Killer Bee Honey

Has anyone made mead with Killer Bee honey before? If so, what in particular did you make?

nelsongg said:

Has anyone made mead with Killer Bee honey before? If so, what in particular did you make?

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You are kidding me!

You have more guts that I have and I can be foolish at times.

unfortunately the few people ive talked to ended up destroying the honey getting rid of the bees. ive been looking for some i heard its great!

yea... let me know how that goes...

The honey produced by "killer" bees does not differ from that of non africanized bees. Honey bees in North america that have been hybridized by invasion with african bees gain increased agression and defensiveness but do not produce different honey. The main influence on the flavor of honey is the plants that the bees have gathered nectar from.

I haven't tried that, but I do make all my meads with jackalope snouts.

I picked up a gallon of the stuff this weekend at the Maryland renaissance festival. The booth I got it at was called Bee Folks (The Bee Folks). Preatty pricey at $54.00 for a gallon.

even their standard wildflower is 54$ per gallon they are generaly just overpriced

I used to collect bees from people with bee problems with my friend. He had the business and I would go out with him to get em. Once he had to tarp the hive and then wait them out till they were dead. Most of the time though the poeple wanted to save money from an exterminator and would let him come out and grab them. I went with him once and saw an african hive, man!!!!! They are very aggressive and good honey producers, just fricken crazy. You can steal the african queen and replace it with a Russian or other domesticated queen and eventually turn the hive if it doesn't swarm before hand.

i get a lot of bees on my property but cant quite seem to find the hive, would it be possible to set a trap and collect them and introduce a new queen after 24-48 hours

You won't set a trap. Follow the "bee line". You can sit and watch the flight path and then estimate where to watch from next until you finally track them down, but they are probably as much as a couple of miles away. If you are close to a water source and a food source then they are close by more than likely. If you get a swarm, you can simply creep up and get them into a container like a box and then place them in a bee box with a queen inhibitor (locks the queen in due to her bigger size). Then you have a hive for free. Bees are easy, just creepy.

I know the bee folks manager at the PA Faire. They are overpriced, but they're getting the honey third hand...they're not buying from beekeepers, but a middleman. Their killer bee honey is wildflower from Argentina, where there are no longer any European Honey Bees, just Africanized. I suggest you find a better honey dealer...they're charging retail + even on bulk honey. If you're in MD, you can find some local beekeepers to buy from in bulk. Check out your local beekeeping group for contacts.

buy a hive and starters and a queen. hope and pray they colonize the hive.

Pray to god you dont get stung also..

a few bee stings comes with it i would guess. definately close to a lake and pleanty of food around will be interesting to try and follow