Honey Bees Beekeeping

Honey bees beekeeping is a very interesting hobby anyone, in any shape, from any parts of the world can take up. Honey bees, for starters, are quite intriguing creatures and keeping them can be a worthwhile and rewarding hobby that will provide you a jar of healthy and tasty treat for your own home, or as a gift to families and friends. And as your hobby flourishes, who knows, another surefire way to augment the family earnings. It is also another source of relief from the daily grind of living and working.

Getting started is not always a walk in the park. Of course you will have to learn the trick of the trades and make sure that you are equipped with the proper tools to prosper. Consider the following steps to guide you in your beekeeping adventures:

Learn from the masters - Find an experienced, successful beekeeper who is willing to help you. Seek his guidance and advice to aid you in your newly chosen endeavor.

Book-smart pays - Read two or three of the many good books available on beekeeping and if you can find one written specifically for the area where you live, the better. You may also want to start subscribing to a beekeeping magazine since they will be full of valuable information and tips for beginners.

Start a-fresh - Start with new equipment of standard dimensions and designs. As a newbie, you can do away with the complications brought about by used or homemade equipment.

The tools of the trade - Buy only the equipment you know how to use and that you are certain you would like to use it.

Italian, I love Italian! - Start with Italian bees. They are the standard, the most common, and readily available in most countries.

Beekeepers unite - Join your local beekeepers' association. These groups welcome and encourage beginners and will be a great source of information on books and other publications, trainings and workshops, as well as beekeeping events in your area. You will find kindred souls there.

The Beekeeping Hive

Here is a lowdown on beekeeping hive 101

To start off:

To finally begin my beekeeping journey, I headed down to the nearest beekeeping store to get my equipment and supplies. I purchased hive parts, smoker, a veil helmet, a feeder, and a hive tool (which is practically the jack of all trades when it comes to beekeeping) and of course, a hive and two packets of bees. I will also need additional equipment once my hive starts producing honey, like honey supers (that's extra parts to store the honey), a bee brush and a suit; so, I am all set for now to start building my own beehive.

To install the bees in my hive:

The bees came in a small cage with a separate one for the queen and a few of her attendants. I filled the feeders with sugar syrup and pried open the cages. I then lifted the queen cage and placed it in the hive, in between two frames. I will be using gradual introduction to make sure the bees are familiar with the queens smell and therefore accepts her as their own before she is finally freed. Once the queen cage is in, I simply removed the syrup can from the main bee cage and placed the cage inside for the bees to crawl out, and placed the lid back securely. I will be back to remove the cage and refill the feeder a few days after.

A note from the hive:

It will pay to observe precautions during beekeeping installation, although bees will less likely sting during hive introductions. Always wear your veil to prevent those nasty stings especially if you are allergic. And do try to visit your hive during sunny days as the bees also get grouchy when its raining. And do not forget to open the hive only, and I mean only, when it is necessary. Your bees wont like the unnecessary attention and gets too stressed with activities.

So, don't take my word for it, go out and start your beekeeping adventure A.S.A.P!

Beekeeping Class for Beginners

A person interested in beekeeping must not only possess the desire to take care of bees but he or she should be equipped with knowledge on how to properly take care of the bees as well. Some beekeepers would attend a beekeeping class in order to learn something more about beekeeping.

A beekeeper should know the details like the beekeeper protective clothing. You cannot just wear anything during beekeeping, or else you will be prone to bee stings. A beekeeper should know that he or she should be protected from head to feet.

Aside from the protective clothing, other things to learn about beekeeping are the beehives. In order to attract more bees, learn how to create the perfect hive for the colony. There are different hives to choose from, and the most common of which is the Top Bar Hive.

The beekeeping guide or lessons would not only show you what are the necessary equipment for beekeeping; it will also give you an in depth explanation on the functions of each beekeeping equipment and supplies. It will also provide learnings and ideas on how you would go about handling the bees.

Investing to get a quality beekeeping class will give you wealth of information that can be useful in starting your apiary. This would give you a good start in creating a healthy colony and in no time, you will be able to have a taste of the delicious honey as your harvest. Plus the fact the you could also make money out of the beeswax that you can also harvest.

Beekeeping for Dummies

Beekeeping can be a hobby or a business or it can be both. But, a person who might want to try beekeeping must keep in mind that he needs to know more about the said hobby or business before trying it out through reading different articles about beekeeping for dummies.

Honey is the main product that can be harvested from beekeeping, and it is probably the main reason why a lot of people venture into this kind of business. Before cane sugar was discovered as a sweetener, honey was the leading sweetener available.

