Mike Berry: "Beautiful examples of God's Creation when it comes to that honeybee and what they do." We like it! Gonna make that some Beekeeping News for Sunday Fellowship. Y'all have a blessed one!
Hey there Tim! I agree. Love to see God in creation when I'm in nature or my bees. We can easily lose track of that when we get busy and worry about getting 'the job' done. Been out of the town last three weeks and hope to get back to the Sunday evening chat again. Really enjoy you guys.
I encourage fermenting Honey. I love the flavour, texture and added digestive benefits. So do my customers, once I introduce them to it. They come back for more faster than regular Honey. I also add fresh pollen to fermented Honey, and the added sweet/tart flavour adds great value, especially nutritionally. AND the fermenting process breaks down the cellular walls of the pollen for easier digestibility. I think an uncapping plane would save you 50% effort on uncapping. Especially on the narrower comb. Keep on keeping on!
I’ve never heard of that in 13 years of beekeeping. Truly fermenting honey will blow the lids off the containers. I’ve seen it break mason jars. I guess if it’s completed it’s fermenting it wouldn’t, but I can’t imagine presenting fermented honey to my customers. I could see it as a niche market, but I don’t think I would do well here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. Interesting for sure.
Well, I’m not sure I’d call it mead at this point. Need controlled fermentation to really make a good mead and it’s kind of too far gone. I’ll let the natural be pollinators enjoy it this go around😁😁
All together you still got a solid crop for the year. I had three bad years before this one surprised me with two unexpected flows. I keep thinking how great that long knife is. I have to get me one
That was us last year and those surprise years are great for carrying us through when we do have a bad one. That knife is great. I do know that there is a supplier here stateside trying to duplicate it as they worked for Kelley Bees back in the day and that's who made it. It's hard to find that length as well as flexibility and with a serrated edge. It's a unique combination actually.
Yessir. To me that’s always the wildcard. We don’t know by sight the actual yeast content when numerous sources are involved. Frustrating when we don’t know. I only wish I’d known what hive. I have a suspicion that airflow in the hive was low allowing the humidity to get high under the caps due to our weather. With the yeast content and the amount of water it just fermented in the frame. A lot of the honey in the frames was good and only the edges fermented, so that’s a clue as well. It’s the first I’ve seen in my yard, but we have a few others that are seeing it too. It’s got my attention for sure. Take care Brad!!
@@MikeBarryBees I've been thinking about this. I'm not a master brewer so my understanding is rudimentary. I believe the process of making mead is that you add water and yeast to the honey to make it ferment. The more yeast you add, the higher the alcohol content will be because, the alcohol kills the yeast, stopping fermentation. In the honey in the frame, if the yeast content was high along with a high water content, the fermentation process could start but it is the level of yeast concentration that will determine the extent of the fermentation. I believe that the acceptable MC of honey does vary depending on nectar source. Why is this? Perhaps this is because different nectar producers also produce different concentrations of yeasts. This fermented honey was along the sides, suggesting that it was collected at a particular time interval. Perhaps there was that kind of nectar collected along with other sources earlier on but it was "diluted" somewhat, stabilizing the fermentation process. Perhaps the "stabilizing" nectar source dried up before the source that's high in yeast and therefore allowed a higher "undiluted" nectar to be deposited in that small location in the frame. All speculation, of course. God bless, Mike!
Hey Mike I’d never seen the fermenting honey before. Just checked on some five frame nucs and had 8 of them with fermenting honey and bubbling. The strange part is we are in a dearth so I’ve been feeding 1:1 with hive alive supplement which is supposed to keep it from fermenting. Something new everyday.
You sure get a lot of work done for riding a chicken. You are my inspiration. Super jelous of that extractor. I will be getting one once I get my son through college.
Good to know! I was curious of what to do with it and wasn't sure if it would be bad for gut health on the bees. It's not entire frames either, so it should be fine and seems like you're having success. Thanks for the insight!!
