How honey is obtained. How to distinguish wild bee honey from apiary How honey is extracted
You may not know, but Russia is the only country in the world where there is still commercial extraction of wild honey from the hollow. Not from hundreds of hives on the field, as everyone is used to, but in the forest, from the nests of wild bees, just like Winnie the Pooh in a children's cartoon.
A few days ago I visited Bashkiria, in Burzyan, where the traditions of beekeeping are still preserved, and I saw with my own eyes how the production of such honey is arranged: how they make a hollow, how they climb a tree without a balloon and Piglet with a gun, how wild honeycombs; and tasted real wild honey from wild bees. I must say that this is to some extent a unique experience, because. beekeeping really survived only in these places. Once it was distributed from Europe to the Urals and Trans-Urals, and today it has dwindled to a tiny spot on the map in the heart of Bashkiria.
So, I'll show you what it's like to be Winnie the Pooh in our time.
2. Bashkiria, honey region...
There are so many apiaries here that there are several dozen times more beehives than there are inhabitants in the entire republic. In the districts, honey pumps every second and a similar landscape is a common occurrence. But the most interesting thing is not in the field, where there are even rows of multi-colored wooden boxes, but in the forest ... It is there that true beekeeping is at its best - wild bees, wild honey and Winnie the Pooh 
3. Beekeepers who deal with wild honey are called beekeepers, and the very method of extracting this honey is beekeeping. It comes from "bort" - a hollow in which a bee colony lives.
Borteviks are the elite among beekeepers. This craft has been passed down for many centuries from generation to generation: fathers teach children, and those, in turn, teach their children. In technical schools or at some courses, beekeeping skills were not taught, and they are not taught.
Once, a couple of hundred years ago, beekeeping was common throughout Russia and even in European countries, but ...
Beginning with Peter I, it began to fade away. The fact is that a smoker is used to fumigate bees. You yourself understand that in the forest this entails a great risk of fire, which happened in those days through the fault of beekeepers very, very often. In general, Peter I by his decree banned beekeeping in Russia and this craft almost completely disappeared. Today, the Burzyansky district in Bashkiria remains the only place on the planet where this method of honey extraction exists on a commercial scale (meaning, not 1-2 hollows for own use, but full-fledged bee farms and apiaries). Some people in other regions of Russia are engaged in wild bees, they are trying to do this in Poland, but all this is at a very small level. 
4. So, the tools of Winnie the Pooh bortevik.
They are mostly handicraft. On the left is “kiram” - a braided leather belt up to 5 m long for climbing a tree, next to it is a batman - a linden hollow from a solid log of wood for collecting honey 
5. This is a "lyange" - a portable platform - a footrest, fixed to the trunk with a rope. On it stands a bortevik, working on a tree 
6. Smoker of bees. Blowing out the smoke, the bortevik drives the bees away from the nest so that they do not sting him and interfere with his work. 
7. In the old days, natural hollows on trees were used for beekeeping, which bee colonies settled on their own.
Later, hollows (boards) began to be made artificially using a certain technology. This allows the wild hives to be more densely concentrated in the forest for easier control and handling. In addition, the hollow is created in such a way that it is spacious enough and allows you to collect more honey than in a small natural "bee house". 
8. Bee nests in artificial walls are built from top to bottom and usually reach the bottom of the edge. At the top, the honeycombs are attached to the ceiling of the dwelling, in the middle - to special crosses and a summer liner, and with ribs - to the walls of the board. The photo shows that the hollow (covered from predators and birds) is quite elongated. This is done so that the bees build more combs, which will have more honey. When selecting honey, only the lower part of the nest is taken out. The top is left for feeding bees and wintering.
By the way, all honey was taken earlier. A similar swarming system of beekeeping persisted until the 19th century, and in some places - until the 50s of the last century. The advantages of such a system were that the combs were updated every year, the hollows were less rotten, and the bees were less likely to get sick, their body size did not decrease, inbreeding and degeneration did not occur. When the number of “wild birds” sharply decreased everywhere, beekeepers were forced to treat the wild bees more carefully and leave the best of them with a sufficient amount of honey for wintering, as a result of which bee colonies were able to live in their homes for a long time (up to 18-25 years!) 
9. Today, in some boards, families really live up to 20 years, and the hollows themselves are used, do not believe it, for 200 or more years.
