Collecting Wild Honey

The Government

The Government

Joined
Aug 21, 2009
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Any bee experts out there? I am looking for a recommendation on the best way to collect wild honey.

I found a HUGE nest of honey bees in a local forest and I thought it would be fun to try and collect some wild honey. The nest is about 2.5 cubic feet! I don't want it all, just a good sized piece.

This does not have to be a "survival situation" where I am collecting food, but more of a casual hike to collect some honey.

Do you guys have any tips for how I could go about this? I really want some wild honey:D and I wouldn't mind a few stings to get it.

Thanks.

PS- I'll try to remember my camera the next time I go back to snap some pictures for you guys. It is an amazing nest.
 
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Well I'd discourage you from doing it since wild hives are sort of rare these days.

But wear gloves, use a wide brimmed hat with bug netting secured around your neck.

Rubber bands around your pants and shirt sleeves.

You have to find a way to blow some smoke onto the hive to pacify it and then you'd break a peice off of the hive, hopefully one that has honey, use something to brush the bees off it and quickly put it in a ziplock or something.
 
This guy can help you

man_vs_wild_bee_sting.jpg



Still my favorite episode because he gets this and also....drinks piss outta snakeskin... way to go... :rollseyes:
 
Bees are having a hard time right now due to pesticides and they play a vital role pollinating the food we depend on.

I agree with HD, if you have a wild hive, leave it alone and get your honey from a local farmer. Chris
 
Pesticides are the least of the problems, although they may be contributing. Colony Collapse Disorder has decimated the bee industry, and wild bees, in recent years. I'd say it may be interesting to try to collect wild honey, but I suggest you not do it. Any viable beehive should be left alone. As was mentioned, buy from a local beekeeper.
 
Don M said:
Pesticides are the least of the problems, although they may be contributing. Colony Collapse Disorder has decimated the bee industry, and wild bees, in recent years. I'd say it may be interesting to try to collect wild honey, but I suggest you not do it. Any viable beehive should be left alone. As was mentioned, buy from a local beekeeper.
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I would really like to keep this thread on the topic of collecting wild honey, but I do understand the concern for semi-endangered species and if it was paramount I certainly would not want to harm the sweet little honey producers. :thumbup:

From what I understand, where I live they are a classified invasive specie. I live in Hawaii where honey bees are non-native and pollinate other non-native invasive plants. It is kind of controversial since many people like bees/ honey and they are good for some farmers chosen agriculture, but they support many other invasive plants to Hawaii. Being on an isolated island it is very important to maintain the flourishing of native plant evolution because it can easily be upset by invasive species -including bees.

Here is a short article if you are interested: http://www.hawaii247.org/2009/10/13...e”-hawaii-government-stings-honey-bees/
 
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Don M said:
Pesticides are the least of the problems, although they may be contributing. Colony Collapse Disorder has decimated the bee industry, and wild bees, in recent years. I'd say it may be interesting to try to collect wild honey, but I suggest you not do it. Any viable beehive should be left alone. As was mentioned, buy from a local beekeeper.
Click to expand...

See that is why this forum is great, I read an article last week that mentioned Colony Collapse and pesticides, I thought pesticides are what caused it, I didn't realize it was a seperate problem. :foot: Chris
 
August West said:
See that is why this forum is great, I read an article last week that mentioned Colony Collapse and pesticides, I thought pesticides are what caused it, I didn't realize it was a seperate problem. :foot: Chris
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There was an article in Scientific American last year (April 09) about Colony Collapse Disorder. There are a number of potential causes, but it is not completely understood. It may be a combination of several things. I can't seem to locate that issue right now, but if memory serves me a leading contender was an introduced virus, which could have gained ground on bees weakened by other causes (pesticides, mites, etc.)

And The Government - now that you explain where you are and the conditions there, some of the comments here may not apply.
 
You can rob a wild hive and not have and adverse effect on the bees. In HI, there are probably always flowers pollinating and producing nectar so you won't have to worry about starving them. In more northern climes, you'd want to rob mid summer to give them time to recover and prep for winter. Smoke will disorient the bees and drive them deeper into their hive. If you get tagged, smoke the sting as it will mask the attack pheromone and keep the bees from swarming you.

The bees tend to store their honey higher in the hive and around the edges. Brood (eggs and babies) and the queen will generally be in the center and lower in the hive.

Cover up. Pants in your socks, sleeves in your gloves. headnet would be nice. Bring a mirror and flashlight to inspect the hive. Look for an opening you can get a hand and arm into and find honeycomb. Capped honey looks wet and whitish-yellow. Capped brood looks dry and brown. The comb may be darker if it's an older hive though...

Good luck. Take pics and post!
 
HomeBru said:
You can rob a wild hive and not have and adverse effect on the bees. In HI, there are probably always flowers pollinating and producing nectar so you won't have to worry about starving them. In more northern climes, you'd want to rob mid summer to give them time to recover and prep for winter. Smoke will disorient the bees and drive them deeper into their hive. If you get tagged, smoke the sting as it will mask the attack pheromone and keep the bees from swarming you.