But aside from this, pollination is another important value of the bees for the beekeeper. Commercial crops will suffer without the bees help and having bees bring more yields to farmers with regards to their crops. Pollination plays a vital role in the life of plants and most of them require effective pollination for their survival. Proper pollination brings more and larger harvest of fruits, vegetables and crops; therefore the yield increases when bees are around.

Bees or beekeeping also helps in relieving stress in a persons life; though there are no scientific studies that could prove such claims, beekeepers feel that their personal stress levels are lessened just by watching bees coming in and out of the bee hives.

The benefits that a person can gain in beekeeping are bigger than the cost that a person pays in order to be in one. So, if you or a friend of yours is interested in trying this hobby, grab that laptop or book about beekeeping for dummies and instantly become a beekeeper.

Apiculture

Bee keeping is regarded as one of the well-established traditional methods of food production. A beekeeper is the one who maintains and takes care of the bees' needs. The beehives of honeybees are placed and kept in bee yards or Apiary. The size of apiary may vary accordingly, depending on the bee specie.

Also known as apiculture, beekeeping is the process of propagating insects, such as bees primarily for honey and beeswax production. Honey is widely used for medicinal and nutritional purposes. Whereas, beeswax is used to make furniture polish, candles, cosmetics and for modeling. Nowadays, it is used for crop pollination services where beekeepers obtain most of their profits.

In contrast, special considerations should be observed in starting beekeeping like wearing the proper attire and using the proper tools when caring for these little creatures, so as to avoid accidents and, most especially, bee stings.

Beekeeper's suit consists of protective clothing including hooded suit or hat, a veil and a pair of gloves. However, amateur beekeepers are advised to wear light colored clothes since bees are highly attracted to dark colors. A pair of white or khaki pants with white socks is the appropriate outfit as you get closer to the apiary. Likewise, socks should be securely pulled over the folded pant legs to prevent bees from getting into your pants. A light-colored shirt tightly zipped or buttoned may also be necessary.

Beekeeping smoker on the other hand, is the most valuable tool amongst other equipment for apiculture. The smoke it produces calms the bees, thereby allowing the beekeeper to open and examine the hive without getting stings. Some beekeepers prefer to use sumac as fuel for it emits large amounts of smoke but doesn't have any foul odor. However, a liquid smoke may be used as an alternative for soothing the bees.

Beekeeping Tools

It is a must for every profession or craft to undergo serious training and to have tools within our hands. They make our work load easy, precise, accurate and on time. The same is true with apiculture or beekeeping. In fact, business-minded people are looking for beekeeping schools, wherein they could learn more to translate this beekeeping hobby to an income generating resource. Once, you enrolled you will definitely encounter the following beekeeping tools.

First, we need something that will pacify our insect friends during monitoring and harvesting the smoker. Basically, it looks like an airpot or a tall kettle with a small opening or inlet to let steam or smoke out.

Second, we need something that will help us lever up the frames in our Langstroth hives, the hive tool. This is made up to two parts: the wedge and the body (handle). It is used to detach stuck frames and remove propolis within the man-made hive.

Third, we also need brushes to gently push away the bees to check if the honey is ready to be harvested.

Fourth, when we see that the honey is ready to be collected we now use the uncapping fork. It appears to be a wide flat fork with several points or it is like a comb with a handle.

Finally, we need to have a hive stand; this will prolong the life span and freshness of honey. A few elevation from the ground will keep the hive ventilated and will prevent direct absorption of the earth's heat.

However, these are just some of the tools needed. You should consider clothing, venue, gardening to ensure the productivity of your apiculture investment.

BEE Ready

Bee keeping is like an art of taming the savage beast. But in this sense taming the dangerous and unpredictable bees. These insects are one of the most useful creations but also one of the deadliest insects. But bee keepers are the modern day Pied Pier they know to deal and use bees to our advantage. How ever the best offense is a good defense that is why preparation is their key.

Bee keepers when dealing with bees always have to prepare themselves for battle. These warriors have a lot of beekeeper equipment that they will bring and use when they tame the bees but for what? For the sweet taste of honey. Honey is one of the best sweet taste in which a lot of people cannot get enough of.

Bee keepers need their beekeepers suit to protect them from head to toe. This is because one sting sometimes can be fatal. So after suiting up bee keepers then use their secret weapon and that is the beekeeping smoker. They smoke the bees so that they will not be aggressive. The smoke gives the bees a high and brings simply relaxes them. That is when the bee keeper gets the honey without harming the bees and without putting himself in danger.

