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THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO

BEEKEEPING

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As bees in early summer swarm apace Through flowery fields, when forth from dale and dell They lead the full-grown offspring of the race, Or with liquid honey store each cell And make the teeming hive with nectarous sweets to swell. These ease the comers of their loads, those Drive the drones afar. The busy work each plies And sweet with thyme and honey smells the hive. —VIRGIL’S AENEID, BOOK 1

Welcome to the world of beekeeping! We’re excited that you’ve decided to explore this enjoyable, fascinating, and potentially tasty hobby. Our hope in writing this book is that bee-ginning beekeepers will find some helpful tips for getting started, that more advanced beekeepers will pick up some new ideas and further their knowledge, and that everyone will have some fun along the way. We’ll do our best to tell you everything you need to know in order to successfully raise a hive, harvest honey, and be a part of this rapidly growing community of beekeepers. And we’ll do our best not to overwhelm you with bee humor and puns (although restraining ourselves will bee hard to do!).

So why keep bees? Beekeeping interests people for many different reasons, but here are a few of our favorites:

1. Bees make honey! This one is pretty obvious. There is nothing like the satisfaction of enjoying the sweet produce of your hives.

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FASCINATING FACTS

• The top honey-producing state is North Dakota.

• To produce a single pound of honey, bees must visit as many as two million flowers and travel an accumulated distance of 50,000 miles.

• A colony of bees can contain as many as 60,000 bees.

• In her lifetime, an average female honey bee can fly a distance equal to going 1 1/2 times around the earth.

• According to a USDA estimate, cited by the National Honey Board, bees are responsible for 80 percent of insect crop pollination in the United States.

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In addition to pollination and honey, beeswax is another wonderful benefit of raising bees—it’s an immensely useful product in a number of ways!

3. Bees are fascinating. Really, until you’ve spent some time observing the habits of these little creatures, you won’t appreciate how truly amazing they are, from their organization to their

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4. Bees aid farmers and gardeners. While in the process of travelling from flower to flower collecting nectar and pollen, bees boost the productivity of fruits, vegetables, and crops. If you have a garden, keeping bees may be an excellent parallel project.

5. Bees can be kept almost anywhere. Even in locations where it is impossible for you to own any other kind of livestock, you may still be able to keep bees and find a compact outlet for your “inner farmer.”

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BEEKEEPING CONCERNS

You may have some questions or concerns about this beekeeping idea of yours. Let’s see if we can help clarify some issues and perhaps ease some of your concerns.

1. “I’m worried about getting stung—maybe a lot!” While the possibility exists that you will receive a sting or two over the course of your beekeeping gig, this usually is not a particularly serious concern. Unlike certain wasps or hornets, which can be aggressive depending on the circumstances, honey bees are generally passive creatures that will only sting as a “last resort” to protect the hive. A worker honey bee that is out collecting pollen will almost never sting, because it is not worried about defending the hive. Even those bees that are inside or nearby the hive will have to perceive a considerable threat before they will begin to sting. As long as you do your

homework and are gentle and careful while working among your bees, frequent stings should not be an issue for you. (In some circumstances, a bee sting can be serious; see the sidebar “Bee Careful” on page 9.)

2. “I’m worried that this is going to be a lot of work—I didn’t get into beekeeping to do something hard!” We’ll be honest: beekeeping is, to some extent, hard work, but the work is

different than caring for, say, a dog or cat or horse. Bees do not require repetitive chores on a daily basis. Bees don’t have to be fed twice a day, or walked on a leash—they don’t even need to be inspected every day. While a schedule is a good idea so that you don’t fall too far behind or miss something important, your schedule can be loose and adaptable to your lifestyle. The times of heavier work occur during the initial spring hive setup (which may only have to be done once), the honey harvest, and some general preparations in spring and fall. Overall, if you’re looking for a rewarding project that doesn’t require you to conform to a rigid schedule, keeping bees may be just the thing you’re looking for.

3. “What will my neighbors think?” It’s possible that nearby neighbors may be (understandably) apprehensive about your new hobby—but that is only because they are probably just thinking of “bees” as some vicious group of stinging bugs, bent on seeking their next victim. You’ll just need to reassure these concerned souls that a foraging honey bee is only concerned with collecting nectar and pollen (and, incidentally, you could point out, pollinating the neighbor’s plants!) and does not pose a significant threat. You could even invite the neighbors to watch you work with the hives so they can gain firsthand experience with the naturally gentle behavior of your honey bees. And, of course, a complementary bottle of honey or two can go a long way toward making your neighbors view beekeeping in a positive light!

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beekeepers. So do your research, learn from your bees, and be the best beekeeper you can bee!

So, what are you waiting for? The world of beekeeping awaits!

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HELP!

As with the care of many types of animals, you may find yourself looking for help and advice beyond what you can find through books and research. While a list of resources and websites can be found at the back of this book, and while we will attempt to cover as much common

information as we can, you will probably enjoy the advice and company of a local beekeeper— should you be lucky enough to have one in your area. Beekeeping clubs can be a terrific way to meet other fellow beekeepers and ask specific questions that you may have.

