Harvest a Bee Hive from the Wilderness
If you find a beehive in the wild, you might want some of the honey. But those bees and their stings are not going to let you have it so easily. This article will help you to obtain some wild honey successfully.
Contents
Steps
- Have a good shower before you go to get the honey and wear completely clean clothes. Don´t smell of perspiration. Bees don´t like dirtiness and will sting you under your arms if your are dirty.[citation needed]
- Make sure that your target is actually a honeybee hive. Not everything that buzzes leads to honey. Wasps and yellow jackets make nests, but they do not produce any honey. Also, there are solitary species of bees which don't make honey.
- Follow the bees to their home. If you see a hole in a tree or log where there are lots of bees going in and out, you've found their hive.
- Burn some plants or wood to make smoke. (Pine needles are generally good for this purpose.)
- Put the smoking material into a container you can carry, and take it over to the hive. Waft the smoke into the hole. Smoke makes the bees expect a fire, which makes them concerned about their honey. They gorge themselves over the uncapped honey, which makes them less likely to fly around and sting you.
- Working slowly and carefully, cut a piece of the honeycomb with a sharp knife. Try to avoid getting comb that contains larvae. Don't try to take the whole hive, just take a piece.
- Try to spot which bee is the queen. She is slightly bigger than the others and probably won't fly. She may also have a greenish-blue spot on her back. Don't meddle with the queen, because the other bees will try to stay wherever she is.
- Move away with your honeycomb. Then leave the bees alone.
Tips
- Honey bees can be identified as ' not wasps' because they will generally have hairy bodies.
- Processing comb into honey and wax is a different process than getting the comb from the hive. You can get some honey by letting the comb rest in a dish for a few hours and letting the honey ooze out, but some will stick to the comb.
- Always move slowly and gently around the bees. They can sense anxiety and it might cause them to attack.
- If a swarm of honeybees has moved onto your own property and you want to get rid of them, call a local apiary and tell them you have a free swarm they can take.
- The bees will follow you, so be ready for that.
- Know how to tell the difference between honeybees and other kinds of insects.
- If you want honey, resign yourself to a few stings. If you do this right, you'll get away without the whole hive turning on you, but you may still get stung a little bit.
- The honeycomb may contain bee larvae, which are full of protein. They're okay to eat.
Warnings
- Differentiate between killer-bees and bees.
- Do not try this if you are allergic to insect venom. A life-threatening immune reaction is not worth a few ounces of honey.
- If you are stung many times you can die even if you are not allergic to bees. Be very careful.
- Never attempt this without wearing a protective veil. Any bee stings to the head are dangerous and very painful. The face is vulnerable and usually the first target when bees become upset.
