Transwiki:A Beginner’s Guide to Beekeeping

Bee colonies are starving and dying due to bad beekeeping practices and excessive use of chemicals in agriculture. Recently bees were added to the list of endangered species. To prevent bees from extinction, beekeepers should be well trained to breed the bees all through the seasons. This page describes topics that are important to understand as a novice beekeeper.

Getting Started
A beekeeper needs to know all about the bees themselves. To make good management decisions, beekeepers should be able to figure out why bees are behaving a certain way, and how certain actions may impact their well being.Apis mellifera, or the European honeybee is the most commonly kept species, and the only species kept in America. They are just 1 species out of 20,000 known bee species worldwide. North America alone is home to 4,400 bee species including social bumblebee colonies, solitary tunnel nesting bees, and solitary ground nesting bees.

The honey bee is the only insect that produces food that we can eat. A single honeybee will only produce approximately 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. Honey bees do more than just make honey. It is estimated that in the US alone nearly 30% of the food consumed by human population is produced from honey bee pollinated plant life. Honey bees provide 80% of pollination for vegetable, fruit, seed, and flower crops. They also pollinate crops fed to dairy and meat animals. Apart from these bee-wax produced by various bee families are used in cosmetics, polish, and candles.

Honeybees represent a highly organized society, with various bees having very specific roles during their lifetime: e.g., nurses, guards, grocers, housekeepers, construction workers, royal attendants, undertakers, foragers, etc. Workers Bees are females that are mostly seen. Workers forage for food (pollen and nectar from flowers), build and protect the hive, clean, circulate air by beating their wings, and perform many other societal functions. Queen Bee’s job is simple—laying the eggs that will spawn the hive's next generation of bees. There is usually only a single queen in a hive. If the queen dies, workers will create a new queen by feeding one of the worker females a special diet of a food called “Royal Jelly". Drones bees are males—the third class of honeybee. Several hundred drones live in each hive during the spring and summer, but they are expelled for the winter months when the hive goes into a lean survival mode. The queen bee can live for several years. Worker bees live for 6 weeks during the busy summer, and for 4-9 months during the winter months. Like butterflies, honey bees develop in four distinct phases: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The total development time varies a bit among the three castes of bees, but the basic miraculous process is the same: 24 days for drones, 21 days for worker bees, and 16 days for queens.

Honeybees basic nutrition needs include proteins (amino acids), carbohydrates (sugars), minerals, fats/lipids, vitamins, and water. To meet these needs bees collect and consume nectar, pollen and water. Bees convert nectar to honey, which servers as a primary source of carbohydrates. Pollen is bee's main source of protein. Beekeepers should ensure that there are many variety of floral plants near the bee colonies to ensure constant source of food for the bees. Some of the bee friendly plants are Citrus (Citrus spp), Gallberry (Ilex glabra), Clover-several ( Trifolium spp.), Black-eyed Susan, Marigolds, American Holl, Purple Passionflower etc.

Honey bees are the most effective and busy during the nectar flow months. This is when the local / domestic flowers are in bloom. The nectar flow months may vary by region or season. In Florida, Brazilian Peppers are in bloom from October; Orange Blossoms bloom from Feb. A strong hive prior to the Nectar flow would benefit the most from the blooms.

Before starting to keep the bees, it may be necessary to register yourself as a beekeeper. For example, people keeping bees (any number of colonies) in Florida are required by law to register with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry (FDACS-DPI). Renewal forms are sent annually to previously registered beekeepers for return to the FDACS-Division of Plant Industry (DPI) along with the appropriate annual fee specified in the fee schedule.

Basic Terminologies

 * Apiarist and beekeeper - A person keeping bees


 * Apiary - A place where honeybee hives are kept


 * Apiculture and Beekeeping - The management of beehives


 * Honeycomb - Removable frames, containing wax cells which house honey, pollen, and/or brood (eggs, larvae, pupae)


 * Honey flow - The gathering of nectar from flora by honeybees


 * Honey extraction - The removal of honey from combs


 * Beehive - Removable framed housing for a honey- bee colony


 * Bee sting - Injury sustained and inflicted by a worker honeybee


 * Brand - Identification for marking frames and hives


 * Flight path - The distinct route taken by many bees leaving from or returning to their hive


 * Foraging bees - Bees seeking water or food. Bees naturally forage flowers for nectar and pollen. In abnormal circumstances, when natural sources of food and water are scarce, bees may forage supplies of animal feed, water, or protein.


