Skep Beekeeping in the Heathland - 1978

in the region of cultivated heathland between Bremen and Hamburg in langinfelder near Zitenzen lies the farmstead of the head beekeeper Georg Klindworth his speciality is skep beekeeping a large skep stand is directly adjacent to the house the l-shaped home apairy with space for 270 skeps this is where the majority of the standing stocks spend the winter its orientation to the east and the south provides them with a maximum sunshine during the winter the entrances of the escapes are shaded from the Sun to prevent the bees being tempted out too early in the year in March if the weather promises to stay warm the beekeepers remove the sun shades now it is time for the cleansing flight during which the bees rid themselves of the excreta from their winter feed the large-scale beekeeper also needs several big out stands for his 700 winter stocks they are located on the periphery of the cultivated land close to the Virgin moorland with its sprinkling of birch alder and willow trees closest to the farm is the out stand near Marsh host its rectangular closed construction provides the escapes with a maximum of protection against wind and weather many of the beekeepers seasonal tasks are performed in this rectangular space access to the isolated winter stands is usually quite difficult the single stand in woodland cover and the a twist and bustle is also oriented to face the Sun care is taken that the bees are able to fly straight out and find dry resting places on the grass in front of the escapes they have the necessary water supply close at hand the first spring feeding is provided by hazel willow and alder close to the winter stands at this third large winter stand near alphas housing in the warm Sun the bees are now busily collecting pollen and water to help build up the brood nest by mid-april it's time for Gale clinvar to prepare the escapes for the spring migration in doing so he takes the opportunity of inspecting the stocks to assess their condition no beekeeper is ever without the smoker the smoke from the smouldering tanzy subdues the bees which are already actively tending their brood covering cloths made from gauze or curtain netting are used to seal off the mouth of the Skip during transport they are be tight while allowing air to circulate the entrances stay open until evening to allow the bees to forage freely the cloth must not come loose during the long journey to keep it tight the corners are twisted up before they are fastened on the shelves beneath each skep wax covers Nordhoff the food cells and dead bees have been collecting throughout the winter - the beekeeper this debris is an indicator of the remaining food supplies in the sket and the population of the stock the fact that the bees have built onto the dark old combs of the bottom of the skip to enlarge the brood nest tells the beekeeper that there is a good queen inside while inspecting and preparing his stocks the beekeeper is assisted by another beekeeper and an apprentice the colonies that have been assembled at only a few stands for overwintering are now going to be transported in small batches to better nectar and pollen yielding areas the majority of them including the best stocks are to be set up in the Alta land this extensive fruit growing area between star de and Hamburg to the south of the Elbe is the preferred spring migration place for the heathland beekeepers to the back of the large Outlander farmhouses the orchards of the fruit growers extend over a large area in groups of up to 20 skips or singly the winter stocks are now distributed on small migration stands the escapes are put out immediately on arrival in the early morning before continuing his journey to the next migration stand the beekeeper opens the flight entrance which has been stuffed with moss or grass for transportation this allows the bees as soon as they have arrived at the new site to set out on their first orientation flight the same day a portion of sugar candy is placed under each scab as be food shallow beechwood dishes with three carved feet are traditionally used for this purpose the feet prevent the bees from gluing the dishes to the shelf with propolis and wax by feeding the bees the beekeeper types them over the period of sparse foraging before the fruit blossom is in full swing he prevents the stalks from being delayed in their early spring development if food were in short supply the bees would build fewer brood cells and thus interfere with the Queen's egg-laying activity welcome the covering cloths are removed and will not be needed again until the escapes are taken back home there's an agreement between beekeepers and fruit growers that the stalks migrate to the outer land in time for the first flowering which is the sweet cherry blossom a fortnight later the sour cherries are in full bloom pollen is collected into the pollen baskets on the bees hind legs the protein-rich pollen grains are used in rearing the already numerous brood in the skip and thus help to promote the growth of the colony the sugary nectar yielded by the blossoms is the source of energy for the bees in the scale when the sour cherry blossom is over the last blossoms to be worked by the bees in the outer land are pear and apple in mature orchards these trees are planted in long rows often alternating with one another the small migration stands are distributed all over the orchard area the fruit growers are keen to get the trees pollinated as thoroughly as possible once a week the beekeeper inspects the stocks in the migration stands when a colony has developed vigorously the bees begin to build large cells at the lower edge of the comb for the drones to be reared in in order to encourage the bees to enlarge the brood nest for the workers instead the beekeeper cuts out most of the so-called drone comb for this purpose he uses a special instrument with a blade and hook known as a drone knife the pieces of comb removed in this operation are collected for melting down to wax at a later date in the course of these inspections the beekeeper pays special attention to the size and food reserves of his stocks in good years when the bees have lots of natural food some of the sticky candy remains behind on the feeding dish in years like this the colony develops at a rapid rate and the first queen cells signal the colony's readiness to swarm a premature queen cell is being removed here as well if the beekeeper discovers a particularly weak stock while cutting off drone combs he can promote its development by placing the scape we're a highly vigorous stock in the same brood rearing state as stood up to now as the foraging bees always return to their accustomed location this enables the beekeeper to equalize his stocks the bees remain in the altar land for three to four weeks their pollination activities are so important for the fruit harvest that the local fruit growers pay a fee for every stock that is placed in the orchards whereas the beekeeper is interested in the rich early nectar and pollen yield for his colonies so fruit growing and beekeeping go hand in hand Central Europe northern Lower Saxony preparations for the swarming period in ass kept a puree at the beginning of May food supplies for the bees of the cultivated heathland area are low the beekeepers living here do their best to tie their stocks over this period by migrating to regions of higher nectar flow and pollen yield thus kept colonies belonging to Gale in thought master beekeeper from Zippin s'en were taken to the outer land near Hamburg on their spring migration in the extensive fruit growing region the bees were able to gather a rich harvest of nectar and pollen for several weeks on end and the stocks developed vigorously after being transported back home to the