Bee keeping isn't just for the country dweller--bees can be kept in any situation from the simple balcony to the garden to acres of land. This comprehensive and attractive lifestyle guide to bee keeping takes readers from finding their bees to getting them home, housing them, collecting honey and using their produce. The book includes a detailed look at the history of bees and bee-keeping, and an extensive introduction to help readers to fully understand bees and keep them happy.Price: $19.99
Decorate your home or office with high quality wall décor. Bees and Bee-Keeping, from "The Young Landsman," Published Vienna, 1845 is that perfect piece that matches your style, interests, and budget.
Price:
Now updated — your guide to becoming a successful backyard beekeeper
Interested in raising honey bees? This friendly, practical guide presents a step-by-step approach to starting your own beehive, along with expert tips for maintaining a healthy colony. You get the latest on honey bee medication and treatments, harvesting and marketing your honey, and the impact the sudden disappearance of the honey bee has on our environment and economy.
To bee or not to bee? — understand the benefits of beekeeping and whether it's right for you
Build your first hive — gather the right equipment, obtain your bees, and transfer them safely to their new home
Get up-close and personal — see how to open and close the hive, inspect your bees at the right times, and know what to look for
Handle common problems — from swarming to robbing to pesticide poisoning, find simple solutions
Understand Colony Collapse Syndrome — learn what you can do to help save the honey bees
Gear up for the golden harvest — use the tools of the trade to extract honey, store it, and sell it
Praise for Beekeeping For Dummies
"The information a beginner needs to keep bees with confidence."
— Kim Flottum, Bee Culture Magazine
"A reader-friendly guide to beekeeping for novices or beginners."
— Dewey M. Caron, Professor of Entomology, University of Delaware
Open the book and find:
The various types of honey bees and the role each plays in a colony
Hands-on instruction in building a hive
How to keep bees healthier and more productive
Guidelines for all phases of honey production
New information on raising your own queens
Plenty of helpful, illustrative pictures to guide you
The safest ways to inspect and enjoy your bees
A Beekeeper's Calendar organized by climate zones
Price: $19.99
Experts in the art and science of sustainable, eco-friendly beekeeping condemn "modern" commercial methods of large scale honey production for creating the poor state of health and general decline of honeybees in the 21st Century, and warn that only a return to the chemical-free traditional methods of the village, small-farm and backyard beekeeper can ensure that the bees, as well as our ability to harvest and enjoy fresh, pure honey, survive and thrive for generations to come. Mysteries of Beekeeping Explained was first published in 1853, and explains every aspect of traditional American 19th Century, pre-chemical-era beekeeping methodology, including the building and maintenance of hives, breeding, dealing with pests, swarming, harvesting honey, preparing bees for winter and much more. This classic reprint belongs in the permanent library of every homesteader, micro eco-farmer and backyard honeybee enthusiast.Price: $3.95
![Hive Splitting (Bee Keeper's Educational Series) [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vtENzqB3tGSa6DziIre7Kfrs-LMXW5n-kqEYVO86Kwh5cA0ZXTukoZ6yrS_fAMddBXXkzlTKTNaRo4cXpeqXbIjlelvTYD6HAfGYY_gFG8abDum6FH_Wu5FDfOUpkRXWvAlfI=s0-d)
This video is a great resource for beginners and veteran beekeepers. It is professionally produced, and makes a great gift! Hive Splitting covers all the basic techniques, including, but limited to, identifying and selecting parent colonies, record keeping, nuc boxes, feeding, disease, selecting brood and honey/pollen frames, making the split, introducing the queen, transfer to a hive body, frame rotation, and more!
Price: $24.95
Price: $14.95
![Honey Extracting & Bottling (Bee Keeper's Educational Series) [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sz7_b9thYJD8BbHskh-d6BzSUt3dxbO6u8Lw55bYIyS-NpTOdWFIbkMcQpAXURKEsdWulXNOex6NrvPbamzIXWUX0dkDqyPHBz-TIWRIhOVinCYnQCvjlk6S_cyAdOmkf8GVA=s0-d)
This video is a great resource for beginners and veteran beekeepers. It is professionally produced, and makes a great gift! Honey Extracting and Bottling takes you through the process of getting the bees out of your supers using methods like bee escapes, chemical boards, and smoke & brush. It also covers topics like curing, green/ripe honey, decapping, extracting, filtering, and bottling. It concludes by demonstrating how to put the wet supers back on the hives without inducing robbing and winterizing your supers.
Price:
Hive Splitting covers all the basic techniques, including, but limited to, identifying and selecting parent colonies, record keeping, nuc boxes, feeding, disease, selecting brood and honey/pollen frames, making the split, introducing the queen, transfer to a hive body, frame rotation, and more!
The Honey Extracting and Bottling video takes you through the process of getting the bees out of your supers using methods like bee escapes, chemical boards, and smoke & brush. It also covers topics like curing, green/ripe honey, decapping, extracting, filtering, and bottling. It concludes by demontrating how to put the wet supers back on the hives without inducing robbing and winterizing your supers.
Price: $34.95
"The Complete Idiot's Guide[registered] to Beekeeping" has all the information a beginning beekeeper needs to know to start a hive and keep it buzzing. Expert beekeepers Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer, owners of Golden Rule Honey, take readers step by step through the entire process - from information on the inhabitants of a hive and how it works to collecting bees, keeping them healthy, raising a queen, harvesting honey and wax, and storing hives for the off-season.Price: $14.95
The Backyard Homestead Put your backyard to work! Enjoy fresher, organic, better-tasting food all the time. The solution is as close as your own backyard. Grow the vegetables and fruits your family loves; keep bees; raise chickens, goats, or even a cow. The Backyard Homestead shows you how it's done. And when the harvest is in, you'll learn how to cook, preserve, cure, brew, or pickle the fruits of your labor. From a quarter of an acre, you can harvest 1,400 eggs, 50 pounds of wheat, 60 pounds of fruit, 2,000 pounds of vegetables, 280 pounds of pork, 75 pounds of nuts. Reviews "Bottom line is, even if you're not ready for complete self-sufficiency, in today's economic climate, it just makes sense to try to produce some of your own food. And this book is a great way to get your feet wet." - Epicurious.com "The tone is sweet and accessible, and thePrice: $18.95
Bees and Bee-Keeping, from "The Young Landsman," Published Vienna, 1845 is a limited edition fine art giclee print, which uses a specialized printer to deliver a fine stream of ink onto archival paper. It results in museum-quality art of incredibly vivid color, depth and resolution that captures the essence of the artist's intent. You're sure to find that perfect piece to matches your style and buget from this collection of fine art prints.
