Hunting the Wild Honey Tree

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From the time the spring honey flow is fully off and running until midsummer, you can safely remove most of the bees' store of honey, since they'll still have time to replenish the supply before winter. However, in late summer or early fall, at least 40 pounds (in mild climates) and 80 pounds (in areas with harsh winters) should be left inside the tree to insure the colony's survival during the cold nectarless months. Also, leave any brood comb (the cells that contain larvae) in the tree, and the queen bee if you find her. (Should you inadvertently remove the queen, however, the colony will raise a new one. . . provided you've left some young brood.)

Now, replace the slab and tie or nail it into place, plugging up any holes with boards, pieces of bark, or stones to keep out the rain. In other words, do your best to help the colony survive, and you'll have your very own natural apiary that can be visited once or twice a year for honey extraction. (All you'll have to do then is remove the previously cut slab . . . help yourself to some honey . . . and put the cover in place again!)

BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

Should you decide to take the insects home for your apiary, cut the fallen tree up into sections (they're called "bee gums"), each 18" to 30" long. Then give the bees an hour or so to calm down and return to the various gums. Once that's happened, staple some fly screen over both ends of each section, and you'll have portable logs with all the honey and most of the bees sealed inside. Take care, though, to transport the gums as gently as possible . . . to avoid damaging the comb.

Once the pieces are safely back home, you can transfer the bees to a commercial hive from which the inner and outer covers have been removed. To do so, take the screen off each tree section and split the log in half, exposing the comb inside. Lift out the pieces of comb, one at a time, and brush the bees into their new home. Then separate the comb into honeycomb (for you) and brood comb (for the bees). Be very careful not to injure the queen when you move her. Once she accepts her change of address, many of the worker bees will tend to stay put. Secure the brood comb in the four center frames of your hive, using elastic bands. Then replace the covers and leave the bees alone. By nightfall, most of them will have moved into their new residence.

To extract the honey from the comb you've kept for yourself, place a fine strainer over a large bowl . . . break off pieces of honeycomb . . . and crush them with your hands. Drop these wadded-up balls into the strainer and allow them to drain. The result of this delightfully gooey exercise will be a bowl full of natural honey and a strainer full of sticky beeswax. You can purify the latter material by dropping the balls of crushed honeycomb into a pot of boiling water, causing the wax to melt and float to the top. At that point, set the pot aside. As the beeswax cools, it will harden on the water's surface and can be easily removed . . . to be sold or made into candles.

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