large out stands the stocks must be supplied with food by the beekeeper so that their development does not slow down before the impending advent of the swarming season sugar solution is readily accepted by the bees the beekeeper replenishes the feeding dishes underneath the sket several times a week in several of the escapes the combs have already been built down as far as the dish the bees are busy feeding their brood the strength of this stock indicates that it will soon be ready to swarm during the winter months the beekeeper had already started extensive preparations for the time when his approximately 700 stocks will swarm at Clint Ward's farm most of the beekeeping equipment is stored in the loft for the best part of the year for example the swarm catching bags are hung up to air the Wooden's files for the escapes are also kept up here kaylynn port inspects his working equipment piece by piece in the barn he checks the swarm catching bags fetched from the loft these one-and-a-half meter long tubes of gauze or curtain netting with their tip and corners reinforced in linen have been sewn by the staff at the farmstead damaged netting is repaired on the spot by the master beekeeper the swarm catching bagged serves to catch the prime swarm when it leaves the skep out of the entrance so the bag should not have any holes through which the bees might escape in each case the beekeeper makes sure that all four pins which attach the bag in front of the scape are firmly sewn on to the corners in the adjacent workshop before the swarming season a large reserve of traveling boxes has been built up with a view to selling off the expected prime swarms the joinery work is undertaken by the beekeepers August fan Bardem and Ingo Lau both on the staff of Clint Ward's bee farm the skips are given special attention on the part of the beekeeper he has to prepare hundreds of woven straw hives for the swarms here he has laid out the ones in need of repair he uses his pocket knife to remove loose patches of cow dung with which the escapes are coated and thereby uncovers the closely packed rows of straw and reed strips from which the escapes are woven by the spiral roll method regular care and attention is essential to ensure the durability and stability of these so-called Luneberg type escapes the goose wing serves as a brush in such operations worn patches occur most frequently round the rim of the skip it is not always possible to remove the defective wrapping down to the last piece the replacement strips of reed have been soaked to make them pliable we're larger sections of the edging role have been broken off the repair is more complicated straw has to be replaced as well the rice straw used for this purpose originates from special crops grown without the aid of chemicals only short sturdy straws are suitable for skip weaving the knife and the all other chief tools used during such repair work while the top of each new strip of reed is anchored in the row the beekeeper cuts the tail off clean after first pulling it tight it is important for the lower rim of the sket to be absolutely even later it will form a tight seal where thus kept rests on the stand many of the escapes used here are 80 to 100 years old skips used to be made by the beekeepers themselves but today it's no longer necessary to weave new ones for a good number of years Gayle Clint watt has been able to buy up large reserves of escapes from abandoned bee farms the side walls of the escapes exhibit only minor damage and it's often enough for the beekeeper to insert only a single clasp now the scape has been completely renovated if the basket work of the escapes is sound it only has to be cleared of wax residues left behind after the combs were broken out in the dome of each skip three strips of foundation comb are now attached these seven by three centimeter strips of wax cut out of old combs are fixed by the beekeeper with a mixture of hot wax and fur resin they serve the bees as a base on which to orientate their new comb building the sky pissed offers the bees further assistance in their comb building in the shape of wooden rods or spirals cut from rosewood or backbone into each skip he pushes six of these point its files at regular intervals through the walls of the hive thus piles are arranged in pairs and aligned at right angles to the foundation strips the bees build all around the smiles can stick the combs to them this gives the honey combs the stability required to extend frequent movements of the scale final work on the escapes takes place in the open air it is carried out here by Gail Clint Lord son of the head beekeeper and himself a master beekeeper to protect them against the weather he plastids escapes with a new outer covering the most suitable material for this protective coating is cow dung collected on the fields in springtime this material spreads easily and seals the escapes adhering so closely to the basket work on drying that not even moisture can loosen it closing the entrance with dung prevents parasites from nesting in the skep while it is drying on the shelf in the stand the beekeeper must reckon with several weeks of concentrated work before all the preparations for the swarming season at the end of May have been completed Central Europe northern Lower Saxony work in a heavy skip apiary during the prime swarming period it is early June in the cultivated heathland area between Bremen and Hamburg for the heavy beekeepers on the clean thoughts bee farm the season of most intensive work now begins it is the swarming season of the heathland bees in all the scapes the bees have built queen cells to rear young Queens nine days after the eggs were laid the Queen larvae floating in their reservoirs of royal jelly have developed up to the stage when the cells are ready to be capped over after another seven days the young Queens are mature sealed and unsealed Queen cells are continuously checked and nurtured by the worker bees soon after the first queen cells have been capped over the old Queen leaves thus kept together with a few thousand workers to found a new colony if a prime swarm is not prevented from flying it first settles close by preferably under overhanging branches where it forms a dense cluster from dawn till dusk as long as the Sun lures the bees at head beekeeper Gail Clint Watt and his assistants watched the stocks that are ready to swarm and have been brought back from the out stands to the house apiary to avoid losing bees the prime swarms have to be called directly on leaving the scale the experienced beekeeper can tell from their behavior at the entrance whether the bees are about to swarm so he has to keep a continual watch on the flight entrances he can confirm his suspicions by taking a look inside the skin a large number of queen cells some of which have already been kept indicate that the stocks in these escapes are prepared for swarming if the bees are restless and tend to run back and forth in the bee ways this is an imminent sign of swarming swarming begins with the first Scouts pouring out of the entrance they attract the other bees along with them which in turn hustle out the old Queen the prime swarm flies off this is the moment for the beekeeper to intervene by spreading a swarm catching bag over the flight entrance he can prevent the prime swarm from flying away he uses earth to close a gap which the bees might use as an emergency exit each swarming scape is marked with a leafy twig or a wooden tag the swarm catchers have been made by the beekeepers themselves the bees are encouraged to enter the bag by raising it slightly above the level of the flight entrance otherwise there is danger of the bees withdrawing into the skep again the behavior of the crime swarm can be observed through the transparent