Price:
Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile have revised and expanded their clear and comprehensive guide to cover changes in beekeeping. They discuss the crisis created by the parasitic bee mites. In less than a decade, for example, Varroa mites have saturated the North American honeybee population with disastrous results, devastating both managed and wild populations. The new edition of The Beekeeper's Handbook covers mite detection and control as well as the selection and testing of bees that may have some tolerance to mites. *Serves as a comprehensive well-illustrated introduction for beginners and a valuable reference for the experienced beekeeper.
*Outlines options for each operation within beekeeping, listing advantages and disadvantages of each alternative.
*Provides easy-to-follow directions and diagrams.
*Includes glossary and updated bibliography suggesting more detailed information on the topics discussed.
Price: $28.95
![Honey Extracting & Bottling (Bee Keeper's Educational Series) [VHS]](/41C6Q1ZK5TLSL500.jpg)
This video is a great resource for beginners and veteran beekeepers. It is professionally produced, and makes a great gift! Honey Extracting and Bottling takes you through the process of getting the bees out of your supers using methods like bee escapes, chemical boards, and smoke & brush. It also covers topics like curing, green/ripe honey, decapping, extracting, filtering, and bottling. It concludes by demonstrating how to put the wet supers back on the hives without inducing robbing and winterizing your supers.
Price:
The Backyard Beekeeper, now revised and expanded, makes the time-honored and complex tradition of beekeeping an enjoyable and accessible backyard pastime that will appeal to gardeners, crafters, and cooks everywhere. This expanded edition gives you even more information on "greening" your beekeeping with sustainable practices, pesticide-resistant bees, and urban and suburban beekeeping. More than a guide to beekeeping, it is a handbook for harvesting the products of a beehive and a honey cookbook--all in one lively, beautifully illustrated reference. This complete honey bee resource contains general information on bees; a how-to guide to the art of bee keeping and how to set up, care for, and harvest honey from your own colonies; as well as tons of bee-related facts and projects. You'll learn the best place to locate your new bee colonies for their safety and yours, and you'll study the best organic and nontoxic ways to care for your bees, from providing fresh water and protection from the elements to keeping them healthy, happy, and productive. Recipes of delicious treats, and instructions on how to use honey and beeswax to make candles and beauty treatments are also included.
Price: $24.99
Seen in the visible spectrum, can all bees will look uniform. In the infrared spectrum, it is clear that some bees is warmer than others. Some glow bright orange like hot coals, heat radiating heat to their surroundings. Other is dark and cool.
I put in a swarm hive with a deep brood box and two honningmagasiner. Of course, after the event, I discovered that you should not add honningmagasiner until the box brood is fully subscribed and filled with broods, honey and pollen. This ensures that the bees actually keep shops below excluder, where they need them for the winter.
Now updated — your guide to becoming a successful backyard beekeeper
Interested in raising honey bees? This friendly, practical guide presents a step-by-step approach to starting your own beehive, along with expert tips for maintaining a healthy colony. You get the latest on honey bee medication and treatments, harvesting and marketing your honey, and the impact the sudden disappearance of the honey bee has on our environment and economy.
To bee or not to bee? — understand the benefits of beekeeping and whether it's right for you
Build your first hive — gather the right equipment, obtain your bees, and transfer them safely to their new home
Get up-close and personal — see how to open and close the hive, inspect your bees at the right times, and know what to look for
Handle common problems — from swarming to robbing to pesticide poisoning, find simple solutions
Understand Colony Collapse Syndrome — learn what you can do to help save the honey bees
Gear up for the golden harvest — use the tools of the trade to extract honey, store it, and sell it
Praise for Beekeeping For Dummies
"The information a beginner needs to keep bees with confidence."
— Kim Flottum, Bee Culture Magazine
"A reader-friendly guide to beekeeping for novices or beginners."
— Dewey M. Caron, Professor of Entomology, University of Delaware
Open the book and find:
The various types of honey bees and the role each plays in a colony
Hands-on instruction in building a hive
How to keep bees healthier and more productive
Guidelines for all phases of honey production
New information on raising your own queens
Plenty of helpful, illustrative pictures to guide you
The safest ways to inspect and enjoy your bees
A Beekeeper's Calendar organized by climate zones
Price: $19.99
This comfortable, lightweight bee keepers suit and is constructed of a 65% cotton- 35% polyester blend for strength and durability. The Professional Bee Suit features a comfortable and durable cotton/poly bee suit with elastic wrist and leg openings, square zipper veil, ventilated helmet and gloves. Suit includes: * Coveralls with elastic wrists and ankles * Attached Zipper Veil (must get a zipper attached veil or bees will get in) * Leather Bee Gloves. Long cuff * Packed in Suit Bag PLEASE EMAIL US YOUR SIZE WHEN YOU BUY THE ITEM.Price:
http://www.Telegraph.Co.uk/Earth/earthnews/7808793/Middle-Class-fad-for-Bee-Keeping-Sees-doubling-in-Number-of-hives.html
"British British beekeepers Association (BBKA) said, there are now more than 80000 hives registered in United Kingdom, compared with 40 000 in 2007.
"The organisation said, there has been an increase in the number of honeybees in the United Kingdom in the last two years from 23 48 billion."
Really excellent, and very funny in parts, also. Huge is recommended.
