Do you get bitten and does it hurt?
No I do not get bitten – stung, yes and does it hurt, only when I laugh... For a split second, and after a few choice words are delivered – a quick dab of alcohol or baby wipe and all is fine. Remember that when a bee stings a person it then dies as the stinger is left in the target.  A bee can sting ONLY once – wasps can sting up to 5-6 times. And it is wasps who eat your hamburger meat at the picnic. Not bees.

How do you squeeze the honey from the bees?
Gently  - between my fingers.. each and every one. (just kidding) Actually, the honey is collected from the frames or comb and then put into a centrifuge – a spinner – the front of the comb is sliced off cleanly and the whirling pulls the honey off.  It is then collected in the vat, allowed to settle and then skimmed (sometimes with cheese cloth) so that  any dirt, wings or body parts of trapped bees etc, is cleared. Our honey is not cooked – it remains raw and unfiltered.

Can you squeeze honey out of the wax?
No. BUT you can get honey out of the natural comb – that which the bees make themselves – by extraction.
But honey, without a comb as in a jar, can not produce wax.

What is the importance of the bee?
If you have eaten today then you will know – without pollination most of what we eat – vegetables, fruit, nuts etc... and that which cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens etc eat is predicated on a flower that has been pollinated, and hence new seeds, new plants, more food. The grass and alfalfa the cattle eat enables us to eat them.

How long does a bee live?
Workers and soldiers live 3-4 weeks. In the summer months the colony bees can literally shred their wings to ribbons as they have a great need to forage, sometimes up to 7 miles away as the food supplies diminish, and because of the need to keep the hive cool (wing flaps). In the winter months the bee can live up to 4 months - food is already stored in the hive as honey and the pollen serves as protein. There is little need to forage though the hive temperature does need to be maintained at the 95-96F at all times; difficult in snowy regions.

The drone lives until he is of no ‘service’ to the queen – then he is dragged out of the hive to fend for himself – and as he does not know how to find food or care for himself, he dies. The Queen can actually live as long as 5-7years but in today’s commercial world she is replaced every year.  The Queen lays as many as 1,500 – 3,000 eggs a day. A new queen is introduced and as only one queen can ‘rule’ the option is for the old one to either leave the hive, or fight it out with the new arrival.  The queen’s stinger is only reserved for another queen. Some beekeepers simply ‘remove’ her. We prefer to give her her choice – naturally.

How many bees to a box?
The box is called a hive. The colony – a thriving one – should have from 30,000 to 80,000 bees.
Remember the turnover within the colony, the community, is constant – every 3-4 weeks.

What gender are bees?
The worker and soldiers are all females.
The foragers and pollinators are female.
The nursers and wax builders are female.  
The drones are male and exist only to ‘serve’ the queen.
The queen’s sole purpose is to produce. She is female.
The hive is basically all ladies.

How many queens to a hive?
One – and if there are more there is battle to the end until ONE survives.
Though the other day I saw something most extraordinary – two queens on a single frame with their own entourages surrounding them, each cohabitating with the other in harmony!!! Incredible!!!

If I boil honey long enough will it become wax?
No – you will simply kill all the good aspects inherent IN honey.
And vice a versa – you can not squeeze a chunk of wax to create honey..

How do you ‘make’ the honey in the kitchen?
Actually I /WE DO NOT MAKE the honey.  The bees make the honey.

How does the bee make the honey?
The worker bee goes out to forage/collect nectar from the plants. She then brings it back to the hive  in in her second stomach sack – it is simply a pouch for holding - where the nectar is  given a special enzyme by that worker.  The newly created combo (honey) is then injected into the comb cell by the bee and when the cell is filled that individual cell will be capped with a thin layer of wax to seal in the honey. The honey is only sealed when the bee knows it is ready.  We do not ‘take honey off’ before the cap is sealed (some beekeepers do). We wait for at least 85%-90% seal as the honey then is ready.

How do I get the honey out of the jar?
Try a fork, a knife, or a spoon and give it a little twist – dip and twist and should any drops stick to the side simply wipe them off so as not to attract ants. The twist is an art and a fun one to master.

Do you flavor your honey?
NO. the flavors comes from the flowers as every flower has its own taste – hence the avocado flower is the prelude to the fruit itself – avocado honey does not taste like the fruit as it has come before; the buckwheat, alfalfa, wildflower all have their own distinct flavor which comes from the flower itself.

Should I refrigerator the honey?
NO – NEVER. Simply keep it on a shelf, not to be forgotten hence to be used. Should the honey ever crystallize (a natural inherent quality of some honey) then simply place the container in a pot of WARM water which will soften the crystals and bring the honey back to its original state at time of purchase.  Crystallized honey is sometimes preferred – a bit of grit is fun sometimes.

How do your bees know which flower to go to?
We situate the hives in areas with flowers whose flavors we want and when the honey comes in (the bees make their honey) we take most of it off (always leaving them some) and start the process all over again. If we are lucky and the conditions have been good we might get two or maybe three ‘take offs’ of honey.  When the flower stops blooming we simply move the bees to another location. Hence we are known to be migratory beekeepers. Like nomads in the desert, always on the move, looking for the next flower.

How do bees keep warm?
Bees flap their wings and keep clustered.
The hive temperate must be maintained around 96-98F.