gauze in the middle section of the bag also the humming of the emerging bees is a good indicator of the progress of swarming every gap between the scape understand which the beekeeper notices on his control rounds is immediately sealed it's usually sufficient to surround the base with the cord if after six to ten minutes no further B's emerge from the skip the catching bag can be unfastened and hung up in the shade under the shade of the shed roof the bees gradually calm down in a large home APA like this one several swarms may emerge almost simultaneously the experienced eye of the beekeeper can detect the first signs of swarming even at some distance and distinguish them from the customary warm weather activity at the flight entrance prepared with chords and with a swarm catching bag in his hand the beekeeper is equipped for every contingency warm sunny days and humid weather in particular encourage the bees to swarm on such occasions anything up to 50 prime swarms might emerge at the fin BOTS home apiary on a single day in cooler weather swarming occurs only sporadically just as in free flying swarms the bees in the shaded hanging bags collect around their queen to form the swarm cluster if on the other hand the bees continue to move about restlessly while humming loudly the queen is obviously absent a queen less swarm will be released so that the bees can return to their home scale for two or three weeks the beekeepers at the home apiary are on their feet all day preventing the prime swarms from escaping as soon as the bees have contracted to a dense cluster at the top of the swarm catcher they can easily be shaken out of the bag during the course of each swarming day the primes forms are packed in traveling boxes in former times the Heather skeptics would put the Prime swarms in empty escapes where they would draw out new comb and store Heather honey before the stocks were disposed of they would not keep a prime swarm stock with its old Queen over the winter today the sale of prime swarms is a guaranteed source of income for the clinvar a period hive a purists from as far afield as South Germany have already placed orders for swarms to upgrade their stocks 1 prime swarm can provide them with anything from two and a half to four pounds of bees the same evening the travelling boxes provided with B candy are sent for dispatch by rail if no further Prime swarms can be reckoned with today all the swarmed escapes are covered over with transport cloths made of gauze the flight entrances are left open until the evening when the escapes are taken to the nearby outstand at Marsh Horst where the beekeeper waits for the second swarms or castes to emerge from the escapes the empty spaces will be filled with further swarming escapes taken from the other out stems depending on the number of overwintered stocks the Clin would be farm can reckon with anything up to 700 Prime swarms in a given swarming season to encourage swarming all the other stocks in the home apiary are fed with sugar syrup which in the old days used to be laced with the little spirits this is because only well-fed bees are prepared to go swarming Central Europe northern Lower Saxony work in the hewa SCAP apiary during the castes warming period early in the summer the beekeepers allow their stocks to swarm in order to increase their skep colonies the prime swarming period of the heather bees is followed in June by the period in which second swarms or castes are thrown off the beekeepers of Clint Watts large-scale bee farm are expecting the castes at the marsh cost out Stan on account of its enclosed arrangement and location in a birch alder and pine wood this position is particularly suitable for the work occurring at this period once the prime swarm has flown seven days after their cells have been capped over in each skip the young Queens are ready to emerge during this time the bees are gathering nectar and pollen to supply the colony the bees are now restless and run back and forth in the bee waves some individuals are occupied in uncapping the cells containing the fully developed Queens immediately on emerging the young queen surrounds herself with bees in order to leave the scalp the first cast is thrown off about seven to ten days after the prime swarm headed by the old queen as migrated in contrast to the prime swarms which are caught at the scat entrance in special swarm catching bags the beekeeper allows the castes to escape year after year they collect on particular trees one of their favorite swarming places is a group of pine trees under their branches several of the cast's each weighing one to one-and-a-half pounds connect together they connect to form a swarm cluster of increasing size the queens of the various different castes find their way to the outside now is the time for the beekeeper to act with a joke he shakes the swarm clusters into a catching scale while the scape is resting on the ground the bees again congregate around the Queens inside it consolidating once more into a cluster on the branches swarming bees soon form a new cluster again the beekeeper collects the castes at regular intervals two or three times he shakes swarms into the same caching scale in the course of the swarming day the castes increasingly tend to collect directly at the stand or in the immediate vicinity by means of a skip placed on the eaves the beekeeper offers the storm a dark hollow which invites them to enter all day long for several weeks on end the master beekeeper Gail clinvar junior never stops dealing with the casts swarm clusters should never be left on their own for too long otherwise they will fly off to permanent quarters collecting skips are smaller lighter straw vessels without clustering the entrance is stuffed up the Virgin Queens emerge in the colony at intervals of about two days warm weather encourages them to swarm in however bad weather delays their swarming a particular noise known as Tooting is a sure sign that further Queens are ready to emerge if a caste is thrown off now the swarm follows the Queen out of the SCAF entrance in a regular cascade as more and more swarms are thread off and collect under the branches and the eaves the beekeeper assembles the filled catching scapes in order to provide for the cast's in a part of the marsh Rost quadrangle away from the swarming activities the beekeeper has assembled empty scapes which were previously provided with strips of foundation comb and wooden spirals he fills each skep with about two wooden platters full of cast beans they usually contain several Virgin Queens only one of these will remain alive she and bees will form a new stock to prevent the bees dispersing again the escapes are immediately sealed be typed with covering thoughts the entrances are still stuffed from the plastering of the basket work second swarm bees are also filled in two escapes containing old comb without honey or brooms one and a half pounds is the usual starting weight of a new colony to ensure good air circulation and temperature Equalization the a purist first lays the escapes on their sides on the shelf young queens are also removed individually from the catching steps together with a small number of workers they are transferred to specially made wooden nucleus boxes named cleaned bottles after their designer so that they can form small temporary colonies as soon as the beekeeper has supplied each box with a ladle full of bees he starts to search for the Queen's among the throng one by one he places young Queens among the beans the idea is to obtain mated Queens to hold in reserve during the three-week castes warming period about 200 boxes are filled in this way at Clint Ward's P farm the candy placed on the floor of the box provides the bees with nourishment to start with because