Honey bees are managed for pollination service and
for production of honey. The honey bee hive also produces a number of other
valuable products. The Tennessee Beekeepers Association conducts a series of
workshops across the state to train beekeepers in techniques for harvesting
other bee hive resources and for making useful products from them. The
beekeepers examine various pollen traps used to collect pollen. The traps work
by brushing some of the pollen pellets from the pollen baskets on the legs of
worker pollen-foraging bees. The collected bee pollen is a complete protein
containing all of the necessary amino acids as well as all known vitamins and
25 trace elements necessary for mammals. In North America, the majority of
collected bee pollen is fed to livestock. Some trainers feed large quantities
of pollen to race horses. The beekeepers also discuss various methods of
collecting propolis, the antiseptic, antimicrobial, and detoxifying bee glue
that has been used for at least 2000 years. Propolis, the material that honey
bees use to varnish their hive to inhibit wood-rotting fungi, disinfect cells
before the queen lays eggs, and reduce the growth of numerous strains of
pathogenic bacteria, is collected and sold for use in the production of
medications.
The text that the beekeepers use in the sessions on
producing value-added bee hive products, Health
and Healing with Bee Products by C. Leigh Broadhurst, also lists health
benefits of honey. The author, a USDA research scientist, explains that honey
is a broad-spectrum antibiotic; it is antifungal and antimicrobial; and it is
sometimes mixed with propolis for wound treatments. Broadhurst also reveals
that the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes present in honey aid in metabolism.
The beekeepers also use beeswax to make candles and skin-care products. In
today’s picture beekeepers pour beeswax into candle molds. The training
sessions are funded by a grant from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture
which recognizes the importance of increasing beekeeper income to ensure
continued honey bee availability for crop pollination.
--Richard
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