If you are considering keeping bees then this is the film for you. Not only does it present you with a fascinating overview of the subject it will also give you the confidence to get started. Experts explain how beekeeping does not have to be difficult or dangerous and advice is give on: obtaining bees and equipment, the protective clothing and essential tools, how to choose your site and the importance of the right habitat, collecting the honey from the hives, extracting the honey and wax from the frames, what beekeeping entails over the course of a year and the commercial use of honey. No beekeeper should be without this excellent educational advice video.Price:
Nicotine Bees, the movie, gets to the truth about why the honey bees of the world are in big trouble, and why our food supply is in trouble with them. Price: $14.99
The Backyard Beekeeper, now revised and expanded, makes the time-honored and complex tradition of beekeeping an enjoyable and accessible backyard pastime that will appeal to gardeners, crafters, and cooks everywhere. This expanded edition gives you even more information on "greening" your beekeeping with sustainable practices, pesticide-resistant bees, and urban and suburban beekeeping. More than a guide to beekeeping, it is a handbook for harvesting the products of a beehive and a honey cookbook--all in one lively, beautifully illustrated reference. This complete honey bee resource contains general information on bees; a how-to guide to the art of bee keeping and how to set up, care for, and harvest honey from your own colonies; as well as tons of bee-related facts and projects. You'll learn the best place to locate your new bee colonies for their safety and yours, and you'll study the best organic and nontoxic ways to care for your bees, from providing fresh water and protection from the elements to keeping them healthy, happy, and productive. Recipes of delicious treats, and instructions on how to use honey and beeswax to make candles and beauty treatments are also included.
Price: $24.99
PIC from http://www.vita-europe.com/
"It is not only their diet, but there is a much more diverse culture in the city's life. It makes you a more rounded bee and your tolerance level change is much higher. I can imagine a lot of bees would love city life "
and
"And then there is global warming. Cities are warmer due to urban heat island effect. One can only conclude that global warming causes bees. "
Hive Splitting covers all the basic techniques, including, but limited to, identifying and selecting parent colonies, record keeping, nuc boxes, feeding, disease, selecting brood and honey/pollen frames, making the split, introducing the queen, transfer to a hive body, frame rotation, and more!
The Honey Extracting and Bottling video takes you through the process of getting the bees out of your supers using methods like bee escapes, chemical boards, and smoke & brush. It also covers topics like curing, green/ripe honey, decapping, extracting, filtering, and bottling. It concludes by demontrating how to put the wet supers back on the hives without inducing robbing and winterizing your supers.
Price: $34.95
Price:
Last time we started, look at what you need. Is now a closer look at the first and easiest thing take that you need to bee - and this is the hive to keep.
If we over hives I 10 frame Langstroth hives, referring as it does, what I have always used on. However, this does not mean that these are necessarily the best, but I would suggest that what make hives you use you surely you all right. It makes intercultural changing hive parts so much easier.
First of all we have the floor or the "bottom-Board". This is a flat Board same width, but slightly longer than the normal hive sections. On three sides (two long sides and a short page) a rim borders on the Chamber over half will increase one inch above the ground. The page without frame then forms the input to the hive. The extended length created a landing Board for the bees to get off at the entrance. Then we have a ' brood Chamber ' or deep Chamber. May be one or more of these before we have a 'super' or flat Chamber. Some beekeepers use brood Chambers as extras, but if full of honey they are much heavier than normal supers, and if you're lucky, have a lot are full of honey, play havoc on the back. The number, each of these you will need be discussed later.
Next you need a "inner ceiling ' on your top Super." The reason is that covers the inner cover of the same area as the Chamber where it is located and is therefore, flush with the upper Chamber. Very often the bees wax will build the framework between the border and the lid. This has the effect of '-' lid (although this is not really their intention). If this happened it easier to get your hive tool between the cover and top Super and prise them apart.
Finally, you have a telescope lid or outer cover. This has a somewhat larger area than the Super and deeper pages (an inch or two) that fit over the hive. This helps to keep above weatherproof. The inner cover should a smallish hole in the Center and a border around the entire margin (cover - the hole) so that there is a gap (half inch or so) between the inner and outer covers. This is 'breathe' allow that helps to regulate the internal temperature of the hive. It also helps to eliminate condensation within the hive.
There's also a bit that referred to a Queen Excluder can fit between hive parts. This is a picture, the size of the top of a super holding punched into a thin sheet metal with slots. These slots are big enough so that the bees by but too small, the Queen pass allow to pass. Another way consists of stout wires that spaced far enough apart to allow the passage of bees, but not the Queen. Some beekeepers swear by you, although I personally I in you think. We will discuss later, why some beekeepers use and why others do not.
Finally there are the frames. These should be wired and waxed. In other words, it should wires go from page to page or how I've seen from top to bottom in a 'V'-pattern. This wire must be taught and should be embedded in wax sheet or the "Foundation". This is to reinforce the Combs if you spin, you are in the extractor otherwise you fall apart into chunks your honey. We try to keep intact the Combs, so we have again you back into the hive filled can be. It takes seven units of honey to make one unit of wax so if we save the bees can help time of making wax, we are rewarded with more honey.
We need Foundation in the frame to the bees, if the ridges that otherwise, will, build you them where ever you don't want, building, more often than the frame, or diagonally from one frame to the next frame, and we'd end up with a solid mass of combs, which was impossible to manage. If you want to save some money, set Foundation in frames strips. Wire frames in the usual way, and place the Foundation into strips (about half of the width of a normal 'super' size sheet) is cut into the framework.
The Foundation must the reinforcing wire embedded in it. This can be an embedding wheel. This is a ' Spike' wheel that looks a lot like a cowboy's spur. The wheel is a few millimeters thick and sometimes the spikes have a Groove in the Centre you do when you run it along the wire. Weave the Foundation between the wires, then lead exposed wire with embedding wheel on that. Hold the wheel by immersing you in hot water every now hot.
Another way of embedding the Foundation is electric. You need very careful with this as I'll explain shortly. You need a car battery and a length of lamp cord (electrical wiring would use for your bedside light). Attach two Bulldog clips that can your car battery terminals on the terminals, to an end. At the other end you have two small Alligator Clips.
Clamp the Bulldog clips on your battery and clip of the crocodile clips on beginning your reinforcing wire. Only briefly with the other crocodile clip the other end of the wire. This is enough to melt the wax, which then will strengthen heat round wires the wire. This is where care must be taken now. Simply type the wire with the second Alligator Clip for no. more than a second else are cut the Foundation strip at the end. I've often done enough, when I started using this method. It doesn't embed, much faster and easier, but it takes a little practice to get used to it.
