Economics of beekeeping

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by RGTraynor

Quite so. The first time I saw a wide selection of honey types in a health food store, I called BS, but bought some "blueberry" and some "orange blossom" all the same to try it out. Man was I wrong.

In addition to brewing, I occasionally make mead. I can confirm that varietal honey makes a huge difference in the final product as does age (old honey loses aroma and flavor). Orange blossom honey makes an amazingly good mead. Well handled, it has an almost unfair advantage in competition.

Clover usually honey makes a very "one dimensional" mead with very little complexity in aroma or flavor. It's good as a "base" for simple spice, herb, or fruit-added meads. Wildflower honey usually makes darker colored, more intensely flavored meads which aren't to everyone's liking.

A final fun fact is that bees will sometimes make honey from toxic nectar producing honey which is toxic to humans (and sometimes bees!).

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I wonder if there were land use disputes about beekeeping. The thing about bees is, they're not likely to obey property lines or fences, so if you put a hive right next to your neighbor's orchard, you can take advantage.

Modern disputes concerning bees involve people who have been stung by bees and go after the owner for an improperly sited hive or, more recently, a beekeeper suing a local property owner for laying down pesticides which decimate nearby hives.

Typically, there's more potential bee fodder in a healthy ecosystem than there are hives. If that changes, a weaker hive will just die off or might be attacked and wiped out by another bee colony or by predators (wasps adore beehives; a bee's sting is designed to efficiently eviscerate attacking wasps and other insects, not get torn out when it gets stuck in some mammal's flesh). Alternately, a newly established hive might decide that conditions aren't to their liking and swarm to a new location.

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

A final fun fact is that bees will sometimes make honey from toxic nectar producing honey which is toxic to humans (and sometimes bees!).

There's some rich gaming potential in that bit of trivia. Poison, sure. But also, potentially, other sorts of things. In Middle Earth, perhaps the honey from simbelmynë or athelas has special properties. In any fantasy game, honey made from mythically potent flowers could be a source of druidic potions.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Dalin

There's some rich gaming potential in that bit of trivia. Poison, sure. But also, potentially, other sorts of things. In Middle Earth, perhaps the honey from simbelmynë or athelas has special properties. In any fantasy game, honey made from mythically potent flowers could be a source of druidic potions.

So, it turns out that Aconitum produces nectar that serves to attract pollinators (pollinators typically also get some calories from eating some of the pollen, but that's not an option with Aconitum's poisonous pollen). With at least one species, while the nectar is safe for the bees, their honey can be dangerous for humans due to containing aconite.

Aconitum is frequently cited as a possible cure for lycanthropy, thanks to one of its common names, Wolfsbane (it's also known as Monkshood for its shape) - or as a particularly-potent poison against lycanthropes (I think I've seen some cases where it's both - proper use of it after contracting lycanthropy but before one's first transformation can cure the victim, but once the victim has experienced their first tranformation it is only a deadly poison). So, maybe rather than using Wolfsbane directly, it's much more effective to use honey made from its nectar for battling (or curing) lycanthropes.

Also, I'm thinking athelas honey may be a key ingredient in the making of lembas bread.

[dcarson]

And bees can get inventive. robbing a M&M factory for sugar and getting blue honey.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by dcarson

And bees can get inventive. robbing a M&M factory for sugar and getting blue honey.

Bees will go for anything with sugar in it. If they forage mostly on berries the honey can take on a bluish or purplish cast.

I've heard stories about beekeepers near outdoor festivals or amusement parks who ended up with cola-flavored honey made from soft drinks scavenged from trash bins or spills.

If you want to move into the realm of fantasy, there are a number of other variant honeys. The one made by vulture bees sounds downright creepy.

https://backyardbeekeeping.iamcountr...x/weird-honey/