# The Karakovan beehives of Turkey's "Honey Forest"



## zabadoh (Jul 18, 2019)

Another Turkish video, showed a older gentleman displaying goat-like climbing skills making a swarm trap beehive using loose rocks and mud to seal up a hollow in a cliff face, then harvesting honey. 

The video is cut short at the end, possibly the batteries in the camera ran out. I would have loved to see what he did with the bees he swept off the honey comb into a tarp bag.


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

zabadoh said:


> An article in today's NYT caught my eye, but I found it frustratingly vague about the actual beekeeping itself, not to mention more pictures of modern Langstroth hives and equipment than the traditional hollow log hives.
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Thanks - interesting- solves the "snow " problem too.


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Interesting. Thanks for posting. J


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## Honeyeater (Jun 21, 2020)

zabadoh said:


> this is what traditional beekeeping throughout the Mediterranean looks like, although they used whatever resources were at hand, clay pots, rock hollows in cliffsides, or whatever.


This is a photo of one of the ancient apiaries in the island of Malta, in the mediterranean. Carved out in rock - they placed clay pipes in each of the windows and those doors lead to the back of the hives to harvest in a similar way to the videos above, from the back.


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## MZUNGUKICHAA (Jan 24, 2021)

Some notes on the actual beekeeping methods used in North East Turkey. The barrel hives can be made from the Lime or Linden tree.. Tilia species, which of course also is a nectar producer for the bees. The beautiful light coloured wood has a scent that attracts the swarms to colonise such hives. Other nectar and pollen plants are Rhododendron, blueberry and Sweet Chestnut.. Castanea species. I know Rhododendron honey is meant to be toxic, but I guess the bees get their food from such a variety of plants , that the Rhododendron component is watered down. The bees themselves are the Caucasian race. The two tribes that keep bees here are Hemshin and the Lazer. Both immigrated here in the past, from Armenia and the Caucasus mountains. The honey from these forests is very expensive. The honey from Kashkar valley, can sell at 100 dollars a pound! That surely is even more expensive than manuka honey from New Zealand! Thats why I cant believe that figure of 100 dollars.


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## Newbeek2021 (May 13, 2021)

Is it just me or maybe its just a US culture thing but it seems to me that the outdated "ancient" methods of anything really but especially beekeeping were just awe inspiring. I mean i look at that apiary in Malta & just find it incredible. We have boxes....which we pump chemicals into...with gizmos....regardless of being organic or not (not looking for that debate lol) but just the design/architecture of ancient things i find incredible, it was like an art form. we may have made it easier but i think we lost something along the way. Or im just being too nostalgic perhaps.


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## CarolinaBee (Jul 21, 2018)

zabadoh said:


> Another Turkish video, showed a older gentleman displaying goat-like climbing skills making a swarm trap beehive using loose rocks and mud to seal up a hollow in a cliff face, then harvesting honey.
> 
> The video is cut short at the end, possibly the batteries in the camera ran out. I would have loved to see what he did with the bees he swept off the honey comb into a tarp bag.


What did he use for the lure?


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## zabadoh (Jul 18, 2019)

CarolinaBee said:


> What did he use for the lure?


Not sure. 

At 3:55 he applies a lighter to the inside of the cavity, then some kind of pasty substance, then something on the end of a bottle brush. The subtitles don't identify the latter two. 

I'm guessing the pasty stuff might be beeswax.

Or he might have used these cavities before, so they already smell of old hive.


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