the flight openings remain closed for the first few days the castes transferred to escapes have meanwhile settled down quietly about 24 hours later towards evening the beekeeper places the scapes upright as there is now no danger of the bees departing again he opens up the entrances that have been stuffed with cow dung the bees now set about enlarging the entrance of their scape by knowing it and smoothing it all around with propolis the sealed nucleus boxes are set up in the open three days after they have been filled when the larger of the two escape openings has been unstopped the young queen can fly off on her mating flight the spacing between the boxes makes it easier for the bees and their queen to find their way back to their own place at this time a number of tasks for the sketchiest overlap at the more distant out stands like this one of zazen holds the recently restocked castes kept have to be cared for they were taken out during the evening hours the obstructed entrances were opened immediately now the following evening the covering cloths are removed on this occasion the beekeeper places a dish of sugar syrup under each of the scapes a splash of syrup inside escaped aims to lure the bees down to the food supply after standing undisturbed in the open for a few days the boxes are inspected for queen ripeness well built up combs brood cells filled with eggs and the first honey indicate to the beekeeper that he can rely on a native queen here see then closes up the flight opening the second nursery colony is also Queen right and therefore augments the reserve of usable Queens be too small combs consisting only of drone cells and the eggs in several of the large cells tell the apiarist that the clean in this nuclear colony has remained unmated so she has laid only infertile drone eggs on average he finds positive results in three-quarters of all the boxes if a box has been deserted by the bees he concludes that the young queen has gone astray as work continues the beekeeper allows two to three castes to swarm out of each skep in the marsh hosts out stand until 10 to 12 days after the prime swarm he takes action to prevent further casts being thrown off and thus depopulating the stock he now removes all the remaining Queen sells the stock is said to have been superseded Queen sells still containing virgin Queens are laid aside for the time being furthermore he cuts the comb edges off about 15 to 20 centimeters from the opening of the scalp in this way the bees receive more space to build up new combs which they can fill with honey he uses a special scape knife to do so to ensure that a superseded stock has a queen he finally opens one of the Queen cells he has removed and allows a Virgin Queen to rejoin the colony he makes sure that she is perfectly developed by covering them with cloths the superceded escapes are prepared for transport to more distant out stands skip by skip the beekeeper works through all the 700 colonies of his apiary in this way he gives them the best possible start for heather honey gathering from these gaps the sections of comb removed are collected for wax pressing at a later date just like the castes shaken in two escapes the superseded stocks also need repose and the proximity of good foraging grounds for favourable development their young Queens make their nuptial flight at this time it may happen that a queen fails to return to the scape and the colony becomes queenless in this case the heather apiarist can have recourse to the mated queen in one of the clint water nucleus boxes such queens are put into small nursery cages the opening of which is sealed with be candid these so-called Queen cell cages are made by the beekeeper himself out of Willow Wood they are provided with for long ish slits and a spur for anchoring them the beekeeper takes a number of filled nursery cages along with him when he inspects the superceded colonies on the out stands if he is uncertain whether a stock is Queen right he cuts a wedge-shaped piece out of a comb in the middle as far as the brood nest he inspects it thoroughly to see whether the queen has laid eggs in the cells if he is unable to detect any eggs he must assume that the queen remained unfertilized or has been lost a stock in this commission is provided with a new queen by fixing a queen cell cage inside the skep the bees of the colony get into contact with the Queen via the slits and if she finds acceptance they eat their way through to her and gradually release her the scape is provided with a sticker in this way all the superseded stocks are controlled by the beekeeper this test proves positive on average once kept in 10 has to be provided with a caged screen in front of the accustomed standing ground returning foragers are already waiting to carry their supplies through the entrance since the middle of the swarming period a number of plants are in nectar flow around the out stands they help to bridge the gap until the Heather migration starts in August in the vicinity of the out stands the bramble blossom attracts the bees in the wood in the bushes alongside the paths it is many the buckthorn older but honeysuckle is also a favorite here out on the pastures and field margins thistles and white clover are particularly important in former days buck wheat crops provided the main source of forage for the heifer bees at this time of year and additional feeding of the late castes was unnecessary in fields and at the wayside the bees now prefer corn flowers as well as in particular chamomile as a source of nectar and pollen when the foragers return with this load they are able to communicate information about the source of nourishment as soon as they reach the scape entrance a further source of food is found on leaves particularly in oak woods the bees collect the sticky oxidation caused by a feds known as honeydew the bee farms colonies are distributed over six permanent out stands located along the margins of the cultivated land about 30 caste colonies occupy the stand near the Alpha size arm or the loose arrangement of sites makes it easier for the bees to find their way home here the beekeeper is checking their progress within two weeks this colony has built Newcomb in the empty sketch down to the first pair of spirals steps where the combs are built right from the start proved to be very productive of Qom honey here seven of the nine combs produced in a nooner bug types kept have already been built if necessary the apiarist will straighten irregularly built combs cells damaged in the process are soon replaced by the beans he carefully adjusts the beasts face between the cones to some stocks have already built their combs down to the center pair of smiles and laid out all nine cones if the sketchiest discovers a queenless colony while inspecting the comb development shakes the rest of the bees part of the scale before hand he makes perfectly sure that no Queen is present the evicted bees will beg their way into other colonies the escapes remain on the out stands for several weeks up to the time of migration to the Heather the bees are engaged in building out the combs rearing the brood and laying up the necessary stores with the help of castes the beekeeper has succeeded in increasing his stocks threefold Central Europe northern Lower Saxony summer work during the Heather flow in a scab a puree at the beginning of August the skip a purist said Clint Watts commercial be farm in Lion Felder near wilkinson have only a short time to examine the total stock of skips since the end of the swarming time they have assembled about 1,500 Heather honeybee colonies on several large out stands a hundred scapes are positioned understand that twist and bust both about eighteen kilometers from the bee farm the bees in the newly reared