This Page is dedicated to the various presentations we have done about honey and beekeeping.

Benefits of Honey · Beekeeping Basics · Pollination · General Trivia

Benefits of Honey

Now this is basically a transcript of my presentation at the QC Botannical Center. I will eventually include the slide pictures. =)

(Slide 1 - intro)
Hello I'm Megan Crandall from Crandall Farms. I’m going to talk about the benefits of honey but before I get into that I'm going to begin with a brief history of bees and honey.

(slide 2 - pyramids)
For thousands of years honey has been used in food and drink, for beauty routines, and for healing. Ancient cultures frequently used honey for ritual celebrations, marriages, funerals, and births. Honey was also used to cure minor ailments and to fend off aging. In ancient Egypt, taxes were paid with honey. Honey has been found in tombs and is one of the oldest foods in existence. Honey found in the tomb of King Tut, was found to be edible despite its age.

(slide 3 - Egyptian pic)
In ancient Greece, honey symbolized fertility, love, and beauty. Honey was given as an offering to their gods. The gods were known to favor a drink comprised of fermented honey and spices. It was considered "the nectar of the gods" and was poured by the cupbearers of Zeus. This drink possessed wondrous life-giving properties for health, strength, virility, and immortality. It was said that Cupid dipped his arrows in honey to fill the lovers’ heart with sweetness. The ancient Greeks also made little cakes from flour, honey and oil as supplications to their gods. They sometimes baked these cakes with fresh flowers in them. Greek coins were even minted with bees on them.

(slide 4 - ancient Egypt)
Sacred animals in Egypt were fed honey. The Egyptians kept their bees in tall, cylindrical hives; similar hives are still used in remote parts of Egypt today. Honey was the most used medicine in ancient Egypt. Of the more than 900 medical remedies known about for that time, more than 500 were honey based. Honey was used in the embalming process to prevent decay. The bee even became a symbol of the pharaohs.

(slide 5 - romans)
The ancient Romans were also well aware of the benefits of honey. In the first century A.D., Apicus, a wealthy Roman chef, wrote a series of cookbooks in which more than half of the recipes included honey.

(slide 6 - Odin)
Wine, whiskey, and beer did not exist in those days. Mead, a drink made from honey was used instead. Mead was a drink of the Norse gods. Odin, the patron of wisdom, drank mead from a golden goblet with Saga the goddess of History. The first Anglo-Saxons drank a brew of water and honeycomb in a clay pot. They added various herbs for flavoring. Before the discovery of sugar cane, honey and fruits were the only sweeteners in Europe. It was an ancient Germanic belief that the moon was supposed to be a huge cup, filled with honey and mead; and the stars were swarms of bees.

(slide 7 - Alexander the great)
According to one legend, when Alexander the Great died he was preserved in a clay vessel full of honey (which can act as a preservative). Even though honey was used by the Israelites, Egyptians, Chinese, and Indians, it wasn't until the rise of the Roman empire that much was written about bees or beekeeping.

(slide 8 - Napoleon)
Napoleon used the bee to symbolize his empire after his coronation in 1804. It stood for industry, efficiency, and productivity. The bee was also chosen to link Napoleon's new dynasty to the very origins of France as golden bees were discovered in 1653 in Tournai and were considered to be the oldest emblem of the sovereigns of France.

(slide 9 - moses)
In the Bible, honey is dubbed "the heavenly food". It is mentioned in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers , and Deuteronomy. Moses and the Israelites were promised by God to be led to the land of milk and honey.

(slide 10 - early beekeeping)
The earliest illustration we have of honey being gathered is around 15,000 years old and appears in a painting on the walls of a rock shelter in eastern Spain. Bee hives were plundered by those who found them without an understanding of the life cycle of the bee or the structure of the hive. Early beekeeping was crude and dealt more with the gathering of honey than the care of the bees. Early beekeepers fashioned hives out of hollow logs, boxes, or woven bee skeps made of grass straw. In the fall, the bees were killed and the contents of the hive were strained to remove the honey. Only a few hives were kept over winter to repopulate the apiary for the next spring.