As mentioned, you should have placed a stand at the hive. Although this is not "hive"part, it is important the hive from the ground, and, as far as possible to keep away from moisture. An old car tires can be a cheap and very durable hive make. Warning: Too many car tires, have a top of the other, give too much and the hive either stand skew or fall over cause. Two should be the max.
Having the "why" apiculture; looked, in short, and in more depth on 'Where', now we look at 'What'.
What you've got to start beekeeping? There is no amount you need to get started. As you progress you will see that beekeeping is very lucrative and decide to grow. With increasing your Apiary you need more equipment, but at the beginning you must, of course, a hive bees. Further (unless you 'Where' will hold you have already set up), veils, gloves, a smoker and a hive tool. And that's pretty much it.
For details on the equipment is all I will say there are alot of beekeeping equipment suppliers on the Web, each with fairly substantial catalogues, you can browse.
Try: http://www.honeyshop.co.uk/equipment.html
In short, the veil on her head fit or can be of the type that fits over the entire torso and long sleeves. If you really need to cover up a few get overalls. Theses must be white or a light color. Bees don't like dark color.
The gloves have sleeves with elastic tops.
The hive tool requires prise the frames from the hive. It takes an end sharp - not too sharp to be, but sharp enough from wax from the above at the top of the frame around you the inner cover prise or scrape off propolis scratch used frames in place ' Stick.
As mentioned in the last article, you need a stand to place to keep you out of the ground the beehives on. These can be made of wood, or you may be metal. However, a very cheap - and lasting alternative - is an old motor car tyres. It is admirable, it probably costs nothing and not red or rust.
May find that you an extractor. These vary in capacity and price and even "cheaper are expensive. When you join your local Beekeeper's society for that an extractor has one of the older (established) members to use. Otherwise, get the honey from the ridges is very difficult, messy and time consuming be. Remember, just like you a place to your bees need to keep, you need a place to work with the honey. You finally have to keep in your mother / wife good books and not mess up your kitchen too much. She could sell your honey in the comb or, if you have some friends who keep interested in bees, join forces and club in an extractor to buy.
If you go to the point where you have to make an extractor, you need also a 'uncapping knife'. These can either be heated electric or steam. Get way with a sharp knife carving and a mug of hot water. Although this is possible, it is not ideal.
Bees keep includes more than one field of bees somewhere and collect honey of every now and again. There is some level of management required - and we have a look at the next time.
Not all beekeepers do are done the same way. Some beekeepers can combat, a task that, while another does it beekeeper is a one way otherwise. Sometimes a new beekeeper will not hear an experienced beekeeper and he paid the price. (This will be the subject of a future article). Other times it in several ways, one just as good as the others, the same result.
I have held less than 50 hives as a hobby. I have worked on the commercial bee farm with over 2,000 hives. The methods of hobbyist could only work on a commercial scale and methods of a commercial beekeeper would be considered by the hobby 'bad practice'. There are times however when because of time limitations with some ' tricks ' commercial beekeepers, could help to solve a problem that the hobbyist might have.
I have posts aimed to put beginners so far. I would however some, add from time to time, not necessarily are instructive, but may only informative or (some find) "interesting". This is one of the latter. I hope some of you find it interesting.
An example of what would consider a hobby is not 'bad practice' but shocking practices the art way commercial beekeepers robbed his hives. Let us consider how the hobby should do it. First of all he should be the 'softly softly' approach.
Soft opening of the hive, there is a single smoke before the removal of frames. Examine it to see if it can be removed. If so, gently shake, tap or brush the bees from the frame and place it in the Super which he brought. Replace the frame with a blank and go to the next frame. Enter an another puff of smoke, the hive steamed to the bees and keep going until you have taken off any honey you can. The hive to close and go on to the next.
The commercial beekeepers may be half a dozen assistants. He will go ahead the bees give so much smoke, you think, it is a forest fire of raging turns you. He will have to remove the lid, then loosely to crack a look at a few frames and the Supers. Then come the first wizard behind him and bang all the bees of the supers, dump the Supers on the floor next to the hive and go to the next. Two more assistants will full supers on the truck and return with empty supers, dumping on hive. There are two on the truck, a stack of full supers on one end of the truck and another pass empty supers from the other end of the truck. The sixth Assistant comes at the end of the line, squaring off the empty supers on the hive on the market were brought and replace the cover. Job done. This method means you have simultaneously opened hives, 6-8. It of total chaos, hammering and screaming in the camp and needless to say, this would be suicidal, try this during the day (with the African bee anyway). We would rob attached at night with miner's helmets with lamps (burner). In this way, with only the hive dispute are you.
It had its problems. Sometimes killed Queens would and would go back to a considerably depleted hive when you next visit. Other times, which would bring Queens back to the honey House. The next day would hang from the eaves of the House clusters honey bees found. The bees which reattach placed itself at the Queens that was returned. We would then hive you and start as new swarms.
These were only part of the dangers of commercial beekeeping. But if you are 5-6 camps a night to Rob every 20-30 hives and you back 200-250 supers honey bring just could not do the job hobbyist's method.
Now we are well into the spring time inventory handled like our bees with unusually harsh winter. It was the loss of the British honeybee estimated by the British Association beekeeper population is around 17%, compared to 19% in the last year of the great loss of 30% between 2007-2008! However, I have some stories and heard rumors about Scotland losses is as high as 50% for some Beeks here. Significant regional variations reveal the BBKA survey. Beekeepers in Northern England lost more than a quarter of honeybee colonies, while in the southwest of the least losses recorded: 12.8% of the colonies between November 2009 and March 2010.
Martin Smith, President of BBKA, said this year's losses showed a "small and encouraging improvement" as compared to the previous year and are "better" than the "catastrophic" losses from three years ago. "It demonstrates our honeybees are slow from the intensive care unit, but you're still not healthy enough," he said. "Winter losses between 7-10% is acceptable."
So definitely an improvement, especially when considering we have had such hard winter! I personally think the harsh winter will prove useful, a creditor is Darwinian. This weaker bees can no longer reproduce and so any defects or undesirable traits you die you may have had.
The other good news is that Mebership of the BBKA 20% has increased. I personally know, some of our local associations in Scotland record numbers see their courses. Plus this site is becoming more popular to increase visits per month!
The number of hives, probably in the UK is about 80,000 with 48 billion bees.
