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Articles Should you make 1 gallon of mead or 5 gallons? Mead Making and Alcohol Content The Secret Art of Mead Making Revealed New: 5 Tips for the beginner mead maker It's all about the Honey - A dramatic look at how important honey is in mead making For Beginners: How to make your first and easy 1 gallon batch of Mead honey wine How to make a sparkling champagne style mead How much does it cost to make a batch of mead? I have the cost breakdown here How to make a batch of mead today! The fast, easy, and cheap way to your first batch of honey wine The difference is the honey! A stop motion animation showing two different honeys side by side and how the fermented brew looks Thinking about designing or buying your wine and mead bottle labels? Here is some information about labels and bottles that will help you The Magical Transformation of water into wine with pics How and why to use a hydrometer How to use a wine thief to test your wine or mead Dispelling the Myths about Mead Thoughts about Mead and Wine Making Important note about Sanitizing your Mead making and wine making equipment Learning the art of Patience when making wine or mead How do you know the ferment is working? Checking the PH of your Mead to insure good fermentation (video)
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Bees and Honey
But I don't know much about bees and beekeeping so I have joined the local bee association and am now taking classes. It's a very interesting thing and I am learning a lot. I will keep you updated on the things I learn about beekeeping so check back again. This time of year (february) is typically the time that beekeepers order the queen bee starter kits. This way they can have it delivered in March and start their hives going. I have not yet ordered my queen starter because I don't know enough about the whole process. I may end up helping somebody else with their hive this year and then start my own hive next year. I have posted a video at the bottom of this page. New video and new information: Splitting the hive and finding the queen - We have one good hive and one hive with no queen so to get it going we split some of the resources. Interesting process and you have to find the queen so you don't move her. I have pictures of the queen and a video! Splitting the hive and finding the queen New Video: Opening up an active hive in late June: This hive is active and filling up so we added another layer called a super which is an empty box of racks. Now the bees can grow and expand by filling this new empty box with honey: Video is here
OKAY, I got the beehives and am having some fun with them! Starting off the New Season With the Bee Hives I and my partners have started this new beekeeping season by opening up the beehives and inspecting them. It was a lot of fun and I have some pictures and videos for you.
Here are our beehives. The one on the left is a traditional wooden one and on the right is a newer style styrofoam one. The styrofoam hive appeared to have more activity but as we opened them up we discovered both hives were doing very well.
Here is the smoker that we use to calm the bees down.
Inspecting the hive.
Here is a feeding of the beehive. This gets them off to a good start for the new season. It is a mixture of sugar water. About 2 1/2 pounds of sugar dissolved in water. That is a special section of the hive that is like a container to hold the liquid. The bees have a small access slot so they can go in there and collect the sugar water.
Here is a look at one of the honeycomb frames. Pretty cool huh? Those bees were very busy.
Want to learn more about bees and beekeeping?Interested in raising honey bees? This friendly, practical guide presents a step-by-step approach to starting your own beehive, along with expert tips for maintaining a healthy colony. You get the latest on honey bee medication and treatments, harvesting and marketing your honey, and the impact the sudden disappearance of the honey bee has on our environment and economy.
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Copyright©2001-2010 Kalif Publishing - Contact, copyright and Disclaimer
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As a meadmaker it almost naturally follows that you might have an interest in bees and bee keeping. I know that I do! And there surely is a definite sense of accomplishment and satisfaction for a meadmaker to actually use honey that he raised himself. 
