Beeginer mistake harvesting

**lupester** · 07-12-2009, 08:06 PM

Well i finally harvested some honey. I did not want to take too much but I took 1 meduim frame from 3 hives and 2 frames from deep hives (going away from these but still have some left). Most of these hives are starter hives, split from a hot hive, so I didnt want to take too much. Most of the frames had foundations so I just scraped the comb and honey into a sceen for straining since I dont have an extractor. The foundationless were the easiest, I just cut around the outside of the frame and the whole thing just fell right in. Where did I do this....right outside the garage door, mind you it is 104 deg today. I put the empty frames in the 5 gallon bucket to strain the remaining honey. Since it was so hot the faminly decided we were going swiming at the parents so we left the house. Well when I came home and saw the garage I knew I had made a mistake. There were thousands of bees trying to lap up every last drop of honey. It looked as though all 10 hives had send out recruits to pick up some welfare honey! My wife was a little freaked out by that....I moved as much as I could away from the house but that was pretty stupid.

Looks as though we will get close to 2 gallons of honey, that is truely amazing..black and yellow get behind a fellow!

**Beeslave** · 07-12-2009, 10:52 PM

All part of the learning process

**BEES4U** · 07-13-2009, 06:19 AM

And,
make sure that the doors to the honey house are secured before you go to lunch
Ernie

**clarkfarm** · 07-13-2009, 08:55 AM

If the bucket that the honey was draining into was open so that bees could access the honey, it seems like flies would also have access. If so, then the honey would not be fit for human consumption. Or am I missing something here? Sure hope so.

**lupester** · 07-13-2009, 09:09 AM

No, i was smart enough to invert a second bucket over the bucket that had the comb that was straining, and the good honey. Just the frames that had been scraped were in a third 5 gallon bucket open to the air/bees.

**dcross** · 07-13-2009, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by clarkfarm

If the bucket that the honey was draining into was open so that bees could access the honey, it seems like flies would also have access. If so, then the honey would not be fit for human consumption. Or am I missing something here? Sure hope so.

Even if a few flies got in, I would think the antibacterial properties of honey would be enough to protect it/you.

**clarkfarm** · 07-13-2009, 08:20 PM

Am not a scientist but flies carry much more disease spreading properties than bacteria. Such as viruses, protozoa, helminths such as tapeworms and roundworms, samonella and so forth. I am not saying a few flies in honey would cause this because I don't know but don't think antibacterial action is necessarily the answer here. I sure would not eat or sell honey I knew had been exposed to flies. If you disagree, it might be good to check with your state health department before selling honey exposed to flies. Just a thought.

**Beeslave** · 07-13-2009, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by clarkfarm

Am not a scientist but flies carry much more disease spreading properties than bacteria. Such as viruses, protozoa, helminths such as tapeworms and roundworms, samonella and so forth. I am not saying a few flies in honey would cause this because I don't know but don't think antibacterial action is necessarily the answer here. I sure would not eat or sell honey I knew had been exposed to flies. If you disagree, it might be good to check with your state health department before selling honey exposed to flies. Just a thought.

No more picnics. No more food from the fairs. No more uncooked veggies from the garden. No more berries from the woods etc......... That said, yes it is best to do everything you can to keep your honey protected from pests, vermin and moisture at all times.

**justin** · 07-13-2009, 10:29 PM

isnt honey made by a bunch of bugs? i guess i need to quit hanging the deer up before i butcher. and dont humans, (not to mention an animal like a cow) carry worse diseases than flies?

**Hambone** · 07-13-2009, 10:57 PM

It was probably just a small bee species. Texas flies would have picked up the bucket and flown away with it.

I would put that honey on a plate and sop it up with a biscuit.

That's pretty fun though. Not uncommon either. That would have been a good youtube moment when you pulled up.

**clarkfarm** · 07-14-2009, 06:42 AM

Don't want to beat this to death but ...

The examples you all are listing to make fun of flies in honey miss the point. When you eat picnic food, unwashed vegetables, home processed deer meat and the like, you are making a free choice with knowledge that flies have or probably have come in contact with that food. On the other hand, when you are selling a produce like honey or peanut butter or cookie dough, your customer does not expect that flies have come in contact with it and does not make a free choice to accept that.

You may say ignorance is bliss and unfortunately that is true. Only a beekeeper's own integrity and attitude toward cleanliness determines the quality of the bottled honey in the jar. I just hope your customers read on the website about your cavalier attitudes toward flies in your honey and can make the same informed choice to eat it that you havemade yourself when you dig into that cotton candy. I am sure there are other beekeepers on this website that value cleanliness and the customer (I don't sell my honey so I am not looking for this customer personally) would have that choice.

Yes, bees are insects, and have been shown to have the ability to take unpure sources -- such as cattle pond water -- and produce a "pure" product. But we are talking here about taking that pure product away from the bees and processing it with flies having access. If you have scientific evidence that fly contact does not, in fact, contaminate or have the possibility of contaminating honey during processing, please post it. Otherwise, those of you who don't think fly access during honey processing is a problem, please either rethink your position or consider posting your names here so customers can be informed.

**dug_6238** · 07-14-2009, 10:24 AM

Not sure what answer we're looking for in this thread, but I would say this in response. If you were doing this outside in front of your garage, out in the open, rather than in a clean environment, then perhaps you need to be telling the consumers of your honey something.

Yes, there are those of us that are concerned over the cleanliness and purity of our product. We proceed in a little more serious manner. If you're looking to sell, look into what you need to do next time to do this in a clean controlled environment.

I apologize in advance if I've misunderstood these posts. I think some are only were joking lightly to downplay things on the posters' behalves, not joking against. It really is like skinning a deer - If I'm doing that for my family, that's how I'm doing it. Different than someone butchering a beef to be sold on the open market - the butcher is subject to much more stringent guidelines.

**beedeetee** · 07-14-2009, 01:45 PM

This thread got me to thinking about flies. I don't think I have ever seen a fly on honey. Do we just have odd flies here? Right now our flow is still on and I have some comb and honey on a hive stand that I scraped off a few week ago or so and neither bees or flies seem interested in it.

In a couple of weeks I know that the bees will be interested but I don't remember ever seeing a fly on honey.