DIL was given a 4 gallon bucket by a promoter of his honey at the golf course restaurant she manages. Gooood stuff.

Looks like it's starting to crystalliz. Place the container in warm water or direct sunlight several hours and it will go back to clear and smooth.

IMO its best when it crystalizes. I started raising bees thinking it would be cheaper, I was wrong LOL

I am impressed by the number of trappers that are also beekeepers, and that number seems to be increasing every year.

That's all I buy now.

I want to start a couple hives, but kinda intimidating starting up.

Start by joining a beekeeping website. I have studied this, and never started beekeeping myself.

I started on my own just reading books and watching YouTube for our area and started last year , expensive to begin with but totally worthwhile

There is a lot more work involved than I realized. Losses are high, costing you time and money. Lots of pest can turn a healthy hive into a dead/gone hive in a matter of days. Our weird weather the last few years hasn't helped either. In the winter going from 20* to 70* creates a lot of moisture in the hive and forces them to burn through their winter stores 2 months early. Local beekeepers around me are reporting winter losses around 50%, last year it was pushing 75%. Best advice is to fine a mentor AND take a class. Those 2 things alone will straighten the learning curve.

For larger containers it takes longer than a simple soak. A heating cabinet or heat wrap/blanket works better. Just be sure the heat source can't go above 120°.

In a pinch a home heating pad works just fine, better if you can tuck bucket and pad into a cooler or otherwise insulate it to hold in the warmth.

Well made spun honey is an almost otherworldly experience. Melt in your mouth smoothness that not even chocolate can approach.

Looks like it might be Creamed Honey.My sister has bees and does that with some of their honey.Good stuff.

Ever try honey from a Saw palmetto grove, Its the best.

Time for some mead!

I like crystal honey..

I have just just ,dechrytalized a jar of last springs early honey , had it in my breakfast cereal, and coffee. Good stuff. All the bee vitamins, and a bit of pollen. Still in it. old 243

I stored honey in a dark cupboard , and it turned dark and sour.
Is that normal if not stored in day light?
Heard it was too much moisture in it.

This is my 50th consecutive season for keeping bees. Got my first hive in 1974, caught a swarm in a peach tree in Snow Shoe, Pa.

For me nothing like honey from citrus grove blossoms. Lots of adulterated honey out there now with cane syrup mixed in it.

I don't know what my neighbor's bees eat, but the honey is great. I just de-crystalized a quart day before yesterday. I usually buy 4-6 qts a year so my kids and I have a couple ahead. He only charges $12 a qt. too.

The part about self sufficiency or the part about spending a lot of money to never see most of it again.

Both, lol

It was not at least 80% caped when harvest. When the moisture content is correct the beed cap it. That is they seal it over with wax. If the moisture content is to high it will go bad like you experienced. Light or lack there of makes no difference. It's dark inside of the hive. Bees see in infrared unlike us.

I did bees like 12 years straight now have not done for two years after looking at honey I need to get everything ready this summer and order in spring again

OK I heard it was the moisture content, but couldn't understand why it could be higher than other honey.
Thanks , makes me understand it all a lot better.

Is there a way to save it once it turns?
I just tossed it.

Not that I know of it I would have tossed it. I was looking for pictures to show caped frames I have changed phones and don't have any. How far are you from Louisville?

I think I'm the only guy in the world that uses the oven. A 5 gallon pail fits right in my gas oven and it will stay within a couple degrees for days right down to 95 degrees. I set mine at 110 -115F. I agree with the 120F max.

Some was harvested from a wild hive that was being tore out, and some was from A. I. ROOT , which used to be the honey head quarters , but is now bees wax candles world head quarters .
I'm in north east Ohio.
I know a few people to get honey from , was just curious as to why it turned dark and sour.

One of these years I’ll try finding a mentor to tag along with. But most likely if I ever get into beekeeping I’ll dive right in head first and learn as I go. Lol

JP, no need to be intimidated. But if I were you I'd start out with the africanized honey bee's first.

Jurassic it gets addictive. And gets expensive if you don't have self control and keep expanding like I seem to.

I highly recommend getting a very experienced mentor. It will help with a lot of frustration.

I don't really eat enough honey to justify having a hive. I don't know if they are wild or someone has bees close by but there are plenty around every year. Yesterday you could hear my red bud tree humming.

It is addictive. but you have to love it. I just finished 52 splits yesterday and have 13 to do today, over the next 2 weeks will be doing 66 more. so it can get out of hand quick.