cast colonies and the original stalks have increased in the skips during the past six to eight weeks and built out their cones the beekeepers are taking an inventory of the state of their stocks while at the same time preparing them for the migration to the chief honey flow of the year the colonies should consist of as many workers as possible to optimize the yield of nectar and pollen that is why the a purists pay special attention to the state of the cones any Queen sells laid down in the meantime and all drone comb sections are removed the reason is that drones and new queens are superfluous in a colony with a mated Queen Jan koum is often built up right into the crown of the skip by cutting it out the beekeeper encourages the bees to build out new combs which they can then fill with stores after inspection the escapes are covered with light cloths which allow air to circulate they are to be transferred this very evening besides the young master beekeeper Gail clinvar jr. the tour assistant beekeepers Ilkka Bulman and August fun bargain artwork here all available staff of the bee farm have to join in this major operation after a while the master beekeeper himself Galen thought senior joins them at the time of filming he was 71 years of age he started beekeeping with only 70 winter colonies fifty years previously the empty feeding dishes are now laid aside the a purists had encouraged the development of their stocks after the swarming period by feeding them sugar syrup in the pieces of comb removed one can see drones in all stages of development from they develop drones just about to emerge from their cells and lobby without being fed by the nurse bees they will soon die the pieces of comb are meticulously collected together as soon as the beekeepers find time they will be pressed for summer wax in several escapes the combs have been built down as far as the feeding dish straws which serve the bees as landing places in it are also removed by blowing smoke from his pipe and by tapping lightly the beekeeper makes the bees detach themselves from the cones it is important to work quietly and gently to avoid frightening the beans with the narrow blade of his long-handled skip knife or with a hook at the other end the beekeeper can work deep inside the skip and fetch out the smallest pieces without damaging the adjacent comb surfaces the square gauze cloths afternoon food types round the perimeter of the skip to prevent the bees escaping from the basket in transit occasionally the beekeeper comes across sweet colonies like this one that have not built out their combs beyond the first pair of spirals as it is not worthwhile thinking a stock like this to the Heather he leaves the skeptic open in addition he marks it with a twig for with a wooden sticker the for beekeepers required about two hours to process the hundreds kept standing here after a short break they will proceed to the next out stand the entrances remain open right up to the moment of dispatch to allow the bees unobstructed entry and exit during the day for stuffing the entrance holes the beekeeper is looking for suitable pieces of moss in the vicinity of the stand he places it ready in spaces on the shows on other stands he makes use of grass as well immediately before transport the entrances are sealed tight after the bees of being driven back into the escapes by smoking B's which were still out foraging will beg their way into haba colonies and thereby increase their strength the escapes are stacked close together on the resides in staggered formation sudden movements and rolling from side to side have to be avoided so that the bees do not panic and the basket work of the escapes is not damaged as the comb sections are arranged vertically jokes during transport can be quite well absorbed the entrance holes are always on top the gauze cloths allow free exchange of air and thus ensure the necessary temperature equalization it's a small number of skips left on the out stands will be collected up to enable the beekeepers to look after them more easily on one stand very weak colonies are united or later added to another colony the destination of the summer migration is the lüneburg heath because this is one of the only areas where large expenses of Heather have survived the beekeepers have to travel anything from 60 to 120 kilometres to get there this long-distance migration did not become necessary until 30 years ago up until 1955 there were sufficient eath clans in the vicinity of the home farm in those days the escapes were transported by horse and cart after a two-hour journey the first migration stand is set up on the heath in the evening hours the Heather stands are vital to the scat a purist all his efforts so far this year have been directed at getting the bees to harvest heather honey all the foraging the feeding to tide over gaps in nectar flow and all the other beekeeping measures have served to increase the number of colonies and to promote their development up to the Heather flowering time the beekeeper built the stands himself several decades ago to protect them against wind and rain they are often located on the edge of a coppice they are aligned East or southeast said that the escapes catch the earliest sunshine anything between fifty and a hundred escapes can be accommodated on one Heather hug stand this far excels the capacity for small migration stands used in the orchards of the altas land the entrance holes are opened immediately the escapes have been set up this enables the bees to orientate on their first foraging flights early the following morning a second Heather out stand is filled with the escapes loaded near twists and bustle earth stands are situated in the southern part of the new neva heath near main holds several evenings in a row the Clint bought B farm transports it escapes to the Heather until all the available standing grounds are occupied most of them lie in an area reserved for military training the experienced migratory beekeeper times the migration in accordance with the Heather nectar flow he does not set up his colonies on the heath until the Heather starts flowering this usually occurs by the 10th of August after the shake-up during transportation the bees need some time to settle down in the escapes and get accustomed to the new location when the master beekeeper visits his stands the following day he takes care to protect himself very well at first there must not be a single gap between veil and jacket the woven horsehair panel of the veil is provided with a leather lined opening for the beekeepers pipe up until the time when the Heather is in full blossom and nectar flow the bees need feeding to tide them over the gap a shortage of food would impair the Queen's laying activity and endanger the brood in the nest and as one has to reckon with substantial B losses in the Heather anyway lack of food would considerably weakened the stocks the beekeeper provides the bees with food at the same time as he removes the covering cloths on the home stands he uses feeding dishes and wooden platters for the sugar syrup or honey water but here on the migration stands the single portion of candy is simply placed on a piece of plastic foil on a hot August day like this the beekeeper cannot hold out long under his veil he takes advantage of the opportunity to stuff his pipe again dried tansy leaves are used for this purpose each colony receives a portion of about two pounds of sugar candy this be food takes some time for the bees to assimilate so they have provisions for several days without a surplus of food occuring which the bees would put away in their combs it has taken the beekeeper an hour and a half to perform all the tasks at this stem the covering cloths are kept bundled up until they are taken home