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BEE CAREFUL

We don’t want you to move about in a perpetual state of fear that something bad will happen while you work with your bees, because generally speaking, beekeeping is a safe hobby that you can participate in without incident. As we discussed on page 7 (“Beekeeping Concerns”), bee stings are not nearly as frightening as many people believe. However, we do want to caution you on one thing: some people are severely allergic to honey bee stings and such a sting can

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The Indians with surprise found the mouldering trees of their forests suddenly teeming with ambrosial sweet; and nothing, I am told, can exceed the greedy relish with which they banquet for the first time upon this unbought luxury of the wilderness. —WASHINGTON IRVING

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEEKEEPING

The lure of honey seems to have always been a strong incentive to people of all backgrounds across many cultures. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, Israelites, and Romans are all known to have tended bees in locations as diverse as Africa, Europe, and Asia. The ancient Maya also kept a variety of stingless (albeit less prolific) bees in Central America. But the bees we know and use today in North America are descendants of Western honey bees, which were developed in Europe and carried across the ocean by American colonists. Even prior to the 1700s, established beehives were already in place across New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

One problem that beekeepers faced throughout all these times was that there wasn’t a good way of harvesting the honey. Harvesting could involve the destruction of all or part of the hive depending on the type of hive used. Smoking the hives with sulfur was also sometimes used to kill the entire colony of bees, which would leave the physical hive intact but result in the destruction of all the bees.

All of this changed in the mid-1800s, when L. L. Langstroth of Pennsylvania developed a new style of beehive, which is still in use today. The Langstroth hive is special because it is made of individual components that can be easily taken apart and examined without upsetting the bees or destroying their work. The bees in this kind of hive build their combs and store their honey on a series of movable frames, which can be easily and nondestructively removed when it’s time to harvest honey.

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ALL ABOUT BEES

MEMBERS OF THE HIVE

A beehive is made up of three distinct types of bees: 1. Workers

2. Drones 3. The Queen

Let’s take a look at each type individually:

Worker bees are female bees that typically do not lay eggs. They do, however, tend to the queen, tend to the nursery of young bees, build comb, store food, and fly miles and miles and miles from flower to flower collecting pollen and nectar. Wow! When people talk about “busy bees” they surely must mean the workers. Worker bees also have glands in their abdomen that produce wax, as well as glands in their heads that are capable of producing royal jelly, which is a nutrient-rich substance used to feed larvae (baby bees!).

The queen is usually the only egg-laying female in the hive. For this reason, the queen is given special treatment from the rest of the workers. She is fed, tended, and protected by the workers. In exchange for their care, the queen supplies the hive with the eggs needed to sustain a healthy, working colony. The queen is the largest bee in the hive, with a slender, elegant body—considerably larger than that of a worker bee. There are only two times when there might be more than one egg-laying female. One is when the main queen is aging and the hive is considering producing a replacement (known as supersedure). The other time is when the queen has died, and confused worker bees begin laying eggs. If you have laying worker bees (manifested by a sudden increase in the number of drones in the hive, or multiple eggs laid in one cell), then you have no queen and you’ll need to take action to replace her.

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HONEY BEE ANATOMY

As an up-and-coming beekeeper, it might do you good to take a closer look at the anatomy of our buzzing buddies.

Honey bees are insects, of course, and like all insects, they have bodies that can be classified into three broad regions:

1. The head, which contains the bee’s mouth, eyes, brain, and antennae. 2. The thorax, a middle section with three pairs of legs.

3. The abdomen, which contains some of the bee’s internal organs and the stinger if the bee is a female.

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You can see that the three worker bees on the left are very different in looks and size to the larger, big-eyed drone on the right. As autumn approaches, the drones may be “kicked” out of the hive by worker bees to eliminate having to feed them throughout the winter.

THE LIFE CYCLE OF A HONEY BEE

Let’s take a moment to familiarize ourselves with the honey bee life cycle. It’s useful to you as the beekeeper to be able to locate, identify, and understand the various stages of bees you’re looking at, because a healthy hive and a healthy queen will be producing strong brood (baby bees). Let’s take a look at this brood.

Eggs

All honey bees begin life as an egg laid by the queen in an empty hexagonal cell. On a busy summer day, a healthy queen might lay as many as 2,000 eggs!

Honey bee eggs are very tiny, and not always easy to find if you’re a beginner. Some people recommend using black plastic hive frames because the small white eggs will stand out more easily against the black and make them more visible (see the section in Chapter 2, “Anatomy of a Hive,” page 33, to learn more about frames).

Larvae

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Worker bees have many occupations; and one is that of guard bee. This guard bee is clearly doing her job in communicating to this stranger that he’s got to go.

Worker bees produce royal jelly out of glands in their heads. The royal jelly is a rich substance, full of vitamins, and the workers feed this to the larvae for three days. After that, the rapidly growing larvae are switched to a diet of honey and pollen. (If, however, the hive is replacing a queen, they will continue to feed a handful of larvae straight royal jelly, which will spark the development of a new queen). The larvae are fed over 1,000 times a day!

