Source of Dominican Honey

Not really sure where put this...

I need to know whether anyone can tell me where local Dominican Honey Bees are kept? This is for a medicinal use. Occasionally I use honey on wounds (there's great research on this) of patients who want to avoid antibiotics for one reason or another, but I don't want them pouring pesticides into their wounds. When a Dominican Miel bottle says "Pure" and "natural" do those words have ANY actual meaning here? Does it mean it HAS or has NOT been pasteurized? Are there pesticides?

The ideal would be bees that are allowed to gather from herbs and untreated fields. (Actually the ideal is Manuka honey for those of you who can afford it--comes from New Zealand and the bees are restricted to gathering from a tea-tree type plant). Many bees in the US are fed on sugar water which is the least desirable food source for them. I suspect with the availability of sugar here that might bee (sorry, I couldn't resist) the case. BUT then again, that requires a whole lot of planning and mixing. If one can just let their bees gather rather than feed them, I could see that as the method here. I have honey bees in the US (hobby--yes, another strange one.) In the winter months we do resort to using sugar syrup especially if a hive is threatened (right now the Colony Collapse disorder and Africanized bees are decimating the US and other honeybee colonies.)
TIA!!!:bunny:

Honey, wounds, Bees & kids

In theory & according to research, the type makes a difference (see links). As for CHILDREN...honey is ONLY a problem in kids younger than 2 because their stomach acid can't fight off the particular type of botulism spore that can sometimes be found in honey.

Chris you are absolutely correct...the almond crop in CA is 80% pollinated by bees brought to the groves. There is speculation about if the bees die off, we won't be far behind. If we don't figure out WHY they are dying (theories range from GMO crops to global warming to a fungus), I concur that the future looks dim. Honey bee society is SOOOO cool to watch up close (my kids help with tending and harvesting when we go up to our property in the US.) For those who are afraid, I actually only use smoke and wear a tank top and NO gloves when I'm in an open hive--I have fewer accidental kills that way (and nothing riles up the girls more that having their sisters squished.)

My recent surgical wound (from having surgery in the midst of TS Noel) has been having a hard time healing. The constant draining was causing an ulceration. SO, I decided to revisit the Honey as a wound healer literature. For those who think I'm nuts, honey is one of the oldest methods of dressing, cleaning and healing wounds. It has recently been "rediscovered." The thinking is that although sugar will work, honey is even better because it literally produces hydrogen peroxide as it comes in contact with secretions and it's slightly acidic, PLUS provides a "moist wound healing" environment, currently thought to be superior to the "dry it out and scab" method.

Here are some links:
UMF Active Manuka Honey
Combined use of honey, bee propolis and myrrh in healing a deep, infected wound in a patient with diabetes mellitus British Journal of Biomedical Science - Find Articles
Patients should ask surgeons about using honey to heal wounds
European Tissue Repair Society : Bulletin 9.3 : Concepts in Clinical Wound Healing
Waikato Honey Research Unit - The evidence for honey promoting wound healing

Additionally, there is a resurgence of interest in the use of MAGGOTS to debride wounds. Personally, I'll stick with honey. Maggots are one of those icky, disgusting things that make me want to vomit.

I will say that I have successfully used honey on several patient's wounds including burns, surgical wounds, and abscesses. In addition, the us of honey on my cat (when he had feline leprosy) probably saved his life (he had 2 inch diameter abscesses that were about an inch deep. I first tried the standard antibiotic creams with injections but he kept licking of the antibiotic. So, that's when I switched to honey as a topical. When he licked it off, it also gave him calories. This cat's name is GORDO and he had gotten down to skin and bones. I firmly believe the honey treatment saved his
life.

Hillbilly said:

I get my honey for RD$400 a gallon. I have two gallons on hand, plus the gallon I have open.
Do you want one? I will be going through Juan Dolio-Guayacanes on thursday or maybe Wednesday evening.

The beekeeper is an employee of the university and he keeps me in honey. His bees work hard and live in the hills north of Santiago. That is all I know of them.

I do know that I have had some of this honey for more than a year and it is perfect, still.

HB

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YES, we'd love some. I'll PM you my phone number. I always bring down some of what we harvest & it's gone now!

BTW, much of the honey found in ancient Egyptian tombs & pyramids was still good!! It is incredible stuff.

Thanks everyone. Hopefully some of you followed the links I posted. I appreciate the input. If anyone has bee/honey ?s (not DR specific) I'm happy to answer what I am able to.

For awhile I received BEE CULTURE magazine and still think one of the most hilarious mag articles I've ever read was on the Mating of Virgin Queens. In Bee circles a "virgin queen" can have had anywhere from 12-50 different mates and still be considered a VIRGIN...LOL It cracks me up every time I think about it. It's a bit like those people who push abstinence to teen girls and then those who pledged abstinence go anal or oral sex so they can say they're "still virgins." By the Virgin Queen def...well, you get the idea. If anyone wants, I can see I still have that issue, but I may have passed it on. It would have been 2006.

Could guide you remotely or on a visit

gamana said:

I have recently installed ten hives with separators (2 lower boxes and 2 upper ones for honey collection) on my finca, mostly for pollination purposes. I have not yet collected honey and would like to know if someone in Cabarete/Sabaneta circa would be interested in showing me the process. I have no centrifuge.
The finca is free of pesticide and chemical fertilizer. Bees are kept around fruit trees, vegetables and buckwheat.
PM me if interested. Free organic honey in exchange!

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So glad you are doing this. First, I'm not sure how the nectar flow changes in a climate like the DR, but in the US in places with winter, we harvest in August-Sept (sometimes as late as Oct.) The boxes you are referring to are called "supers." There are small supers, medium and large. In general, we don't put them all on at once! I install my bees with two supers and in general they'll use one for brood and the other for honey. You want to have the bees multiply and put on more supers for them to "grow into." You only put separators on after you've reached a certain critical stage (which I don't know HERE). In fact, the concept of the queen separators is quite controversial and some believe it encourages SWARMING! Having a hive top feeder/watering device is also important,& an entrance reducer, as well as a screened bottom board (helps prevent mites, robbing from wasps, etc.)

For harvesting, there are those of us who only sometimes use an extractor when we can get our hands on one. If you are working in typical DR temps, the honey will stay liquid so you don't have to worry about it being too thick for GRAVITY to work. Of course you do need to uncap your honey filled frames but if you don't have access to an extractor, this is one method. I recommend the book BEE KEEPING FOR DUMMIES (no offense--I use it too) for making all sorts of great hints and stopping critical errors. Bees can be quite protective of "THEIR" honey (Again, I don't know how much honey needs to leave the bees here--in places where there is winter, we have to leave them a whole large super filled with frames of honey if they are to make it through the winter.)

Let me know if you need clarification or additional info!