The Karakovan beehives of Turkey's "Honey Forest"

6195 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by zabadoh, 11 mo ago

zabadoh

Discussion Starter · Nov 16, 2020

An article in today's NYT caught my eye, but I found it frustratingly vague about the actual beekeeping itself, not to mention more pictures of modern Langstroth hives and equipment than the traditional hollow log hives.

Have a Look at the Fabled Honey Forest (Published 2020)

In northeastern Turkey, the beekeeping traditions of the Hemshin people, an ethnic minority originating from Armenia, are both evolving and at risk of vanishing.

www.nytimes.com

So a quick google for "karakovan" yielded some interesting videos.

The first of which shows the hollow log hives in the article's subject's region's distinctive tree platforms, and a guy harvesting some honey. The action begins at 1m21s

But peoples of other regions, possibly those without bears, just stack hollow logs on the ground as their hives.

The honey harvesting seems to be much more civilized than skeps, with the honeycomb being cut out from the other end of the log away from the bees' entrance, instead of destroying the brood to get to the honey.

An article from earlier thread about traditional beekeeping says this is what traditional beekeeping throughout the Mediterranean looks like, although they used whatever resources were at hand, clay pots, rock hollows in cliffsides, or whatever.

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zabadoh

Discussion Starter · #2 · Nov 16, 2020

Another Turkish video, showed a older gentleman displaying goat-like climbing skills making a swarm trap beehive using loose rocks and mud to seal up a hollow in a cliff face, then harvesting honey.

The video is cut short at the end, possibly the batteries in the camera ran out. I would have loved to see what he did with the bees he swept off the honey comb into a tarp bag.

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Robert Holcombe

· #3 · Nov 16, 2020

zabadoh said:
An article in today's NYT caught my eye, but I found it frustratingly vague about the actual beekeeping itself, not to mention more pictures of modern Langstroth hives and equipment than the traditional hollow log hives.

Have a Look at the Fabled Honey Forest (Published 2020)

In northeastern Turkey, the beekeeping traditions of the Hemshin people, an ethnic minority originating from Armenia, are both evolving and at risk of vanishing.

www.nytimes.com

So a quick google for "karakovan" yielded some interesting videos.

The first of which shows the hollow log hives in the article's subject's region's distinctive tree platforms, and a guy harvesting some honey. The action begins at 1m21s

But peoples of other regions, possibly those without bears, just stack hollow logs on the ground as their hives.

The honey harvesting seems to be much more civilized than skeps, with the honeycomb being cut out from the other end of the log away from the bees' entrance, instead of destroying the brood to get to the honey.

An article from earlier thread about traditional beekeeping says this is what traditional beekeeping throughout the Mediterranean looks like, although they used whatever resources were at hand, clay pots, rock hollows in cliffsides, or whatever.

Thanks - interesting- solves the "snow " problem too.

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Fivej

· #4 · Nov 28, 2020

Interesting. Thanks for posting. J

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Honeyeater

· #5 · Nov 28, 2020

zabadoh said:
this is what traditional beekeeping throughout the Mediterranean looks like, although they used whatever resources were at hand, clay pots, rock hollows in cliffsides, or whatever.

This is a photo of one of the ancient apiaries in the island of Malta, in the mediterranean. Carved out in rock - they placed clay pipes in each of the windows and those doors lead to the back of the hives to harvest in a similar way to the videos above, from the back.

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MZUNGUKICHAA

· #6 · Jun 4, 2021

Some notes on the actual beekeeping methods used in North East Turkey. The barrel hives can be made from the Lime or Linden tree.. Tilia species, which of course also is a nectar producer for the bees. The beautiful light coloured wood has a scent that attracts the swarms to colonise such hives. Other nectar and pollen plants are Rhododendron, blueberry and Sweet Chestnut.. Castanea species. I know Rhododendron honey is meant to be toxic, but I guess the bees get their food from such a variety of plants , that the Rhododendron component is watered down. The bees themselves are the Caucasian race. The two tribes that keep bees here are Hemshin and the Lazer. Both immigrated here in the past, from Armenia and the Caucasus mountains. The honey from these forests is very expensive. The honey from Kashkar valley, can sell at 100 dollars a pound! That surely is even more expensive than manuka honey from New Zealand! Thats why I cant believe that figure of 100 dollars.

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Newbeek2021

· #7 · Jun 4, 2021

Is it just me or maybe its just a US culture thing but it seems to me that the outdated "ancient" methods of anything really but especially beekeeping were just awe inspiring. I mean i look at that apiary in Malta & just find it incredible. We have boxes....which we pump chemicals into...with gizmos....regardless of being organic or not (not looking for that debate lol) but just the design/architecture of ancient things i find incredible, it was like an art form. we may have made it easier but i think we lost something along the way. Or im just being too nostalgic perhaps.

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CarolinaBee

· #8 · 11 mo ago

zabadoh said:
Another Turkish video, showed a older gentleman displaying goat-like climbing skills making a swarm trap beehive using loose rocks and mud to seal up a hollow in a cliff face, then harvesting honey.

The video is cut short at the end, possibly the batteries in the camera ran out. I would have loved to see what he did with the bees he swept off the honey comb into a tarp bag.

What did he use for the lure?

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zabadoh

Discussion Starter · #9 · 11 mo ago

CarolinaBee said:
What did he use for the lure?

Not sure.

At 3:55 he applies a lighter to the inside of the cavity, then some kind of pasty substance, then something on the end of a bottle brush. The subtitles don't identify the latter two.

I'm guessing the pasty stuff might be beeswax.

Or he might have used these cavities before, so they already smell of old hive.

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