After about six days (it can be slightly shorter or longer depending on if the individual larva is to become a drone, worker, or queen), the larva has eaten its fill and has grown quite large. It is at this time that worker bees seal the larva’s cell over with a cap made of wax and perhaps a bit of propolis

(a sticky substance collected by the bees).

Pupae

Now is where the action really gets interesting. You won’t be able to actually witness this part, but underneath the cap of the larva’s cell, the once-larva has now become a pupa. Over the next two weeks or so, the pupa undergoes a fabulous transformation, known as metamorphosis. The pupa grows legs, sprouts wings, and develops eyes, antennae, and the stripes that are characteristic of a full-grown honey bee. After about 12 days since being capped (for workers) or 14 days (for drones), a fully-developed honey bee chews its way through the cap and is free to roam the hive. (A queen bee, however, develops rapidly and only stays in the pupa stage for about seven days. During this time, the growing queen bee is exclusively fed royal jelly. If it wasn’t for this, she would simply develop into another worker bee).

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each trip taking as long as an hour—back and forth from flowers to hive, returning with nectar, pollen, and propolis; all essential to keeping the hive fed, healthy, and strong.

The bee in the very center of this image has climbed halfway into the cell; bees are always fulfilling one of their many duties inside the hive. It’s an amazing place.

Adults

After a pupa becomes an adult worker bee, she performs many jobs. Young adult workers clean the hive, tend to larvae, and take care of the queen. Slightly older workers also begin to produce wax from the wax glands on their abdomens, which they use to build comb. Older workers also act as hive guards. It is only after about three weeks of adult life that they begin to fly outside the hive, visiting flowers and collecting nectar and pollen.

HOW BEES WORK

So just what is it that your bees do all day long? Everyone knows they fly around and visit flowers— and they somehow make honey in the process, but what really goes on in their lives? We’ve touched on a few things already, but we’ll try to run through a more thorough description of honey bee life.

Worker Bees Outside the Hive

Outside the hive, foraging workers visit flowers to collect nectar, which they store in their special “honey-stomachs.” While on the flowers, the

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on the hind legs of worker bees called a pollen basket where a large amount of pollen is collected), and then they haul the pollen back to the hive along with the nectar. In the process, they inadvertently pollinate flowers. They also collect water.

One other item that bees collect outdoors is a resin-substance known as propolis, which they retrieve from trees buds and sap. Propolis is quite sticky.

Worker Bees Inside the Hive

Inside the hive, the worker bees build hexagonal cells made of wax. These are for storage and for raising brood. The propolis is used as a sealant for cracks in the hive and also as a building material. Bees are very particular about the spacing of areas inside their home. This is known as “bee space” and is about 3/8-inch wide. If a particular area is deemed a bit too narrow for them (for instance, the area between frames inside the hive), they will not hesitate to use propolis to fill in the cracks.

Likewise, if the bees decided that a certain area is too wide, they will make it smaller with “burr comb” (which is just a name for comb that is not where you want it!). Propolis is something you will certainly run into as a beekeeper—it will often stick to your clothing.

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Deep inside the hive, worker bees are making comb. This comb will be used for storing brood, honey, and pollen. The wax is put into place by mouth.

After foraging, worker bees return to the hive with their honey-stomachs filled with nectar. This nectar is passed to “house” worker bees that hold the nectar for a time. Both the foragers and the house bees use special enzymes to break down the raw nectar into simpler sugars. This new

substance is then placed into cells, and the bees begin fanning the air with their wings to help dry out any excess moisture in the honey. If the bees don’t plan on using this particular honey for a while, they will cap it with wax for safekeeping and storage.

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Worker bees produce a pheromone (scent) from their Nassanoff (Nasonov and Nasanoff are also correct) gland when trying to communicate the hive’s location to her fellow workers. The bees stand with their back ends up in the air to release this scent.

Smell and Communication

Smell is an important function in the life of the colony. There are special bee scents, known as

pheromones, which are used by the bees as a kind of communication system. The queen bee produces her own particular pheromones, with which she can say encouraging things to the hive things like, “I’m here, everything is okay,” and motivational things like, “Keep up the good work! Build that comb! Tend that brood!” If a queen becomes elderly or dies, her encouraging messages become faint and disappear, and the worker bees sense this and go about the business of crowning a new queen (by feeding extra royal jelly to a few special larvae). When a young queen is on her mating flight, she releases another smell aimed at communicating her location to any nearby drone bees.

Worker bees have their own slew of pheromones. One is produced by the Nassanoff gland on their abdomens. You can sometimes observe a worker bee standing around outside the hive, with her

abdomen pointed upwards. She is releasing a pheromone into the air to help guide her fellow foraging workers back to the hive. She’s saying, “C’mon—here’s the hive! Down here!” It’s not unlike a

lighthouse beacon, calling in ships on the sea.

Worker bees can also warn each other of danger with their smells. If a bee stings something, it releases a “Danger! Caution! Warning!” signal throughout the hive, which just might make other workers consider stinging as well.

