Seasoned beekeepers

[Erichalfbee]

Can't believe anyone could pass off any quantity of syrup as honey and not get pulled up for it. Hope you informed trading standards.

Which is why I asked where?

 

[Beefriendly]

Can't believe anyone could pass off any quantity of syrup as honey and not get pulled up for it. Hope you informed trading standards.

But they are....50% of the Honey show entries at Apimondia in Canada this year were disqualified as not real honey.
Recent survey of Canadian supermarket honey found 42% had been adulterated. I think the figures broke down to all imported honey had been "doctored" whereas the home produced honey was all fine.
AS beekeepers we should be lobbying our MP's to see if something can be done about this....It's keeping honey prices artificially low as we simply cannot compete with crooked organisations who can produce endless amounts of fake honey for pence..
As Fusion mentions a lot of the fake Chinese honey is getting shipped to and exported from other countries like Vietnam, which until recent years was not a major honey exporter.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Talking of Chinese honey , TFM which is a Shropshire merchant have Chinese honey for sale in Ludlow . I'm not sure if there selling it at there other branches .

I asked why they didn't sell local or UK based suppliers honey and the manager couldn't answer me , he said he would try and find out and e-mail me. Three weeks later I've not received an e-mail.

 

[SDM]

But they are....50% of the Honey show entries at Apimondia in Canada this year were disqualified as not real honey.
Recent survey of Canadian supermarket honey found 42% had been adulterated.

It was less than 22% of honey sampled that was adulterated in Canada and were talking about an incident in the U.K.?

 

[Poly Hive]

I was taught that the person with one hive got one hive years experience per year. The person with ten got ten hive years and so on.

Which is why I am inclined to give considerable weight to what a BF says, especially if their initials are ITLD. It's that simple.

Experienced at 3 years? Hardly, especially if only running a couple of hives.

PH

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It seems the BBKA are never happier when they are making up names and titles to make themselves seem more important

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=45709

 

[Swarm]

You don't need a pilot's licence to drive a car.

 

[SWEET]

What are your thoughts.

It'll be my 4th summer* 2020 and feel I've covered enough to manage 10/15 hives next year, I'm doubling the number each season and add to the list of things i'd want to try**, this year was a steep learning curve mostly due to poor timing and personal issues;

1. DEFRA inspections (learning new stuff from the chap)
2. Added supers too late in spring resulting in a swarm (assumed) and new queen from HELL while my lovely queen vanished..
3. Dealing with that HELLish hive, real learning experience that.
4. Supersedure in feral hive (interesting to see pan-out)
5. Marking queens/re-queening (made a crown of thorns)
6. Creating Nucs/swarm spilts
7. Witnessing what Aggressive bees to do a new queen.... x3
8. Leaving Rape Honey to set...
9. Moving full hives at dusk
10. Witnessing and stopping a huge robbing attack
11. Dealing with a worker drone laying hive.
12. Nice summer harvest.
13. Had a custom OB hive made in oak.
14. Other stuff (testing kit/wasps/moths)

*no clubs/mentors/training - just read stuff
** Double brood | More Nuc Building | Queen Rearing (maybe) | Build bee software? | install bees into OB Hive

 

[Beefriendly]

It was less than 22% of honey sampled that was adulterated in Canada and were talking about an incident in the U.K.?

Yes, getting confused with the British Survey earlier this year which showed 55% of major branded honeys tested had added sweeteners.

 

[Murox]

It'll be my 4th summer* 2020 and feel I've covered enough to manage 10/15 hives next year, I'm doubling the number each season and add to the list of things i'd want to try**, this year was a steep learning curve mostly due to poor timing and personal issues;

1. DEFRA inspections (learning new stuff from the chap)
2. Added supers too late in spring resulting in a swarm (assumed) and new queen from HELL while my lovely queen vanished..
3. Dealing with that HELLish hive, real learning experience that.
4. Supersedure in feral hive (interesting to see pan-out)
5. Marking queens/re-queening (made a crown of thorns)
6. Creating Nucs/swarm spilts
7. Witnessing what Aggressive bees to do a new queen.... x3
8. Leaving Rape Honey to set...
9. Moving full hives at dusk
10. Witnessing and stopping a huge robbing attack
11. Dealing with a worker drone laying hive.
12. Nice summer harvest.
13. Had a custom OB hive made in oak.
14. Other stuff (testing kit/wasps/moths)

*no clubs/mentors/training - just read stuff
** Double brood | More Nuc Building | Queen Rearing (maybe) | Build bee software? | install bees into OB Hive

Boldly written, you're going to need a considerable amount of storage and space. Have you got a "honey room"?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes, getting confused with the British Survey earlier this year which showed 55% of honeys tested had added sweeteners.

Good grief!
Is this at hobby honey shows or the big guys’ bulk honey?

 

[Beefriendly]

Good grief!
Is this at hobby honey shows or the big guys’ bulk honey?

Major brands on shop shelves.
It's shocking and astonishing that nothing is being done about it. It artificially depresses the price of a premium product.

 

[BMH]

Major brands on shop shelves.
It's shocking and astonishing that nothing is being done about it. It artificially depresses the price of a premium product.

Aldi do a 1lb jar of soft set with a nice label for 96p.

96p!!!!!!!!!

There is no way its pure honey but states 'honey from no EU sources'.

Its effectively Chinese sugar water with food colouring and thickener

 

[madasafish]

It's great.. Buyers of my own honey find it so much better than shop bought that they will happily buy multiple jars at a time and use them as presents.. I cannot keep up with demand..


Marketted properly , home made honey just disappears...A nice label which looks expensive - but costs approx 12p - and a jar of good tasting local honey becomes a valued present..

But with nasty cheap looking labels - as I often see - or even worse ill fitting ones- and bits in honey (bees, rodent hairs found by a Honey Show judge !!!) . I despair..

Duchy of Cornwall gets it right - £20 a jar..

 

[SWEET]

Boldly written, you're going to need a considerable amount of storage and space. Have you got a "honey room"?

I've looked in reasonable depth at the processing kit/space needed for 300 plus hives and the main players in the EU regards kit but that is a few years away yet.

It'll be a slow ramp-up over several years, no rush and I'll keep it around 10-30 hives (until comfortable), it's meant to be a fun.

 

[Murox]

I've looked in reasonable depth at the processing kit/space needed for 300 plus hives and the main players in the EU regards kit but that is a few years away yet.

It'll be a slow ramp-up over several years, no rush and I'll keep it around 10-30 hives (until comfortable), it's meant to be a fun.

Years ago I used to keep up to 20 hives, basic kit would fit into a garage for storage; but extracting etc was best done in a dedicated clean zone.

 

[bingevader]

Where?

This country, sadly.
Not from a supermarket.
On holiday in the summer.
If I'd opened it before I got home, I'd have taken it back.
Glad it wasn't a present for someone else.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This country, sadly.
Not from a supermarket.
On holiday in the summer.
If I'd opened it before I got home, I'd have taken it back.
Glad it wasn't a present for someone else.

I’m shocked
Not shocked about supermarket imported honey. We all know that is suspect.
But for UK produced honey?
I can understand sugar syrup getting into honey by bad practice but on purpose?
Beggars belief a hobby keeper would do that and as for commercial beekeepers, surely their honey would be tested regularly and their reputation at risk.
How did you discover it was adulterated?

 

[Millet]

How did you discover it was adulterated?

If i remember correct it is very hard to detect sugar in honey and the only place that can do the test is in Germany but it is a expensive process..

 

[Ian123]

Probably got a jar of borage and thought it looked like syrup