Raw materials
Nectar derived from the inner or outer nectaries of plants;
Collect honeydew or insect metabolites-nectar from the leaves or stems of plants.
Craftsmanship
By the 19th century, the method of obtaining honey was as simple as removing the nest plate from the honeycomb. In 1853, the American LL Langstroth described the technology of artificially raising bees and obtaining honey in his book "The Hive and the Honey Bee", and invented the nest box with movable nest plate and the centrifugal for separating honey. Machine, established the modern beekeeping industry. Until 2018, the basic method of beekeeping continued the method of L.L.Langstroth.
The movable beehive is a tool for beekeeping. In a cube box, 8 to 10 thick plates called nest frames are placed side by side. Like naturally formed honeycombs, bee frames are arranged in a vertical and parallel manner. The bee frames are used as the basis for forming the spleen. The shape is a rectangular hollow wooden frame with an aspect ratio of 1:2. One side of the wall is made of beeswax and paraffin. A thick paper-like platform with hexagons engraved on it as the basis for bees to make honeycombs.
Under normal circumstances, honey uses the upper and lower parts of the nest plate as an area for hatching bee eggs, cultivating larvae, and also for storing pollen. After bees store honey in the hexagonal cylindrical cavity, they seal the cavity with beeswax.
Under normal circumstances, during the period from the end of autumn to spring, when there are almost no flowers, bees will consume the stored honey. When the larvae hatch in early spring, it is the period when the honey stock is the least. From then on, the stock of honey began to recover as the flowers opened. As the flowers decrease in summer, the stock of honey also begins to decrease. The amount of honey brought back by bees at one time is about 20 mg.
There are two types of beekeeping, mobile beekeeping and fixed beekeeping. Fixed beekeeping collects nectar from open flowers one by one according to the flowering period. Mobile beekeeping moves from south to north according to the flowering period of a specific flower from spring to summer.
The peak of the plant's flowering period is not too long. In order to collect nectar from one place, bees collect only nectar from specific flowers.
The annual schedule of fixed beekeeping is similar to the natural state, but will vary according to the flowering period of the place where beekeeping is maintained. For example (different depending on the climate of each place):
From November to March, the beehives are taken back and kept indoors, and they are displayed in a temperature and light suitable for the winter.
From April to May, the queen bee begins to lay eggs, and after 3 weeks, the worker bees begin to work. Each beehive needs about 20,000 to 30,000 worker bees.
Beekeeping
From May to June, the beehives are placed outdoors to collect honey. After the nest is filled with honey, smoke is used to control the activities of the bees, and the nest is taken out to obtain the honey with a centrifugal separator.
June to November is the rest period, and the honey collected by the bees is used by themselves.
Collection of honey
After the bees find the source of nectar, they will use the "8-character dance" or "circle dance" to tell their companions the direction and distance, so that the worker bees can be mobilized to concentrate on the location of the nectar source, bring back the nectar, and give the nectar to the store clerk responsible for storage , The store staff will give priority to receiving honey with high sugar content, and bring back worker bees with low sugar content to wait.
Collect nectar
It takes 20-40 minutes for each bee to collect nectar, and then fly back to the hive. It takes about 4 minutes for the handover in the nest. After the handover is completed, the bees will go to work again. During the honey flow period, they will attend more than ten or twenty times a day. The bee sucks nectar drop by drop into the sac when collecting it, and the amount collected per time is generally 40-60 mg, which is equivalent to body weight. It takes tens of thousands of collecting flights for every 1000 grams of honey to be brewed, interviewing millions or even tens of millions of flowers. Some flowers bees do not go, such as sweet-scented osmanthus, osmanthus has no pollen, and there is no honey to pick if the bees go
Brewing honey
After the collected bees return to the nest, they spit the honey to the housekeeping bees or disperse them into several nest houses, and the housekeeping bees continue processing. In processing, the bee sucks the honey into its stomach and mixes it with the invertase, then spit it out, and then sucks it in. It takes more than 100 turns to huff and puff.
Honey made
After brewing, the worker bees temporarily store the honey in the nest, and the process of sucrose conversion and honey juice concentration continues. Until the honey matures, the bees seal the nest with wax, which completes the entire process from nectar to mature honey.
preservation method
Honey should be stored in a low temperature and dark place. It is best to store it in a refrigerator at low temperature. It should not be exposed to direct sunlight. The shelf life is usually 18 months. Since honey is a weakly acidic liquid, it can react chemically with metals. It will react chemically when it comes in contact with metals such as lead, zinc, iron, etc. during storage. Therefore, non-metal containers such as ceramics, glass bottles, non-toxic plastic barrels and other containers should be used to store honey. During the storage of honey, odor, moisture absorption, fermentation and pollution should also be prevented. In order to avoid odor and pollution, do not store corrosive items (such as fertilizers, pesticides, lime, alkali, nitrate, etc.) or unsanitary items (such as waste products, animal products, etc.) with peculiar smell (such as gasoline, alcohol, garlic, etc.) ). The state stipulates that the shelf life of bottled honey is 18 months, but honey with a high mature concentration can also last for many years. But it is better to eat honey fresh, because fresh honey has a better color, fragrance and taste!
