Roe Valley Beekeepers RVBKA

Pollen

Pollen can be collected at the hive entrance using a pollen trap; some of the pollen in the pollen baskets will brush off when the worker bees pass through the trap. The pollen will collect as pellets. Traps should not be left in permanently, as this could deplete reserves.

 

Pollen can also be extracted from comb cells using a small vacuum plunger. A large amount may be collected from a strong colony during a flow.

 

Collected pollen should be dried to prevent mold and can be stored for several months, or for longer by freezing.

 

Collected pollen can be returned to the bees in spring as a food supplement – make into a patty using 30% pollen and 70% baker’s yeast and place on the top bars.

 

Pollen can also be sold to health food outlets and must be fresh to be effective. Health benefits include relief from allergies.​

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Royal Jelly

Royal jelly can be collected in small quantities from emerging queen cells. Its production can be achieved by inducing a temporary state of queen-less-ness and then harvesting royal jelly from the queen cells produced, avoiding a situation in which the hive may swarm by inspections and collections at no more than 3 day intervals. Royal jelly can be stored in a domestic freezer and is a valuable commodity. It can be used by beekeepers involved in queen cell grafting to charge queen cups, and is said to help calm colonies during queen introduction. Royal jelly is also available to the public in the hope of health benefits.

 

Venom

The collection of venom is a specialist area. It involves inducing stinging behaviour in bees by placing an electrified grid at the hive entrance. A fine gauze cloth is placed beyond the grid and when bees sting through this gauze, they deposit venom on a glass slide underneath. The venom is then collected and processed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who can provide venom for human inoculation for those with hypersensitivity reactions. There are a number of chemical constituents which cause inflammatory reactions including histamine hydroxy-tryptamine: however desensitisation requires dilute quantities of all of the constituents and therefore requires venom of known strength and dilution. This process does not harm the bees.

 

Propolis

Propolis is collected and manufactured by the colony from tree and bud sap. It is a disinfectant which is insoluble in water and with a characteristic smell. Bees use propolis to glue together their hive, to make it air and watertight, and to seal gaps of less than 8mm. They will also wrap intruders in propolis (e.g. bumblebees, mice etc)

 

Propolis has antiseptic and antibiotic properties. Collection requires dissolution in alcohol, and extraction, and the resultant tincture can be applied to wounds, septic spots & cold sores and sprayed onto inflamed sore throats.

 

Wax

Cappings can be collected from a de-capping tray (e.g. the Pratley) following the de-capping process. At this point they will have a significant amount of honey adhering, which can be collected from the cappings over a gauze tray. The moist cappings can then be returned to the hive they came from (avoiding any potential for infection spread) in the evening, in a Ashcroft or Miller feeder, to avoid robbing. The bees will remove remaining honey. The cappings may need to be turned to permit bees to remove all traces of honey, and after a day or two the cappings will be dry and resembling rice particles.

 

An alternative is to rinse the cappings in water (preferably rain water), and retain the washings as the basis of Meade production. The cappings will need to be washed several times and can then be air dried, or leave the cappings to be washed naturally in the rain. The washed and dried cappings and those taken back from the Ashcroft feeder, can be melted down for reuse using a double saucepan (used in the kitchen for melting chocolate and for making custards). The lower chamber contains water which is boiled. The upper chamber contains the wax. Its temperature cannot be raised above the boiling point of water (100 degrees) using this method. It should be noted that wax is flammable and that it should not be directly heated otherwise it may vapourise and ignite. Liquified wax can be run into moulds . As cappings wax is of high quality, it makes a good product for sale or show. It will require filtering using muslin cloth, and this process may be repeated several times to ensure a clean product. If the wax is to be poured into a mould for show, it should be cooled slowly to prevent shrinkage, and it should be free of bloom and of debris which floats to the surface.