Hereditary borteviks say that in their possessions there are hollows that they don’t even know how old they are, they are so old and have been used for so long!
To open the side, the notch and its slots are first fumigated from a smoker. Under these conditions, the bees will not attack the intruder, guarding their home, and the fate of Winnie the Pooh will not await the bortevik. 
10. The board is closed with two planks - the bottom, the bottom and the top.
Remove the bottom one first, then the top one. The bortevik smoker drives the bees to the top of the nest. 
11. Honeycombs freed from bees are cut off by a special wide wooden knife and placed in a batman. By the way, honey can be stored and transported over long distances in this wooden barrel. 
12. Honey is not taken from the side of the notch, because it is an additional heater. At the debt, honey is taken to the top so that a distance of 4-5 centimeters remains.
In autumn, orphaned queenless families are sometimes found in the sides. In them there is a significant amount of honey mixed with patches of bee bread. The bortevik eliminates such families, receiving up to 30 kg of healing bee-bread comb honey from each, and in the spring prepares the empty sides for settling in a new swarm. 
13. In general, the bortevik takes part of the honey from the bees along with the combs - from 1 to 15 kg, depending on how the family tried during the summer and early autumn. On average, about 5 kg of honey is extracted from each board. After the selection of honey, the bee family is not disturbed until spring.
Harvest honey is usually collected in late August or early September, when the weather is warm. 
14. Bortevik closes the nest and it will not be opened until spring.
Wintering is the most crucial period of the bee colony. It should be noted that wild bees are distinguished by exceptional winter hardiness. The colony may not leave the nest and not make flights during 6-7 months of the cold season and at the same time contain up to 40 mg of excrement in the rectum (flying is, in our opinion, going to the toilet, which is what the bee does when flying out of the nest for the first time after wintering )
With the onset of cold weather, the bees huddle together in a dense cluster called a club. The temperature of the club is not the same - in the center up to 30 degrees, along the edges - 8-10. The most dangerous for bees during wintering: the presence of honeydew honey in the nest, moisture condensation in the dwelling, leading to its icing, and varroatosis - a disease of bees. 
15. Well, in general, here it is in the hands of a flight attendant - real wild honey.
The one that our beloved Winnie the Pooh could not get... 
16. What is the feature of airborne honey? Ordinary honey contains pollen from about 40 plants, wild - 100-140. It is literally crammed with useful enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and even hormones.
Today in Bashkiria there are about 400 active boards. Of all of them, in the most successful year, beekeepers collect only 3-4 tons of honey, and in an unsuccessful one, like this one, they won’t even get a ton ... 
17.
18. By the way, each tree is marked with its own sign. The sign is passed down from generation to generation along with the boards. 
Even a person who is indifferent to sweets, understanding the benefits of honey, occasionally buys himself a jar to recharge his energy and improve his body. But few people know that there is another variety of this amazingly useful product. This is honey from wild bees. Yes, yes, this is exactly the dessert that all bears love so much.
Wild honey why is it wild
Wild bees are very different from domesticated ones that live in bee apiaries. They live in forest tree hives, which are called boards. Such boards are located far from various industrial facilities, roads.
Did you know? Another name for wild bee honey is bee honey.
The diet of forest bees consists exclusively of natural substances, excluding various artificial additives that beekeepers often add to their pets. As the name implies, wild honey is so named because it is produced by wild bees. The price of wild honey is much higher than usual, because:
- wild honey is more difficult to extract;
- it is collected in limited quantities;
- its benefits are much higher than those of ordinary honey.
Useful properties of wild honey, and how to take it
Bortevoy honey owes its popularity to substances whose beneficial properties are much higher than usual. Because of the environmentally friendly and natural ingredients, wild honey is often used for medicinal purposes.
Useful properties of wild honey
This unusual natural delicacy has a beneficial effect on the human body. The positive effect is:
Wild bee honey is used for its beneficial properties to fight flu and colds. This natural medicine helps to relieve sore throat, alleviates the general condition of the patient. The whole range of beneficial substances of honey replenishes the human body with the necessary vitamins and minerals. Important! When wild honey comes into contact with metal, all its useful properties are lost.
