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Mead Lovers Digest #1187
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1187, 29 May 2005
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1187 29 May 2005
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Feral bees (Charles Sifers)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1186, 26 May 2005 (Lazurus106@aol.com)
Sweet Sorghum Syrup ("Dan McFeeley")
Maple Honey (Spike)
Re: American Honeybee Epidemic (Sharon Labchuk)
Re:Dick Adams ("matt_maples")
larger fermentors ("Bob Venezia")
RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1186, 26 May 2005 ("Kevin Morgan")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Feral bees
From: Charles Sifers <chazzone@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 00:45:45 -0500
I have found three hives of feral bees. A hive each in Wisconsin,
Arkansas, and Indiana.
I understand the Europeans (the source of the varoa mite are making
progress with mite resistant bees.
- -zz
On May 26, 2005, at 11:12 PM, mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
> There have been reports of feral bees here and there, suggesting
> that bees in the US are developing ways of resisting the mite
> naturally. I've seen them myself, just one or two but definitely
> honeybees. There is a beekeeper about 3 miles from where I
> live so there is a likely chance that these are his bees who have
> taken a long foraging route. Still, I'm hopeful that these are
> indeed feral bees.
>
> <><><><><><><><><><>
> <><><><><><><><>
> Dan McFeeley
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1186, 26 May 2005
From: Lazurus106@aol.com
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 07:58:51 EDT
In a message dated 5/26/2005 11:18:23 P.M. Central Standard Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:
Hi Dan, Dick and the rest of you gentles of the ferment.
On maple honey part of the problem and likely hod of finding any is the
time of the spring that maple bloom. That is very early in the year they
and the willows are almost always the very first thing to bloom and are very
important sources (at least in Wisconsin) for early pollen to provide
protein for the production of brood (baby bees).
With only the bees who over wintered they are really working hard to build
up the number of worker bees. Here in the northern mid west they actually
start raising brood in January But since they have to keep, that brood warm it
doesn't amount to all that many. Without a large population of bees the ability
of a hive bringing in a excess of nectar is very low.
Heck I've been waiting for the 1 in ten years you can get dandelion honey.
If the weather cooperates. I've been beekeeping for seven. Fingers crossed it
might just happen this year.
Thanks for paying attention Dan, its nice when it doesn't seem like its
only beekeepers paying attention to the parasite problem that has destroyed
over 50 % of the honey bees in the US.
There is as you described some light at the end of the tunnel with new self
grooming recessive behavior genetics available for beekeepers. Now if we can
convince more beekeepers to use them. Its been described that if you get 10
beekeepers in a room you will get 11 opinions, all absolutely right.
But then we don't know any other groups like that ?
Cheers,
Dutch
Madison,WI USA
------------------------------
Subject: Sweet Sorghum Syrup
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 08:21:07 -0500
On Mon, 23 May 2005, in MLD 1186, Dick Adams wrote:
>I keep waiting to read something from a meadmaker who used
>sweet sorghum syrup. Anyone have a clue as to the pppg of
>this syrup?
I took a look around and couldn't find anything on this. If no
one else comes up with a figure, I would suggest taking a
specific measure of sorghum and of water, blending the two
and taking a gravity reading. With that figure you can calculate
the specific gravity of the sorghum syrup.
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
------------------------------
Subject: Maple Honey
From: Spike <spikedmead@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 07:59:40 -0700
I actually have a 5 gallon pail of honey mead right now.. Wonderful
stuff! But really rare.
We had a very unuseal winter here in western washington state, very
warm and sunny. As a result the bees "woke up" earlier then they
useally do. This honey is created from the bees feeding on the trees,
it can be made from the maple tree blossoms too if it is later in the
season but by the time that the tree blossoms, there is useally more
apitizing things for the bees to chew on. So early season from the
tree itself. The beekeeper who I buy my honey from has a few maple
trees on his property and told me that he only ever gets maple honey
every 5 - 7 years and only 10 - 15 gallons worth at that.
He may still have some but I doubt it.. it was back 3 months ago when
I bought the pail and he only had 2 more.
Call up Ronald at (360) 691-1515
Spike
> Subject: Maple Honey
> From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
> Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 21:25:03 -0400 (EDT)
>
> HoneyLocator has no Maple Honey. A beekeeper in Vermont suggested
> that the bees collect it and consume it leaving no excess to be
> collected. This was confirmed by someone at the Honey Board. Yet
> every now and then someone seems to find some!
>
> Anyone know more about Maple Honey?
>
> Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Re: American Honeybee Epidemic
From: Sharon Labchuk <slabchuk@isn.net>
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 15:50:22 -0300
This is completely incorrect information about feral bees. Feral bees were
not wiped out. Many beekeepers in the US can attest to this as they are
always catching swarms of feral bees to add to their apiaries. This is
a topic of discussion now on the Yahoo Organic Beekeepers list and arises
from time to time when someone asks whether feral bees were indeed wiped out.