Hey there Stan. You were the inspiration for this video. I get my buckets at Home Depot and Lowe's They sell the really nice snap on lids that can be used over and over again and the food grade buckets are good quality.
Yes indeed it is. To be exact though, you're right. the frame weight has to be taken into consideration. And the difference in the medium box weights as well. An empty weight would have been good, but no time for that. In the end, if I have the frame a weight of one pound and even then a one pound differential between the supers, we still should be about 7 pounds heavier. I think it's well worth running the nines, or even eights, in ten frame boxes. I always could feel the difference when lifting and I usually only have about 10 boxes in total each year that are ten frame boxes. All the rest are nines out of about 80 boxes. Glad you enjoy the videos and thanks so much for the support!!
We have drone foundation as well. It’s just not priced right for me to run for all the frames in my supers. It’s used here in the US more for more control and controlling drone come between the frames.
Great video Mike, and congratulations on a successful harvest!!! I've never seen the "bubbly honey" before. VERY interesting. So, this honey would have fermented on the hive if you had left it? Need to see if those bees signed off on the OJT sheet!! 😆Question....who made your uncapping tank? That's on my list for purchase at The Expo this year. Take care and THANKS as always!!!!
Thanks Keith. I am betting the bees would've cleaned up the honey if it would've finished bubbling out, or they would've been overrun by beetles and absconded...if they were weak. Not sure. I have the Maxant tank. It's pretty nice, but it has a huge price tag on it when you see it on their website. I bought it before HillCo was in business and I've looked at John's and it's every bit as nice and with a nicer price. He's improved his tank since his very first model. His first model wasn't as nice as the maxant, but the current tank is everything the maxant is.
Nice thing about going with one frame less you can save on frame costs. I finished my extracting last week. Even after having an above from a rain perspective my honey moisture pretty much matched up with yours. Had several boxes in the 16% range with one below 16%. Broke in my new Hillco Minimax 9 frame extractor. Boy is it a great investment. Looking forward to seeing you in Louisville.
Thanks Brad!! Yep, I just happened to notice it at the last minute. Only saw that one box. Might have another one that I pulled this week that's I'll be taking a closer look at. Take care, Fallis right around the corner!!
Thanks Mike! 2,500 lbs. of honey is a lot to sell. I know you’re at the Farmers Market. I sell every other week at a Farmers Market in Denver, May through October, with lots of long time customers. I sell 850 lbs. a year. How do you sell 2,500 lbs. in a year? I’d love a video with more info on this topic! I will produce 1,800 pounds this year and need to find other venues. Thanks!
Well, I don't sell all of it in a year. Some carries over and for example, last season when we only did a 50% yield of 1800lbs. the 3000lbs. from the previous year saved us and we were able to keep selling when others were out. Everyone had a terrible year last season due to the late freeze. Most beekeepers only did a 50% yield. Right now we're at a bumper crop of 3400lbs. with 15 more supers to be extracted and I'll just sell each week and to our regulars day in and day out. I do one retail account and might sign a second one soon, but that's about it. I don't want to cut myself short should we have another bad season.
The honey running down is the dead giveaway Mike. Great video and honey season. I had a couple of full deep frames I pulled out to make room a few years ago and I kept them in a sealed cooler in the honey house do the same thing and started blowing bubbles. I don't remember what I did with them. I will try some 9 frame supers next spring. I have always stayed with 10. Good luck this fall with your bees. I started my o/a regimen tonight for the month of August.
Glad you enjoyed the video James!! Give the 9 frame boxes a try. Just do a couple of them and see what you think. It makes uncapping a whole lot easier for sure.
First! Hello Mike, I have found that 9 Frames in a 10 frame super, as long as they are spaced out, the bees will draw them out more wider, so they can store more honey in, as long as they are spaced out in a 10 frame super. With no space, 10 frames in a 10 frame super they won’t have enough space to draw the comb out anymore, I’ve tried both, and both work. That’s what I have seen here on the bee Farm. Nice video Mike and thank you for sharing 😁
Mike you are a busy man. Hope your August is not so busy. Good info on the fermented cells. I've never seen that. I'm glad you got a bumper crop - two poor ones in a row would be rough. Have a good week.