The USA compared suffered that has wiped out more than a third of their colonies for the fourth consecutive year. Not good! CCD is the main cause of unexplained.
It is believed that honey bees around £ 200 million a year on the British agriculture economy, contribute by bestäubenden a huge variety of cultures. His fear to think what would happen if we lose our bees!
You must know what you are looking for when you select a site:
1. Books can tell that the hives in full sun should be all day, and in this country, which can to remain good, a good rule of thumb. But bees in South Africa was kept for many years I, this was not a good idea for two reasons.
The first was that wax melts at 110 degrees F. If we start very warm summers, she can cause a problem in full sun. Bees will spend much time collecting water to cool the hive instead gather nectar to make honey. The bees collect water then it evaporate through their wing beat at the entrance of the hive. This cools the hive, using the same principles used your fridge at home.
The second is comfort. Especially your own comfort. Remember that you will you spend time on your hive not only if you the hive, but also rob if time 'manage' to spend, and we do this will come later. The bees consider comfort. Bees may not be upset if it is too wet-, too windy, too hot or too cold and let you know that also (adding to your complaints!).
2. Next we should safety. I should imagine it would be the same problems with human thieving in this country since it in South Africa. It was heartbreaking to a bee house, come to find £ 500 damage for the hives and a few small swarms of 30 +, links, all for about £ 10-£ 20 worth of honey. Was done by the indigenous population, but the same type of damage could be caused by Badgers. If try Badgers in your area, the Apiary Badger proof. Or could the hive together some strong luggage straps and belt.
3. Have any kind of transport nearby, people walking past make, etc. safe, have a solid fence. A Board fence, wall or hedge-6 ft or higher. Make sure that the bees fly straight and hit someone on foot Cannon past with a solid fence which will force bees fly up and over the heads of passers-by.
4. Ensure that the hives by wind. Wind will lead either to the bees flee to (leave), is to find a better place, or you received with propolis, or bee gum / glue to block as it is sometimes called. The bees collect resin from trees and mix with it to make wax and pollen, propolis. This is not good for two reasons. First, let small holes in the propolis for access. This limits the movement of bees and the work ' slow down '.
Secondly, it takes to make 1 unit of propolis, seven times as much food as it by one of the honey - waste of the bees time to make.
5. This should been no. 1 as it is the most important: proximity to a nectar supply. Bees are lining up to 3 km from the hive, but if it not good enough source nectar nearby, you have been known to fly up to 12 km in search of food. Once you find it leave the hive and closer to the source. This is not good for beekeepers, who come back and find an empty hive.
Bees need many flowers. If I ran a bee farm in South Africa we would 'hunt' crops, moving from one harvest to another, so we could have year-round honey. Would we work on approximately one hectare of eucalyptus, 5 hectares offer a good return of honey beans and 2 hectares of citrus trees per hive. As a hobby a reasonable number could hold, more hives in an area as a commercial beekeeper perhaps.
A few other considerations not to do that on the position of the Apiary, but important none the less are:
a. ensure that people, especially children and animals, not the Apiary randomly type. If you have at home keep bees to warn only guests of the presence of bees. If your bees on someone other property, a farmer, for example, ensure that the site is secure.
should b. the hives on than be placed:
i. it solves the hive and less strain on your back, if you work at it.
II. it keeps the hive from the ground. This is to prevent rain splashing into input and keeps the humidity of soil and surrounding vegetation. This prevents that the cases of rotting of the bottom and sides of the brood Chamber.
III. it (should) the hive above the weeds cause that would impede the flow of bees go to and from the hive. Proper maintenance of the site should include periodic weeding to the hives. This should be smoke in the evening after a few good puffs into the entrance of the hive as bees do not like the smell of cut grass or disturbed vegetation too close to the hive.
IV. These are not in the UK, but if there is an ant problem in your area, there are ways around the stand Ant proof. Ants are tolerated by bees but a great can a serious impact on the amount of honey is making links enough colony of ants in the vicinity.
I have said much about the Apiary here, all of which is important but not leave, go on at any time on the 'paraphernalia' as I promised. We will next to do time.
Silently, billions of bees die and our entire food chain is in danger. Bees not only make honey, you're a huge, modest staff, pollination of 90% of the plants we grow.
Several scientific studies that a group of toxic pesticides for your rapid decline are guilt and bee populations increased in four European countries which have banned these products. But powerful chemical companies are lobbying hard to keep selling the poison. Our best chance now to save bees is to push the US and EU ban on this deadly product - your action is critical and have a ripple effect on the rest of the world.
We have no time to lose - the debate rages, what to do. This is not just about bumblebees to save, this is about survival. Let's build huge global buzz calls the EU and the United States to outlaw this killer chemicals and save our bees and our food. Sign the emergency petition now and send it at all, and we will deliver it to key decision makers:
https://Secure.Avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/?VL
Bees are essential to life on Earth - every year pollinating plants and harvest value, more than a third of the supply of food in many countries with an estimated $40. Without immediate action to the bees save could we end up with no fruit no vegetables, no, no oil and no cotton.
Recent years have seen, some bee species are now extinct a steep and disturbing global decline bee populations - and others only 4% of your previous numbers. Scientists have been scrambling for answers. Some studies claim that might decline due to a combination of factors such as disease, Habitat loss and toxic chemicals. But strong evidence, blame Neonicotinoid pesticides made leading independent research. This led to beekeepers and scientists in France, Italy, Slovenia and even Germany the most important manufacturer Bayer based one forbids this bee killer already successfully to push. Meanwhile Bayer uses to export their poison in the world.
This question comes now to Cook, how large new studies have confirmed the extent of this problem. If we can take action European and US decision-makers, others will follow. It won't be easy. A leaked document shows that environmental protection agency knew about pesticide risks but you ignore the US. The document says Bayer's "very toxic" product is "great risk for not target insects (bees)".
