Hi from sunny Qld, Australia

[Willow10]

Hi!

We're Doug and Lyn. We live in Queensland, Australia.  We got into beekeeping for a couple of reasons.  1 - with 8 children who all love honey, we figured we might save ourselves some money eventually;  2) we wanted to make sure we were eating the real deal - raw honey; and 3) we thought we'd see if eating not only raw, but local, honey would help Lyn's hayfever. 

We've had a couple of hives for several years and love eating honey made from our bees.  We're also happy to say there has definitely been an improvement in Lyn's hayfever.  It's almost now non-existent.

Look forward to chatting with others here on this forum.   

[cao]

Welcome. 

[Willow10]

Welcome. 

Thank-you!   

[blackforest beekeeper]

Hi!

We're Doug and Lyn. We live in Queensland, Australia.  We got into beekeeping for a couple of reasons.  1 - with 8 children who all love honey, we figured we might save ourselves some money eventually;  2) we wanted to make sure we were eating the real deal - raw honey; and 3) we thought we'd see if eating not only raw, but local, honey would help Lyn's hayfever. 

We've had a couple of hives for several years and love eating honey made from our bees.  We're also happy to say there has definitely been an improvement in Lyn's hayfever.  It's almost now non-existent.

Look forward to chatting with others here on this forum.   

we got 5 of em.
with "raw" you mean "unheated" or "pure"? we consider both to be important.

[Willow10]

Hi!

We're Doug and Lyn. We live in Queensland, Australia.  We got into beekeeping for a couple of reasons.  1 - with 8 children who all love honey, we figured we might save ourselves some money eventually;  2) we wanted to make sure we were eating the real deal - raw honey; and 3) we thought we'd see if eating not only raw, but local, honey would help Lyn's hayfever. 

We've had a couple of hives for several years and love eating honey made from our bees.  We're also happy to say there has definitely been an improvement in Lyn's hayfever.  It's almost now non-existent.

Look forward to chatting with others here on this forum.   

we got 5 of em.
with "raw" you mean "unheated" or "pure"? we consider both to be important.

You're a busy household, too!  Yes, raw as in unheated, unprocessed, nothing added, straight from the hive.  I'm guessing "pure" means that it is only honey and nothing else, such as rice syrup?  Can a blended honey still be pure if it is just a mixture of different honeys, but no syrups in it? 

[blackforest beekeeper]

I go for raw, too. 

pure I meant nothing but honey. the turkish always ask. And the arabs. Obviously it is common to feed sugar to the bees to get more honey there...

In Germany, "Honey" is only honey when nothing but honey is in it. nothing may be taken out, nothing added. But honeys may be mixed. I guess de-moisturiziation (is that a word???) with an dehumidifier is not meant, or checked on. Don`t see why dryer honey would be no honey. I go for under 16% for liquid honeys and under 17% for creamed honey (which is creamy because it has been stirred). Forest honey may come out of the combs under 15% and even lower. or stay in then....

[Willow10]

I go for raw, too. 

pure I meant nothing but honey. the turkish always ask. And the arabs. Obviously it is common to feed sugar to the bees to get more honey there...

In Germany, "Honey" is only honey when nothing but honey is in it. nothing may be taken out, nothing added. But honeys may be mixed. I guess de-moisturiziation (is that a word???) with an dehumidifier is not meant, or checked on. Don`t see why dryer honey would be no honey. I go for under 16% for liquid honeys and under 17% for creamed honey (which is creamy because it has been stirred). Forest honey may come out of the combs under 15% and even lower. or stay in then....

Yes, in Australia we've got a problem with honey on our supermarket shelves at the moment.  Many of them are imported and have had rice syrup added.  I haven't heard anything about de-moisturisation of honey.  Do people do that? 

[blackforest beekeeper]

Yes. I use a dehumidifyer in the honey-house. keep the combs dry and warm, the honey will loose some moisture. i don`t keep them for longer than two weeks. makes up to 2% I figure.

there is also machines for taking out moisture out of honey that has been already extracted. I never neede that. Hope I won`t.

[Willow10]

Yes. I use a dehumidifyer in the honey-house. keep the combs dry and warm, the honey will loose some moisture. i don`t keep them for longer than two weeks. makes up to 2% I figure.

there is also machines for taking out moisture out of honey that has been already extracted. I never neede that. Hope I won`t.

Oh, that's something I need to do some more reading on.  Thanks for that info. 

[qa33010]

     Glad to meet ya!

[Beelab]

How are your colonies doing? Big spring flow up your way?