Period Hives: Wood Hives, Part 1

There is very little written about the medieval and Renaissance Italian box hives. We can tell from this picture that vertical and horizontal hives were used. It is my belief, based on the picture and beekeeping experience, the lids were removed and comb was retrieved as needed. I do not believe these were harvested in the manner of skeps. Skep harvesting involves killing the bees at the end of the season by means of drowning or sulfur smoke. I think that combs were cut out one piece at a time as needed.

Italy’s growing and beekeeping season is longer than that of Northern and Eastern Europe. Not unlike Florida, the bees would have a longer season of activity. The increased activity time would allow the bees to easily maintain their hives. This would also allow more time for the bees to recover from a harvest. There was no need to destroy the whole colony.

Medieval Pic: Hive picture from Northern Italy

Detail of a miniature of beehives with bees. Northern Italy. (Lombardy)

From the British Library

August Quote - Driving of the Bees: Charles Butler, 1609

Driving the bees is part of the medieval process of harvesting honey. Skeps do not have frames that allow for easy inspection of the hive and harvesting the honey. Charles Butler recommends driving the bees rather than smoking them out with a sulfur fire.The smoke from the sulfur fire killed the bees and left a residue on the wax and in the honey.

Below is a quote from Charles Butler's "The Feminine Monarchie: Or a Treatis Concerning Bees and the Due Ordering of Them" published in 1609. He discusses how to drive the bees in order to harvest the honey.

“Around midsummer, early in the morning, invert the skep to be driven. Cover the mouth of the full skep with an empty one. Wrap the join with a cloth to seal the opening. Clap rhythmically on the sides of the full hive. The bees will walk to the other hive. After most of the bees have walked to the empty hive, place it where the first hive was. Bees that are coming back from flight will go in there.”  - Charles Butler

History of Honey and Its use in Period: (Part 2 of 6): Honey Collection

(    This is the second in a series of entries on a brief history of honey and its use in pre-1600's history. 

Retrieving honey is the first step to its use. There were two ways to eat the honey, straight from the combs or strained. The simplest way to separate the honey from the comb is to break up the combs and squeeze each piece into a receptacle. The first honey that dripped out was referred to as “Run Honey”. Next, combs were put into a strainer, such as a bag of woven cotton or other natural fiber or a pottery vessel with holes on the sides. Pressing the combs through the strainer or bag made a second honey. This honey contained pollen and was bitter. It was kept separate from the first honey. Columella describes the process in Rome c. 50 AD[1]:

“Whatever be the number of Honey combs that are harvested, you should make the honey on the same day, while they are still warm. A wicker work basket or a bag rather loosely woven of fine withies in the shape of an inverted cone, like that through which wine is strained, is hung up in a dark place, and then the honey combs are heaped in one by one. But care must be taken that those parts of the waxen cells, which contain either young bees or dirty red matter [pollen?] are separated from them, for they have an ill flavour and corrupt the honey with their juice. Then, when the honey has been strained and has flowed down into the basin put underneath to catch it…the fragments of the honey-combs, which have remained in the bag, are handled again and the juice squeezed from them. What flows from them is honey of the second quality and is stored apart by itself by the more careful people.”

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[1] Although Columella is pre-period, he is referenced in period bee-keeping manuscripts such as Thomas Hill’s “A Profitable Instruction of the Perfect Ordering of Bees”, written in 1608.

Instructions for Making Your Own Skep

1)      Introduction

Skep making is much like basket making, except the top is the bottom! Getting started is the toughest part.

2)      Tools

a)      Girth of plastic

b)      Awl of metal and wood

c)      Water and a tub

3)      Materials

a)      Straw, hand-cut, un-baled, 2-3 feet long. Foxtail is a good option.

b)      ¼ inch caning; split into 1/8 inch, in approximately six foot sections.

4)      Process

a)      Prepare the straw by cutting off the head and removing any parts that stick out and are not smooth on the straw, much like on an ear of corn.

b)      Soak your straw in the tub.

c)      Soak caning in the tub.

d)     Load your girth with damp straw.

e)      Make the straw ends even by pulling on the straw.

f)       Take a long length of 1/8” cane and wrap the ends tightly for about 1-2”.

g)      Bend the wrapped end so it touches back on the section before itself.

h)      Move the girth back so the there is room to work. Continue to move the girth as needed throughout the process. Continue to feed your girth as it gets less full.

i)        Begin wrapping the cane around the straw in front of the girth that is not wrapped at about 1-2” intervals.

j)        Begin to make a disk repeating step “i” until you have the size disk you want. This is the top of the skep and determines how big your skep will be.

k)      Begin to bring in the coils to form the walls, gradually making the walls wider and wider.

l)        Follow this process until straw is gone or you have the size you want.

m)    At the bottom of the skep on the last ring, you will make the flight hole. The flight hole is how the bees enter and exit the hive.

i)        On the final coil before the end of the round, stitch through the middle of the ring for about 3”. Make the stitches closer than on previous sections so that they are touching.
ii)      Continue stitching as normal for the rest of the coil.

iii)    Cut out the unstitched portion of the coil.

n)      Finishing the skep

i)        When you have reached the depth of the skep you want, stop adding straw to the girth.

ii)      Continue stitching until the straw lays flat on the rim.

iii)    Wrap the end closely and secure the end of the cane in the round above.

Sources for Materials

Straw: Start calling your local farmers in July or find tall grasses. Harvest is usually around August 1. Ask if you can come out to their farm and hand-cut it yourself. You will need a sickle, a heavy pair of shears, or hedge clippers to cut down the straw. Gloves are also recommended.

Caning: Caning can be obtained from any basket-making supply house. This is where I got mine:

www.basketmakerscatalog.com

Resources

1)      Alston, Frank. Skeps: Their History, Making and Use. 1987.

2)      Conrad, Ross; Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture, 2007

3)      Crane, Eva; The Complete History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 1999

4)      Brekelmans, Toon; Skep-Making, 2005

5)      Butler, Charles; The Feminine Monarchie or A Treaties Concerning Bees and the Due Ordering of Them, 1609 (This book has only chapter numbers and no page numbers)

6)      Dictionary.com; accessed on 11/5/08

7)      Fraser, H. Malcolm; History of Beekeeping in Britain, 1958.

8)      Reddy, Mike; “Mike Reddy’s Skep FAQ”, found at http://homepage.mac.com/mreddygbr/skepFAQ/, accessed on 12/30/08