you would not be posting here. How is the construction of a computer and the use of the internet "natural" ?
Wether you like it or not America is teaming with imported plants, trees, animals and insects.....get over it.
Honey is not supposed to spoil
WIth all due respect to posters stories related to beekeepers in their family. Feeding sugar water in fall after the honey crop is harvested has nothing to do with how honey crystalizes or not.
Honey crystallizes with time and at temps around 55F, storing above or below 55 F will delay crystallization.
Some honey nectar sources have a unique crystal structure which inhibits crystallization. Acacia and Tupelo come to mind as never crystallizing
If you live near the Equator honey may never crystallize as the temps never get down to 55F for any prolonged periods.
In most places in the USA nectar is abundant and FREE, makes no sense for a beekeeper to feed sugar when nectar is free eh? The feeding of sugar water is used in times of nectar dearth to avoid starvation. I find that there is a lot of misinformation concerning sugar water feeding,bees and honey.
There is one way honey can spoil and that is from fermentation. Honey removed or extracted form the comb with a moisture content of 18.2% or higher can activate the natural wild yeasts found in honey and fermentation can be initiated. You might notice the container is under pressure when open, the other tell tale sign is bubbles suspended in the honey as the fermentation occurs. Most often fermented honey will be partially crystallized on the bottom and liquid on top. Fermented honey is safe to eat just tastes sour. Fermented honey is not a good choice for mead as it contains wild yeasts and is already in an altered state. Usually mead involves heating the honey to remove wild yeasts before adding a known yeast. I pour fermented honey down the drain and dispose of it.
I keep bees and make my living producing honey :) Thanks Anne for the kind words!
For more info on honey see this link
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e06.htm#2.7
