| Brad | Date: Thursday, 2009-05-14, 8:24 PM | Message # 1 |
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| after a long talk with a beekeeper who has been keeping bees for over 70 years (yes i said over 70 years) and places every year in honey judging for his comb honey (hopefully this year will be my first year for comb honey)
well he told me to make sure i dont use any smoke on the colony while the comb honey is on or it will have a smoke flavor
he says most of the time he doesnt light the smoker anyway and no suit either
well let me know what you all think
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| Jim | Date: Friday, 2009-05-15, 9:12 AM | Message # 2 |
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| I think it just goes to show you that for every beekeeper you ask a question, especially those with the most experience, you'll find another way of doing things. It's a mantra we here again and again "find what works for you". Of course, there are limitations on this but the truth is there many ways to be successful. As for using smoke when the honey boxes are on, I used smoke like crazy last year, my rookie year, when honey supers were on and found absolutely no smokey flavor in my honey including the comb honey I made. As for wearing protective clothing, there were many times when it was completely unnecessary but there were a couple of times when I was glad I had it (probably because I used too much smoke and really made the girls mad  ).
I read an article the other day in the American Bee Journal by Randy Oliver called "The Learning Curve". He started out writing about how many 1000's of mistakes he's made over the years trying to figure things out. He mentioned how sometimes we simply don't realize how many unanswerable questions there really are, but, that if you need a definite answer to ask a second or third year beekeeper. I had to laugh because he was talking about me! I am learning, however, how right he is. The more I visit my girls the more head scratchers I come across. If I stick with this beekeeping thing long enough I may finally come to the conclusion that I don't know much at all. Maybe that will be the subject I start the next meeting with. That should instill confidence in the new beekeepers!  Cheers
Jim
Message edited by Jim - Friday, 2009-05-15, 9:14 AM |
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