The bees tend to store their honey higher in the hive and around the edges. Brood (eggs and babies) and the queen will generally be in the center and lower in the hive.

Cover up. Pants in your socks, sleeves in your gloves. headnet would be nice. Bring a mirror and flashlight to inspect the hive. Look for an opening you can get a hand and arm into and find honeycomb. Capped honey looks wet and whitish-yellow. Capped brood looks dry and brown. The comb may be darker if it's an older hive though...

Good luck. Take pics and post!
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Excellent :D

Thank you for the valuable information. The only thing I am missing is the mask/ net. I don't think I am going to brave the hive without one. It could be a while before I do this, but in the mean time I will take some pictures. It is only a short hike into the forest and I drive by it all the time.

So is the idea to smoke myself and not the hive or do I want the bees to go deep into the hive?
 
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The Government said:
Excellent :D

Thank you for the valuable information. The only thing I am missing is the mask/ net. I don't think I am going to brave the hive without one. It could be a while before I do this, but in the mean time I will take some pictures. It is only a short hike into the forest and I drive by it all the time.

So is the idea to smoke myself and not the hive or do I want the bees to go deep into the hive?
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Be careful and make sure someone else knows what's going on, or at least is watching from a distance, especially if you are going in without protection. Have a plan in case you get swarmed and/or stung alot and have some anti-histamine ready.

Look forward to the pics.
Jason
 
If you are going to go after it, ductape your sleeves to your gloves, and all possible opening that you have. Wear two layers of clothes, light colors, and use a smoker or some kind of smoking device. If you don't have any experience getting the honey or working with bees, I wouldn't say it is worth your time as you will lose alot more honey and end up killing the hive/getting stung than if you knew what you were doing.
 
Don M said:
There was an article in Scientific American last year (April 09) about Colony Collapse Disorder. There are a number of potential causes, but it is not completely understood. It may be a combination of several things. I can't seem to locate that issue right now, but if memory serves me a leading contender was an introduced virus, which could have gained ground on bees weakened by other causes (pesticides, mites, etc.)

And The Government - now that you explain where you are and the conditions there, some of the comments here may not apply.
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Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus is looking more and more to be a cause rather than a complication.
 
Out west we have these so called 'killer bee' hives spreading as well, and they are very aggressive. It's interesting how some societies completely ignored honey even though it was readily available, and some societies, like the vikings for example, made it a staple in every day diet even though they were buried in snow 8 months out of the year. If there's a safe and proficient way to do it while in a survival situation with improvised materials, it would be a good skill to know, that's for sure. It sounds a bit gear intensive though.
 
The Government said:
Any bee experts out there? I am looking for a recommendation on the best way to collect wild honey.

I found a HUGE nest of honey bees in a local forest and I thought it would be fun to try and collect some wild honey. The nest is about 2.5 cubic feet! I don't want it all, just a good sized piece.

This does not have to be a "survival situation" where I am collecting food, but more of a casual hike to collect some honey.

Do you guys have any tips for how I could go about this? I really want some wild honey:D and I wouldn't mind a few stings to get it.

Thanks.

PS- I'll try to remember my camera the next time I go back to snap some pictures for you guys. It is an amazing nest.
Click to expand...


honey bees are not native to N america. so finding an established colony in the wild is a rare treat. i would leave it alone. however, eventually they will all die. between humans and the native competition will eventually wipe them out. #'s are showing this at a rapid pace. if you take some please try to be discrete as you can.
 
PayetteRucker said:
Out west we have these so called 'killer bee' hives spreading as well, and they are very aggressive. It's interesting how some societies completely ignored honey even though it was readily available, and some societies, like the vikings for example, made it a staple in every day diet even though they were buried in snow 8 months out of the year. If there's a safe and proficient way to do it while in a survival situation with improvised materials, it would be a good skill to know, that's for sure. It sounds a bit gear intensive though.
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Years ago I watched a show about a very primitive tribe in the African jungle that showed how they collected honey. The guy used a vine wrapped around the tree as a harness and climbed a VERY tall, large tree barefoot. Once at the nest, he chopped a hole in the trunk to get at the nest. He had a bundle of green leaves with embers in it to smoke the hive. He was perched at least 100 ft off the ground (probably much higher), with essentially no clothes and a primitive smoker, sitting on a single vine wrapped once around the tree. Obviously, he was stung. But I guess they really wanted the honey. He got several baskets full of comb loaded with honey. It was impressive.
 
I had thought that some of the problems with the bees was a tracheal mite that was even affecting the comercial bee keepers. It was killing the bees off. A big concern for the bee loss is the pollination issue. Need the pollination for the production of food. My concern about messing with wild bees is that I wouldn't want to piss off some killer bees, more aggressive. If you are going to do this, make sure you have someone around to take you to the hospital if things go south. I once had an ordeal with bumble bees, the tennis racquet only worked so long. It was fun while it lasted.
 
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