I don't eat enough to keep one hive yet I have 16 now. Had 20 going into winter. Will probably have between 25 to 30 going into winter this year if I avoid expanding a bunch. I'm always building because your always going to have losses. But I honestly don't have time to keep up with 20 but bees can be a big part in making the farm profitable in the future.

You can sell and give the extra away to friends and family. Technically there are only feral honey bees here. Honey bees are not native to America and we're brought from Europe by early settlers.

And is my issue. I don't have time for that and wooden Ware gets expensive. Going to be dropping another few k on med suppers this week. Maybe next week since I won't be home but around 19 hrs this week. See the time issues?

Are you doing splits to sell or primary swarm control?

The wife and me bought a dehydrator that will hold 6 quarts of honey and all the other bottle sizes we sell it will give a good even temperature control we usually try to keep it at 110 degree.

Like everything that is really good it costs money all a labor of love

Is it true that local honey helps people with allergies?

I had customers who thought honey was a miracle drug for their allergies. A tablespoon in the am and 1 in the pm and no allergy shots. They wanted the full honey flow season and unfiltered. Sold these people 5-gallon pails of honey.

Many customers tell me it does, and I don’t argue with them. They believe that the pollens in the honey desensitize their allergies. The thing is I’ll have multiple buckets of honey, some made in the spring, some in the summer, and fall honey. If I’m bottling honey from fall honey, primarily from goldenrod, and it’s in the spring of the year….I don’t see how it’s helping with spring pollen allergies.

I'm hesitant for beekeepers to make broad claims but theoretically local honey from your specific area would contain pollens from that area IF the bees worked that particular pollen source.

So assuming a particular reaction to one of those pollens so consuming local honey could desensitize a person to that particular pollen.

However, most hayfever pollens are grass and wind pollinated tree pollens such as conifers, oaks, hickories which for the most part are not preferred by honey bees.

So IMO it's a crap shoot but it can't hurt and honey has many other beneficial aspects.

Never kept bees, but have been known to find a swarm and extract the honey.

Many honeys will darken over time mostly due to oxidation but UV can have negative effects as well. It's particularly noticeable during the extraction process which introduces a good bit of air as it is spun out of the combs. I've seen pure basswood which is as clear as water in the comb, we call it water white, take on a slight hue from just being extracted and bottled.

Sour would indicate fermentation which as said is due to excessive moisture. The reason honey stores well is the bees dry it down below 18%, on average, water content which is to low for yeasts to function. Though that's not a hard and fast as some nectars are notorious for high moisture and can ferment even when capped by the bees and others are much dryer. Commercial packers maintain hot rooms with fans and dehumidifiers to recieve and store incoming honey supers and drums prior to extraction and/or bottling.

Hobbyists can do so on a smaller scale much like we might dry fur.

Fermented honey can be salvaged if caught early or made into mead.

BTW commercial honey is traditionally shipped in 55 gallon drums. Fermenting honey can pop those drums.

For those of us that do make mead...which of those nectars would be good to look for if you can get it fresh enough? We put enough yeast nutrient and energizer in to get things going but its nice to not to have to fight it.

Before I keep bees I heard this and figured it was bs. Then I had development of allergies and they were really bothering me. My wife suggested honey I blew it off. Well when they got irritating enough I tried the local honey she picked up and in a short time no more allergie issues. My thoughts at the time was well probably just went away on its own.

I had similar thoughts when I heard stings helped with arthritis. I thought those people will believe anything. Well I developed arthritis, and became a bee keeper and naturally get stung some. Well my arthritis doesn't bother me during bee season but during winter or even during bee season when I don't get stung for several weeks it starts bothering me again. Is it the bee venom having anti inflammatory properties or the arthritis is only bothersome when I'm not around bees and it's the winter weather ECT?

Personally I believe God provided us with everything we need to fix ourselves on the planet. And I do believe honey and bee venom helps with both. I have nothing but my personal experience. I'm sure there are studies out there on both. But there are also studies saying covid shots are safe and effective. As well as scientists saying things like the science is settled. The most unscientific statement I have ever heard the exact opposite of science in every regard. So I don't put much stock in studies unless I spend a ton of time looking at the method used to get data, sample size, and who funded the studies

Palmetto is known for high moisture and a high natural yeast content.

Id imagine getting palmetto honey would be hard to get up this way