Thanks Russell, I hope so too. I am still running hard finishing up and a run-in with the flu or something is setting me back. But things are slowing down. You have a great week yourself!!
If you extracted a bucket of honey that was high moisture could you put a round food dehydrator on the bucket to lower the moisture? Thankyou keep up the good videos
The bee supply just talked about that a humidifier would dry it down. would take a while. it is easier to dry it l ike mike does before you extract it.
It’s hard to get moisture out of honey once it’s in a bucket. The entire bucket could be heated to push moisture out, but that takes a pretty high temp and the flavor is still off a bit as well as cooking off the beneficial enzymes. Pouring it out on a pan and letting it drain back into a bucket in a super dry room works because it creates a lot of surface area for the moisture to be dried works too. Once on the bucket though, it’s not easy to dry down.
Hi Mike, I always ran 7 in my 8 frame honey supers. I believe I get much more honey but I made a mistake once and left in 6 frames forgot second position, they filled out that medium frame too 10 PDs 3 oz. Would like to recreate that again.thanks for the fermenting part that was a good learning vid.
Yea, that's quite a frame! If there's a good flow, they'll draw the most uniform and pretty frames and that's an example of having a good flow and just making a huge frame in place of the space you left them.
Hi Mike..as always great video…we just came across 2 frames of fermenting honey in a box..with the other frames not fermented and about 18%🤷♀️crazy..not sure what the deal is?? Let us know what your thoughts are.
I'm stumped as well Meloney. I checked my honey randomly as it was coming out of the extractor and everything else seems to be just fine. Maybe they got into something else as they were finishing the frame?? Who knows. I just need to keep and eye out. I'm hearing about a lot of it this season over here. Hope you guys are well!!
It actually was from Kelley Bees back when they weren’t owned by Mann Lake. There is know brand name on it. I do know that HillCo is researching the size and wanting to duplicate one, but that’s not quite there yet. Sorry, wish I knew where to get one like it.
I dry my honey for two to five days in a 35% humid room with box fans directly over the supers prior to extracting which I’ve showed in a few videos and also have explained just what you’re saying about the caps. The frames were fermented on the hive and came off the hive in that condition. They were dried as well, but as you know, once fermented, no amount of dyeing is going to fix that. Only heat and a a relatively high heat. It happens from time to time and this is the first time I saw it first hand.
I’m just a backyard keeper with 6 colonies and it’s a lot of work. I’d love to see how you rinse and clean all your honey equipment. I’m literally in my driveway with the hose and dawn soap! 😅😅
Well, honestly, that's how I do it. Not outside though. I have my on-demand water heater plumbed with a water bib and I have a hose in the honey house. I I just rinse it out in there and drain the rinse into a bucket as I go and then run the buckets outside. Keeps the bees at bay since I'm inside. But same as you, hot water and dawn. I'll shoot some footage when I get these last boxes extracted.
Yes, that’s what I was saying with that note I did in that screen shot. The boxes would have to be weighed empty. In the end, it’s not that much for one frame, and either way, there’s a significant difference in nine versus ten. Almost 3 gallons in a 9 and 2.5 in a 10.
Thanks Greg!! Glad you enjoyed it. The homey house is 12' X 30'. I would suggest wider over longer, or just wider. If I could do it again, I'd go at least 14' wide minimum. But when I started building it, I was planning for climate controlled storage and not a honey house.
in a hurry to pull all my supers off, even if they aren't capped, because were actually seeing some goldenrod starting to turn yellow up here. i know there is different species of goldenrod, and theres some that bloom before the main stuff, but that just means the main stuff isnt far behind. SUPER early this year, doesnt usually start full bloom until early september.