 * Hive - A honeybee hive, being a nucleus colony or a standard size colony


 * Package bees - A number of adult bees, with or without a queen, contained in a ventilated ship- ping cage transported via USPS or other carriers.


 * Pollination - The transfer of pollen by honeybees from anthers to stigmas of flowers for the pur- pose of plant fertilization


 * Robbing - Bees attempting to access honey stored or spilled in another hive.


 * Strong hive - A populous honeybee colony


 * Super - Box or boxes containing frames placed above the bottom, or brood, box


 * Swarm - Cluster or flying mass of honeybees including workers, queen, and drones


 * Water Supply - Taps, hoses, pools, hot tubs, streams, ponds, puddles, etc.

What does it cost to be a beekeeper?
The cost for setting up one beehive comes to approximately $400 for basic materials during the first year depending upon what you buy. Taxes and shipping may need to be added to these costs. Setting up a second beehive the first year will increase this cost to approximately $315. Costs for one hive during the second year most certainly will include about $175 for four supers with foundation and one replacement queen, or $350 for two hives. Hence the two-year costs for one hive will be about $575, and about $875 for two hives. Second year costs can increase significantly if the beekeeper chooses to purchase an extractor, an uncapping tub, an uncapping knife, and many other things that beekeeping hobbyists often desire. Once this initial investment is made, a well-maintained beehive can last for 30 years or more.

What are the equipment needed ?
To keep the honey bees you will need a Bee Hive. A standard bee hive will typically consists of 7 layers. The outermost layer is the Outer Cover. This provides weather protection. There is an Inner Cover below it. The inner cover prevents bees from attaching comb to outer cover and provides insulating dead air space. Below the inner cover lies the Honey Super. These are shallow supers with frames of comb in which bees store surplus honey. This surplus is the honey that is harvested. There is a Queen Excluder placed between the brood nest and the honey supers. This device keeps the queen in the brood nest so brood will not occur in honey supers. An excluder is usually not necessary if two hive bodies are used. Below the excluder lies a large wooden box (called a "super") that holds 10 frames of comb. Wooden frames hold sheets of beeswax or plastic foundation that are imprinted with the shapes of hexagonal cells. This space (the brood nest) is reserved for the bees to rear brood and store honey for their own use. Either one or two hive bodies can be used for a brood nest. Two hive bodies are common in cold winter regions. Beekeepers in areas with mild winters successfully use only one hive body. Below the brood chamber lies a wooden stand on which the hive rests. This is the Bottom Board. Below the bottom board lies the Hive Stand. This stand supports the hive off the ground to keep hive bottom dry and insulates hive.

There are different feeders available that help feed the bees. Feeders hold sugar syrup that is fed to bees at any time during the year when energy demands are high but natural nectar is not available. Winter and late summer are common times for feeding. Commonly used feeders are the boardman entrance feeder and the division board feeder.

It is important to cover yourselves when keeping bees to prevent bee stings. There are veils and gloves available to protect the head and arms. A smoker is the most valuable tool for working bees. A smoker calms bees and reduces stinging. Pine straw, grass and burlap make good smoker fuel.

Rossmann Apiaries, Kelley Beekeeping , Brushy Mountain Bee Farm , Dadant & Sons are some of the online resources that sell beekeeping supplies.

Where to get bees?
One of the most common ways to get honey bees is to capture Swarms. Swarming is the process by which a new honey bee colony is formed when the queen bee leaves the colony with a large group of worker bees. Swarm clusters land on a structure near their original hive location and scout bees leave the cluster in search of a new hive location. It is in this stage that swarms can be captured and used to populate an empty hive. Beekeepers can use small amounts of lemongrass oil in their hives or in swarm traps to lure in a swarm. Swarms are also local to the area they were found in. They are guaranteed to have survived the winter in that climate, and were strong enough to split in early spring.