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of the colony.

Because of the very dark conditions inside a hive, touch is an important communication tool for bees. Take a listen to your hive every now and then; there’s a lot going on inside.

Dancing

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The Italian honey bee is known for its golden good looks and gentle nature.

BEE BREEDS

There are a few different varieties/strains—“breeds,” if you will—of honey bees. We’ll discuss a few common varieties here:

Italian (Apis mellifera ligustica) honey bees are very popular. They’re good honey producers, they’re quite gentle (not aggressive), and they rapidly produce a large quantity of brood. However, they also maintain this brood over the winter, which means they need a lot of food to see them through —you may be needed to help supply some of that food (see the section on overwintering bees in

Chapter 3).

Carniolan (Apis mellifera carnica) honey bees are another common breed. Like the Italian bees, Carniolan bees are gentle and easy to work with. They keep their numbers smaller over the winter, so they require less food in storage. They are also quite adaptable to variations in environment; they’re quick to take advantage of an early spring, for instance, but also just as quick to back off in hard times, such as a drought. They are, however, a bit more prone to swarming.

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traits is its natural resistance to Varroa mites, a parasite that can cause serious problems for other breeds. Russian bees are also quite hardy and overwinter well, even in harsh northern climates. They maintain a very small colony over the winter, and this tendency helps them to make their stores of honey last longer. One potential problem with Russian bees is that they can reproduce very rapidly under bountiful spring conditions, and if the beekeeper is not careful, the Russian bees may outgrow their hive too quickly and decide to swarm.

There are other hybrid subdivisions within these categories. Experienced breeders will sometimes create crossbreds aimed at surviving well in a particular geographical location, for instance. Before making any decision on which breed to start your hive, it’s a good idea to talk to local beekeepers and get their opinions and suggestions before making your final selection.

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How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower. —ISAAC WATTS

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REGULATIONS AND ORDINANCES

In your initial burst of beekeeping enthusiasm, it’s tempting to want to fling yourself headfirst into the fascinating world of apiculture. Hives, frames, queens, brood, honey—you want to immerse yourself in beekeeping, and you don’t want to let anything or anyone stop you.

These are understandable feelings, and we’re excited that you’re excited about getting started with honey bees. But before you rush out and invest in beekeeping equipment and order those bees, we encourage you to take a few moments to research some important information that may have a significant effect on your beekeeping endeavors: regulations and ordinances.

It might surprise you to learn that beekeeping—as with many agricultural pursuits—is regulated on the state and local levels, and that your ability to get started with bees will depend upon the

regulations that are applicable to your city and state. Before getting started, you’ll want to investigate these regulations and determine what—if anything—you need to do before setting up your beehives.

You might be wondering just what these regulations entail. Well, if you live in North Dakota, for example, you’ll need to pay annual fees of 15 cents per colony and $5 for a beekeeper’s license. Other states require that you have your hives inspected regularly by an apiary inspector. Still other localities prohibit beekeeping either expressly (by prohibiting it entirely) or in an implied manner by enacting such strict regulations as to make beekeeping impossible. For example, a city might have legislation that requires beehives to be kept at least 500 feet from a roadway, making it impossible for a person on an average-sized lot to have a beehive and still comply with the regulations.

Thankfully, as long as your municipality does not entirely prohibit beekeeping, it’s usually fairly easy to comply with regulations, and the fees are generally reasonable. To find out about the

beekeeping requirements required in your area, talk to your local beekeeper’s association; they will be able to enlighten you as to any necessary fees or registration requirements. You can also contact your local agricultural extension office for information. Additionally, the Apiary Inspectors of America website maintains a comprehensive list of state statutes with handy links:

http://www.apiaryinspectors.org/laws/statelaws.html.

Even if you discover that your city or township prohibits beekeeping, you still have options for pursuing your apicultural ambitions. To begin with, you can petition your local government to lift the prohibition on beekeeping. Join forces with other beekeepers, as well as gardeners and farmers who rely on the honey bee for pollination purposes, and you’ll likely find that they will provide willing support toward changing beekeeping legislation.

We highly recommend that you join your local beekeeper’s association. You’ll meet area beekeepers who will be able to advise and guide you in your beekeeping adventure, and you’ll learn about tried-and-true beekeeping techniques that are specific to your area. Many beekeeping associations provide educational opportunities such as field days, guest speakers, and classes. Your annual dues will be money that is very well spent!

But what if your city prohibits beekeeping and you’re simply not able to convince the “powers that bee” to change the legislation and make it more friendly and welcoming to beekeepers? Start

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eager to find beekeepers who are willing to establish and maintain hives on their property. This can provide the best of both worlds: you have the opportunity to keep bees and pursue apiculture, while the land owner receives the benefit of the presence of your bees in the form of pollination for his or her plants or crops. Again, your local beekeeping association can be a great source of contacts, information, and networking opportunities, so be sure to utilize this valuable resource.

Even if you live in an area that is completely “bee friendly” and has little or no regulation on beekeeping, you may run into the occasional person who just doesn’t approve of beekeeping.