(slide 11 - dad with frame)
In the 1800’s, some enterprising beekeepers began to design hives that were more sensitive to how the bees structured their hives. It was learned that the queens could be discouraged from laying eggs in some parts of the hive, so that honey could be harvested without damaging the colony.

(slide 12 - flight bee)
Honey is the only food stuff that we eat that is created by insects.

(slide 13 - queen)
A colony consists of three types of bees. An average colony only contains one queen and she may lay up to 2,000 eggs a day, during the busy season.

(slide 14 - drone)
The drone’s soul purpose is to mate with the queen. There may be several hundred drones within a colony.

(slide 15 - worker)
Worker bees are undeveloped female bees and pick up the slack, doing everything else from cooling the hive, by fanning it with their wings, cleaning the hive, and feeding the larvae. There may be around 50,000 worker bees per colony. The worker bee gathers pollen and nectar from flowers and plants, then returns to the hive and delivers the nectar into cells within the hive adding an enzyme made by the worker bees that turns the nectar into honey.

(slide 16 - honeybees)
A worker bee gathers in its entire life .0288 of an ounce of honey. It requires about 556 worker bees to gather a full pound of honey. The bees would fly approximately 35,584 miles or more than once around the world in doing this work. Honeybees' wings stroke 11, 400 times per minute, making their distinctive buzz.

(slide 17 - Comb)
After the invention of moveable frames, instead of burning the hives, we remove the frames of comb and then extract the honey using a centrifuge.

(slide 18 - honeybears)
It’s then bottled or packaged and delivered to the public. Our honey isn’t heated or pasteurized so it retains it's health properties. Honey is an organic choice and is a good replacement for high fructose corn syrup and white sugar.

(slide 19 - spoon on plate)
Honey has long been recognized as a natural remedy. The bacteria-killing property of honey is named "the inhibition effect". Experiments conducted on honey show that its bactericide properties increase two fold when diluted with water. Research has shown that if you drink a 16 ounce glass of water containing four tablespoons of honey every day, you will experience improved levels of antioxidants in your system. Dark honey contains more antioxidants than light.

(slide 20 - eqyptian)
History has recorded honey as the most used medicine in ancient Egypt. It has been used throughout the ages to treat wounds, and to treat both internal and external diseases. In the First World War, honey mixed with cod liver oil was used to treat soldier’s wounds.

(slide 21 - girl)
Honey has powerful antimicrobial properties which can soothe raw tissues. Honey naturally attracts and retains moisture. When this is used in skin treatments, the skin is kept moist, soft, and elastic.

(slide 22 - heart)
Scientists from the University of Illinois state that honey appears to have a “protective effect” and contains as many antioxidants - which combat the free radical which can damage cells; as spinach, apples, oranges, or strawberries. There is also new research from Purdue University that suggests that the absorption of calcium increases as the amount of honey intake is upped. Research by New Zealand biochemist, Peter Molan states that honey cleans and heals wounds better than the medicines used in hospitals. This has been backed up by studies from the British Journal of Surgery that attests to honey's ability to maintain a moist healing environment, banish infection, promote new skin growth, and prevent scarring. Honey is also an effective treatment for burns. Bee sting therapy has proven useful for patients with M.S. and for arthritis suffers.

(slide 23 - spoon dipped)
For sore throats: Pour a teaspoon of honey into a large serving spoon, top off with lemon and swallow (without water) every few hours until symptoms clears up. Health-promoting compounds found in honey could make this ingredient a more attractive option for food makers currently using bulk sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup.

(slide 24 - sugar)
Honey contains very small amounts of trace minerals and vitamin nutrients, making it a better choice than sugar. Although honey has 64 calories per tablespoon. You only have to use 25 - 40% to attain the same sweetening power as sugar.

(slide 25 - poured honey)
Although it gives great energy to the body, honey does not add weight. When accompanied by mild water, honey diffuses into the bloodstream in 7 minutes. Its free sugar molecules make the brain function better since the brain is the largest consumer of sugar, thus, reduces fatigue.
Besides supplying the energy needed by the body for blood formation, honey helps in cleansing the blood. It has positive effects in regulating and facilitating blood circulation. It also functions as a protection against capillary problems and diseases of the artery.