Other means of getting bees are to buy honeybee packages or nucleus boxes (NUC) from renowned breeders or apiaries. Honeybee packages are screened boxes that contain a single inseminated-queen in a cage, and 3 pounds of worker bees (about 10,000 individuals). They can be used to populate any hive style. A nucleus colony, or NUC, is essentially a mini-hive with 3-5 built out frames of honey and brood with 1 queen and enough worker bees to maintain and expand the hive. They most commonly come as deep Langstroth frames in a wooden or cardboard box. These frames can be transferred into full-sized deep Langstroth hive boxes, and often build up faster than packages since they already have eggs, larvae and honey stores. Also empty NUC boxes make great swarm catching containers. Honeybee Genetics, Bee Weaver , and Parker Bees are good resources to get honeybee packages and NUC.

Beekeepers also populate new hives by splitting strong existing colonies. Splits are done by moving frames or top bars of brood including unhatched eggs, honey, and nurse bees from a full colony to a new hive. Beekeepers buy a queen and add her to the queenless colony. Anarchy Apiaries and April Lance Bees  are some examples of apiaries that sell ethically raised queen bees.

Where to keep the bees?
There are three types hives based on the size of the boxes – Top Bar hive (47 X 22 X 38), Warre hive (16 X 14 X 26) and Langstroth hive (22 X 17 X 28). Top bar hives are lighter in weight. An average comb in a Top bar hive weighs less than ten pounds. Top bar hives require more frequent, but simple checkups in spring. Both Warre hives and Langstroth hive can get heavier depending on the honey production. Warre hives are used when the number of hives put in use is just a couple, whereas Langstroth hives can grow in number. Due to the design of the Langstroth hives, an observation window doesn’t provide a comprehensive view into the hive.

In all the types of hives, the bees get the honey on top, pollen surrounding the brood nest and brood near the bottom. Bees live on vertical-hanging beeswax sheets that hang inside the boxes. These sheets are suspended at the top by a bar of wood that just fits into a groove at the top of the box, with the other three sides of the beeswax sheet enclosed in a 'frame' of wood to keep it secure so it doesn't bend.

It is important to place the hive on a hive stand. The stand is usually made of treated 2x4s and cement blocks.

Correct placement of hives is the most important consideration for responsible beekeeping in urban/suburban situations. Hives must be in a quiet area of the lot, not placed directly against a neighboring property unless a solid fence or impenetrable vegetative barrier not less than six feet high forms the property boundary. Keep hives as far away as possible from roads, sidewalks, and rights of way.

Hive entrances should face in such a direction that bees fly across your property. If this is impossible, use barriers (hedges, shrubs, or fencing six to twelve feet high) to redirect the bees’ flight pattern.

What and how to feed the bees?
Honey bees, like all animals, require a balanced diet of sugar, protein, vitamins and minerals. Water is also a vital nutritional requirement.

Nectar is bees' energy source and is extremely important for growth, breeding, flying and keeping warm. Sugar is the most effective bee feed, because it stimulates the bees into breeding, foraging for pollen, and metabolizing stored honey and protein. Sugar feeding can kick start bees into action. It can be used to capitalize on out-of-season honey flows, to prepare bees for pollination, start bees breeding earlier in the spring and to prepare hives for queen breeding. However, feeding sugar only is a stimulus to the bees and not a balanced diet.

Bees can be fed with white table sugar, or syrup made with white sugar. Beekeepers should never use raw, brown and dark brown sugar, and molasses as these may cause dysentery in bees. Sugar syrup must be placed inside the hive. Keeping it outside will let bees from the neighborhood to also share the syrup, which can also lead to interchange of bee disease pathogen. Placement of sugar syrup or dry sugar in hives is best done towards evening to minimize any tendency for bees to rob the hives that are fed.

Syrup could be a 1:1 or 2:1 mixture of sugar to water. 1:1 mixture is given as a supplement where 2:1 mixture is given as the main source of food when there are lesser honey stores. The syrup should always be in room temperature before feeding. The amount of syrup to feed depends on the amount of brood, size of the colony and the size of the container used to feed. An average honeybee colony will require about 18–22 kg. or 40-50lb of sugar syrup. September is generally the time of year chosen to feed sugar syrup as a supplement or substitute to ensure that honey bees have sufficient stores to carry them through the winter. Bees require a supply of honey or sugar, pollen and water to produce brood food. During the spring an average colony should have at least 4-5 combs with honey/sugar stores, i.e. 9 kg. or 20lb. At the onset of spring, a slow feed of a weak syrup can be given to supplement honey stores and to stimulate the queen into laying. Syrup must be appropriately ripened or else they may ferment and adversely affect the bees.