I saw some golden rod just about to bloom up in Ontario and also in New York state just last week. When we see that, we're a month away form cool evenings and I love it!!
Hi Mike. Have you calibrated the refractometer lately? I've a problem in Pittsburgh with dry honey. We pull 15.5- 16.5 even the uncapped is hazed. I had a friend (who can afford that $400 one) to check it. I saw your flow at 16.5 and that's running a little fast ;) I take the boxes up to 100 degrees in a hot room even to get an extraction and it's frustrating how much stays in. Cutting 9 frames is essential to get the most honey for me. Upgraded to the hillco 9 from the 6 I had before, great machines! See you at EXPO and God bless.
I did do the calibration on the refractometer. One thing also I read was that it needed to be used in a similar temperature as to where it was calibrated. I need to do another one on it, but the readings are consistent so far. I had the opportunity for one of those fancy ones from a company that wanted me to try theirs's on a video, but I turned them down. I don't like dealing with too many international companies if I can help it. I've kept my room at 8o or so this year and it has dried the honey pretty well. Congrats on the new extractor. Great products from HillCo.
Have you tried making mead? I've been making natural hedgrow wines the last three years. I've yet to have a bad batch using mother nature's wild yeast from the fruit or flowers. I guess you'd add some water and see how it turns out. I've never made mead. Not had any honey yet.
Mike, I’m sorry some of your honey fermented. I guess if you were a meade maker it wouldn’t be a total loss. I am thankful that it wasn’t any more than that. Hopefully by the time you get what you left on the hives you will break your record. Great video!
Thanks Don. I definitely broke my old record. I'm about 400 lbs over at this point and have about 15 boxes to go. Hope to finally wrap up this week when I can get recovered from this flu or whatever it is. Hope you're doing well my friend!!
I agree, Yes, but not nine pounds difference. As I stated in the video, not scientific and not getting tare weights in the boxes doesn’t give us an exact difference, but in the end, nine frame yields significantly more than a ten frame and it’s much easier uncapping.
No Jon, I’ll feed some of the better frames back and throw away the majority of the fermented stuff. I don’t think it can be made into mead since the fermenting is not being controlled. I hear that a lot but I don’t think it’s as simple as making it into mead since the fermentation process needs to be regulated and controlled as to the amount.
Hello Mike . I have a few things to talk about ( you would have not thought any differently.)LOL . I have also heard of the honey doing that but never saw or knew what it looked like . Well I know what to Look for now . I checked my single heavy medium frame this year an it was 9.8 lbs . I was surprised but I know other people has probably had heavier because this one was thick BUT it was not smooth thick an pretty . Ok this year I had the oddest I had a super I had in my drying room for over a week and a half. I did not check moisture to start in this super oh ya there was ten other supers in there with this one but after a week an a half all the other moisture was like 14 3/4 but this one super is still over 23 an looking purple in coloring .I extracted it an put whatever it is in a different container to keep it away from the other honey . 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️Thanks
Hmm, that's interesting. I know Jody in NC was getting purple honey, but they say it's from some coloring from a soda pop plant. They get it every so often, but I don't think it was high moisture. I wonder what that could've been? For it not to dry out is unusual, or at least for it not to dry at all. At least it's not mixed up. Warning it could dry it, but I have to wonder if its true nectar at all and maybe a sugar syrup or food product and it being not real nectar, it' not able to be dried. You know, if they got into something at a food processing plant or the soda pop factory. Very strange for sure.
@@MikeBarryBees ya you are correct it is very strange an I am about five miles from town an nothing I can think of it being . It really blowed my mind. I have it here in a gallon jug . I think when the NC inspecter call me about my dead bee testing I will talk to her about it. I guess it is anyone’s guess what it is. Thanks for you input it is always welcome. Thanks
I am guessing the fermentation is due to the plastic butler trapping the moisture in the box and it permeates the honey weather capped or not, like a brick of cheese in a baggie you need to use paper towels to collect moisture from the cheese, plastic notoriously keeps moisture in and the moisture turns into water drops etc, Im thinking it soaks back into the cell capped or not.
