Delvene Delaney's first Flow harvest at her 'Honey Bee Hill' Apiary! 🐝🌻🌺

[Music] so we're here on honeybee Hill today and it's a bit of an exciting moment where we're here at delis place and it's her first Flo half harvest has recently become a beekeeper but you had bees in your family right my sister's been keeping them for about 10 years and she been slowly convincing you that it's a good idea I've been becoming slowly more envious okay and then we also we've started concentrating on forest foods from our property so be seem to play a part of that absolutely so I can see you've got quite a lot of honey in in this hive right and it's I can't wait to actually taste the flavor but no better let you go first thing it's your first man honey harvest and in the side window you can see that it's looking really ready for harvest you can tell by the way they've put the capping they've covered it all in their wax sheet so that's them saying we're storing that honey for later so they've taken the water content down so it's ready for them to store but also that means it's also ready for us to put in a Joe and we'll keep on the shelf so um you can see that capping down down this side - such a yep a beautiful look when they're the bees have it or any fear the harvest so when you've harvested the honey to take those out and take that capping off and get the wax off well that was a bit of a win-win when we invented the flow hive hmm we we thought that we did need to take the wax capping off inside the home and I was designing all sorts of elaborate contraptions to do that in the hive and we found that the bees are really clever and they recognise when the honey cells are empty they're recognized when when and there's no honey underneath their feet anymore and they'll chew the wax capping away okay they'll reform themselves fill them up again and the process starts again but please feel free to to ask any questions if you're tuning into this live feed if you want to put some questions in the comments below we'll get to them at the end meanwhile let's start this honey how this today so this is your flow King and it goes in here and then you simply turn this hand off I could be Ellen key from Ikea that's right so if you like Oh turn that now so it takes a little bit of muscle that's it keep going you won't you won't break it that's it keep going kidding that's it so what you're doing oh that's it I just unlock something then yep so what do you think guys what you've done is you've opened channels inside themselves ok so you can see that honey really starting to flow down now you can see it coming down these cell lines and so right it's often easier in segments to turn the key because you are breaking a lot of a lot of wack so then you can go in another bit and turn it like that and you can have us just a small part of a frame or you can harvest a whole lot so put it in all the way now yep all the way till it knocks I back yes yep that's it turn it down perfect and just leave it in that vertical position no sometimes the wax takes a little while to move a little absolutely probably not terribly hygienic taste away I do have some [Music] well I don't have some more hygenic until that's from Moya tree let's have a taste of that yes absolutely country's you can match up that taste of those flowers going on wild quince it's a beautiful flavor it's one of my favorites it's so floral it has it really taste like flowers doesn't it beautiful they're quite new to here the boys you can see one that's right there and there and heaps in the forest behind so they haven't had to go far no and their honey and they do a particularly good flowering every two years all right so so you'll find that next year you might not get so much of that flavor no the region boys tell me that we've had a remarkable year for flowering another thing I can see in the honey is every now and then you get like a little it's almost a little glob you all that comes out so they're picking up some medicinal thixotropic honey as well which is coming from probably the leprous Burman polygala folia which is a medicinal jellyboy Australian manuka see see that there's any little bit in there me you can't you can detect a little yes sometimes you get quite a lot of that specifically in manure you'd get all that thicker more globular honey that's her how did you harvest so you can see what's happening here alright see see how the honey's kind of pulling into the middle yep and then coming down the center now that's happening in every cell line right in the frame so so um incredible invention Sita thank you it's a lot of fun I never get sick of watching this honey flower it's kind of like magic in it and although we're putting technology into the hive in some ways it feels more natural to just be sitting here and watching the honey come out it's beautiful so one I'm going to taste a bit more of that because it's a gorgeous flavor so um let's get another frame going and then we'll wander around the Opry and see what see what other flavors we have so you can take out that bottom cap there and there's a little trick use this little um little tricky oh there we go so you can use that little end to just leave it out like that oh and then see that real time yeah it means to insert at the bottom here yes so you can do that now give it a little wiggle and this there's a special reason for that and that's any remaining honey you just twist it a little bit it'll go in a bit further we go good okay now you can