We have our voice heard Bayer's very strong influence on policy makers and scientists in the US and the EU counter where you want to study finance and sit on policy bodies. The real experts - the beekeepers and farmers - the forbidden to these deadly pesticides, until and unless we have solid, independent studies that show that you are safe. Let us support you now. Sign the petition below, then forward this email:
https://Secure.Avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/?VL
No longer we let our guide delicate food chain in the hands of the research, by the companies of the chemical and the regulatory authorities that are in their pockets. Ban of these pesticides moves us to us closer to a world, and the other species we care and hangs securely
Join the Forum discussion on this post
Entomologist mark Greco and his colleagues at Swiss bee Research Centre in Bern, Switzerland and scientists at the University of bath, headed by Professor Cathryn Mitchell and Dr. Manuchehr Soleimani are pioneering a new way of looking at the inside of a beehive.
3D inner Beehive imageMr. Greco said the BBC, as interviewed, "The approach is non-invasive and change their normal Behaviour…..""We can accurately assess the number of bees and where you are at the time of the scan."
Researchers work this new technology bring 3D is hopefully clearer pictures, to improve and more accurately measure volumes of pollen, wax and honey within a structure the honeybee population.
Scientists work University of bath allow the hive to new computer models that influence hopefully better evaluation of parasites and pathogens.
"Because the method is extremely accurate, we are looking for are critical thresholds of pathogens and parasite loads and loss of food resources, populations can be recovered bee that," Mr. Greco stated who completes his PhD thesis.
"[We will also investigate] could interact as pathogens such as mites, viruses, bacteria and fungi, both among themselves and with environmental or stressors, decline or collapse producing colony."
The team also hopes that the new imaging could indicate what reduce the number of other solitary bee species.
"Many solitary bees feed on same floral resources those some of honeybees, suffer the same pathogens such as fungal infestations in their nests."
The UK is biotechnology biological of Sciences Research Council, together with the British Government spend and the decline of bees, some of this money might well be £ 10 million on the research output to these new techniques for greater insight into the inner workings of beehives promotion.
See a video of the 3D images on the BBC News website here
Join the Forum discussion on this post
I thought short articles to write ID swarm in particular some characters look out for the may, that your Beehive is about, or will call soon swarm.
1. Queen Cup
The most obvious swarm behaviors is the building of the Queen cells. These cells are usually located on the edge of the frame, but you can appear almost anywhere. Schools remove these cells prevent Queen, because you need to Superseed etc. See the picture on the right:
2. Command optimization and overpopulation
If the hive entrance is completely open (i.e. no mouse guards etc.) and bees are command optimization or you notice many bees at the hive entrance gathered this could be a coagulation to swarm. When stop the hive and cluster, if you approach it, could a lot of bees at the entrance to this a sign the bees is missing a bit of space. More space be added by an another brood box and/or super.
3. Great cluster base
If you search through the hive entrance and the hive width fills the bottom of the cluster bee then you are missing space and are likely to rave to. More space be added by an another brood box and/or super.
4. No transfer room
When the brood frames are all full of Brut and honey stores could then see the hive you start raving about. Add a different Broodbox and frames to help to prevent this.
The swarm is most likely occur between early June to late August. Little late writing this myself really but hey I've been busy!
Not all the things beekeepers do are always done the same way. Some beekeepers may tackle a task in one way while another beekeeper does it a different way. Sometimes a new beekeeper will not listen to a more experienced beekeeper and he pays the price for it. (This will be the topic of a future article). Other times there are different ways, one just as good as the other, of achieving the same result.
I have kept less than 50 hives as a hobby. I have also worked on a commercial bee farm, running over 2,000 hives. The methods used by the hobbyist just could not work on a commercial scale, and methods used by a commercial beekeeper would be considered ‘poor practice’ by the hobbyist. There are times, however, when, due to time constraints, using some of the ‘tricks’ of commercial beekeepers, could help solve a problem that the hobbyist may have.
I have been putting up posts aimed at beginners so far. However, I’d like to add some, from time to time, which are not necessarily instructive, but may just be informative or (some may find) ‘interesting’. This is one of the latter. Hopefully some of you will find it interesting.
An example of what a hobbyist would consider, not ‘poor practice’ but ‘shocking practice’ is the way the commercial beekeeper robs his hives. Let us look at how the hobbyist should do it. First of all he should take the ‘softly-softly’ approach.
Quietly open the hive, giving it a single puff of smoke before removing a frame. Inspect it to see if it is ready to be removed. If so, gently shake, knock or brush the bees off the frame and place it into the super he has brought along. Replace the frame with an empty one and go on to the next frame. Give the hive another puff of smoke, just to keep the bees subdued and carry on till you’ve taken off all the honey you can. Close the hive and go on to the next one.
The commercial beekeeper might have half a dozen assistants. He will go ahead giving the bees so much smoke they will think there is a forest fire raging round them. He will remove the lid, have a look at a couple of frames and then crack loose the supers. The first assistant will then come along behind him and bang all the bees out of the supers, dump the supers on the ground next to the hive and move on to the next one. Two more assistants will carry the full supers to the truck and come back with empty supers, dumping them onto the hive. There will be two on the truck, one stacking the full supers at one end of the truck and another handing down empty supers from the other end of the truck. The sixth assistant comes along at the end of the line, squaring off the empty supers which have been placed onto the hive and replacing the lid. Job done. This method means you have 6 – 8 hives open at the same time. There is total chaos, banging and shouting in the camp and, needless to say, this would be suicidal to try this in the daytime (with the African bee, anyway). We would rob at night using miner’s helmets with lamps (torches) attached. That way you are contending with only the hive you are working on.
This had it’s problems. Sometimes queens would be killed and you’d come back to a vastly depleted hive at the next visit. Other times you’d bring queens back to the honey house. Next day you’d find clusters of bees hanging from the eaves of the honey house. The bees that were brought back attaching themselves to the queens that had been brought back. We would then hive them and start them off as new swarms.
These were just part of the hazards of commercial beekeeping. But when you are robbing 5 – 6 camps a night, each with 20 – 30 hives and you are bringing back 200 – 250 supers of honey, the hobbyist’s method just could not do the job.
Well June will soon be upon us and dutiful beekeeper will control their Hive(s) in a 7-day cycle. Why? Now the early summer honey should remove before the first week in June due.
Links, where it is and the bees which are left to themselves (when the summer bloom was good) honey bees progressive withdrawal of honey ready to rave about. The bees takes the stored honey finished feed swarm for three to five days it takes to move and get settled. Removing the honey the bees this option and you have received a larger early harvest.