A bee keeper always has these two important equipment in dealing with the unpredictability of bees. They do this because they need the honey to get the money. Without these beekeeping tools it would be fatal for them to extract the honey.

Beekeping 101

Is it always true that if you have no money, you have no honey? We know what's on your mind. It is not that. Don't take it figuratively.

Yes!

It is about the bees.

Yes!

We are starting beekeeping here.

Beekeeping or Apiculture simply refers to the culturing or maintaining colonies of honey bees. Usually, an apiarist (or beekeeper) does not collect beehives but rather makes an artificial habitat for these social insects. These manmade niches could be outdoors especially if they are located in a forested area or could be housed in a confined structure (similar to a greenhouse).

Establishing an apiary or a bee yard is a challenging but fruitful and high yielding investment. The natural byproducts such as honey, beeswax or simply the bee itself (for beekeepers) could give you dollars.

So if you are interested with this venture, you may also need the following equipment.

First is the right clothing to wear. You will need beekeeping veil to protect your face especially your eyes. Beekeeping suits in order to protect your whole body as well. Don't also forget to wear thick gloves and boots. As much as possible don't expose any skin or leave any space wherein bees could enter your clothes. A bee sting should not be taken for granted because this could cause from a simple skin infection or allergy to a more serious one such as paralysis and even death.

Second, we should have a smoker. This will drive away bees so that we can harvest our sweet products.

Third, we need also the extractor and processors if we want to maximize profit.

Honeybee Dysentery

A colony is said to have dysentery when they defecate within the hive. It is a disease common during the cold season, but it can happen anytime in the case of severe Nosemosis. When majority of the bees become affected by this condition, it may lead to the death of the colony.

Normally, bees take cleansing flights away from the hive in order to excrete feces. This is part of their OC behavior to home cleanliness. When the temperature drops down, it becomes harder for them to fly as it affects the muscles of their wings, potentially leading to their death if they're unable to return. Instinctively, they wait for a warmer day to take the flight. Without the opportunity though, they are then unable to keep it in.

If you cant digest it, out it goes. Cleansing flights are entirely caused by the need to let it out. Depending on the amount of indigestible matter in their food, it pretty much dictates the need for such flights. Old fermenting honey and honeydew collected from plant sap-sucking insects contains indigestible matter. Common practice during a cold season is to replace frames and/or fill empty combs with corn syrup which has almost no indigestible matter.

Nosemosis, caused by Nosema microbes, is a disease that infects the intestinal tract of adult bees causing diarrhea. The spore nature of the microbe makes it easy to be transmitted merely by contact; contaminated food, feces, and even clean up of dead bees. This makes it exceptionally fatal in regions with long and rainy winter where dysentery further increases the transmission within the hive.

Generally, its good practice to replace old frames as it may have accumulated a harmful amount of microbes. If you notice a large amount of dark honey, replace it with a healthier feed. Honeydews don't contain enough protein required by bees to maintain their health.

Honeybee Pests

Varroa Mites

Varroa mites are external parasitic mites that suck on the blood of honey bees. They resemble red spots attached to larval, pupal or adult bees, and they are big enough to be easily spotted. They accumulate in number until the host dies. Its potential for higher risk lies on the spreading of other viruses when they bite. This may cause other diseases.

If not treated right, it may turn to a heavy infestation that may render the end of the colony. Treatments include miticides, natural occurring chemicals, as well as non-chemical methods like comb trapping and bottom screen boarding.

Acarine Mites

Smaller than the varroa mites, these pests make their way inside the bees trachea, thereby earning its other name as Tracheal mites. Drawn by carbon dioxide, they enter the spiracles of a bee and reproduce inside its airways where they propagate and suck blood. Bees with infestations stop working at some point and eventually die.

They are easily controlled by vegetable shortening mixed with sugar. As the bees consume the sugar, they get partly coated with the shortening and this affects the mites instincts from transferring to other bees.

Small Hive Beetle

Aethina tumida is a dark-colored beetle that infests the combs itself. They start their lives outside the hive but later finds their way inside by tunneling through the combs to feed on the honey. This makes the comb unusable, disrupting the life-cycle of the bees.

Late discovery leading to heavy infestation may cause the bees to abscond. It is best to maintain a strong colony by setting the proper environment and population. Oil traps can also be used to suffocate the beetles while avoiding toxic contamination of the hive.