again a fortnight later in the second half of August the heifer is in full bloom in good weather the bees now find plenty of pollen and nectar in the blossoms of calluna vulgaris the heaven every three or four days the beekeeper does the rounds of his 15 Heather out stands to inspect the state of the stocks as here near the small town of Dorfman during the two weeks since the beginning of the Heather migration the B's in this skit have drawn their combs almost down as far as the Shelf request and in sampling the escapes the beekeeper is keen to see whether the bees are already storing honey if a poorly built out firm structure indicates as a colony is weak he places the scape where a well built out scape had stood with a view to increasing its bee population the weaker colony is strengthened by the foragers of the previous strong stock returning to their accustomed location to optimize the honey harvest all the steps should be equally populous and well built out the most favorable arrangement is for the migration stands to be in the center of the best foraging area and not too close together the fact is that large continuous areas of Heather like this one on the robb egg slopes are becoming less and less common in the lüneburg heath these days grasses and birch trees are proliferating since sheep grazing has been on the decline especially in the military training areas which occupy a major part of the heath woodlands are gradually taking over to avoid over foraging the heather crop the migration beekeeper has to obtain a new license every year from the local authority responsible for the area permitting him to use the stands and stipulating the number of escapes he may set here so migration stands number 61 in the administrative district of Salta felling Bosco is licensed for 100 scape colonies ever produces better nectar if the soil is poor in humors and relatively heavy but weather conditions before and during the flowering period are also a decisive factor temperatures of around 20 degrees centigrade and morning mists are favorable for nectar and pollen gathering but if long periods of low temperatures and drought prevail or cold rainy conditions endure the bees will start to interfere stores of honey that is why the beekeeper makes sure during each inspection round that they are continuing to lay up stores and he checks how well the honey cells are being filled the steps have been standing in the Heather for three and a half weeks now if favorable conditions endure the beekeeper will let his bees work for him for a further week before taking the stalks back to the bee farm around the 15th of September in a good summer the escapes on the Heather out stands have increased in weights by as much as thirty five pounds each their combs now contain the Heather skip a purists entire year's harvest of honey after the bees have been shaken out at the home farm the beekeepers will start to break the combs out of the escapes and harvest the honey Central Europe northern Lower Saxony autumn work in a Heather skip apiary in a big a puree like that of beekeeper Clint wort which lies near Zippin 'some in the cultivated heathland area between Bremen and Hamburg there are typically seasonal jobs while the Heather was in flower Clint warts 1,500 scapes stood in stands on lüneburg Heath after the bees had collected the heather nectar and pollen for several weeks they were returned to their stands at the home a period in nearby Marsh host there are about 400 escapes those to be overwintered are selected and those from which honey will be harvested are prepared in the early morning the beekeepers August fun bargain and Elka Bulman begin this task they go through the escapes one by one in the escapes from which wax and honey will be harvested the bees are sprayed with sugar solution this will make it easier to remove them from the combs if the heather flowers gave a good honey harvest the bees will have built as shown here their combs completely to the underside of the Skip and already sealed the cells full of honey that will give a good yield of comb honey in each sket to be harvested the entrance is closed with moss whereas the skips selected for overwintering are immediately placed back on the shelves sometimes the old dark combs are found inside the escapes and no newly built light combs no comb honey and little pressed honey will be harvested from such scapes often the neighboring scape is entirely differently built up reflecting the condition of the colony and the richness of the honey flow where the hive comes from thus kept selected for overwintering like this one should be 3/4 full of well-built combs not to own thus kept warm as to be in proper condition the entrances of the winter escapes are left open but entrances of the escapes selected for harvesting must be sealed these escapes will be prepared for the next stage of harvesting the removal of the bees from the skin after the removal of the bees the brood will have to be killed this will be done by suffering and for this purpose Gail Kim bought son of the head beekeeper and himself a master beekeeper digs square holes in the ground and enlarges them towards one side he stuffs moss around the edges to make the join airtight hazel twigs support sulfur impregnated paper which will later smolder under the scapes altogether he prepares five holes in this way the process of removing the bees is aided by the use of an elastic empty escape only escapes bound with cane are usable here the escapes are bounced rhythmically in order to drive all the bees into the empty scape the beekeeper then checks to make sure that the entire colony has been driven out of the scale he calms the bees with smoke from the beekeepers pipe he always attempts to find the Queen in the mass of bees bees from such a colony with their queen will then be added to a previously selected scape in order to increase its population winter colony is constituted in this way should now weigh 5 pounds the sketch to overwinter is then returned to the stand while thus kept earlier emptied of bees is brought to the sulphur holes by farmer Yan Clint bought the beekeepers brother nearby Gale Clint bought jr. and his father are also cooperating the old beekeeper frequently checks the insides of the escapes which hold the proceeds of the year's work the scape was usually be bounced 30 or more times in order to empty it this work requires not only physical strength but also skill and experience breaking the combs has to be avoided patience is needed in the search for the Queen the beekeeper would Vance the skip once more if no Queen were found the escapes with fortified populations are closed with special cloths so that they can be taken to the overwintering place the same evening last August Georg and Elka go through the shelves one by one the old beekeeper personally suffers the first escapes for that purpose he lights me prepared smoking strips and then stands the skips on the moss ring round the hole bees removed that the beekeeper does not want for his overwintering escapes are collected in an empty scape reserved for sale they will have been ordered long beforehand in order to work on the 60 escapes here in the marche host stand the operators require half a day with five people working the removal of the bees is the job of August and Georg the experienced beekeepers and the young Elka helps the old be master undertakes special tasks such as the suffering while his brother Yan transports the escapes as soon as several colonies have been assembled for sale the beekeeper fills them into crates the colonies are sold weighing four pounds each that makes about 20,000 bees per colony the package crates are home made on the farms it is work that is done during bad weather and mainly in wintertime the