If the early bloom is not so good it simpy longer happen for the above process. Honey extracted for the process over a period of time, but you are probably still raving about. The bees will Innevitable swarm produce more Brut, later to replace that could lead Queen fatigue or congestion, plus the bees need not busy because of the lack of food in the summer!
Not sure if your bees swarm? Now, if space is available (Habitat), you are raving about! Is the brood box rammed full of bees (a further delay tactics would be another super for breed add)? There Queens cells or even other Queens? If so, a swarm is imminent.
The best solutions and certainly the easiest among the early honey harvest (sealed honey) to remove end of may, and create a few "Mini" swarms with the bees which have to do much else. To give this new cores a few frames of eggs and open to breed and remove a different locale. All the hives with 1 part sugar to 2 parts water syrup feed.
Now you have a correct Queen colony and maybe two "mini" colonies with the right tools for the re-queen new start! Prima!
The other good thing about this whole process is the ability to treat varroasis and look after EFB and AFB!
Last time we started looking at what you need. Lets now take a closer look at the first and most basic thing that you will need to keep bees – and that is the hive.
When talking about hives I’ll be referring to 10 frame Langstroth hives, as this is what I have always used. This does not mean, however, that these are necessarily the best, but I would suggest that, whatever hives you use, make sure they’re all the same. It makes interchanging hive parts so much easier.
First of all we have the floor or ‘bottom board’. This is a flat board the same width as, but slightly longer than, the normal hive sections. It is bordered on three sides (two long sides and a short side) by a rim which will raise the first chamber about half-an-inch above the floor. The side without a border then forms the entrance to the hive. The extended length creates a ‘landing board’ for the bees to alight onto at the entrance. Then we have a ‘brood chamber’ or deep chamber. There may be one or more of these before we have a ‘super’ or shallow chamber. Some beekeepers use brood chambers as supers but, when full of honey these are a lot heavier than the normal supers and, if you are lucky enough to have a lot of these full of honey, they play havoc on your back. The number, of each of these, that you will need will be discussed later.
Next you will need an ‘inner cover’ to put onto your top super. The reason for this is that the inner cover covers the same area as the chamber on which it lies and is, therefore, flush with the top chamber. Very often the bees will build wax on top of the frame between the frame and the lid. This has the effect of ‘gluing’ the lid down (although that is not actually their intention). If this happens it is easier to get your hive tool between the cover and the top super and prise them apart.
Finally you have a telescopic lid or ‘outer cover’. This has a slightly larger area than the super and has deeper sides (an inch or two) which fit over the hive. This helps to keep the top weatherproof. The inner cover should have a smallish hole in the centre and a rim round the edge (of the cover – not the hole) so that there is a gap (half-inch or so) between the inner and outer covers. This is to allow ‘breathing’ which helps with regulating the internal temperature of the hive. It also helps to eliminate condensation within the hive.
There is also a piece that can fit between hive parts called a queen excluder. This is a frame, the size of the top of a super, holding a thin sheet of metal with slots punched into it. These slots are big enough to allow bees to pass through but too small to allow the queen to pass through. Another type is made of stout wires spaced far enough apart to allow the passage of bees but not the queen. Some beekeepers swear by them though I, personally, do not believe in them. We’ll discuss, later, why some beekeepers use them and why others do not.
Finally there are the frames. These should be wired and waxed. In other words there should be wires going from side to side or, I have seen, from top to bottom in a ‘V’ pattern. This wire must be taught and should be embedded into the wax sheet or ‘foundation’. This is to reinforce the combs otherwise, when you spin them in the extractor, they will disintegrate into chunks in your honey. We try to keep the combs intact so we can put them back into the hive to be refilled. It takes seven units of honey to make one unit of wax so, if we can help the bees to save time making wax, we’ll be rewarded with more honey.
We must have foundation in the frames to guide the bees when building the combs otherwise they will build them wherever they please, which would, more often than not, be across the frames, or diagonally from one frame to the next frame, and we’d end up with a solid mass of combs which would be impossible to manage. If you want to save some money you can put strip foundation into the frames. Wire the frames in the normal way and place the foundation, which has been cut into strips (about half the width of a normal ‘super’ sized sheet) into the frame.
The foundation needs to have the reinforcing wire embedded into it. This can be done with an ‘embedding wheel’. This is a ‘spiked’ wheel that looks a lot like a cowboy’s spur. The wheel is a few millimetres thick and, in some cases, the ‘spikes’ have a groove in the centre to guide you when you run it along the wire. Weave the foundation between the wires then run over the exposed wire with the embedding wheel. Keep the wheel hot by dipping it into hot water every little while.
Another way of embedding the foundation is electrically. You need to be very careful with this as I shall explain in a moment. For this you will need a car battery and a length of lamp cord (electrical cord that you would use for your bedside light). To one end attach two bulldog clips that can clamp onto the terminals of your car battery. On the other end have two little crocodile clips.
Clamp the bulldog clips onto your battery and clip one of the crocodile clips onto the beginning of your reinforcing wire. With the other crocodile clip just briefly touch the other end of the wire. This will heat the wire enough to melt the wax which will then solidify round the wire. Now this is where care must be taken. Just touch the wire with the second crocodile clip for no more than a second otherwise you’ll end up cutting the foundation into strips. I’ve done that often enough when I started using this method. It makes embedding a lot quicker and easier, but it does take a little practice to get used to it.
As mentioned before, one should also have a stand on which to place the hive. Although this is not considered a ‘hive part’, it is important to keep the hive off the ground and, as far as possible, away from moisture. An old motor car tyre can make a very durable and cheap hive stand. Beware: Too many car tyres, one on top of the other, will have too much give and may cause the hive to either stand skew or to fall over. Two should be the max.
Well June will soon be upon us and the dutiful beekeeper will be checking their hive(s) in a 7 day cycle. Why? Well the early summer honey should be due for removal before the first week in June.
Honey left where it is and the bees left to their own devices will result in (if the early summer bloom has been good) bees gradually taking back the honey ready to swarm. The bees will take the stored honey ready to feed the swarm for the three to five days it takes to relocate and get settled. If the honey is removed the bees do not have this option and you will gain a larger early harvest.
