Herr Honig - Beekeeping in Ingelheim -
I am a beekeeper in Ingelheim and run Herr Honig as a small apiary based here. The honey comes from my own bee colonies; I harvest and bottle it myself, and I do not buy in honey from elsewhere. When I work with the bees, my rule is: understand first, then intervene.
I started in a very conventional way – by the textbook.
At first, I did many things the way they are described in books and passed on by experienced beekeepers. Over time I realised: not every routine is automatically good for the bees. So I started looking more closely, questioning things and finding my own way.
The bees stay in Ingelheim
No honey is bought in
Harvested twice, straight into the jar
Interventions only for good reason
From the textbook to my own way
I did not start with the aim of doing beekeeping differently.
My aim was never to do everything differently. I wanted to understand why I was doing something and what happened in the colony afterwards. I kept some routines, adapted others and stopped doing some altogether. Over the years this developed into an approach that follows the actual condition of the colony more than rigid procedures.
Work with the bees.Not against them.
For me, that means supporting the colonies, creating good conditions and slowing or counteracting unfavourable developments early. Not every situation needs intervention. But when one is necessary, it should have a clear purpose.
Harvest twice. After that, the honey stays with the bees.
I extract honey twice a year: the first harvest is around the end of the oilseed rape bloom, the second more often after the linden blossom. The exact timing depends on vegetation, nectar flow and the ripeness of the honey. Anything the colonies bring in after that remains with them as winter stores. After extraction, the harvested honey is bottled directly, labelled and prepared for sale. No purchased honey, no blending with honey from other sources and no long interim storage.
How I work in practice
Nucs & queens
I seasonally offer queens as well as nucs and young colonies from my own Buckfast breeding. Availability is limited and all are supplied by pre-order.
More about nucs & queens
Contact
Easy to reach
Address
Uli Müller
Unterböhl 16
55218 Ingelheim am Rhein