individual weight of every crate has to be taken into account these from different colonies put together will allow only one queen to live and to head their new colony bees which have flown away will collect in the winter escapes as shown here in the foreground escapes whose combs are built down to the smiles at the bottom the beekeeper let's peas in one out of every three colonies overwinter in their own scape of the remaining two he adds one be lot to the skep selected for overwintering and sells the other lot in the meantime the remaining brood in the combs of the emptied escapes has been killed by the sulfur fumes for transport the entrance remains closed and the escapes are stood on their base in this way bees are prevented from entering thus avoiding honey robbing new sulfur paper is immediately put into the holes in the ground in order to protect the combs from heat the strips are placed into the lateral cavity above which the scat entrance is then aligned it has got warm under the beekeepers protective hood with its front woven from horsehair I'm for a cigarette the escapes must remain in place for about five minutes to prevent the bees from scenting the heather honey and collecting on the sulfate escapes these are removed from the area as soon as possible yon takes them to the farm which consists of three buildings farm living quarters and shed in the barn is a storeroom where the escapes are packed so that myosin bees cannot get at them when stacking them Yan is careful to ensure that the combs remain vertical so that they do not break under the weight and let the honey flow out the entrance should be on top a good skip can yield over 30 pounds of Heather honey in a good year up to 1,000 skips are stored here in the next room the beekeeper prepares the bees for transport the bees readily drink sugar solution survey are supplied during transport with water for possible cooling and nutrients crystallized honey put into a top container serves as food for the often long train journey the bees can sustain themselves on this for three days the water used for hand-washing will later be used as food for the bees the colonies of bees for sale will be supplied to order two beekeepers all over Germany the returns on each colony are about 50 marks the beekeeper will take them straight to the nearest railway station so that they catch the evening train the beekeeper also has a home a period on the farm located undisturbed behind the farmstead it's a good overwintering place facing the Sun in space for up to 270 escapes the colonies are fed here in readiness for overwintering the transport cloths have already been removed from the escapes for sugar solution food containers are put under the steps cut straw gives the bees a foothold so that they can drink the liquid ordinary sugar has been used to make the solution to kilograms of sugar to 1 liter of warm water the bees are given as much food as they would use in a day's work in warm weather to attract the bees to the food the beekeeper pause a little solution directly into each skip sometimes bees for overwintering are put in empty escapes and they build new combs down to the bottom spirals in quite a short time overwintering colonies are located in four or five other places nearby as well as here behind the farm a total of 600 to 700 colonies are prepared for overwintering about ten times as many as a single ever beekeeper could maintain using only traditional technology the five beekeepers in Gale enforce business can work with such a large number of escapes only through the use of modern transport and certain rationalization techniques after bees in all the escapes have been fed for the first time the beekeeper must continuously ensure that the bees can obtain enough food to guarantee overwintering before he restarts the work he lights his pipe smoker dried firms are usually burnt in it because there is little nectar for the bees in late autumn the beekeeper must feed them every two to three days on his rounds he gets to know the condition of the combs in his newly constituted colonies in which the last brood of the air is now emerging in order to ensure successful overwintering the escapes with their contents should weigh 32 to 35 pounds after two to three weeks of feeding on sunny and warm October days these can still be seen flying before they cluster together for the cold winter months when the cold comes the btfo will cover the entrances with a screen to prevent the bees flying out on sunny days with this the beekeepers work for the air is done Central Europe northern Lower Saxony harvest of heather honey in a skip a puree autumn is harvesting time for Heather honey on the farm of Georg Clint bought this apiary is located in the cultivated heathland area between Bremen and Hamburg and specializes in comb honey and pressed honey in the building facing the farmhouse the beekeeper works on the escapes from which the honey combs are to be removed up to a thousand straw escapes are stored here out of reach of the bees the stability of the combs in a skirt is preserved by six thin rods or spirals carefully inserted through the sides the bees have fixed their combs to the smiles so they must now be carefully removed thus piles are cut from either rose or black alder wood and will be used again next spring the combs are also cemented securely to the walls and the top of the skip but a blow at an angle to the combs will loosen them the honey harvest begins with the removal of the comb honey Gail Clint watt reserves this work for himself comb honey is heather honey sealed in new white combs which have not been used for brood rearing besides every comb has empty wax cells and darker cells filled with honey and pollen these different pieces of comb are divided and placed in a wax barrel and a honey barrel the comb honey is cut and packed as pound or 1/2 pound portions by Edel card The Apprentice comb honey is a speciality of the heathland beekeeper only Heather honey is thick enough not to run out of the cells after they're cut in a Luneberg tight heather skep the bees draw out nine comb comb honey is found primarily over the central brood nest in the scat at the top and along the wall behind the brood nest comb honey consists of completely built and well filled cells because bees seal the cells only after they have been filled out with honey for some time the beekeeper must often jog the sket once more to dislodge the last narrow comb from it with a special tool the beekeeper scrapes off the remaining wax from the Skip walls wax has been valued for centuries so even the smallest pieces are collected in an average year the beekeeper harvests about two pounds of comb honey from a skip but in a particularly good year the yield can be 20 pounds comb honey is very highly prized by Christmas the annual yield will have been sold at 25 marks for a 500 gram pack pressed honey is subsequently extracted in the room in the barn which can be well heated this work is undertaken by Gayle Clint bought the head beekeepers son and himself a master bee Heba he uses a Stoddart idle screw press the pieces of comb which have been cut off during the separation of comb honey and collected in barrels have seen kept warm in a heated cabinet for a day at 35 degrees Celsius this allows the honey to flow out of the cells more easily after cutting up the pieces of comb containing pollen and honey cells into smaller pieces they are filled into a pressing cloth pipe used for fruit pressing to prevent the cloth opening during the pressing the ends are twisted together and laid with the opening facing downwards in the press the beekeeper washes his honey covered hands in a special water bucket this water can be used later to feed the bees by turning the screw he forces the block against the