Wax Moths

Wax moths feed on the wax that the bees use in making their combs. Not a general threat to a healthy colony but could still affect the colonies' productivity as they fend of foreign insects. They are almost never a problem during winter as the eggs does not survive the temperature.

Honeybee Diseases

American Foulbrood

AFB is the most harmful bacterial bee brood disease for its infectious nature. It affects larvae up to three days old where it produces more spores within its digestive tract. The larva dies after it is capped and the spore remains to infect the cell. Bees nature to clean up will spread it more throughout the hive, contaminating honey that is fed to growing larvae. These spores can live up to 40 years.

Infected cells will appear sunken. Upon closer inspection by poking with a small stick inside the cell, one can find a brown, sticky substance clinging at the end.

European Foulbrood

EFB bacterium is less infectious than AFB. It doesn't form spores and kills the infected larva before it is capped. Symptoms include dead or dying larvae that can appear dried out, or melted like AFB.

Chalkbrood

It is a fungal disease that affects 3-4 days old larva. It grows within the gut, while starving the larva of its own nutrients. It later consumes the rest of the larva, causing it to dry and appear like a chalk.

Stonebrood

It is a fungal disease that causes the mummification of a brood. The larva ingests the spores where it hatches inside and grows quickly. It causes the larva to turn black and become stone-like hard after its death. The spores continue to grow and out of the covering where it can continue to spread through out the hive.

Nosema

It is a disease caused by a microbe called Nosema apis that infects the intestinal tract of adult bees. It is not fatal, but may cause a condition called dysentery that can lead to the collapse of the colony.

Black Queen Cell Virus

A virus that causes the queen cell and the larva turn black while killing it. Little is known about the virus but it is often associated with Nosema.

Chronic Bee Paralysis

This virus only affects adult bees. After infection, it causes the bee to become shiny because of the loss of hair. They are disoriented from the colony and attacked by fellow bees. The virus is spread by contact.

Managing Queen Honeybees

There are times when the bee colony might not be performing well. Weak workers, tendency to swarm, slow production of honey, etc. Environmental factors aside, it is common practice to replace the queen to deduce problems of the colony.

Raising Queens

Queen rearing is practiced by hardcore beekeepers as it offers many benefits. One is that it is cheaper than buying a new one. You may need more as your replacement might be rejected by the colony. Second, you can also replace the queen routinely every year. A young queen is less likely to induce a swarm. Lastly, you can also sell them for quite a price to make up for the tedious task.

Queen Marking

It's hard to see where the queen is within the hive. You may prefer to mark her with a certain color on her back (thorax). They are easy to spot so it's easier to know when a colony becomes queen-less. Any color can be chosen but there's a standard utilized by professional beekeepers to mark the year it was born. Each color corresponds to one year, which is the last digit of the current year.

Model car paint is normally used to mark queen bees with no harm done.

White - 1 or 6

Yellow - 2 or 7

Red - 3 or 8

Green 4 or 9

Blue - 5 or 0

Replacing Queens

You'd want to replace a queen that is weak or becoming old before they are naturally superseded. Since the queen only usually makes queen cells when swarming, sometimes they die without producing a replacement. The colony is then forced to make an emergency queen by feeding existing larva with royal jelly. What would have been a worker bee would then emerge as a queen. Unfortunately, they are not as productive as a queen produced from queen cells.

Introducing a new queen isn't quite simple. There are no widely accepted methods so most of the time it is just a matter of trial and error. Knowing the behavior of your colony is the key to a successful replacement.

Beginning Beekeeper

Not all people are interested in beekeeping, but there are some people who would love to be a beekeeper. Before a person becomes a beekeeper, he needs to learn everything he can about honey bees and beekeeping to prepare himself.

There are many online suggestions, notes and different ideas on what are the things one should know about beekeeping or he can acquire a book about beekeeping in order to be well-prepared.

Some people would want to learn and start a beekeeping business especially now that many jobs have been lost. Beekeeping is an income generating business and a person can earn a lot if he knows what to do in this kind of business in order to be successful.

Though it looks so easy, a person should not take it easy; he should be knowledgeable and must be familiar with different strategies for beekeeping.

Beginning beekeeping is very fascinating at the same time tricky. Feeding bees is not like feeding your domesticated animals such as dogs and cats in your house. Bees are still considered dangerous simply because they tend to be aggressive when they feel they on threat. Bees defend themselves by stinging their supposed to be enemies and it can be dangerous for people especially those who are allergic to stings.