move the kale are you are saying that's to any remaining honey yeah so so when we stop we might not want to wait for the very last trip or so we can just put that cap back in and what that tongue did was clean out a little bit of wax the bees have put there yep and so any remaining dribbles can flow back into the hole for the bees okay yep that's clever so that was just a little design extra that came in and ten at ninety degrees first that's it take this cap out you notice there's two slots there yeah and set it into the lower one just a little weight first one yep yep it's going like that now turn it Oh probably enough let's come back waiting till I hit something that you could if you want to put some real muscle in it you need a whole lot at once oh or do it in segments because the wax can be quite firm to break that's it and now go in another another third of a frame that's it that'll do and you're getting the idea now good now you can go all the way you can see the honey is already staying to come out of that frame beautiful well done there now yep so well all of this hive be from the goya trees or are we now thinking that this could be something else well I'm actually having a look and you can see how it gets slightly darker out towards the extremities of the hope yeah so we're probably find if we got another job going it would be a slightly different flavor should we do that now yeah yep just pull it out right you can or you can use this little trick that's right the trick oh okay this one's got honey already yeah sometimes a little bit of honey comes through and sits in there mmm okay yep heard you've got the idea now hold down the bottom you get me more leverage no you won't break it but you are breaking a whole lot of wax in the frame so that's the feeling and getting it turning it is in the centre there's there's no channels inside but to do that then you're changing the structure within the comb while the bees are still standing on there on the surface so they're not going to mind that then they just will have a look in here you can see that barely changed what they're doing right soon they'll start noticing there's no honey beneath their feet and they'll start chewing away that wax and then the whole process starts again at the moment there are hardly aware that anything's happened and you can tell that because they're still moving around there they're still going about their business in the hive you can see them beside here this is on a standard frame or frame we aren't harvesting sorry and then here is the frame we are harvesting and then more or less doing the same thing mm-hmm so on but it must start to feel like a drum skin under their feet because they're walking on their wax but there's no honey beneath their bare feet yep well that's amazing it's some beautiful thing isn't it - what's that honey for that so let's see if we can taste any difference in the flavor between the tea with that beer up it's quite thin when it comes out because the bees keep the hive warm okay as as you put it on the shelf and it cools down you will notice that it will thicken up right but so we're not even being bothered by the bees or maybe I'm supposed to know sometimes they do it depends a little bit on on what the bees are doing so at the moment there's still flowers around so here we go I get its peak so occasionally you can get a beer going where he's in the honey there's there's an honey so oh no that's okay what happens if you're doing it a be going in then you can just fish it out and they'll be quiet okay really so if I get this Flo Keith multi-purpose key I'll just fish that be out and I'll just put it near the hive entrance yeah and the other bees I'll just lick it clean Wow I'm just gonna drop it onto the landing board there so sometimes that was interesting you said that they will come looking for honey and they mainly do that if there's not many flowers for them to gather nectar from if they are doing that then it's a good idea to cover up the jazz around someone with some honey bee wrapped so kitchen reps office I think maybe words out there's a few more visitors now look at that well no there's another one in there okay it's okay and we'll just get these girls and gently put them at the hive entrance again they will and they can be in the honey for quite a while and it's still quite okay there look darker in the frame it did didn't it I noticed um some of the other hives had a darker colour coming in should we wander down and take a look in it so ok you know how long it's going to take for it overflows well generally generally they feel about a jarful yeah if you leave it there for a long time it might overflow yeah but you'll find that this honey stream will start slowing down soon yeah as it nears the top of the jar okay okay let's wander down this way I've already got done their tubes so we're good to go I love the way you've named or your hives it's fantastic we do we do we do sometimes name them after various different Queens Queen Delphine to it as Queen Freddie Freddie Mercury Nina okay let's have a look look Ella okay fantastic so it looks like a bit of a darker color yeah be interesting to see what flavour that is so you still take the honey even though obviously it's not completely full as long as you're seeing capping in here capping okay that's so you are right they haven't quite filled this home and if we look at this side view you'll find that they're probably not quite for there either let's have a look so