Chapter 148 Shaking Honey, Meeting Black Bear Again
Gao Mingcheng had to admit that he was relieved when he saw that the beehives were safe and sound.
He went to check the situation in the beehives first. He had a total of twenty beehives. Except for the two that were intact, the rest of the beehives had just attracted honey to build nests. Although there was a thin layer of honey in the honeycombs on the beehives, it was little and thin, and it would take time to brew.
If honey is too thin, it has a high water content and is in liquid form. It can be swirled around at will and tastes bland and not very sweet.
The brewed honey will have a thicker texture, taste sweeter, and can be stored longer.
In the two intact beehives, the honeycombs were already full of honey, and the color was darker, because the honey had been completely brewed.
The wild bee colonies in the mountains near Gao Mingcheng can be classified as Italian bees, so the beehives he introduced are also Italian bees. Italian bees are suitable for breeding large colonies because they are easy to maintain strong colonies. In each beehive, beehives can be gradually added, up to eight.
There are a total of sixteen beehives in these two beehives, and both sides of each beehive are full of honey.
It’s strange to say, but at the beginning, Gao Mingcheng had to wear protective clothing to prevent himself from being stung by bees, but as he came into frequent contact with the bee colonies, when he approached the beehives, the bees would buzz around him, but he was never stung again.
In this case, Gao Mingcheng no longer wore the homemade protective clothing. After all, it was not convenient to operate while wearing protective clothing.
He first took out a beehive and shook it gently to disperse the bees covering it.
Although the beehive is full of honey, it will not flow out because it is covered with a layer of wax on the top. Before shaking the honey, the wax cover must be cut off with a knife. In this way, the honey inside will be thrown from the beehive into the honey shaking wooden barrel under the action of centrifugal force and collected by the barrel.
Gao Mingcheng used the dagger he carried with him to cut off the wax cover. In this step, his hands had to be steady and he couldn't cut too much, otherwise it would be a waste. If he cut too little, the wax cover would not be cut off. Also, if his hands were not steady, it would be easy to cut crookedly.
Gao Mingcheng didn't master it at first, but after trying, he quickly found the angle and strength of cutting. As a person who practiced boxing, his hands were very steady, so he quickly cut off the wax cover on the beehive.
After cutting, you can put it into the honey shaker. This honey shaker is not big and can only hold two pieces, one on each side.
After Gao Mingcheng cuts two honeycombs, he can start shaking the honey.
He placed two bee combs on the frame inside the honey shaker barrel, and then quickly pulled the rope to make the bee combs rotate along the axis of the barrel. At this time, the honey in the bee combs could be thrown to the bottom of the barrel.
Gao Mingcheng pulled the rope and looked at the rapidly rotating axis and beehives in the barrel. He no longer had any worries in his heart. This honey extractor made by the carpenter was quite good to use.
It's just that pulling the rope will hurt your hands, but that's not a big problem as Gao Mingcheng has plenty of strength.
So he shook the beehives two by two. After all sixteen beehives were shaken, nearly half a bucket of honey had been collected in the bucket.
This is because there is too much honey in these two boxes. The beehives were introduced in the fall of last year, and the honey was not shaken until mid-April this year, so naturally there is a lot of honey.
Next is the season when flowers bloom. There is no shortage of nectar sources in the mountains. Honey can be shaken once every two months, or even once a month and a half, depending on the amount of honey in the beehives.
"Done!" Gao Mingcheng looked at the collected honey, smelled the sweet scent, and felt a little happy in his heart.
However, when Gao Mingcheng saw that so much honey could be shaken out from two beehives, he thought that if the other eighteen beehives were intact, then even more honey could be shaken out!
Heartbroken, a loss of 100 million!
But if it has already happened and it is not stopped in time, then we can only accept the consequences.
He put the honeycombs that had been shaken out of honey back into the beehive. As long as the honeycombs were not obviously damaged, they could continue to be used. The bees would repair them. Although most of the honey was shaken out, there was actually a little left stuck to the honeycombs, and this part could still be used as food for the bees.
After putting the bee combs in place and covering the beehive lid, Gao Mingcheng prepared to go home with the honey extractor.
At this moment, the black tiger on guard on the side suddenly started barking wildly, and the elf also started barking in a certain direction.
The barking of dogs was filled with a sense of crisis of facing a powerful enemy.
Gao Mingcheng instinctively tightened his dagger and looked in the direction the black tigers were staring at. He had good eyesight and his hearing had also improved, but his attention had been focused on shaking the honey, so he was not that alert to his surroundings.
But that's also because of the presence of the black tiger and the elf, the hunting dog can play a good warning role.
At this moment, he listened attentively and heard the sound of mountains and forests shaking. This was the sound made by a huge wild beast running in the mountains and forests.
Is it a tiger? Or a black bear?
He had never seen a tiger in the mountains, but he had seen a black bear. In addition, he had a small bucket of honey with him. The sweet smell of honey filled the air nearby. Black bears have very sensitive sense of smell and hearing. They can smell the smell half a kilometer away with the wind and hear footsteps 300 steps away.
But they have poor vision, so they are called "black blind men".
At this time, the huge black bear that Gao Mingcheng had encountered before was rushing towards where Gao Mingcheng was.
In fact, daytime is not the time when black bears are active. During the day, they usually choose to sleep in caves or tree holes and will not come out until night.
But this is a general rule, not an absolute one.
Some black bears also come out to look for food during the day. The last time Gao Mingcheng encountered a black bear was also during the day.
It only took half a minute from the time I noticed the situation to the arrival of the black bear.
Gao Mingcheng had no time to escape, nor did he plan to escape.
When the huge shadow of the black bear was reflected in his eyes, his usually calm expression gradually changed and became aggressive.
I just felt sad that the honey was destroyed by the black bear, and this black bear actually dared to show up!
He couldn't run away, he had to subdue the black bear, either drive it away or kill it directly. Otherwise, how could he continue to raise bees in the mountains?
These twenty beehives are just his initial attempt. If all goes well, he will add more beehives in the future. By then, he will be able to make a lot of money in a year just by selling honey.
But with black bears, the honey stealers, in the mountains, beekeeping becomes unsafe.
Gao Mingcheng did not bring a musket or a javelin, but only a dagger with him, on which was still some wax cap and honey stuck.
"Woof woof!" Although facing a powerful enemy, Black Tiger did not retreat a single step. He still stood in front of Gao Mingcheng, vowing to protect him to the death.
The elf was a little frightened. It turned its body restlessly, as if it wanted to escape, but in the end it did not escape.
The master is still here, the elder brother is still here, how dare I escape?
(End of this chapter)
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