Sometimes area residents are uncomfortable with the idea of beehives in their neighborhood, and they may complain or express their reservations about your honey bee pursuits. Bee phobia (known as

apiphobia) is real and some people are truly frightened by bees, especially when the bees are in proximity to their homes. You may wish to discuss your plans with your close neighbors ahead of time and listen to any concerns that they may have. You may be able to alleviate their fears by explaining that bees are gentle creatures that are really only concerned with doing their jobs of gathering nectar and pollen. By addressing these potential concerns in advance, you may be able to avoid potential problems down the road.

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HONEY PRODUCTION REGULATIONS

In addition to the regulations and ordinances that pertain to beekeeping in general, you’ll also want to check out any regulations that may have an effect on your ability to sell honey and honey products. Some states will require you to file for a food handler’s permit or a food producer’s license before you can sell your products. Even if your state does not require you to obtain a license in order to sell honey at farmers’ markets or festivals, you may still be required to

maintain a designated area for honey preparation that meets necessary criteria of cleanliness and sanitation.

For example, in Wisconsin, you don’t need to obtain a license if you meet the following criteria:

• You extract, package, and sell only your own honey from your own bees, and

• You don’t process the honey or you process it only minimally by straining, heating, and/or making spun or creamed honey using starters from your own honey, and

• You sell your products directly to your customers out of your home, over the Internet, or from a farmers’ market. This includes commercial customers using your honey as an ingredient, such as a brewery.

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LOCATING A BREEDER

Here’s a great question that probably has been bouncing around in your mind for a while, and perhaps you’ve even skipped ahead in the book to find the answer: Where exactly are your bees going to come from?

Well, unless you plan on tracking down and capturing a swarm of loose bees (possible, although challenging and beyond the scope of a beginner) or collecting them one by one off of dandelions and daisies (not practical), you will be purchasing your bees from someone else—either a bee breeder (who may live far from you) or a local beekeeper. And that’s a good idea, because this way you will be able to do your research and purchase from an established, reputable source—and besides, that wild bee roundup idea sounds a little too ambitious!

Most bee breeders in the United States are located in the southern portions of the country and California (because of the warm year-round temperatures) but will ship packages of bees and queens all over the country. If you’re not planning on buying locally, then explore bee journals and magazines for bee breeders who will ship to your location. (A breeder that offers a package replacement

guarantee is a good thing—just in case your bees perish during shipment.)

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Handle your packages with care and set them safely in your vehicle for transport to your apiary. There could be a few loose bees on the outside of your package, so if you’re going to be placing them in your car, you might want to brush off those few stragglers.

Generally speaking, you can purchase your bees in three different ways.

1. Packages. A package of bees is a small screened box—most commonly about three pounds when full—that contains a queen and about 10,000 rarin’-to-go workers. Ten thousand bees is just the right amount for an up-and-coming hive. The benefits of the package system is that you can

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through the U.S. Mail or by another carrier like UPS. Be aware however, that shipping through the mail like this can be stressful on the bees. It is less stressful on them if they are hand delivered— for example—by a local bee enthusiast who has had the packages trucked directly to his door or has picked them up himself and brought them directly back home. In the past, we’ve purchased bees from a local beekeeper who travels each spring from Wisconsin to California to pick up a

truckload of bees, which he then disperses to beekeepers throughout Wisconsin.

Your package of bees will be made up of the screened box, a small metal can of syrup that provides the bees with a meal during their cross-country excursion, and a very small, separate screened cage for the queen. She is separated from the workers because she has only just been introduced to them. The queen is, in effect, an adopted queen, and the rest of the packaged colony will need some time to become acquainted with her unique smell and personality. The queen cage provides an opportunity for the bees and the queen to get to know each other, without getting too close too soon.

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Bees in packages are stacked up awaiting pickup by beekeepers. Each package contains about 10,000 worker bees and the queen. The queen will be in a tiny box within the bee package. You’ll want to be very careful with her.

2. Nucs. A “nuc” (short for “nucleus”) is a somewhat more elaborate way of obtaining your bees. Instead of shipping the bees in a simple box, a nuc can be thought of as a tiny hive (with only a handful of frames—see later in this chapter under “Anatomy of a Hive”). A nuc has a small group of workers, an established queen, and some brood. When it’s time to install the bees into their new hive at your home, all that is required is the careful transfer of the nuc frames into a new empty hive. Ta-da! You’re ready to go.

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3. Complete hives. It is also possible to purchase an established functioning beehive from a breeder or beekeeper. While this option has its merits—you are immediately in the beekeeping game with a producing queen and plenty of workers—it usually isn’t recommended for the novice beekeeper. For one thing, you will have to be immediately prepared to deal with the upkeep and care of a large hive, without the benefit of the learning curve that you might otherwise obtain when starting out small. There will also be a lot of bees in an established hive, which can be intimidating to work with, and they may be a bit more aggressive than a newly established hive from a package or nuc.

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HOW MANY COLONIES SHOULD I START WITH?