you can see there they're still still putting their nectar in and haven't put their capping on yet so okay yep Wow so you can see so we don't need to take there's only one there then that's really believe anyone maybe we'll move on to okay Artemis looks something looks more folks ain't quite right let's harvest from from Artemis here it's a lovely thing to do because you can start to gauge what's going on in the hive that's not fully kept it's not full but it's close isn't it yes just closing and we'll probably find that the middle ones are nice and nice and full still well we've designed the tilt into the hive so you generally don't have to do anything if your hive stand is level so this cover comes up that that one can come out you can use this key as well or there's the tube to do that - tree underneath right I just it's it that little tongue and twisted like that that's it you can't grab and then push it towards the hive use it to to to flick it out I'll show you that little trick like this and then okay there we go and now insert that one again time Dan beautiful it's ready to go excellent you got the hang of it now okay you see it coming down the table rare from what I think is happening here is and what typically happens on the coast this time of year just as he hit some of the UM the flow tends to slow down we have a good one in spring mm-hmm and that tends to shut off for a little while as all the trees and take a breath they've done be a big bottom you don't get things like the brush box flowering but they tend to have not much nectar so you may find that the nectar flow will be slow for a little while until autumn okay but it also depends here yeah you'll be tapping into what people are planting in their gardens as well and the bottom of the hill here which sometimes people find in urban landscapes they get a much a more steady flow so you've got a bit of both here you've got this amazing forest you're taking care of here and then the urban as well so you you might find there um a steady trickle around there just put in 30 hundred meter rows of citrus Oh fantastic citrus blossoms beautiful yeah well honey probably not quite blossoming yet but when they do eat good food then they bought them in spring alright and yeah it's it's amazing that the bees go crazy over this so I probably have to wait till next spring because we're gonna just put them in ok can you taste the difference in flavor yes okay I don't know what I'm tasting but I do know that it tastes different mmm-hmm so um I can taste a little bit of the Goya in here as well but also there's some other tones that give it a deeper sweeter they were sort of undertones and and I'm not sure exactly where they're coming from mmm there were lots of things that have flowered in the spring give you those flavors so beautiful considering this hive they're still finishing off the outer frames we might just have a swan yeah yes another advantage you you can have a flow hive is you don't have to harvest a whole but won't yeah traditionally or conventionally when I was doing a lot of home harvesting if you're in there anyway you may as well take it all there's no sense in harvesting one frame at a time from a conventional hive but with the player hive that's an easy thing to do and wander down here just a few frames and then you've got enough honey for breakfast and is there an advantage to that for the bees to no harvest at all did I eat that honey that they're capping or is that just purely for storage so the bees are are storing it for times when there's no nectar right so that's their method and luckily for us they store more than they need so it's a beautiful thing for us to be able to keep bees and she had it honey yeah and give them homes um the if you are in an area that has a long cold winter though you may need to leave full frames for them the winter my sister has a slightly different method she's in center field okay yes and it does get a bit icy out there yeah so in that case you do need to leave some honey over there over the winter time yeah I don't think she ever takes it all here there's generally something flowering all year round so you can you can continue harvesting it's a beautiful area to be in mmm should we fish that one out hmm so yeah let's look like they are a little little hurry they're a bit hungry don't you say that they come looking for the honey right in fit for two reasons one is the the flowers have stopped which looks like they the what's happening here but another reason is if you've left some honey up or fed them in any way sugar syrup if you've left it out then they get a bit of a taste for so instead of looking for flowers looking for honey but um this is a very nicely kept day for you so so I don't think that's the case it's more the flowers have have just finished so they're looking everywhere to for where the next next actor sauce is so we weren't ever going to use sugar syrup yep so should i reconsider that oh no you don't need to feed them in this area I never feed my husband in an area that that you do have a long cold winter then beekeepers will feed their their bees sugar syrup prior to winter if they don't have enough stores yeah and that way they can build up some stores or at least something to keep them going yeah through that time where they need to eat yeah my sister does it attend a field sorry yeah no another difference beautiful it's a wonderful thing isn't having your own honey and being able to share it fantastic so of course