The reason feral bees were not wiped out is because when, left to their
own devices, all honey bees will build comb with brood cells that measure
about 4.7mm across. Commercial bees are placed on comb which already has
cell size predetermined. Manufacturers of this pre-stamped foundation
decided about 100 years ago that bigger bees were better bees, so they
made cell size about 5.4mm.
It is this bigger cell size that causes colonies of bees to die. Varroa
mites climb into cells with larvae just before the bees cover the cell over
with wax. It is while inside the cell that the varroa mites reproduce.
In the big cells, they have plenty of time for this so that when the adult
bee emerges from the cell, there will be several more varroa mites come
out along with it.
However, the small cell bees cover over their larvae for a shorter period
of time and so the mites have less time to reproduce. This causes a 75%
drop in the mite population, which is low enough that the bees can co-exist
with the mites.
This smaller cell size is what bees build naturally. I'm a beekeeper and
have regressed my large bees to small cell bees by allowing them to make
their own wax cells. The smaller cells produce smaller bees. In addition,
many beekeepers notice other benefits to natural size bees - less disease
overall, better communication, grooming behavior to chew mites, etc.
This is why it is a myth that feral bees were wiped out. They live
on natural size comb and have adjusted to varroa mites. It's only the
commercial beekeepers who use the unnaturally sized bees who must resort
to using pesticides and antibiotics in their hives.
Small cell is catching on now, with beekeeping suppliers now selling small
cell wax foundation, and even small cell package bees. The big commercial
guys though, just like the commercial chemically-dependent farmers, will
be the last to change. The Lusby's in Arizona, with about 1000 hives
and more than a decade of experience in organic small cell beekeeping,
are pioneers in this area.
Sharon Labchuk
At 10:12 PM 26/05/05 -0600, you wrote:
>Hello all -- I read the msn article at
>
>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7656383/
>
>and want to echo some of the earlier comments.
>It was a public information article on a subject
>that is old news to beekeepers, but not widely
>known to the general reading audience.
>
>Beekeepers have been dealing with the varroa problem
>for quite a few years now. It's a serious problem -- feral
>bees, the bees that live in the wild, were wiped out by
>varroa mites once they were introduced to this country.
>Beekeepers had to resort to chemical means to control
>the mites, knowing that these efforts would, in time, create
>strains of mites that would be resistant to these measures.
>Bee populations in other countries have also been
>devastated by the varroa mite. It's not a problem unique
>to the USA.
>
>Here's a recent news item on the varroa problem:
>
>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050517110843.htm
>
>There have been reports of feral bees here and there, suggesting
>that bees in the US are developing ways of resisting the mite
>naturally. I've seen them myself, just one or two but definitely
>honeybees. There is a beekeeper about 3 miles from where I
>live so there is a likely chance that these are his bees who have
>taken a long foraging route. Still, I'm hopeful that these are
>indeed feral bees.
>
><><><><><><><><><><>
><><><><><><><><>
>Dan McFeeley
------------------------------
Subject: Re:Dick Adams
From: "matt_maples" <matt_maples@liquidsolutions.ws>
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 16:27:24 -0700
Re:Molasses
NO!! I have tried a couple of recipes I found, nothing worked out very well.
I suppose they may have been hard up for fermented beverage back in the
1650s, It fermented ok but the flavor was nothing to write home about. A
friend of mine tried some molasses brews as well with a little more success
but nothing he wanted to do twice.
Re:Maple Honey
I for one did not like it at all. It had a very madicinal flavor to it. SOme
described it as menthol. I did not bother to ferment with it, my friend
Trevor on the other hand will ferment any honey he comes across (you should
ask him about it Pine Honey mead) and that menthol medicianal flover carried
over to the mead.
If you do find some tast it first, it may not agree with you.
Matt Maples
Liquid Solutions
450 Beers, Wine, Meads and Ciders online.
www.liquidsolutions.biz
503-524-9722
May mead regain it place as the beverage of gods and kings
------------------------------
Subject: larger fermentors
From: "Bob Venezia" <rbvenezia@snet.net>
Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 13:35:22 -0400
you can usr wine storage tanks as larger fermentors for primary we use a
150 liter about 40 gallon one for primary then we rack into carboy's for
secondary fermentation we rack back into the big fermentor to bottle
from so that the whole batch is mixed back together. you can buy a 150
liter or bigger at www.maltose.com
Bob Venezia
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1186, 26 May 2005
From: "Kevin Morgan" <kmorgan1@localnet.com>
Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 20:09:53 -0400
I haven't been there yet this year, but, Harvey's Honey in
Monroeville, New Jersey
usually has maple blossom honey.
Dick said:
HoneyLocator has no Maple Honey. A beekeeper in Vermont suggested
that the bees collect it and consume it leaving no excess to be
collected. This was confirmed by someone at the Honey Board. Yet
every now and then someone seems to find some!
Anyone know more about Maple Honey?
Dick
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1187
*******************************