pressing clock through the ribs on either side the honey flows out of the press and drains off onto the takeoff board the honey containing tiny pieces of wax and pollen is collected in a bucket when the honey ceases to flow the press is opened with clean hands the beekeeper needs the tightly pressed wax inside the cloth so as to loosen it the second pressing extracts the last remaining honey from the wax pieces it requires the utmost effort to close the press once more but finally the last of the honey is squeezed out the pressed honey is poured into 600-pound barrels in order to clear it to filter out coarse pieces the beekeeper pours the honey through a fine mesh screen she then makes the press ready for the next run collecting the lumps of wax which remain in the cloth to use them in subsequent wax processing it takes the beekeeper until January to complete the work on the honeycombs from his escapes the freshly pressed honey must stand in the barrels for about two days the remaining particles of wax and pollen will then have floated up to the surface where they are removed to this impure mixture will be used as food for overwintering hives or as stimulant feeding during the springtime the honey must be thoroughly stirred before the beekeeper can fill it into smaller vessels the pressed natural honey is sold in jars and cans a pound this price between 10 and 15 marks each can is filled with five pound batches of honey empty can covers the weights on the scales after putting lids on the cans the apprentice takes them to the adjoining storeroom for labeling the cartons of honey jars are also stored here for one-pound apportioning the standard jars of the German bee keepers Association they're used the brand of the association guarantees quality honey these special cross-shaped labels indicate the name of the producer and the relevant identification number the gluing board is again the responsibility of the apprentice who finally provides each jar with a marker indicating the type of honey the harvested heather honey is sold mainly in northern Germany but by mail-order it can be obtained anywhere in the Federal Republic of Germany to Central Europe northern Lower Saxony beeswax pressing in a traditional apiary on the cultivated heathland between Bremen and Hamburg in lyon felder near citizen stands the farmstead of the head beekeeper Gail Clint bought in late summer when the work of the swarming season is over the beekeeper has time to deal with his harvest of summer beeswax this task is done in the main farm buildings August van bargain beekeeper and employee of Clint Voss apiaries prepares the wax press in a special wax room he Kindles a fire with wood scraps under the big cauldron in which he's going to melt the wax he uses tap water to help in the melting process a smaller cauldron is used to heat water for pressing the wax meanwhile enough water has been let into the wax cauldron and it is heated to boiling freshly cut Beach logs provide plenty of heat a lot of wax has been saved in big barrels since wax was last pressed the previous winter in December and January the wax has been compressed and the barrels sealed while the cauldrons are heating the containers have been brought up to room temperature the residues are contaminated with dead bees larvae honey pollen and fragments of straw from the sugar solution feeders commonly used in skeptic eating the beekeeper makes sure that the larger pieces are completely melted and that the wax and water are well mixed also compact pieces of light wax from drone comb which has been previously melted must be melted again the liquid mixture is bubbling and producing steam in the wooden press the cloth used nowadays is of the type manufactured for pressing fruit pulp special care is taken not to spill any of the wax freed of course solid contaminants the hot wax water mixture runs into a wooden tub only tiny particles can pass through the cloth when it is sufficiently full the cloth is twisted up the Parma yankin bought one of gales brothers screws the press closed and the spindle pushes the heavy wooden board against the ribs at the front of the pressing space this particular model is known as a starter press after every pressing the big cauldron is refilled towards the end it takes considerable effort to turn the screw to maximize the yield the press is opened at this stage to press the wax a second time the contents of the cloth are loosened and replaced after turning with the help of boiling water the rest of the wax is washed out after this effort the pressing is finished the cloth with the residues is set aside to cool the wax is added continuously and to keep the vessel on the boil wood is placed on the fire at regular intervals Oh few words are exchanged as August and Yan work together before reusing the plot the cold residues are discarded the next pressing begins because of the danger of the hot spurting wax and to avoid too rapid a cooling process the presses cover in the tub the wax and water have separated the lighter wax floats so that the contaminated water underneath can be ran off once more it is time to refill the cauldron with further wax to be treated as soon as they collecting and cleaning tub is filled with wax this can be labeled into moles to form wax blocks care is taken to remove wax only from the surface hot water in the bucket mold prevents the wax from cooling too quickly which might cause cracks while hardening the hot water also serves to keep the wax from sticking to the mold and makes it easier for the last of their contaminants to settle the press is unscrewed again in order to turn the cloth on its contents around hot water is added to reheat and rinse the contents in the same way one cloth after another is pressed to make room for the newly processed wax water must continually be let out of the tub if the temperature is allowed to rise too steeply there is danger that the wax will boil over and catch fire therefore the temperature is regulated by adding cold water August and Yan must work several days to process all of the wax saved since the previous winter from three kilograms of crude wax one kilogram of clarified wax is obtained up to 150 kilograms of clarified wax are made on a single day of pressing the wax blocks must be cooled at least a day before finishing this work is done by the head beekeeper Gail Flynn thought himself his brother Yan helps him the top of the blocks are rounded off so that the edges are not fragmented during transport at the bottom of each bucket mold a thin layer of fine impurities has settled out of the wax this layer is paired off the block and discarded to do this the beekeeper uses a strong pocketknife typically for summer wax wasps and flies become embedded in the top layer during the cooling process they must also be removed the cleaner the wax the higher the price each fetches when it is sold 10 to 15 blocks other product of one day of pressing because wax is so valuable the pairings cleaned off the blocks are saved for the next pressing until they are sold the wax blocks are stored in the loft the average weight of these wax blocks is eight and a half kilograms there are 50 to 60 blocks of wax in the loft at feet deeper clean thoughts a pure a 500 kilograms the product of a good year at about 12 marks per kilo each block is worth 100 marks a useful reserve when special out layers have to be made you

Channel: Treatment-Free Beekeeping

Views: 602,308

Rating: 4.4165177 out of 5

Keywords: Skep Beekeeping, Treatment-free Beekeeping, Foundationless

Id: hn5OxMXCSz8

Length: 134min 15sec (8055 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 28 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/NerdyKirdahy]

I don’t get it. I can’t even look at this without getting stung.