you can help us into small jars as well yeah and then they're ready to go to put things on them sure so those jars need to be like sterilized or is it because honey's an auntie everything but you don't need to you don't need to because as you say honey has amazing additional properties it's not like Jam where you where you have to really get all the bugs out of the jar ooh they were along the honey will keep as long as the moisture contents below about 20% then it will keep for a long time in the jar but if you have harvested when the frames not quite ready like this side one yep the moisture content could be above that in which case it may not last in the jar and is that the only time that the moisture content would be high when it was immature honey you can get a situation where the bees are struggling it is very humid but and and they will go hole that'll do and they'll put their capping it across the frame when when the moisture content is still quite high and that depends on your area we do get those times here we've got very humid and it tends to be on the edge of being a low enough moisture content but generally it's perfect when the bees have capped it it's ready to store right and if you don't harvest it well the will the honey get thicker in its cappings right in that frame it generally doesn't it's just stored there a bit like having it in a jar on the shelf but then domani little hexagons just that the bees put their wax on okay yeah how long have you been keeping days I had this all stopped I would grow up keeping bees and and and we used to go out to my grandfather's place and have fun harvesting as well so a little bit of a family tradition there was only when I was running a small commercial a parade that I started thinking well it's got to be a better way than this it's got to be a way where we can harvest honey directly from the box and and hopefully yeah just a bit like a tap I'm really happy to just say hey we succeeded in that I remember this crowdfunding thing and all the excitement it was a buzz it's really nice to be able to share it with people and what other people get joy yeah the harvesting honey in this way and inspiring a lot of people to keep bees in the world which has a beautiful flow on effect Oh people starting to tune in with the world around us in Chile and with their with what's flowering and tune in with them you know what there's there potentially spraying on their properties or what the neighbors are doing and saying to think we'll hang on we need to do things in a different way we need to look after our world that their bees need and of course we need as well hmm and then we get it get a nice gift at the end of it that's right if you look after your bees then you get this beautiful gift of honey so if you've got any questions you can put them in the comments below looks like we've got a couple here coming in from good from the live why are these attracted to swimming pools when there is other water available okay that's a great question tomorrow bees need minerals so like like all animals we need a balanced diet and part of that - minerals so the way bees collect their minerals isn't so much from the nectar or pollen but from the the water sources so you'll find them they'll prefer to suck on mud then clean water that's because they're getting those minerals out and it's the same thing that happens with a swimming pool bees actually love salt water but not too salty just a little bit of salt water is is enough to to get those minerals so if you give them a salty water feeder and a fresh one they'll always go for the further one with a spoon of salt in it so they are bees we'll bring in in pollen and nectar nectar is their carbohydrate and pollens their protein source so they need a balanced diet to thrive and they also need a balanced diet of protein sources so it suggests on one single nectar source that's not enough for them so they're always looking for nectar and pollen however sometimes your bees will only be able to find one or the other particularly if you've taken them to a large crop area where where the flowers are only producing nectar or they're only 50 in Poland so commercial beekeepers will move their hives to a good pollen source to get their bees nice and healthy there's some the red banks here here in in the heaped land is is probably the perfect balanced diet it's the UM it's the short grain brown rice for bees so thank you very much for watching and if you keep putting your questions in below we'll answer them and tune in again next week for something interesting and thank you thank you deli for your great work here in looking after all these bees and congratulations on your first honey house yeah absolutely it's um it's a a nice thing to plant things for the bees of course they need a lot of them so if you are going to plant things for bees you do need to give them a lot of a lot of things to follow John look at those jars nice and full isn't that isn't that beautiful we've got our fresh harvest here ready to go you can see some slight color variations between those honey's but most of it in here is that wild quince or Goya an absolutely beautiful bright floral flavor you

Channel: Flow Hive

Views: 30,884

Rating: 4.9086118 out of 5

Keywords: flowhive, flow hive, beekeeping, honeyflow, bee, honey, honeybee, bees, urban beekeeping, beekeeper, flow honey, savethebees

Id: Jin1p41ZTEM

Length: 29min 25sec (1765 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 12 2018