At places where no wild forage exists during fall, it is important to feed bees using a syrup that have essential oils such as - spearmint, lemongrass, and thyme oil. These oils can help the bees see through the winter.

Medium to strong colonies can also be fed dry white table sugar placed on hive mats or in trays under the hive lid. Bees use water from outside sources to liquefy the dry sugar. Condensation may also help bees to liquefy the sugar crystals. It is recommended to use dry sugar in autumn and spring when there is more humidity. It may be preferable for a colony at starvation level to be first fed syrup before dry sugar is given. Sugar remaining in combs must not be extracted with the next honey crop. The sugar will contaminate the honey.

It is extremely important not to feed honey to bees unless it is from your own disease free hives. Feeding honey from an unknown source, for example, a supermarket or even another beekeeper, may cause infection in your hives. The honey should be placed inside the hive. The honey should never be placed outside the hive as this is illegal under the Livestock Disease Control Act 1994.

Pollen is the bees' main source of protein, and is required for muscle growth in brood and young adult bees. Bees need pollen with at least 20% protein. Spotted gum pollen is 25% to 33% protein so is regarded as very good for hive build-up. Pine tree pollen is only 5% to 7% protein, so is a poor food source for bees.

Common means of bee feeding include – container with sealed lid, plastic bag, shallow tray and a frame feeder.

How to maintain the hives?
There are several reasons why the bees are dying, such as, poor hive management, bee food starvation, usage of harmful pesticides, the presence of parasites in the hives, climatic changes that impact the flowering cycles, prevalence of mono-cultures in the hive neighborhood and more. Many researchers are studying methods to get over the impacts of such causes.

It is good to establish a new hive in Spring when there are flowers for the Bees to forage. The hives can be set up in areas where there are lots of flowering plants and sunlight. The entrance of the hive should be large enough to allow easy passage of bees but small enough for the bees to defend their hive against pests. It is a good practice to not to harvest honey in the first year of a new hive.

It is essential to monitor and feed the bees on time to avoid starvation. There are free mobile apps available in the market that show the next suitable feed time based on the last feed time, last harvest time and the weather conditions surrounding the hive. If there are no capped honey cells or if the hive weighs less, the beekeeper should feed the bees. Beekeepers must visually inspect all honey bee colonies a minimum of once a month to assure reasonable colony health including adequate food and colony strength. If upon inspection honey bees appear to be overly aggressive the beekeeper shall contact their assigned apiary inspector for an assessment.

A new study published in the journal, Scientific Reports, found that the world's most commonly used insecticide, neonicotinoids, caused queen bees to lay fewer eggs and worker bees to be less productive. These chemicals can harm honeybee colonies when exposed to high concentrations. Imidacloprid is very toxic to honeybees and other beneficial insects. Beekeepers should avoid using pesticides where bees forage or in the mornings when bees are most active..

It is important to monitor parasites (e.g. varroa, nosema) levels regularly in the hive. A humid spring can result in higher mite levels. Beekeepers should use mite-resistant bee stock.

Beekeepers must provide a convenient source of water on the property that is available to the bees at all times so that the bees do not congregate at unintended water sources.

Beekeepers must take appropriate care when transporting hives of honeybees. Bees being transported should have entrance screens or be secured under netting.

How to harvest the honey?
Honey harvest time is the most exciting time for a beekeeper. Honey is loaded into the supers and frames in the hive. The frames need to be carefully removed from the hive and processed using a honey extractor. There are electric extractors available that spin the frames and force the honey to the walls of a drum. The extractor’s drum have a spigot for releasing the honey. The spigot is opened and the honey is strained through several layers of cheesecloth to remove any stray bits of wax or other debris. The cleaned honey is then bottled in sterilized bottles to avoid contamination. As a best practice, it is advised to leave 1/3rd of the honey back in the hive for the bees to survive the winters.

What else to know?
As a beginner it is good to be learning. Joining a local beekeeping organization will help you make important decisions on maintaining your bee farms. There is always a lot to learn from long-time beekeepers. There are several workshops and master beekeeping programs held on honeybee research for anyone new to the world of honey bees.