(slide 26 - honey tips)
Honey should always be stored at room temperature. Honey will come out of a measuring cup better when the cup is first coated with oil. Baked products stay fresher longer when made with honey. Honey deteriorates when frozen making the thawed product mushy. Honey never spoil.

(slide 27 - athletes)
For athletes, honey facilitates in maintaining blood sugar levels, muscle recuperation and glycogen restoration after a workout. Honey works in two stages with glucose providing quick absorption and an immediate energy boost and fructose absorbing more slowly providing sustained enegy. This means the prevention of fatigue and a boost in athletic performance. Recent studies also show that athletes who take honey before and after competing find that they recover more quickly than those who don't.

(slide 28 - Cleopatra)
Honey has been used as a part of a natural beauty regime as far back as Cleopatra. Since honey is all-natural, it does not irritate the skin and is ideal for beauty products for sensitive skin. It’s antioxidants help support the skin's ability to rejuvenate from UV damage from the sun. The noted beautiful hands of Ancient Japanese women, devoid of all wrinkles, is attributed to their daily use of fresh honey as a hand lotion.

(slide 29 - queen anne)
Combining honey with other ingredients including beeswax creates a number of useful beauty products. Ancient Chinese women used a paste made from crushed orange seeds and honey to clear their complexions. Crushed seeds of peaches or apricots with honey was used for softening their hands. Milk and honey are often combined as a beauty treatment as both these ingredients help in getting smooth soothing skin. Hence consuming milk and honey daily in the mornings is a common practice in many countries. In 1700, Queen Anne of England combined honey with olive oil to keep her hair healthy and lustrous.

(slide 30 - soap)
Honey is a documented "anti-microbial" agent. This means that honey restricts the growth of certain bacteria. As such, honey can help with minor acne.

(slide 31 - daffodil)
Approximately one half of the human diet is derived directly or indirectly from crops pollinated by bees. Today honeybees are an essential part of a healthy agricultural economy. The consumption of locally produced honey has been shown to have positive benefit for seasonal allergies. Bees use the pollen from local plants and eventually it ends up in your honey. This causes a homeopathic effect.

(slide 32 - beeswax)
In the production of honey, bees create another useful product – Beeswax. Beeswax is a common ingredient in many beauty products, sealing wax, furniture polish, candles, and art projects. In lip balm it seals in moisture, in furnisher polish it creates a smooth and protective finish, in candles it burns cleanly - leaving no residue as is left by paraffin based candles.

(slide 33 - Crete)
You may be familiar with the tale of the Labyrinth of Crete that housed the Minotaur. The builder of the Labyrinth was Deadalus and after being locked inside with his son Icarus, he concocted wings of bird feathers and beeswax found from a beehive, to escape and fly out to freedom. Of course the tale continues that Icarus flew too near the sun and the wax melted, and he plummeted into the sea.

(slide 34 - beekeepers)
In late 2006, some beekeepers began reporting large losses in honey bee colonies. Although bee experts have identified several possible causes, a prevailing theory has yet to emerge. They’re calling it colony collapse disorder. Other problems such as the africanization of bee colonies, the continued use of pesticides, the aging out of beekeepers, and diseases such as varillo and tracial mites make the future of beekeeping rather grim. We should appreciate honeybee for their honey and pollination services. 80% of the pollination of the fruits, vegetables, and seed crops in the U.S is accomplished by honeybees.

(slide 35 - Einstein)
Albert Einstein said "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animls, no more man"

(slide 36 - End)
Well thank you for listening,..I hoped you enjoyed our presentation.
Please visit www.CrandallFarms.com for honey recipes as well as recipes for natural homemade hand lotions, and other beauty products made from honey.
If there are any questions we would be more than happy to answer them =)And be sure to check out our table and our observation hive.

