HONEY ?

In many areas there are local beekeeping organizations that people can call if they see a swarm. A swarm is a large group of bees resting in one location, such as on a tree. This would be a group that split from an original hive and is now looking for a new home. In many areas beekeepers will come and collect the swarm and provide a new home for them. Safe for all concerned. (Although in fairness most swarms are not really dangerous; they're following the queen, not looking to attack or sting anyone.)

NotSpaghetti - thanks for your reply.
There's a Jewish tradition of using honeyon fruit and bread at our New Year - around Sept/Oct. So our local Tesco stocks up on various types but I noticed most of the Manuka honey was left on the shelves. And reduced later.
It had been about £15 for a small jar .

The tastiest honey we have ever had was on a small Greek island. We were told that the bees fed on thyme in the forest.

agnurse I think it’s not actually the queen that chooses the new hive site, there are bees that go out looking for the best place to settle and then they “persuade” the colony to follow them. That’s what I understand anyway.

Also, the reasons some swarms are gentle and others more cross is to do with how recently they left the first hive, the weather etc.
If they are still full of honey they are ok. If they are unexpectedly caught in a cold snap or struggling to find a new home they will be using those stores up and getting more jittery. Sometimes it can take 3, 4,5 days to rehome themselves if a beekeeper doesn’t catch them.

We have always been bee conscious gardeners, and am fascinated by them. I watched Martha Kearney’s series The
Wonder of Bees and it was very informative. I have only seen one swarm. It was huge and rather scary as it passed over my garden. I heard later that a beekeeper had been following its progress across the neighbourhood. We have a local Honey Trail where you can visit local bee keepers and buy their produce. Delicious.

@Fennel. I lived in New Zealand for a while so this is general knowledge I gathered while there. There will undoubtedly be more up to date information available online.

Manuka honey is gathered from hives placed near areas of wild Manuka which is a bush similar to the Tea tree bush. Like tea tree Manuka has anti bacterial properties in the same way as many of our herbs e.g. Thyme. Clearly you cannot control where your bees gather their nectar so the honey produced has varying amounts of anti bacterial properties. The honey can be tested and the strength of this “Manuka Factor” quantified. The higher the number the better the anti bacterial effects.
Now to the science. Honey with a high Manuka factor has been scientifically proven to aid healing when used in surgical dressings and because of that it commands high prices. Results can be dramatic. e.g. an ulcer which refuses to heal despite a variety of standard treatment can respond beautifully.
When Manuka honey is ingested (e.g. on your morning toast) there is no scientifically proven benefit to humans.
There is huge anecdotal “evidence” of it’s efficacy when ingested which corresponds to the scientific consensus that it has an unusually high placebo effect.
All this is a really long winded way of saying that if you use the best quality on a wound it is likely to help. If you eat it you are just eating a very expensive honey.
I would also point out that NZ produces 1,700 tons of honey a year yet 10,000 tons of it is being sold annually worldwide including 1,800 tons in the UK alone.
From this you can assume that most Manuka Honey sold is fake.

From this you can assume that most Manuka Honey sold is fake.
Or, maybe Esspee that New Zealand is another of the countries that China is re-directing through? Or both?

Very interesting Esspee.
We didn't buy it btw. But maybe the much cheaper 'good quality' honey we bought was also fake? It did had a piece of honeycomb in it.

only new Zealand produces manuka honey, and if people will pay premium for honey with a high manuka factor then they'll charge it, also as manuka is wild the is a finite supply.
Most honey will solidify unless it something like acacia, which stays liquid for a long time, or heather which is not actually liquid but it stays clear. Often if you buy liquid honey it will have been heated up to keep it liquid, heating destroys most of the flavour and aroma. ~Rape honey goes hard very quickly, clover always goes hard too.
If you have a local beekeeper they will probably do you some minimally filtered honey, unfortunately lots of people will complain if there are bits in it, fair enough if they are huge bits, but we had people complain about little bits of propolis because it looked like 'black bits' so you have to be careful selling to the public, who expect a supermarket type product. Beekeepers eat the stuff that has lots of bits of wax in, just filtering out the biggest bits of wax

NotSpaghetti Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I was not intending to suggest that NZ exports fake Manuka honey. If you are a honey importer or producer anywhere in the world your product can sell for a vast amount of profit if you label it Manuka honey. The distinctive flavour can be replicated. Or you can mix your honey with the genuine article.
Please remember that swallowing it has no proven health benefits which is why I posted on this thread in the first place.

I'm certain here was a study about the benefits of Manuka honey and bacterial gastro-enteritis some years ago. Can't remember much about it but if anyone's interested it might be worth googling. Also there was one where they used manuka honey chews (of some sort) and compared it to a control of chewing gum and found the manuka honey helped with gingivitis and periodontal disease.
I suppose this second study was definitely the antibacterial properties Esspee

I was told that all honey is antibacterial to some extent though. Even our own wildflower honey. Manuka is obviously especially so.

The “Trust me I’m a doctor” article on Manuka honey which you can google gives a summary of the medical findings which you may find interesting @NotSphagetti
Swallowing it has no proven health benefits. They even state that you should not use it on topical wounds as only the medical grade is safe. This can be bought in surgical dressings.

I remember my first contact with the Manuka honey industry. I had parked the car near to hives in the scrub where the Manuka bushes were in flower. The bees were in a feeding frenzy and showed no interest in us.
We had a lovely picnic by the river and the afternoon was spent reading and lounging in the shade.
On returning to the car it was unrecognisable. Instead of silver it was now a pale mustard colour. Close up the mustard colour was a series of tiny spots.
Turns out the last thing bees do before returning to the hive was to defacate and the car was under the main flight path?
Lesson learned. Never did that again. ?