Chapter Four Harvesting Q. H.
Chapter Four Harvesting Q. H.
Chapter Four Harvesting Q. H.
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HONEY
A good honey harvest is important. Good quality honey keeps well and gets the best price. It may
be possible to take several honey harvest in one year. Honey harvesting is vary from place to place.
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Smoking the entrance and round the hive to
calm the bees during harvesting Use knife to open the bar gently
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CHAPTER FIVE
HOW TO EXTRACT BEESWAX
Bee wax is a valuable commodity that can be used to make a variety of products. It should not be
thrown away.
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STEPS TO EXTRACT BEESWAX
1. Keep wax from comb harvested for honey separate from the dark or old combs that have
contained bee brood (the young bee larvae before they hatch).
2. Clean comb from harvested honey makes the best wax.
3. Wah the crushed honeycombs in water until they are free of dirty and hooney.
4. Put them in a suitable cloth sack and tie with string.
5. Heat a good quantity of water in a cooking pot.
6. Put in the sack of honeycomb and push it down under hot water.
7. Keep heating the water gently, it should not boil.
8. Keep pressing the sack until all the comb has melted.
NOTE: The melted wax will run through the mesh and rise to the surface of the water.
9. Squeeze the last wax out of the sack between two sticks with a rolling movement. Take
care because the sack will be hot.
NOTE: The wax will be solidify on the surface of the water as it cools.
10. Process the solid wax again to remove remaining dirt.
11. To do this, break the wax again into small pieces
12. Melt the wax in a pan placed inside a second pan of boiling water.
13. Heat until the wax is melted, the dirts settle on the bottom of the pan.
14. Pour the melted wax through a straining material to remove the dirt.
15. Then pour the wax into a smeared container of the desired shape. You can smear the
coontainer with soap to prevent the wax sticking as it hardens.
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CHAPTER SIX
ADDING VALUE TO HONEY BEE PRODUCTS
Honey has been used for centuries to make fermented drinks such as mead or honey beer. A wide
range of other value added products can be made which includes candles, polish and cosmetics as
well as cooked products made using honey.
Adding value means turning more of the hive products into complex goods, or accessing the selling
chain more effectively so that extra income can be generated.
MAKING CANDLES
Many types of candles can be mades. The choice will depend on the types of market and available
moulds.Candle moulds can vary, bamboo, water pipe or carica papaya(pawpaw) stalks are all
successful.
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Can MAKING A SIMPLE LIGHT
A simple light can be made from a tin can, a clay pot or
a
cut off beer can. The candule burned in the mould and
last
well because all the wax burns and none runs down the
edge of the candle .
Night lights are made in a similar manner.
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MAKING A BASIC BODY CREAM OR OINTMENT
NOTE: Lips balms can be made using this method. Pour into suitable container.
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MAKING A SOFT CREAM
To make a softer cream, add water to the basic recipe. As oil and water don’t mix,
this require an emulsifire.
NOTE: Soft cream will need a suitable preservative if they are to keep well.
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MAKING POLISH
Beeswax can also be use for making polish of different colours and shapes.
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