Beekeeping Basics

First was exposed to beekeeping by mygrandfather.  He would nail together a couple of Pepsi crates and make it into a hive. Although hives have several different configurations and few beekeepers will agree on which is best.  The most standard configuration is a deep brood chamber with 10 frames.
Bee space is very important and has not changed since its discovery over 100 years ago. Obeying bee space requires 10 frames in a standard hive box.  Sometimes this is difficult to work with and some beekeepers have switched to using 9 frames in a 10 frame hive. The inner cover is not absolutely necessary but helps not to smash bees when closing the hive back up. The bottom board has been modified recently to deal with mites and small hive beetles. A standard hive bottom (pictured) would just be a flat board without screen. There would be small slats on the sides to hold the hive up and allow a space for the bees to enter and exit. Most hobbiest will use a telescoping lid. Large migratory beekeeping operations will use what is called a Migratory lid that allows the hives to be strapped more closely to each other during shipping. You can buy a complete starter package from some beekeeping suppliers. Over million of years of evolution has resulted in specialization and adaptation of the honey bee, resulting in there being one reproductive individual, the queen, which lays all the legs. After a brief mating on the wing outside of the hive the queen stays in the hive to lay fertilized eggs at the rate of one a minute for hours on end, day after day and night after night. She is the key to success of the colony. Blue is the designated color for queens born in years ending in 0 and 5. There are records of queen bees living for over 8 years, but 3 years is probably nearer the average length of life of a queen. When her egg laying capacity diminishes the workers will begin to build queen cells to raise a replacement queen. Most beekeepers will replace the queen every other year. During her peak laying in the summer she will lay 2,500 eggs a day. During the Winter and early Spring, a queen lays first in the center of the compact Winter cluster. Later as the cluster expands in volume encompassing more and more combs, the brood area also expands as further cells become suitable for the queen to lay in. During the Winter the queen will be protected by the cluster of bees and remain at the center. When the outside temperature are near freezing the temperature at the surface of a cluster of bees ranges between 43 degrees and 46 degrees F. Activity of the bees in the center of the cluster maintain a desired temperature. This may be around 92 degrees F if brood rearing is in progress. This is an unmarked queen. The queen will start raising drones in the Spring as soon as nectar and pollen are plentiful. Drones live several months but rarely overwinter in the hive. Drones lack a stinger and have larger eyes. During the first few weeks of their life drones are dependant on being fed. Drones learn to beg for food by stroking the head of worker bees. Later in life they will feed themselves if necessary but prefer to be fed by the workers. Toward the end of the season the drones are driven out of the hives. First they are forced to the outside of the frames, then to the walls of the hive, finally to the bottom board, and then they are expelled. This picture is a little fuzzy but is of a worker bee dragging a drone out of the hive. The female worker honey bee is the laborer of the colony. Workers gather all the nectar and pollen, feed young larvae, warm and protect eggs, larvae and pupae, supply water, secrete beeswax, build comb and do many other tasks. Worker bees that have just emerged become nurse and house bees. Later on they will become field bees. Worker bees care for the queen and drones. This worker bee is still collecting pollen even though her wings are badly frayed. Honeybee wings have about 500 miles of flight capacity. When they are worn out, the bee can fly out to the flowers, but cannot return loaded. So she dies alone, away from the hive...sad for her, but best for the hive, not to have to deal with her corpse. During the summer months a worker bees lifespan can be as little as a week. During January egg laying is slowed to stopped. Bees fly only when weather permits. February to March egg laying starts. Bees will be seen near hives on warm days. As the weather warms up the Winter cluster of bees expands allowing the queen additional room to lay eggs. April to May Dandelion is one of the first flowers available to honey bees. Although other flowering plants are available at this time I always know if my bees survived to see the dandelions bloom they have survived the Winter. Although not aggressive most of the field bees are out searching for sources of nectar or pollen. You will see them everywhere. Once they find a source they will communicate that back to the hive but until then they will explore everywhere their search. In this area apple orchards are the first growers in need of honeybees. They require strong hives that have over Wintered successfully to pollinate their trees. This is an annoying time of the year. There are 