Remember the old tongue twister, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”

We’d like to offer this paraphrased version: “How many bees should a beekeeper keep if a beekeeper could keep bees?” The answer to this question varies depending on your

circumstances; some commercial beekeepers keep hundreds of colonies in their bee yard (also known as an apiary) while a backyard beekeeper might have only one hive. Obviously, most beekeepers have somewhere between those two extremes, and that’s what we suggest for you.

For your first year of beekeeping, we recommend starting out with two or three hives. Most beekeepers agree that starting with only one hive is not a good plan, as that leaves you without a way to make comparisons of your hives whenever you wonder, “Is this normal behavior?” When you have two or more hives, you’ll be able to manage your bees in a more effective manner, and maintaining two hives is really not much more labor intensive than caring for one. Many

beekeepers cite the importance of being able to save a queenless hive when you have a second hive. (If your first hive goes queenless, you can move a frame of brood into the queenless hive so that they can raise another queen and continue. If you do not have a second hive, you would have to either order a new queen or you lose the colony.)

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ANATOMY OF A HIVE

In the wild, bees will create a home and hive just about anywhere that’s cozy, dry, and defendable. This could be inside a tree, or log, or even in the walls of an old house. However, these locations don’t exactly lend themselves to easy access by a beekeeper! Instead, domesticated bees are

(generally) kept in manmade hives that are both easy to work with, easy to access, and comfortable for the bees.

Hives can be purchased preassembled, or in a kit that requires your own skill to put together. Another option, of course, is to build your own from scratch. If you’re ambitious and skilled in woodworking, then this makes a terrific project! Check out the sidebar, “Build Your Own Beehive,” on page 40 for all the details.

If you’re anxious to get going with your bees and aren’t particularly interested in building things, then you’ll want to stick with the preassembled hives, which are available from many beekeeping supply companies. We give the names of several of these companies in the appendix under

“Resources.”

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Honey bees can sometimes be found in the oddest places, such as inside the attic of an old building. You can see that this colony has built comb and needs to be removed. It typically takes an experienced beekeeper to remove such a misplaced colony and such removal probably shouldn’t be attempted by a beginner. Photos courtesy Colin and Renee Snook

Let’s take a quick walk-through of a standard Langstroth hive, so you will be able to identify each part and understand its function. We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up:

1. Stand and landing board. This is the very bottom of the hive, which is basically an empty square with a small ramp built on the front . . . the ramp is there to give your bees a nice landing space and an easy way to crawl back home after a hard day of visiting flowers.

2. Bottom board. The screened bottom board is just that—just a floor for the hive with little else to do.

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4. The honey that you’ll be harvesting is kept up higher in the hive—in boxes called supers (which is Latin for “above,” or, “higher”—as in “superior.”) Typically, supers are not as deep as brood boxes. This is to keep them easier to handle—a box full of honey can be quite heavy. The bees don’t care one way or another if the supers aren’t as deep as the brood box.

5. Above the supers comes the inner cover, which is a rather simple lid with an oval hole for ventilation. This inner cover is, in turn, covered by the outer cover. Outer covers usually have a tough exterior made of metal or copper. Simple outer covers are flat, but some hives have gabled roofs to make them more attractive in your bee yard.

6. There is one more piece of the hive that we should talk about, and that is the entrance reducer. This is a small, long, wooden piece that has two notches carved into it: one notch is quite small, and another is somewhat larger. Once in place, the entrance reducer is used as a kind of doorway to the hive. Depending on its orientation, the entrance reducer can be installed so that either the large notch is used, making a long, wide doorway for the bees, or that the small notch is present, making a short square entrance.

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Here we have a setup that foregoes a deep hive body, and is available complete from Brushy Mountain and is a lovely addition to your apiary. It’s called the English Garden hive.

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This English Garden hive is an nice addition to our apiary, partly due to its good looks and partly due to the fact that it uses the 8-frame medium supers. The copper roof adds a touch of class and distinction to the hive.

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QUEEN EXCLUDERS

The queen excluder is a piece of beekeeping equipment over which people tend to debate. A queen excluder is a mesh structure made of wire, wood, or plastic that is placed in the hive

between the brood boxes and the supers. Like an exclusive club open only to members who pass a membership test, access to the supers is then restricted only to bees that can pass through the

queen excluder. The spacing of the mesh is precisely designed so that worker bees can pass through and gain access to the supers above, but—as you might have guessed—the queen cannot. She’s just too big. So are the drones. Whether or not the queens feel offended by the injustice of a queen excluder, we cannot say.

The purpose of a queen excluder is to prevent the queen from getting up into the supers and laying eggs. This is handy, because it means that there will only be honey up in the super frames— no brood. And since workers tend to follow the queen wherever she goes, there will be less

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the brood. All in all, having a queen excluder can keep your hives more organized. It’s also

sometimes used to keep track of your queen’s location. Without an excluder, she could potentially be anywhere in the hive.

