Beekeeping Series, Part 4

Products and by-products which can be made out of honeycombs.

By Julio P. Yap, Jr.

Read Part 3.

We’ve discussed how Milea Bee Farm propagates native honeybees. This article focuses on the products and byproducts which can be made out of honeycombs and the different products which can be derived from the hive are important, particularly for the modern agricultural system. Honeybees pollinate a good portion of our crops, including diverse agricultural plants such as fruit trees, vegetables, small berries, and forage crops.

For the Milea Bee Farm, beekeeping does not only provide the farm with a healthy ecosystem, it is also a source of joy for Rico Omoyon, its owner. To top it all off, beekeeping also provides beneficial products and services.

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Honeybees pollinate a good portion of our crops, including diverse agricultural plants such as fruit trees, small berries, and forage crops.

Products

Here are some of the money-making products and services that beekeeping may offer to the would-be beekeeper:

• Honey: The cheapest product from the hive, and the most sought after. It is a remarkable viscous liquid, prepared by the bees from the nectar of different plants. It occupies a prominent place in traditional medicines throughout history.

In addition, pure, raw honey is healthy, easily digestible, natural, and energy-rich food. It contains carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, enzymes, and vitamins, which are needed for maintaining a healthy body. Mixed with water and taken on an empty stomach, honey may also keep the doctor away.

• Honeycombs: Selling fresh honey which is still inside the comb assures careful customers that they are getting 100 percent pure honey as one cannot get any honey any purer than what is in honeycombs. Pure honey is recommended for when one needs to take it without any additives, for use in desserts, or to heal sore throats, coughs, and colds.

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Fresh honey which is still inside the comb assures careful customers that they are getting real 100 percent pure honey.

• Bee pollen: Collected by bees from flowers, pollen is a potent energy booster, and stamina builder. It also helps burns and metabolize fat, and boost mental capacity. Bees have the unique ability to choose the freshest, ripest, and most nutritious pollen grains each day. Each bee moistens these grains with nectar and propolis then compresses them into a pellet, depositing this into their hive and diligently covering them with propolis.

For stingless bees, pollen is collected from the bee hives once a year and carefully air-dried to preserve its high potency.

Propolis is a resin-like material made from leafy buds, twigs, and tree bark.

• Bee propolis: Propolis is a resin-like material made from leafy buds, twigs, and tree bark. The bees carry the propolis back to their hives and mix it with their salivary secretions and wax flakes. For the bees, the main role of propolis is to protect them against disease.

Propolis chips can be fermented in fruit alcohols. Studies have shown that propolis extract boosts the immune system, and even keeps cancer cells from forming. It is also antiinflammatory, and has high antioxidant levels. Bee propolis extract is also used to produce throat spray, pimple treatment cream, and hygienic washes. The Milea Bee farm uses propolis from stingless bees.

Byproducts

• Beeswax: This is collected by honeybees of the genus Apis from plant resins. It is used to form the honeycomb structure where honey and larva are stored. Pure, unadulterated beeswax is used for the production of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. It can also be used to produce balms, hand creams, furniture polish, and leather polish, among others.

• Honey cider vinegar: This is a byproduct of harvested honey. Beekeepers usually wash empty honeycombs with purified water, boil it, and then store it until it becomes vinegar. The resulting honey cider vinegar is very healthy, and may also be used for detoxification.

• Queen bees: Apis mellifera queen bees are in great demand among most beekeepers. They are replaced every year to ensure a strong colony before the honey flow.

Other Benefits

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Conducting beekeeping orientation and appreciation sessions, particularly with grade school children, may be the key to starting them young in beekeeping.

• Beekeeping workshops: The Milea Bee farm holds regular beekeeping workshops on-site in San Jose, Batangas; they also conduct these workshops in the different provinces to which they are invited.

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Starter colonies are readily available for interested individuals who may want to start the propagation of bees or for pollination purposes.

• Selling starter colonies: Bees can be sold to other beekeepers and transported in either a transport box or a standard hive.

• Selling of beekeeping supplies and equipment: Beginning beekeepers will be interested in this service to address their beekeeping needs.

• Providing beekeeping services: Enterprising beekeepers can offer services such as consultations, colony rescue, swarm removal, colony relocation, colony rentals, and conducting beekeeping orientations or seminars.

Contact:

Next: An overview of the products that the Milea Bee Farm has produced from honeycombs.

This appeared in Agriculture Monthly’s October 2015 issue.