So if you are interested in starting a beekeeping business, keep in mind that the first thing to learn is how to protect oneself against bee stings. There are protective gloves and gears used by a beekeeper. There are also tools which serve as a protection for a beginner beekeeper like you such as smoke box which calm the bees when it puffs smoke. These are the first things to consider when beginning beekeeping.

Capturing a Honeybee Swarm

Why would you want to capture a swarm? Even established professionals buy their bees packaged already. So why go all the trouble? Well, one thing is for sure, you might find it is actually fun. It also means a free package of new bees for a new hive.

Swarming or Swarms are honeybees way of spreading the family. To ensure the survivability of the species, the queen must lead half of her most trusted workers to another location while leaving the new generation to grow on their own.

Capturing a swarm can be hard but not daunting. It is also rewarding as you are not only helping the neighborhood from such fear, you are also learning more of their behavior to improve your own hives.

Manual Capture

One easy way to capture a swarm is when they're on a branch of a tree, which you could cut off. You can place the cut off branch with the swarm directly in a box or a sack without even wearing protective gear. You got to keep steady though. If you jolt them in a hard way, they could fly away.

Another one is by using a bee vacuum. Now, there isn't an industry standard for this yet. Most are just custom made. A simple structure would be to use your existing vacuum and plug it into an air-tight box. Inside the box is a smaller box, with screen windows. This is to keep the bees from clogging the suck hole. Then, make a smaller hole on both boxes for a 2-inch pipe to fit in. This is where the bees will go in. It is important to note that the suction process should be slow, as you don't want to kill the bees. If you cant control the power, make another hole on the outer box as a means to decrease suction power.

Swarm Traps

For a passive way, you may opt for swarm lures. Lemon grass oil is commonly used, but nasonov mimic pheromones have also become available. Nasonov is a pheromone naturally produced by scout worker bees to guide swarms into a suitable place. Try to experiment on which ones you prefer as they seem not to differ much.

Then, ready a swarm trap. There are boxes specially made for these, but any 15 to 30-liter box will do. One small entrance is enough. Remember, the box must be a suitable place for bees to live in. Pheromones wont be enough to convince them into choosing this as their next permanent residence.

For the lures, you usually dab it into a piece of wood, or directly at the entrance of the trap. Other lures are in a vial. Simply open, place it at the entrance and the lure will disperse slowly into the air.

Place the box right below or near the cluster of honeybees. If your trap has been chosen, all the bees will eventually enter the trap for you to easily collect. Unfortunately, it is a skill that you have to develop as you might find your trap ignored several times during the first few tries.

Swarm traps can be set anywhere you might suspect a swarm could travel to. You'd especially want to do this if its a swarm that could come from your hive.

Beekeeping Swarm Prevention

Swarming naturally occurs as a way for honey bees to reproduce more colonies away from the hive. Every year, during spring, a colony, with the queen, is most likely to decide to swarm, but it could happen anytime, especially if your bees may be having some problems with their living conditions.
Swarming poses as a problem because honey production drops down as the remaining colony attempts to recover while waiting for the new queen to emerge. Worse, if the new queen doesn't survive, it would be the end for that colony. No more honey production for that hive box.

Know the signs. Certain preparations are done by the colony before it decides to swarm. The queen would lay eggs on the queen cups, after which the worker bees would then build it up to become a queen cell. Swarm cells may then also be made. These are queen cells made to attempt swarming. You will find quite a number of these peanut-shaped cells at the bottom frames. There would be lesser eggs or none at all as the queen stops laying eggs in order to fly light for swarming.

Should they have swarmed already, you'll know as the number of bees will be obviously low. Only old larvae/capped broods and the queen cells will be left.

This can be prevented by a few precautions.

Remove all queen swarm cells. Be careful to identify that they are for swarming. Cells made for replacing the current queen due to weakness are called emergency cells and are located higher. If you remove these, you risk losing your queen with no replacement. If there's no upcoming queen, then they'll know and will eventually lose the impulse to swarm. You should also be sure to remove ALL swarm cells. Leaving even just one will not convince them to stop from swarming.

Introduce a new queen. Queens in their first years rarely decide to swarm. This may not come as an easy task, but you'll find the challenge worth it.

Maintain a suitable temperature. Make sure their place is well ventilated. Add a bird fountain or any source of water near their hive. Bees will make use of water as needed.

Avoid congestion. Take the initiative to provide more room before any overcrowding occurs. They are pretty stubborn and will swarm if they have decided to.

Make it a habit to check for swarming whether it is the season or not. It conditions you to become precautious and mindful not only of swarming, but also to other problems your bees may have.