But there are some problems with queen excluders. For one thing, it takes extra effort for the worker bees to squeeze through the excluder’s mesh (and drones sometimes attempt the crossing and get stuck). Squeezing through the excluder can place unnecessary wear and tear on the wings of the worker bees. And because of the extra effort that is required, the workers may be too

discouraged to haul nectar up past the excluder and into the supers. If this happens, they may store as much honey as possible down in the brood chambers, leaving hardly any cells left open for the queen to lay eggs in. This is called a “honey-bound” hive, and is not desirable at all, for it can cause the bees to consider swarming. It’s as if they think, “Hey! This place is filling up! There’s nowhere for the queen to lay more eggs! Let’s go find somewhere new!” This situation of the bees refusing to climb through the excluder has caused some beekeepers to sarcastically refer to queen excluders as “honey excluders.”

Queen excluders are offered for sale in many beekeeping catalogs, and are often included in the beginner’s kits. So, what should you do? Should you use a queen excluder or not?

It is really up to you. If you’re starting out with two hives, you could try putting an excluder on one and leaving the other open, then see what happens. Does the queen lay brood up in the supers where you don’t really want her to? Are the workers messing things up by hauling pollen up there all the time? Then perhaps a queen excluder should be considered. On the other hand, are the bees reluctant to cross the excluder boundary? Are they storing an inordinate amount of honey down in the deep hive boxes? Maybe you should remove the excluder.

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Typically, most beehives are painted white, which is traditionally felt to be a cooler color for the summers. Other colors can be used if you prefer something a bit more lively. These stacked hive bodies have been painted a pretty salmon color. Some beekeepers like to stencil their name or the name of their apiary on their hives.

FRAMES AND FOUNDATIONS

Now we must discuss frames. Frames actually look a bit like their name—they look like picture frames. The frames are the areas in which the bees are actually going to do most of their work. Here the bees will build their hexagonal cells for storing honey and pollen and for raising brood.

Frames sit lined up, one by one, inside the hive boxes. They are easily removable and they lift right out, allowing for easy inspection. Depending on the style of hive that you purchased, your hive boxes will have either eight or ten frames. (Our instructions on pages 40–41 for building a hive are for the eight-frame variety.) Frames come in two sizes, one deeper variety for the deep brood boxes, and a shallower one for the shallow supers. Makes sense, right?

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inside, and the bees have to work from scratch to build their comb. Because of this, it may take the bees a bit longer to engineer the combs, a process known as drawing out. Also, the comb in

foundationless frames has a tendency to be a bit more fragile, which can be an issue for you later when it’s time to extract your honey.

Other frames have a built-in foundation, which is a premade base inside the frame, already molded with the hexagon shape that bees require for their cells. Foundation can be made of wax or plastic, but either way, the foundation gives the bees a guide to help them get started building their hexagon-shaped cells.

Plastic foundation is more durable than wax (wax foundation typically requires thin metal wires to aid in support), will last for years, and won’t collapse under the stress of extracting honey (see

Chapter 5 for more about extracting and you’ll see why it’s stressful on the frames!). Some people feel that it takes the bees longer to draw out comb on plastic foundation, while others don’t feel it makes any difference.

So where does this leave you? Well, for beginners getting started, we would recommend plastic foundations, but as you get more experienced, you may want to try experimenting with wax or

foundationless frames and see what happens! Some beekeepers feel that the best way is to use foundationless frames only and allow the bees to build their own comb naturally. It’s probably best not to mix different foundation types within a single hive, but you can certainly experiment with the different foundations among multiple hives if you keep more than one colony.

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BUILD YOUR OWN BEEHIVE

You’ve probably admired all of the prefinished and preassembled hives that are offered for sale in the beekeeping supply company catalogs, but you might be wondering whether those hives will fit your budget. Maybe you think you can only afford to keep a couple of colonies of bees because you can’t afford to purchase hives for more than that. Good news! If you’re handy with wood and tools (or know someone who is) you can minimize your setup costs by building your hives from scrap materials.

You see, one of the advantages of building your own hives is that you can use scrap materials that can be easily obtained—maybe even from your own backyard! All of the materials needed for hive construction are relatively small in size, and this means that you can often find suitable

boards in the scrap pile at your local lumber yard or construction site; just ask for permission before hauling away unwanted materials. People are often glad to see the materials being

salvaged and put to good use, so don’t be afraid to ask! If all the wood materials for your hive can be obtained from scraps or as giveaways, then the cost to build the hive could be essentially free, especially if you already have glue, nails, and paint on hand at home.

Begin by gathering everything you’ll need. For tools, you’ll need a jigsaw, a table saw, a chop saw, a power saw, a measuring tape, a rubber mallet, and a biscuit joiner (optional). You’ll also need to assemble these materials:

• 2 – 1" × 10" × 12’ No. 2 pine boards • 1 – 1/4" × 2’ × 4’ lauan or AC plywood

• 1 – 20" × 24" aluminum or galvanized flashing (optional) • 3d or 4d galvanized box nails

• Exterior glue

• Solid white stain or paint • 6 biscuits (optional)

We like to use No. 2 pine boards, but some people prefer using cypress, especially in southern states. We don’t recommend using hardwoods because of their increased weight. Your supers will be heavy enough once they’re filled with frames and honey, so don’t make them heavier than they need to be!

