Beekeeping

While the beekeeping industry is part of Animal Husbandry, it deserves a wider explanation than just the animals themselves. The Beekeeping industry is found in Segments 5 and 11, the land that spans the Segments that would normally be used for grazing animals is used for beehives. The beehives themselves are not just found in the lands of these Segments, but also on rooves that are not suited to solar panels. The buildings that process the honey and beeswax are spread out around the Segments of 5 and 11 in Zone 5. But most often found near the circumference of Birdencaster .

Tools

Beekeeping Tools

Tool	Details
Smoker	To Smoke the bees with pine smoke to calm them an outsider is about to open the hive.
Escape Screen	This allows the bees to vacate and leave the superstructures or the hive boxes the beekeeper want to remove.
PLA Plastic Box	This allows the beekeeper to transport the frames.
Scraper	This is used to scrap the hive boxes of excess wax.

Honey Extraction Tools

Tool	Details
Comb Capper	This is to allow the frame to be placed above the bucket so the caps can fall into a bucket.
PLA Bucket	This is used to collect cappings and to collect honey from extractors and wax spinners to jar.
Pallet Knife	This is used to decap the frame.
Scraper	This is used in case some of the cappings remain
Honey Extractor	This a rotatory device that rotates vertically. It is hand-cranked. When it is cranked, it uses centrifugal force to remove the honey from the combs making the frames only contain wax.
Filter	This is used to filter out wax and other debris from the honey
Wax Spinner	This is used to separate the honey from the wax cappings.
Jars	What the finished and refined honey is sold in.

Wax Refining and Manipulation Tools

Tool	Details
Camp Stove	This is used to heat water to melt the beeswax.
Double Boiler	This is used to melt the wax
Metal Rollers With Hexagonal Pattern	This is used to make patterned foundation sheets so that the bees have something to build the new comb from.
Table top open top tank	It has a tank to which wax is melted and made into sheets and then pressed through the rollers to make the foundation sheets.
Wooden board with handle on back ^[T1]	This is used so that sheets can be made from hot wax.
Wooden Dowel	This is used as a stirring device.
Sieve	This is used to remove large parts from the wax-like dead bees and cocoons.
Metal Wax Scraper	This is used to scrape the bottom side of the wax when it has solidified to remove impurities.
Honey Strainer	This is used to remove smaller impurities from the wax that the first refining missed.
Beeswax Moulds	This is used to pour the finished refined wax into blocks to be sold.
Wax Spinner ^[T2]	This is used to separate the honey from the wax cappings.
PLA Bucket	This is used to collect cappings, transport wax and as moulds to make blocks of wax while in the refining process.

How The Products Are Extracted

Honey

Honey is harvested three times per year and is often harvested between mid-June to mid-September ^[1]. When it is time for the honey to be harvested the beekeeper will put an escape screen between the hives that need to be removed. The hives the bees are going to are mostly bare with some honey on them, so the bees’ instinct will be to fill the frames with the comb. They will spray the Hive with pine smoke to calm the bees during this. They use the smoke to signal it is time to move to a new hive.

by Image Archive	The top number of hives need to be removed, often some bees are left on these hives so they are often shaken away. After this point, the frames are then put into a PLA plastic box for transport. The transported frames are then placed on a comb capper which is a tool that rests on the top of a bucket so that the decapper can de-cap the frame on both sides, the resulting honey and caps are then loaded into a wax spinner to remove the honey. The now decapped frames ^{[Image left (below)]} are then loaded into a honey extractor which is hand-cranked, as the person turns it will speed up naturally even if the person cranking the handle is going at a constant rate. When the Honey extractor is at its lowest from being at its fastest this means that the honey has been extracted on one side. The frames are then rotated through 180 degrees to remove the other side of the honey that might be on the comb.

Once the frame has been bereft of its honey, It's onto the beeswax processing stage.

by KahunaTheElder	The honey is first filtered and then jarred there are three sizes of jars these are; 240g (8.47 Oz) for residential use. 350g (12.35 Oz) which is a fringe benefit to the employees of the beekeeping industry. 500g (17.637 Oz) which is used commercially.

The 240g and 500g jars are sold to the Warehouse to either be bought by the Porridge House or sold by merchants in street markets in Zone 4.

Beeswax

At this stage in the process, the frames have their honey extracted and are ready to have the wax removed. The comb is removed from the frame, it is put into a double boiler and above a camp stove for the water to boil. Once the water has boiled the beeswax will melt. At this point, the beeswax will look rather disgusting as the comb may have contained cocoons before the melted beeswax is poured into a bucket to solidify it is sieved to remove the majority of the solid bits.

by lytchettbayapiaries	The beeswax and the water will not mix as they are different densities once the beeswax solidifies it will be on top of the water at which the wax refiner will remove the wax from the bucket. they will then turn the wax over to the underside where the debris is and scrape it off. The water in the pot is then poured over grass through a cheesecloth to catch the wax remnants. It is not a good idea to pour the water down the drain because the wax will clog it up. It is often the case that the beeswax will not be a golden yellow colour ^{[Image Left]} at this point the comb is returned to the parts but it will be a double boiler when the beeswax melt it is then filtered to remove more of the debris. Once this is done if the beeswax is not a golden colour the beeswax will go through the same process, but this time the filter will be a cheesecloth that has a thicker weave that prevents smaller particles from getting through.

