Bring out your dead!! And other bee hygiene facts

Someone at work a couple weeks ago asked me if my honey was FDA approved. I tried to keep a straight face. And then someone else asked me if it was safe to buy farmstand unpasteurized honey. It's a legitimate question!!

No, my honey will not be FDA approved. Why? Read on...

Yes, it's safe to buy honey. Why? Well. There are many reasons.

First of all, honey lasts forever. Sealed honey has been found in Egyptian tombs, still in edible form.

Secondly, honey is fungus and bacteria resistant. Some people actually use honey to swab on cuts, much like Neosporin or Bactine.

Thirdly, honey isn't processed. It's spun out of the frames using a centrifugal force, allowed to settle so any sediment (bits of honeycomb, etc.) falls to the bottom, and put in a bottle for your consumption. It's pure.

There are warnings not to feed honey to babies, but that is for the same reason that you shouldn't feed them peanut butter or strawberries; they could develop an allergy or have an allergic reaction.

Finally, honeybees are VERY hygenic. They don't like anything to be in their hives except themselves and their honey and pollen. Sandy says that she put in some sweet fern fronds (which is an organic way to combat the ants which sometimes lurk around the hives), and witnessed the bees carrying it out the next day!! They don't even poop in their hive. They take it outside. My kids are amazed that bees are "potty trained." If you see evidence that bees are going in the hive, there is usually a problem. Winters are tough for them. YOU try holding it for weeks on end!!

I snapped a photo to illustrate this the other day. Another thing that is not allowed to lurk around the hive is carcasses. I've seen bees pick up their dead comrades and fly them out of the hive a few times, but I was messing around in the hive and actually got to snap two of them finagling a dead bee into one's grasp so they could move her out of the hive. First, they actually cleaned off any pollen she had on her (recycling!).


Then one of them got underneath her to grab her and fly her off. Look at her poor little tongue hanging out, she's dead...