25,000 - 30,000 bees per hive with nothing to do! In June sometimes a hive will produce a primary swarm and then a secondary swarm. When a hive swarms it usually will not produce a surplus of honey that year. The Photograph to the left has a swarm in a pine tree. Sometimes it's 20 feet off the ground. During this time of the year it is important to always have the equipment you need available when you need it. It is very easy to run out of enough supers since a strong hive can fill a super with honey in about a week during peak flowering periods. In this area melon growers need their honeybees in mid to late June. It is possible to just continue stacking supers on hives instead of harvesting but it is inefficient. With the treat of small hive beetle it is possible to loose a hive and have the honey supers destroyed by the beetles. Although the average size of a hive is 60,000 bees during the summer they can reach up to 80,000 to 90,000. Bees use water to cool the hive and need constant access to water. During hot weather it is not uncommon for bees to hang outside the hives in the evening and even during the day. Unless it is a very hot day a “bee beard” like this can be an indication of overcrowding and the beekeeper may need to add additional supers to relieve the crowding. Hives overcrowded are more likely to swarm. Hives that swarm are unlikely to produce an excess of honey for the beekeeper. Hottest weather and swarms slow down in August. Last Honey harvest in September. Here’s a photo of me brushing the bees off a frame of honey. Any medication for mites or any other reason has to be applied after all the honey for human consumption has been removed. A few years ago Venezuela was banned from shipping honey to the US because of chemical contamination of their honey. Argentina and China has suffered like bans in the last few years. So that hives can survive Mid-Western Winters they must have healthy queens. In September hives are still going strong and it is easy to tell if a queen is failing. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if the bees coming and going from a hive are normal flying or robber bees attacking a weak hive. During late fall weak hives are a easy target for stronger hives. Even a hive that appears strong can be having problems. Sometimes while a new queen is one her initial mating flight she will be eaten by a dragon fly or bird, causing the hive to become queenless. Recognized in time the beekeeper can correct the problem by requeening or combining hives. Here is a picture of Bob and I combining a strong queenless hive with a weak hive. Nether hive would survive through the Winter. Notice the hive on the bricks has a double screen. This will allow the two hive smells to mingle for awhile before the bees are actually allowed to mix. Until combined the bottom hive will use the normal entrance. The hive I am carrying will use the entrance hole facing in the other direction. In about a week I will come back and remove the double screen. October through November you would complete any medication needed. You wold also feed any small hives so they would be ready for winter, retrieve any hives rented out for winter, and extract frames of honey. A heated cappings plane will be used to remove the wax cappings on the individual cells. The cappings are collected and drained of honey. The wax is melted and filtered. It will be used for candles or other beeswax products. The frame with the wax caps removed is placed into an extractor that will “spin” the honey out. Honey flows out of the extractor into a bucket strainer. The strainer removes any small debris, wax and bee parts. During December - In the Northern states hives would require 2 brood chambers so that bees could store enough honey to survive the harsh Winter. In Southern states including Southern Illinois hives are normally 1 brood chamber deep. In our area hives can be over Wintered with one brood chamber if they are strong going into the Winter months. One of the ways to help assure hives will have the best possible chance of surviving through to Spring is be feeding them sugar water whenever there is a break in the weather. Most hives that die out in the Winter die out from starvation. Cold Winter losses can easily be 1/3 to ½ of the hives although normal Winter losses are closer to 10 or 20 percent. Just like many farming activities, Winter is time for fixing the equipment you didn’t have time to fix during the summer months. It is difficult to maintain a zero growth in the number of hives. No matter how attentive a beekeeper is hives will swarm and it is difficult to watch a swarm escape when it is possible to keep it. Having equipment ready for these swarms is essential to being able to catch them.

Pollination Benefits

Pollination is a multi billion dollar industry. Just this month (February) 1.4 million beehives will be moved into the almond groves in California. Poorly pollinated blackberry.  The ovules in the center were not fertilized by a pollen grain, so they did not develop drupelets. The most likely cause was insufficient bee visits. Apple blossoms not adequately pollinated produce fruit the is lopsided and less valuable for the grower.