If the early bloom is not so good it simpy take longer for the above process to happen. They probably will still swarm but the honey extracted for the process will be over a longer period. Also the bees will be producing more brood to replace the innevitable swarm later in the Summer, which could result in Queen fatigue or congestion, plus the bees wont have much to do because of the lack of forage!!
Not sure if your bees are going to swarm? Well if they are short of space (lebensraum) they will swarm!! Is the brood box rammed full of bees (another delay tactic would be to add another super for brood)? Are there queens cells or even other queens? If yes a swarm is imminent.
One of the best solutions and certainly the easiest is to remove the early honey harvest (sealed honey) at the end of May and create a couple of “mini” swarms with the bees which would otherwise have not much to do. So give these new nuclei a couple of frames of eggs and open brood and remove to another locale. Feed all the hives well with 1 part sugar to 2 parts water syrup.
Now you have a queen right colony and perhaps two “mini” colonies with the right tools to re-queen start anew!! Awesome!
The other good thing about this whole process is the opportunity to treat Varroa and look out for EFB and AFB!!
Having looked, briefly, at the ‘Why’ of beekeeping; and in more depth at ‘Where’, we now look at ‘What’.
What will you need to start beekeeping? There is not a lot you’ll need just to get started. As you progress you may find that beekeeping is quite lucrative and decide to grow. As your apiary increases you’ll need more equipment, but at the very beginning you’ll need, obviously, a hive with bees. Next (assuming you’ve already established ‘Where’ you’ll be keeping them), you’ll need a veil, gloves, a smoker and a hive tool. And that is pretty much it.
As to details about the equipment, all I’ll say here is that there are a lot of beekeeping equipment suppliers on the net, each with pretty substantial catalogues that you can browse through.
Try: http://www.honeyshop.co.uk/equipment.html
Briefly, the veil can fit over the head or it may be of the type that fits over the whole torso and having long sleeves. If you really need to cover up get a pair of overalls. Theses MUST be white or a light colour. Bees DO NOT like dark colours.
The gloves will need gauntlets with elastic tops.
The hive tool is needed to prise the frames out of the hive. It also needs one end to be sharp – not too sharp but sharp enough to scrape wax off the top of the top bar of the frame, to prise off the inner cover or to scrape off propolis used to ‘stick’ the frames in place.
As mentioned in the last article, you will need a stand to place the hives on in order to keep them off the ground. These may be made of wood or they may be metal. However, a very cheap – and durable alternative – is an old motorcar tyre. It serves the purpose admirably, it will probably cost you nothing AND it will not rot or rust.
You might find that you need an extractor. These vary in capacity and price and, even ‘cheaper’ ones are expensive. If you join your local beekeeper’s society you may find that one of the older (more established) members has an extractor that you may use. Otherwise getting the honey out of the combs will be very difficult, messy and time consuming. Remember that, just as you need a place to keep your bees, you also need a place to work with the honey. You do, after all, need to keep in your mum’s/wife’s good books and not mess up her kitchen too much. You could sell your honey in the comb or, if you have some friends who are also interested in keeping bees, join forces and club in to buy an extractor.
If you do get to the point where you need to afford an extractor, you’ll also need an ‘uncapping knife’. These can be either electric or steam heated. You can get away with a sharp carving knife and a jug of hot water. Although this is feasible, it is not ideal.
Keeping bees involves more than having a box of bees somewhere and collecting honey every now-and-again. There is a certain amount of management required – and we’ll have a look at that next time.
I thought Id write a quick article regarding swarming, in particular some signs to look out for which may denote that your hive is about to or will soon swarm.
1. Queen Cups
One of the most obvious swarming behaviours is the building of queen cells. These cells normally reside on the edge of frames but they can appear almost anywhere. To prevent swarming remove these queen cells, unless you require to superseed etc. See the picture on the right:
2. Queing and Overcrowding
If the hive entrance is fully open (i.e. no mouse guards etc) and bees are queing or you notice a lot of bees gathered around the hive entrance this could be a pre-cursor to swarming. If a lot of bees exit the hive and cluster around the entrance when you approach it, this too could be a sign the bees lack a bit of space. Add more space by adding another brood box and/or super.
3. Large Cluster Bottom
If you look through the hive entrance and the bottom of the bee cluster fills the hive width then they are lacking space and will probably be looking to swarm. Add more space by adding another brood box and/or super.
4. No Laying Room
If the brood frames are all full of brood and honey stores then the hive could look to start swarming. Add another broodbox and frames to help prevent this.
Swarming is most likely to occur between the beginning of June to the end of August. Bit late me writing this now really but hey Ive been busy!!
Well now we are well into Spring its time to take stock of how our bees coped with the unusually harsh Winter. It has been estimated by the British Beekeepers Association that loss of the UK honeybee population is around 17% which compares to around 19% last year the huge 30% loss between 2007-2008!! However I have heard some stories and rumours of the losses in Scotland being as high as 50% for some beeks up here. The BBKA survey did reveal marked regional variations. Beekeepers in the north of England lost more than a quarter of their honeybee colonies, while the south-west recorded the lowest losses: 12.8% of colonies between November 2009 and March 2010.
Martin Smith, the president of the BBKA, said this year’s losses showed a “small and encouraging improvement” on the previous year and are “much better” than the “disastrous” losses of three years ago. “It shows that our honeybees are slowly moving out of intensive care, but they are still not healthy enough,” he said. “Winter losses between 7-10% are acceptable.”
So definitely an improvement especially when considering we have had such a harsh Winter! Personally I think the harsh Winter will prove useful, being a Darwinian believer; these weaker bees can no longer reproduce and so any deficiencies or unwanted traits they may have had die with them.
The other great news is that mebership of the BBKA has gone up by 20%. I personally know that some of our local associations in Scotland are seeing record numbers attending their courses. Plus this website is becoming more and more popular with visits increasing each month!
The number of hives estimated to be in the UK is around 80,000 with 48 billion bees.
The US in comparison has suffered over one third of their colonies wiped out for the fourth year in a row. Not good! CCD is the main unexplained cause.
It is thought that honey bees contribute around £200million annually to the UK agricultural economy by pollinating a huge variety of crops. Its scary to think what would happen if we lost our bees!
