Re: OT Paging the beekeepers
Ace
<aoo...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
>Perhaps a daft question but is there such a thing as Industrial
>Beekeeping? I only thought about this when I considered how many
>millions of jars of honey there must be in shops and supermarkets the
>world over. I just wondered how on earth it is all manufactured (other
>than by bees of course!).
It's all done the old-fashioned way. Industrial-scale bee colonies
won't work, as there wouldn't be enough flora in any given area to
support them, and each hive would still need the individual TLC of a
beekeeper. Some things just can't be mechanised.
Or synthesised, for that matter. And long may it continue.
ogden
Au contraire - I prefer golden syrup.
--
ogden
Catman
How wonderful.
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Andy Hewitt
There's a large scale producer just a way up the road from here
(Scarborough), they produce much of the bee heath products for H&B.
Betton Farm it is. When we did a tour a few years ago, they had 100
hives, which they moved to three locations around the North York Moors
per season for different nectar types - trees, rape and heather IIRC.
The link to the bee stuff only takes you onto the commercial Propolis
pages, but it gives you an idea of the scale they can work to from just
one area.
--
Andy Hewitt
<http://web.me.com/andrewhewitt1/>
geoff
<b.ro...@ifrance.com> writes
week about septic beekeepers
--
geoff
geoff
ogden <og...@pre.org> writes
I prefer Longrow
fucking nectar it is
--
geoff
DR
Were I an industrial biochemist, I'd be looking into synthetic honey
production in a big way. I'm sure the various reactions and enzymes
could be synthesized, given the will and funding.
--
Darren
GSF1200N K3
Catman
Pretty good, innit?
Colin Irvine
>I prefer Longrow
>
>fucking nectar it is
It is rather tasty, isn't it.
--
Colin Irvine
ZZR1400 BOF#33 BONY#34 COFF#06 BHaLC#5
http://www.colinandpat.co.uk
The Older Gentleman
> Were I an industrial biochemist, I'd be looking into synthetic honey
> production in a big way. I'm sure the various reactions and enzymes
> could be synthesized, given the will and funding.
People have tried, believe me. It's like trying to synthesize wine.
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Try Googling before asking a damn silly question.
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The Older Gentleman
> Perhaps a daft question but is there such a thing as Industrial
> Beekeeping? I only thought about this when I considered how many
> millions of jars of honey there must be in shops and supermarkets the
> world over. I just wondered how on earth it is all manufactured (other
> than by bees of course!).
It's done the way The Doctor does it. Bees in hives. Just lots and lots
and lots of hives.
I know a beekeeper in Chile who has about 1100 hives.
Industrial beekeepers in North America will shift their hives en masse
(on bloody great low-loader artic rigs) to the orange and almond groves
in California, and the orange groves in Florida.
Accidents happen
And then they're placed in the fields and groves
The bees' pollination is utterly essential. The beekeepers get paid for
the job, and their bonus is the orange blossom (or almond blossom, etc
etc) honey they collect, which is worth a premium.
China produces a massive amount of honey. There was a shortage a few
years ago, because the Chinese had the habit of dosing their beehives in
banned antibiotics as a prophylactic.
The buggers do this with farmed shrimp, too, as do the Pakistanis, Sri
Lankans, Indians and others - they're always getting caught at it,
promise to mend their ways, clean up their act, and then go back to
splashing nitrofurans and chloramphenicol around when they think
nobody's looking.
Anyway, there was an import ban slapped on Chinese honey and supermarket
prices went up to eight or nine quid a jar.
A hell of a lot of honey that you find in shops is also gathered by
small independent and hobbyist beekeepers - a colleague at work has a
couple of dozen hives, harvests maybe half a tonne of honey a year, and
sells most of it to a UK commercial honey maker. They'll filter it and
blend it with other honey to get a uniform product.
Bees is great. I likes bees.
Ace
wrote:
>Ace <b.ro...@ifrance.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:59:43 +0000, Paul Corfield
>> <aoo...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Perhaps a daft question but is there such a thing as Industrial
>> >Beekeeping? I only thought about this when I considered how many
>> >millions of jars of honey there must be in shops and supermarkets the
>> >world over. I just wondered how on earth it is all manufactured (other
>> >than by bees of course!).
>>
>> It's all done the old-fashioned way. Industrial-scale bee colonies
>> won't work, as there wouldn't be enough flora in any given area to
>> support them, and each hive would still need the individual TLC of a
>> beekeeper. Some things just can't be mechanised.
>There's a large scale producer just a way up the road from here
>(Scarborough), they produce much of the bee heath products for H&B.
>Betton Farm it is. When we did a tour a few years ago, they had 100
>hives, which they moved to three locations around the North York Moors
>per season for different nectar types - trees, rape and heather IIRC.
Sure, and there are, as pointed out elsewhere, even larger operators
in the US, but the non-industrial differentiator is that it still has
to be done at individual hive level, and the limits on hive size are
defined by the bees themselves, as well as the need to limit physical
size to allow transportation around various feeding sites.
The extraction process is also pretty much the same regardless of
scale. Hives still have individual frames, which need to be selected
when ready, dependant on many factors including time of year, weather
and colony health, and then each frame moved to extractors and
uncapped before spinning off. Commercial extractors are, of course,
much larger, but essentially the same, and not what I'd call
"industrial".