No, that’s not what happened. It came off the hover board fermented. It was in the super and as I pulled the frames, I saw it. I put it in the hive butler to isolate it. It fermented on the hive. It happens from time to time and have heard of it from a couple club members as well.
I have seen it. I used to keep 9 frame spaces in all of them, but they get too hard to scrape anymore, so I've gone to the manual spacer. Wonder how Gus is. Haven't heard form him at all anymore.
Great video! I've never seen that before! I'm not in it for the honey just the bees, even though I know I will likely have to deal with an abundance at some point. Great job on your part to point that out! I wonder if bees do or don't prefer that leaking honey during a dearth in your hot area? We don't know everything we think we do about bees, may have to put Fred Dunn on looking into this, at least research wise, he lives all the way up in PA. Gets the old brain housing group working!
Yep, that would be a good question for him. Last week i rode about half the southern shore of Lake Erie and then later found out I was only mere miles form Fred. That would've been a great stop. But I did get to stop and see Brian from Castle Hives and Greg from Nature's Image Farm.
You know, I’m not sure what I’ll do with it. The frames are only partially fermented on the edges, so I might do that. But I’ve never really run into a big amount of fermentation in honey. What little I have had has been a small 3 gallon bucket that I kind of knew would ferment and I threw it away. I don’t think a large amount is good for the bees. It’s actually still in the hive bugler and I need to do something with it.
In this small amount I will probably feed it back since only the edges are fermented on about four frames, but I don’t want to feed a lot back to them. I don’t believe a lot of fermented honey is good for their guts.
Well, they can give me a call. Number is on my container. Last time I went by there, the guy wasn't very interested at all. I'd be happy to supply them if they are want.
I don’t know the answer to that. I’m pretty sure it varies from nectar to nectar based on sugar, moisture, and yeast contents since they vary from each type of nectar. It does take some amount of time, but I imagine it could be as soon as 30 days if it’s high in yeast and moisture.. just not sure.
You should see what l extracted last week and it's still going. It's like marmalade coming out of the extractor.. dark and thick honeydew from a cicada/ aphid coming from your part of the world. The Metcalfa cicada.. the brunches on the blackberries are all white from them. Google says it's from south US and central America. It's only the second time l got it and it's already all sold out in Austria. Even before I pulled it all out. They love it up there.. calling it forest honey. I can't believe you can't make good honeydew in some parts of US. This Metcalfa from over there gives much more than our regular aphids. It's full with minerals and diabetics can eat it. But it's bad for bees to winter.. it must be extracted. It's too expensive for bees anyway 😂. Did you ever seen a stack of 6 deeps with 6 frames per box ? Write Jezda Pcelar . When you're in a black locust forest...
The only aphid honeydew I've seen came form the standing pines in Florida and it was like burned diesel motor oil and tasted about the same. Not sure if the cicada was in there, but that stuff was awful. Glad what you're getting some that tastes good. I think I still have the bottle around here somewhere. It never crystallized....
@@MikeBarryBees Haha, yeah it doesn't crystallize. I never had honeydew that crystallized. And I never tasted a bad tasting one... who knows, it could be the plants or the land. They do need perfect conditions.. humidity at night and very hot days. And the wasps have to let them multiply before anything else... It's one of those honeys that you get 5- 10 times in your 50 year career. At least where l am. That last part.. l had a friend who used to stack 6 deep boxes with 6 frames in each. But he's gone.. only some of his videos are still on..
I have a hive butler sealable tote that holds ten frames. It can be used to put empty or full frames in and it can be used to catch swarms in. I just put the frames in there to keep all the honey from being mixed up with any good frames.
That’s crystallization. Different levels of sugars in different nectars means some raw honey gets solid faster. That’s the simple explanation. Raw honey crystallizes, most of it, and some faster than others. Some not at all for many months.
