Bees! Bees! & A Lot of Honey!

I was out in the garden one day and I was surprised to hear a loud buzzing noise coming from the mango tree, I looked up and surprise surprise I saw a bee hive on the upper branches!

The bee hive

I've always have had a soft spot for bees. I've learnt to appreciate them as they fly around and get busy. I've always understood the connection between bees, the environment and how we get our food.

A close up of the hive; or as close as I could get

I would have loved for to leave the bee hive and let them continue do their thing, but my nephew loves to play in the garden when he visits, I sadly and with a heavy heart had to choose him over the bees.

So I asked a good friend if she knew anyone who could help out, so she connected me with someone she knew (who is an avid bee keeper and the founder The BeEmpire and Apicuria http://ohmyue.blogspot.com/2017/02/apicuria-natural-throat-soother-by.html; and later has become a good friend). We talked and he agreed to help me with the hive and the removal of it. I learnt that the species of bees that had built their hive on the branches of the mango tree, weren't the bees we usually associate with bee keeping; these were Apis dorsata. These bees are the ones who make exposed hanging combs you'd see in forests and mountains. They happen to make their hive in garden because it was honey flow season and the area I live in have a lot Narra trees (Pterocarpus indicus) which were in bloom. Haveing the bees in the area shows that the ecosystem is still quite healthy.

After carefully planning on how to remove the hive, he called 2 other senior bee keepers for help.

*NOTE: The bee keepers, who have studied bees for years and know each specie by heart, assured me that removing the hive wouldn't hurt the bees at all. They would simple move and make a new hive in a new area or somewhere they have lived before.

The bee keepers' gears and tools of the trade

The bee keepers/experts who came to help me with the removal of the bee hive, were:

• TJ Yangco (the founder of The BeEmpire and maker of Apicuria)
• A Father and Son Team of Bee Keepers:
• Willy Santos
• Fredo Santos

The bee hive removal team

They started out smoking the hive, this would make the bees start to leave the hive and collect as much honey as they can carry and go to a new location to make a new home.

At this time bees were landing and trying to sting the bee keepers and anyone around who came to witness the removal. But something strange happened, I was quite near the hive, not wearing any protective gear, but the bees weren't landing on me ans stinging me. Not sure why that was but yeah that really happened.

The exposed hive during the smoking

Apis dorsata; sorry I chose my nephew over you guys

After the bees left it was time to remove the hive. I was a bit sad that we had to do this, but for my nephew's safety while he plays in the garden, it had to be done.

A bonus was that the bee keepers did say that the hive was full of.... HONEY! Pure, raw, wild and free range honey!!!!

At first glance I thought that the hive would be a slim sliver of the thing, but looks can be deceiving! The hive was big, thick and full of the golden liquid that is honey!

Time to remove the hive and get the HONEY!

Honey filled combs

And even more coming!

I was so surprised with how much honeycomb was collected and it weighed a a lot! I was shocked at how something so heavy could hang from a tree branch! Bees are amazing architects! We can learn a lot from how they build their homes. Just amazing work from such little (and hard working) creatures!

The part of the hive with the least or close to zero honey, but a lot of wax; the place where eggs are laid and new 
bees come out!

All the honey from the hive!

After squeezing all the honey from the honeycombs that were collected, it able to fill 3 tall bottles and 11 pint size mason jars honey!

And with all the fake honey that are out in the market, having this honey stock would give me access to REAL, RAW, WILD and FREE RANGE HONEY!

THANK YOU Apis dorsata!!!!

The honey that was collected from the hive, had a wonderful flavour to it. It was woody-flowery (from the Narra flowers) and fruity (it had a mango hint to it). It is just so wonderful!

Real, Raw, Wild, Free Range Honey!

Thank you again TJ, Sir Willy and Sir Fredo for your help!

Thank you Apis dorsata for the honey!