At this point, the beeswax is a golden yellow colour and has no bits. The beeswax is not bleached as the colour yellow is highly desired to bleach the wax white will remove its value.

by Shutterstock	The beeswax is then remelted into moulds that are; 28.35g (1 oz) this is used in wax seals ^{[Image Left]}. 100g (3.53 Oz) this is used in cosmetics and household items. 1kg (35.27 Oz) these are used to make foundation sheets and the Chandler to make candles.

It is these Foundation sheets that the bees can build comb into the frames. The foundation sheets are as big as the external size of the frames. The thickness of the foundation sheets is 3mm (0.118 inches). Once they have been formed by melting beeswax in a tank and laying a wooden board over the top and pulling off to produce layers on the underside of the wood. These layers are then built up to make the foundation sheet. The foundation sheet is then pulled off the board carefully and put between two metal rollers to make the impression of a hexagonal pattern. This is then thumb pressed to the frame. The frame is returned to the hive. The wax blocks are then sold to the warehouse to be made into products later. Often in winter months, they go through a backlog of Wax refining so that there is something to do in winter months the purpose of this is so that the backlog can be processed more efficiently to refine the beeswax from a murky brown colour to a golden yellow colour.

What Products Are Made?

Honey Products

The products that are made from honey are mead. The honey itself is used in cooking and as an added extra for deserts or at the Porridge House eaten with the porridge.

Beeswax Products

The products made from the beeswax depend on the size of the bar produced for the 28.35g (1oz) Are used for wax sealing of documents. Blocks of beeswax that are 100g (3.53oz) are used in cosmetics and household items, such as furniture polish or shoe polish ^[2]. 1 kg (35.27oz) is used for pillar candles, the block is melted and poured into moulds to make the candle. For candlesticks, the traditional method is used of dipping the wick into hot wax and building up layers to make the candle.

Combination of Beeswax and Honey

Often some products are made by combining beeswax with honey as the honey gives effects that are useful to the end product. These products are soap bars and shampoo bars, they are hard bars of soap as humanity has lost the technology or understanding of how to make gels for hygiene purposes.

What Jobs Are Involved

Beekeeper

The Beekeeper is a Dual Job position, it is one because they start out as a Level 1 Beekeeper an Extra Employment in which they help with spraying the hives with pine smoke. When they achieve Level 2, they can move the frames and deal with them. A level 2 will tutor a Level 1.

Decapper

The decapper is an Extra Employment position, their job is to decap honeycombs, as well as loading the decapped frames into a honey extractor. The resulting honey from the honey extractor will be filtered and then the honey is jarred.

Wax Refiner

The Wax refiner is an Extra Employment position, their job is to; firstly put the wax cappings, that have been left in a bucket into a wax spinner, the honey that has been separated will be given back to the decapper for jarring. the wax from the wax spinner and the combs will then be refined by the wax refiner. Later in the process, they will then refine the wax further until the wax is a golden yellow colour this also do during the winter. Their job also includes melting finished refined wax into moulds, the blocks of wax are then sold to a Warehouse. Some wax is kept to make foundations for the hive frames.

Foundation Maker

Foundation maker is a Core Job placement, their job entails melting wax in a tank and using a wooden board to make a layer on the underside to make wax sheets these are then put through rollers to make a hexagonal pattern. It is a Core Job as it requires skill to make the sheets as they have to be uniform in thickness.

Carrier

The Carrier is an Extra Employment, they carry boxes that hold frames of honey as well as carrying buckets of water, a mixture of melted wax and water or buckets of solidified wax.

Master Beekeeper

Master Beekeeper is the person who is in charge of the beekeeping industry, their job placement is regarded as a Core Job. Notable parts of the job are choosing which hives to harvest honey from and how much of a backlog of unrefined beeswax to keep during the winter. As it is in the wintertime that they go through the backlog of wax to refine.

Payment

All Employment placements are paid daily and it is up to the employee to choose when they withdraw funds to either spend or save. In addition to their pay, at the end of each month, they are given a 350g (12.35 oz) Jar of Honey as a fringe benefit. This is the case for each month except for December, for this month the honey is given on the 11th December so that it is before Christmas. The jar of honey is either enjoyed by the employee or sold to other employees who want more honey. This fringe benefit makes the beekeeping industry popular, whether for the employee or their friends and family. The jar of honey itself is worth [tooltip]130 New Sovereigns]130NS[/tooltip].