When to Take Miracle Honey
Wild honey is a valuable product, and it is important to know how it is useful. Boron honey will be an invaluable helper for such diseases as:
- cardiovascular diseases;
- disturbances in the work of the gallbladder, kidneys and liver;
- in problems related to urology and gynecology;
- wild honey has a positive effect on cancer;
- in case of problems with the gastrointestinal tract and metabolism.
How to take, features of the use of on-board honey
You can take wild honey, knowing its beneficial properties, in different ways, it all depends on the reason for taking it. If you just love this kind of honey, then there are no special rules, just eat and enjoy. If you are taking honey to get rid of an ailment, then you need to adhere to some techniques. So, for example, in case of a cold, it is recommended to prepare an infusion of herbs with the addition of wild honey to it. This infusion is diluted with one tablespoon in a glass of water and drunk before bedtime. If you have a problem with the nasopharynx, then dissolve one teaspoon of this honey. In case of problems with the gastrointestinal tract, it is recommended to take a spoonful of honey on an empty stomach.
Onboard honey is an expensive pleasure. Quite often, dishonest entrepreneurs try to sell ordinary honey under the guise of wild honey. Therefore, when you are going to buy wild honey, it is important to know what it is. A real forest delicacy has the following features:
If, when buying wild-caught honey, you find that it has a liquid consistency and is similar in smell to ordinary homemade honey, be sure that this is ordinary honey, and not a real delicacy of bears. Naturally, the most reliable way to check the authenticity of honey is to call on the help of an experienced beekeeper.
How to get field honey yourself, and what you need for this
The collection of honey from wild bees is carried out directly from the hollow in which they live. This process has been named "beekeeping". Wild bees, unlike their domesticated relatives, are particularly aggressive. When contemplating harvesting wild honey, it is important to be careful.
Did you know? Bort is a hollow in which wild bees settled.
Equipment and tools
To get wild honey, beekeepers simply smoke out bees, suffocating their dwelling. It is better to dress in clothes specially designed for beekeepers, in which you will not be bitten.
The process of extracting wild honey
Onboard beekeepers themselves create habitats for bees. They hollow out a hollow in some tree at a height of about 5 m. The boards are placed at a distance of several meters to several kilometers. A wild bee honey extractor smokes a swarm from the side, then collects a valuable product by hand. The seized honeycombs cannot be inserted into the frame honey extractor, so he also has to squeeze the honey manually. Having taken the combs from one hive, he goes to another, moving on a horse or on foot.
Honey is a natural product, which contains many healing vitamins. It has an original, unique taste and wonderful smell. Every child knows this delicacy. Due to the qualities of honey, a person widely uses it not only as a separate product, but also as a basis for the manufacture of medicinal compounds with other products. How is honey produced? Making honey- a unique process is long and laborious. honey bee- one of the most important insects on earth. Thanks to her, a person has a unique healing product - honey.
honeycombs- these are cells that are designed to store honey and raise offspring.
They are hexagonal in shape. This provides the greatest capacity at the lowest cost of building materials.
Cells differ in size depending on their purpose:
- bee- are used to hatch brood and store honey and bee bread. The width of these cells is from 5.37 to 5.42, the depth is from 11 mm to 12 mm;
- drone the cells are larger in size, as they are intended for growing drones;
- for large uterine cells are intended;
- honey cells are located at the top and along the edges of the cells. They have a greater slope and greater depth.
What do bees make honeycombs from?
. At the first stages of creation, they have a light yellow color, however, in the future, depending on the purpose of the cells, the color changes. Brood growing combs become dark. The material for building honeycombs is wax, created by the bees themselves. The main advantage of wax is that in a softened state it can be given the desired shape, which, when hardened, does not differ in brittleness and fragility.
Beeswax is durable and hygienic. It is not affected by microorganisms and the environment.
White honey is the rarest type of this delicacy. Not many people have met a real white bee product on or. Why is honey white and so rare? Let's deal with this issue in more detail.
What does white honey look like?
Getting a pure white color of honey is very difficult even for the most experienced beekeepers. This product always has shades of yellow. And all due to the fact that the bees collect nectar from different plants, and in the end it is mixed. To achieve a bright white consistency, the hive must be placed in certain places where all plants produce only white. These are plants such as acacia, sainfoin, oregano, sweet clover, linden, clover, and many others. 
If several types of the above plants are placed near the hives at once, then the honey will still be white. But if the bees begin to carry nectar from plants that produce dark varieties of nectar, white color will not be seen.
