OKEHAMPTON Beekeepers’ started their series of winter meetings on October 13 with a film show, entitled “Honey, a Beekeeper’s Guide”. The meeting was attended by more than 30 members.

Branch Chair, Marian, introduced the film which was shown in sections.

The first section of the film covered the law controlling EU honey. Peter Martin advised that although EU honey could include aphid secretions (honeydew), honey in the UK would almost certainly be produced from plant nectar.

Honey is composed primarily from a mixture of fructose and glucose with a maximum sucrose content of five per cent permitted. Honey with high fructose content crystallises more slowly. It should have a maximum water content of 18 per cent. Water content above 20 per cent disqualifies the product from sale as honey.

Section two dealt with honey harvesting. Paul Metcalfe demonstrated the traditional method of extracting honey from a straw skep by asphyxiating the bees with a sulphur stick. He then proceeded to demonstrate driving bees upwards from one skep to another, as a more bee-friendly alternative, before moving on to current practices used today for clearing bees from removable frame hives.

The section on harvesting concluded with Jill Tinsley’s demonstration of clearing bees from supers using bee repellent.

The third section covered honey extraction, including use of uncapping knives and the benefits of an adequate uncapping tray for draining removed cappings. The film included loading a 16 frame radial extractor and stressed the importance of balancing frames in the extractor to minimise vibration. Honey extraction concluded with honey filtering, showing the use of course and fine honey filters.

Section four dealt with different types of honey, corresponding to the different tree and plant nectar sources. Tree blossom produces a darker honey than clover, rape or field beans. Bell Heather yields a fine dark red honey. Paul Metcalfe listed the different nectar producers in chronological order through the year.

Following a five minute interval Jill Tinsley drew the honey from a ripening tank mounted conveniently on a tilted platform. This avoided the need for manual tilting.

The penultimate section dealt with judging of entries at the National Honey Show.

John Watts, a most amusing beekeeper concluded the film with a very thorough explanation of the process to make mead from honey. He demonstrated this on a warm summer’s afternoon in his garden, and before too long his bees started to take a lively interest!

Our next meeting, on Thursday, November 10, will be the branch AGM to elect branch officers and committee members for the coming year and will be followed by a bring and share meal.

Will Pyne