Once extracted, the honey may be transported, filtered, blended and
bottled on an industrial scale, but the OP was asking about
"Industrial Beekeeping", which is what I was referring to, and which,
in effect, doesn't exist.
'Hog
> Paul Corfield <aoo...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
>
>> Perhaps a daft question but is there such a thing as Industrial
>> Beekeeping? I only thought about this when I considered how many
>> millions of jars of honey there must be in shops and supermarkets the
>> world over. I just wondered how on earth it is all manufactured
>> (other than by bees of course!).
>
> It's done the way The Doctor does it. Bees in hives. Just lots and
> lots and lots of hives.
>
> I know a beekeeper in Chile who has about 1100 hives.
Good grief!! that must be quite profitable.
> SNIP
> Bees is great. I likes bees.
Interesting stuff.
I've stopped buying prawns except for those few occassions you find
unfarmed. Usually the BIG ones.
--
'Hog
Andy Hewitt
For sure, I wasn't arging against that, just merely offering a point of
reference as a matter of interest.
DR
>DR <motor...@hotmail.co.uk.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Were I an industrial biochemist, I'd be looking into synthetic honey
>> production in a big way. I'm sure the various reactions and enzymes
>> could be synthesized, given the will and funding.
>
>People have tried, believe me. It's like trying to synthesize wine.
I suppose it's also like synthetic spider silk. If it was possible
through simple chemistry it would have been done.
--
Darren
GSF1200N K3
'Hog
Actually a lot of research has been focussed on that very thing.
--
'Hog
The Older Gentleman
> > I know a beekeeper in Chile who has about 1100 hives.
>
> Good grief!! that must be quite profitable.
Cousin of a good friend out there. He does all sorts of agronomic stuff
as well - grafting vines, etc. He said he kept bees, and I asked how
many hives, and he casually said: "About 1100...". As you do. My jaw
dropped.
I did some rapid mental arithmetic and said: "So that must be about
50-60 tonnes of honey annually, then?" and it was his turn to do the jaw
drop. Classic double take. He said: "Yes, about that.." and then his
head swung back and he asked: "How did you know?"
"Oh, my wife keeps bees."
"Ah. How many hives have you got?"
"Three."
>
> > SNIP
>
> > Bees is great. I likes bees.
>
> Interesting stuff.
> I've stopped buying prawns except for those few occassions you find
> unfarmed. Usually the BIG ones.
Big ones are farmed mostly. Penaeus Vannamei (big white shrimp) and
Penaeus Monodon (black tigers). They're fine as long as the farm is run
responsibly.
Pip
Curmudgeon says...
>
> We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
> drugs began to take hold. I remember Paul Corfield
> <aoo...@dsl.pipex.com> saying something like:
>
> >Perhaps a daft question but is there such a thing as Industrial
> >Beekeeping? I only thought about this when I considered how many
> >millions of jars of honey there must be in shops and supermarkets the
> >world over. I just wondered how on earth it is all manufactured (other
> >than by bees of course!).
>
> industrial beekeepers of the mid-West and West USA, who are suffering
> from colony collapse. These folks were/are moving hundreds/thousands of
> hives on a routine basis to where they're needed to pollinate almond
> trees and the like in California, as one example.
The uncaring bastards:
--
Pip, the "Mechanical Nightmare" (tm Bonwick Major)
vulgarandmischevious
>The Older Gentleman wrote:
>>
>> I know a beekeeper in Chile who has about 1100 hives.
>
>Good grief!! that must be quite profitable.
High volume does not necessarily lead to profitability.
DR
Still haven't done it though, have they?
--
Darren
GSF1200N K3
Domènec
mensaje de noticias news:1jb8daj.1ny8uap91rquiN%
> many hives, and he casually said: "About 1100...". As you do. My jaw
> dropped.
> I did some rapid mental arithmetic and said: "So that must be about
> 50-60 tonnes of honey annually, then?" and it was his turn to do the jaw
> drop. Classic double take. He said: "Yes, about that.." and then his
> head swung back and he asked: "How did you know?"
> "Oh, my wife keeps bees."
> "Ah. How many hives have you got?"
> "Three."
160 kilos a year?
>> I've stopped buying prawns except for those few occassions you find
>> unfarmed. Usually the BIG ones.
> Big ones are farmed mostly. Penaeus Vannamei (big white shrimp) and
> Penaeus Monodon (black tigers). They're fine as long as the farm is run
> responsibly.
We favour taste over size:
The Older Gentleman
> > "Three."
>
> 160 kilos a year?
Well, we're down to two hives now and it was a poor year, so maybe
60-70kg this year.
Domènec
> Dom�nec <domenec.s...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > "Three."
>> 160 kilos a year?
> Well, we're down to two hives now and it was a poor year, so maybe
> 60-70kg this year.
Good luck :-)
The Chateau Domenec is in an area whose climate could be described as
"inland mediterranean mountain". Scarce vegetation but brilliant in aromatic
plants (as in "get here you bee"), which results in great honey.
'Hog
It should when the workers are unpaid
--
'Hog