On many Internet forums you can see questions: "White honey: what is it made of"? Many inexperienced people often buy a product that has turned white as a result of various frauds, but in fact, at the beginning it was light yellow. Such frauds are done for marketing purposes, for example, in the US, white honey has long become one of the most delicious and most popular delicacies.
But a real white bee product in liquid form is very rare, it can become white only after crystallization. And if you meet white nectar with the inscription "Real mountain honey", then know that with 99% probability you are being deceived. There are a lot in the mountains, and any experienced beekeeper will confirm to you that only a dark-colored product can be obtained there.
How it's made and what it's made from
Scientists count from 300 to 400 active substances and compounds in the composition of the white bee delicacy. Here are present:, manganese, copper, aluminum, etc. Each of the listed microelements brings its irreplaceable benefits to the body. In addition, there are many vitamins in the snow-colored bee delicacy:, and, traces of carotene, etc. 
Why is it so useful
The snow-white bee product has a lot of useful qualities. No wonder in folk medicine honey is one of the main medical attributes, and even white and even more so. Here is a list of all the beneficial properties of snow-white nectar:
- helps to cope with such seasonal diseases: laryngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, tonsillitis, etc.;
- restores normal functionality in work and kidneys;
- helps with various diseases of the stomach;
- improves bowel function and heals micro-ulcers;
- helps to cope with such skin diseases: abscesses, psoriasis, acne, eczema, burns, vitiligo, long non-healing wounds, boils, etc.;
- strengthens and restores the body's defenses;
- improves metabolism and speeds up the metabolic process;
- characterized by a mild laxative, choleretic and diuretic action;
- relieves inflammation of various tissues and organs;
- improves complexion;
- copes with inflammation and conjunctivitis;
- stabilizes;
- treats other diseases of the nasopharynx;
- helps in the treatment of tuberculosis.
Is it possible to make white honey at home
Very often in the markets of our country you can see the so-called "natural" white honey. But this is just the case when a fly in the ointment is added to a barrel of honey. So it turns out a snow-white cream delicacy. And unscrupulous beekeepers who feed the bees with sugar syrup do such frauds. The result is a “quality deception” that many people fall for.
Did you know?To get 2 kg of honey, bees must collect 5 kg of nectar.
Snow-colored bee food is enriched with oxygen and mixed with a blender. The result is a soufflé (as it is called in the USA). But the fact is that such a product is no longer natural and loses many of its useful properties. Experienced beekeepers recommend buying a natural snow-white product that bees have collected from a single honey plant that gives exactly white color. Anything that is done chemically to give a light color is, by definition, not only a less useful product, but also dangerous (in some individual cases).
The most favorable way to prepare white honey yourself is to add royal jelly to it. Royal jelly is another bee product that is also rich in minerals. Honey together with royal jelly is whipped until a creamy consistency is obtained. As a result, the product becomes snow-white and looks like. This is probably the only white honey that is made artificially and yet remains just as useful. 
Still, there is another recipe for preparing such a delicacy by the chemical method. For cooking, we need dried hop cones (2-3 pcs.), 8 liters of hot water, 8 g of gelatin, a couple of cardamom grains and 1.5 kg of honey.
The cooking process is:
- Hot water is mixed with honey and left overnight.
- Boil for an hour in the morning, then add hops.
- Next, the boiling-cooling process is repeated several times.
- As a result, after complete cooling, cardamom with gelatin is added and left to infuse for 3 weeks.
- After 3 weeks, the dense mass is laid out in jars and sprinkled on top.
Buying vigilance
When buying a bee treat, you need to follow some rules. In this case, you can avoid forgery.
The main secrets of the right choice of white honey:
- a real snow-white delicacy is unlikely to be similar in consistency to butter;
- do not buy a product with exotic names. This is a marketing ploy, and it is very doubtful that any rare type of honey will be sold on the market at a regular price;
- white honey must be collected by bees from certain types of plants, and the real product will not be a snow-white color, it will be a little with shades (which cannot be said about a chemically processed product, which can be white, like a baby's teeth);
- buy the product only from trusted beekeepers. Buying at visiting fairs and local supermarkets, you run the risk of acquiring a fake.
Important!Please note that when buying honey, it should not have white foam. If there is one, then you are dealing with a fake.