How do bees bring back pollen?
Pollen is gathered by the pollen gatherer, from plants when bees brush their legs against the flower’s interior where it clings to the bees legs so that one can actually see little yellow, red, green, brown, black, purple (pollen comes in all different colors as the flowers are all different) pollen seeds – their legs look like they are wearing puffed up colored socks.  The gathered pollen is sticky. Pollen is the bees’ protein – it is called bee bread and without their pollen the bee can not live. So when it is gathered by a beekeeper it is gathered with that thought in mind/ sparingly.

How does the beekeeper get the pollen?
The beekeeper sets up a ‘trap entrance’ which brushes off the collected pollen from their legs when they enter through the grate – it is then gathered in a small tray.  The bee is not harmed nor is it bothered. A beekeeper would only set up a certain number of hives for gathering this pollen.

Does pollen make honey?
No. Bees make honey from Nectar - the juice of the plant.  Pollen is the 'sticky dust' on the flower which is brushed off as the bee passes from flower to flower (pollination) - these gather on her legs as little pellets/granules (sacks) and the co lour varies from orange to yellow, black to purple, green to brown.... As the flowers are all different. Pollen gathering by the bee is intentional. She goes from plant to plant gathering the pollen in her mouth, then compacts it and puts the pollen onto her legs thus making pollen balls which are very visible as she flies back to her hive.

Do you steal the pollen from the bees?
No - but we do take some of it.  The pollen itself is the bee's protein so it would not be wise to deprive them of it. Bee keeping is a symbiotic relationship – we both survive through each other.  The bees do not use all that is collected so on selective hives and only at selective times do we use a 'catcher' which is placed at the hive's entrance - the pollen pellets/granules are then brushed off the bee's legs into a tray as she enters. This is a simplified explanation but it serves to answer the question.

How is pollen good for you and what do I look for when buying it?
Some report that it gives them energy. One should look for a variety of color as all flowers/plants are different.

How would I use pollen if I were to buy it?
Sparingly, a little at a time, to begin with - the reason being to see if you will have an adverse reaction such as stomach aches, heat flashes, rash, closing of the throat, increase in blood pressure.  One begins with a few pellets each day to 'test' one’s reaction then increases to teaspoons etc. Pollen can be taken with jam /yogurt /in cereal/ tea/ eaten straight (though it does taste pasty)... ALL pollen needs to be kept in the freezer - shelf life 4 months then it gets 'hairy' which means time to throw it out - being kept IN the freezer will not 'block' freeze it so do not worry about the ability to spoon it out.  There is none.

If I place a box over the plant will I get honey?
NO.  Only bees can make honey. The box will not.

How do you get honey from the plant?
Again – we do not make honey. The Bee makes the honey. We simply place the box/hive in the area we are interested in taking off/harvesting honey i.e.. Cactus (the desert)/ Avocado (the grove) / Alfalfa (the field) / Wild Flower (the mountains).....

How would I know if I was allergic?
Many people are quick to say they are allergic to a bee sting when in fact they are not. A sting most often results in an ouch and then sometimes a swelling (treat with ice or handy wipe). An allergic reaction will result in a quicken of the heart, a closing off of the throat (hardness to breath). You will indeed know the difference. A sting can 'hurt' for some time / one hour but if you are around 15 minute after the sting to complain about it then you are not allergic – you simply have been stung. Not very different from a mosquito bite or an ant or a cactus thistle/pricker or a rose bush thorn (though I have found those more painful by far).

What do the diesel prices have to do with the price of honey or food?
All farming is done with diesel trucks/tractors etc..
All transportation from 'farm' to super market/distributor is on trucks which run on diesel fuel.
All transportation to farmer markets is on trucks, which run on diesel fuel.
Within 3 days' time we totaled over 1,400 miles in diesel from transporting bees.

What does the decline of the honeybee have to do with the honey price?
Just ask Haagen Daaz - just ask the growers of vegetables, nuts, fruits –
no honeybees and there is no product - no seeds for next year's growing.

How many times does a bee flap her wings?
A bee flaps her wings 240 times per second as verse to other insects who only flap between 140-160 per second.

Do you kill the bees when taking off the honey?
No, we do not kill the bees. beekeepers use the frame method as verse to being in the wild where one actually gathers the full comb. Full combs contain the brood, pollen, honey, and of course, the bees. This would then be squeezed to extract the honey. In short all the bees would be killed along with all of their colony, living within the comb. The beekeeper would then no longer have a 'food source'. Today, in the commercial world one uses frames upon which the bees then builds their comb. The added supers, smaller boxes for honey, are added to the main 'housing' bee box. These supers are separated by an excluder grid which does not allow the queen to enter, hence no laying of eggs. The end result is only honey is gathered in that super and that is the box the beekeeper then takes off leaving the colony in tact with its own food, brood etc.. Comb/honey in comb is created using a separate super.

Do you chant to your bees? Are they happy bees?
Yes. We join together in a morning mantra. We are always asked if our bees are happy bees. I like to think so as we both need each other for survival. To harm our bees would be to defeat the purpose of beekeeping. We ensure a home, good living conditions, healthy surroundings, food and medical attention when needed. We are rewarded with honey which we share. To take all would be defeating as then there would be none for the bee and we would have to supply all food and nutrients at a hefty cost, also defeating the purpose of beekeeping. Beekeeping is a harmony/zen like kind of endeavour. To be one with nature while at the same time, profit together.

Please direct any questions to klausebees@yahoo.com

Please send any comments or testimonials to klausebees@yahoo.com