Honey as nature intended – no meds, no sugar. Spinner and honey press
Honey as nature intended – no meds or sugar for the bees In the video, the honey frames collected at the previous stage of the harvest are uncapped and harvested using both the spinner and the honey press. For me beekeeping and honey harvesting is primarily a labor of love rather than purely a matter […]
Fall harvest of Maine Wilderness surplus honey * USDA Russian bees * Treatment-free/sugar-free
Fall harvest of surplus honey – USDA Russian bees in Maine In this video, you’ll see the fall harvest of surplus honey from USDA Russian bees (RHBA – Primorsky Russia’s Far East honeybees). Russian bees are a strain of European dark bee Apis mellifera mellifera and they have spent over 100 years in close proximity […]
USDA Russians vs. Italian Bees, Horizontal Hives and Funny Honey
Russian Bees vs. Italian Bees Comparison of USDA certified Russian bees and bees with Italian genetics in terms of winter survival in US North East without supplemental sugar feedings. “To feed or not to feed”, that is the question. Summer space management of horizontal Layens hive and what makes funny honey.
USDA Pure Russian Bees
Russian Bees are Coming! The beautiful new peaked roof Layens beehive is from Paul Maida, a fellow treatment-free beekeeper from neighboring New Hampshire. The hive’s detachable peaked-roof opens and closes smoothly and is a joy to work with. Unfortunately, several of my bee colonies with Italian genetics did not survive this past winter in […]
2023 Fall Honey Harvest — Maine Wilderness Honey
2023 Fall Harvest – Maine Wilderness Honey In the Fall, the hunting season in Maine is in full swing and in the video my dog is wearing a reflective orange vest, so that the hunters don’t accidentally shoot at him. The Fall is also a perfect season to harvest honey while simultaneously prepping the beehives […]
Honey Factories vs Benevolent Beekeeping & Natural Foraging
Honey Factories vs Benevolent Beekeeping & Natural Foraging ForestBeehive apiary in Central Maine is right next to a 3,000 acre wildlife protection area and our honeybees have plenty of natural, pesticide-free all-year foraging from trees (maples, willows, alders, etc.) and many different wildflowers — from Springtime dandelions to asters and goldenrods in the Fall. Many […]
Pollen allergies? Local honey to the rescue!
Pollen allergies? Local honey to the rescue! Pollen allergy? Local honey to the rescue! In the above video, the honeybee is from our ForestBeehive apiary in Central Maine. She is collecting pollen from common ragweed – a wildflower abundant in North America. Although ragweed pollen is responsible for human allergies, for honeybees it’s a major […]
No Manicured Lawns for Honeybees!
No Manicured Lawns for Honeybees! At ForestBeehive apiary in Central Maine we are right next to a large wildlife sanctuary and we have no pesticides for miles. Instead of a standard manicured lawn, we have here quite a bit of wild clover. Maintaining standard lawns requires considerable time, money, extensive watering, and the use of […]
Sneaky soybeans, honeybees and mislabeled honey
Sneaky Soybeans, Honeybees & Mislabeled Honey Sneaky Soybeans, Honeybees & Mislabeled Honey Since 1960s Soybean production worldwide has increased 13 times over, and now in the US alone over 90 million acres are dedicated just to soybeans. Honeybees are not commonly spotted foraging on flowering soybeans. However, during a 4-weeks’-long blooming season, under a thick […]
Pandemic in managed bee colonies. Honey factories & what’s in the honey.
Pandemic in managed bee colonies and honey factories Honeybee pandemic, honey factories, what’s in the honey? Typical conventional high honey-yield apiaries are mostly located on the edge of conventional farm fields where the bees would forage and where the crops are grown with the help of the following human-engineered argo-chemicals: Herbicides (to kill weeds), Insecticides […]