But if you still find real white honey, you can consider yourself lucky. Such a product can only be obtained through the intensive work of the beekeeper. Snow-white bee delicacy is not only very tasty, but also healthy.
- 1. Collection of nectar
- 2. Honey production process
- 3. Purpose of honey production
Honey collection is the main occupation of honey bees. All efforts of the nest are aimed at collecting and preparing honey products. Individual members of the family have different functions, however, their common goal is honey.
The duties of the bee colony are as follows:
- exploration of new sources of pollen and nectar;
- extraction of honey and its transportation to the hive;
- wax production and construction of honeycombs - reservoirs for honey mass;
- “packaging” of honey into cells of honeycombs;
- the creation by the uterus of new members of the bee family for the future honey collection;
- defense of honey reserves, brood and uterus.
In short, the proper performance of these duties is the key to the well-being of the whole family. Only one fundamental question remained unanswered: how do bees make honey? We will try to answer it in this article.
Collection of nectar
The whole process of making honey begins with the collection of nectar. As soon as the air warms up to 12 degrees, insects wake up from hibernation and start their first cleansing flights, getting rid of fecal accumulations accumulated during the cold. Since bees only make honey when the first honey plants bloom, winged workers have plenty of time to prepare for the honey season (cleaning the hive, checking combs and frames).
The fact that the flowers have blossomed, the colony learns from the scouts, who are exclusively engaged in patrolling the territory in search of meadows with flowers. As soon as they find them, they announce this to the whole family with the help of a special signal dance. A swarm of miners gets excited and prepares to fly to the facility. Guided by a scout, the bees fly to the place of honey collection and begin to extract nectar and pollen.
How bees collect nectar
Nectar is a translucent sweet substance secreted by a flower. The insect, wielding a long tubular proboscis, sucks it out, after which it enters a special honey ventricle (a bee has 2 stomachs: one for its own nutrition, and the other for collecting nectar). To fill the stomach to the top (its capacity is 70 mg, which is similar to the weight of the bee itself), you need to visit at least one and a half thousand flowers. Having filled, the insect flies home, where worker bees-receiving women are waiting for it, which suck this sweetness out of the mouth of the getter with their proboscises.
honey production process
The nectar received from the miners is distributed by worker bees: one part of it goes to feed the larvae, and the other part goes to honey.
The way bees make honey is a complex, one-of-a-kind process. Therefore, it is important to highlight all the stages of such production:
- first, the worker insects chew the nectar for a long time and thoroughly. At this time, it is actively fermented. Sugar breaks down into glucose and fructose, making the whole substance more digestible. In addition, bee saliva has a bactericidal effect, disinfects nectar, and honey obtained from it is stored longer;
- ready and chewed sweetness is laid out in pre-prepared honeycombs. Cells are filled approximately 2-thirds;
- now the most important task is to accelerate the evaporation of excess moisture. To do this, insects actively flap their wings, raising the temperature in the hive. Gradually, the moisture evaporates and a viscous syrup is formed, consisting already of 75-80% of glucose and fructose, and only 5% of sucrose (this percentage of sugars in honey is due to its easy digestibility);
- cells with honey are hermetically sealed with wax stoppers and left to ripen. Corks with wax also contain bee saliva enzymes, which additionally disinfects the cell and prevents liquefaction and fermentation of the finished product.
honey production process
During the honey collection season, the family is able to produce up to 200 kg of product.
Purpose of honey production
After all the main points of honey production have been covered, it is worth identifying its purpose - why bees need honey.
The main goal of the honey collection, its meaning laid down by nature, is a supply of food for itself and the larvae for the winter. A good supply of food is the key to a normal wintering. If the bee colony starves, it will die, or in the spring it will be so weakened that it will not be able to participate in the summer honey collection.
Thus, the answer to the question why bees make honey is obvious: in order to maintain a normal level of vital activity, replenishing their energy reserves whenever they are depleted by any kind of hive work (defense from intruders, fanning nectar in order to remove it from excess moisture, cleaning, feeding larvae, etc.).
Insects kept in the apiary produce much more honey than they need to feed. This is due to the fact that the beekeeper additionally stimulates them to collect a sweet product, regularly removing honeycombs from the hives. And the bees, believing that the reserves are not enough for the winter, are constantly stocking up.
