New beekeeper here

[Animalfisherwoman]

My BF gave a striper to the guy at the store up the street. Guy gave him a free hive as he was over limit, and advised him that honey could be harvested in two weeks. We want to distribute the honey to friends and family over the holidays and maybe make candles/lip balm with the beeswax.

Is canning necessary here or can we put the honey in jars, put in in the refrigerator and just give it away?

What is required to get the beeswax in candle-making form?

 

[R2elk]

My BF gave a striper to the guy at the store up the street. Guy gave him a free hive as he was over limit, and advised him that honey could be harvested in two weeks. We want to distribute the honey to friends and family over the holidays and maybe make candles/lip balm with the beeswax.

Is canning necessary here or can we put the honey in jars, put in in the refrigerator and just give it away?

What is required to get the beeswax in candle-making form?

DO NOT ever put honey in the refrigerator. It will cause the honey to turn to sugar. Honey should be kept at room temperature in a warm room to keep it in liquid form. Honey is never "canned" but is simply stored in a sterile container whether it be a plain glass jar or a plastic bottle such as a "honey bear".

Never heat honey above 160°F as it will cause the sugars to convert into a different form which is another reason to never put honey in a microwave.

Honey has a natural preservative in it.

You may want to check out the Bees and Beekeeping forum at the BackYardHerds sister site.

 

[Col1948]

On the subject of Honey, I used to get mine from the supermarket, then I read on the internet that there is fake honey or not 100% honey sold in supermarkets.
It said a lot of this comes from China, not sure if that's true or not but since then I have been looking in farm shops for local honey.

There used to be a guy a few years ago that lived not far from me that had hives, I went to his house to possibly buy some but he had moved, where I live in the suburbs of Manchester as far as I know there are no local bee keepers.

Col.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

I find local unprocessed honey beneficial in helping with seasonal allergies, plus as you said I worry less about adulterants when I know the source. Local apiculture clubs/societies may be able to direct you to where you can purchase...

 

[TelfTheElf]

I have bee's...so will be following this thread!!

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

You should check out Horizontal Hives.

 

[Compost King]

Now this is a hobby I could take up, posting here so I get email alerts when people post and in a few years I will likely take this hobby up.

 

[WthrLady]

Building my Top Bar Hive tomorrow and I order my bees next monday!

 

[TelfTheElf]

Nice!

 

[SillyChicken]

I had hives for several years.

We took a break from them last year, but will be starting again this year. Never do a thing with your honey other than put it in a clean container. Store on a shelf at room temp. We harvest ours on a warm day, we use a heat gun to melt the caps open, then stick in a spinner. The honey is only filtered with the screen filter on the spinner. We have harvested some of the wax, but I would spin it out first then harvest the wax, otherwise, it takes for ever to separate the wax from the honey. We put the comb back in the hive so the bees don't have to waste time rebuilding comb, they just have to fix any damage we caused harvesting and then start filling them up again. We get 3 harvest that way in a northern climate and still leave full frames for winter.

Raw natural honey is very healthy and the best sugar substitute there is! It will help with allergies and if you have plants like lavender, it is good for the bees (antibiotic) and for you too!
Store bought honey tastes burnt to me, I hate it!