Choose the boards carefully. That may sound contradictory if you’re using scrap lumber, but if you can avoid boards with large black knots, that’s helpful, because boards with large knots can be weak and prone to cracking.

As we’ve discussed previously, many standard hives are designed to hold 10 frames, but a growing number of beekeepers are opting to use eight-frame Langstroth hives. Deep hive bodies (95/8 inches deep) are commonly used as brood boxes, with medium boxes (6 5/8 inches deep) used for honey supers, but some beekeepers elect to forego the deep hive bodies altogether in favor of the more lightweight medium boxes for use as both brood boxes and honey supers. With this approach, all hive boxes and frames are consistent with medium-box hive-body size. These directions are for an eight-frame standard hive with medium hive bodies.

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Materials needed for the hive base

• 2 long rim boards: 3/4 × 2 boards, 22" long

• 1 1/4" short board: 3/4 × 1 1/4 board, 12 1/4" long • 1 1/2" short board: 3/4 × 1 1/2 board, 12 1/4" long

• Bottom: 3/4 × 12 1/4 × 20 1/2 plywood (or three pine boards, 6 13/16" wide, 12 1/4" long)

Materials needed for the entrance reducer • 3/4 × 3/4 board, 12 1/4" long

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Materials needed for the inner cover

• 2 short rim boards: 3/4 × 1 1/8 boards, 133/4" long • 2 long rim boards: 3/4 × 1 1/8 boards, 19" long • Top: 1/4 × 12 × 18 1/4 plywood

Materials needed for the telescoping outer cover • 2 short rim boards: 3/4 × 13/4 boards, 15 1/2" long • 2 long rim boards: 3/4 × 13/4 boards, 20 1/4" long • Top: 1/4 × 15 1/2 × 213/4 plywood

• 17" × 23 1/4" aluminum or galvanized flashing (optional)

Step 1: Assemble the Hive Base

The base of the hive is the most complicated portion to assemble. Begin by deciding if you will use a solid piece of plywood or three pine boards sandwiched together. If you choose the latter, join the boards using a biscuit joiner and biscuits for added strength.

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Then glue and nail the long rim boards to each long side of the bottom piece, keeping the

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Step 2: Assemble the Hive Body

Professionally constructed hive bodies typically have dovetailed joints for optimal strength. Creating a dovetail joint can be complicated, so we suggest that you try a simpler form of corner construction using rabbets. A rabbet (note the –ET spelling; we’re not talking about fluffy

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Saw a 3/4- by 3/8-inch rabbet in both ends of each short side board. Saw a 5/8- by 3/8-inch rabbet along the top of both short side boards—this is where the foundation frames will rest.

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Step 3: Assemble the Inner Cover

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Step 4: Assemble the Telescoping (Outer) Cover

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Step 5: Prepare the Entrance Reducer

With a jigsaw, cut two notches in the entrance reducer:

1. Make the first 4 1/2 by 3/8 inches, positioned on the left half of the entrance reducer

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Step 6: Paint the Hive

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Last but not least, fill your hive bodies with frames from a beekeeping supply company. We have to tell you: it’s far more practical to purchase the frames rather than make them. If you’ve constructed the 6 5/8-inch hive body as we’ve described, you’ll need to purchase eight 6 1/4-inch frames for each hive body. But the cost of this purchase is minimal in comparison to what you would have spent on prefabricated hive components!

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CHOOSING A SUITABLE LOCATION

It’s important to give some thought to the location in which you plan to set up your beehives. While bees are not terribly particular about where they live—they’re good at adapting and coping with various situations—it will benefit you and your hive if you at least start out with as many factors as possible on your side.

Sunlight

First, consider sunlight. While your bees can probably handle direct sunlight, it’s preferable to have at least some shade during the day—preferably during the late afternoon. This keeps the hive from becoming too hot on the long summer days, which puts less stress on the bees and saves them some work. (A hive that is too hot requires the bees work harder—they must rapidly wave their wings to increase ventilation and keep the hive at the proper temperature.)

Some beekeepers prefer a location with “dappled sunlight”—a place where there are some trees around for shade throughout the day, but some sunlight still sneaks through the branches. However, a completely shady location probably isn’t a good idea—it may encourage dampness, hive beetles, Varroa mites, and wax moths.

Direction

You might want to try aiming the front of the hives—and thus the entrances—to the southeast. The sun rises in the southeast, and the idea is that aiming your hives in this direction will encourage your bees to get up early and get to work.

This, however, brings up another issue. Be aware that the direction of the hive entrances will

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If you don’t live next to a pond or some other water source, your bees will be looking for a drink now and then. There are various ways of providing water for your bees, but care needs to be taken so that they don’t drown in something that is too deep for them. We’ve used a top feeder placed on the ground for watering our bees, because it has floats in it to keep them safe.

Water

A water source is another bee essential. If you happen to have a natural water source such as a stream or pond close to your hives, wonderful—the bees will surely use it. But this, of course, isn’t always the case, and if not, you’ll need to supply your bees with water yourself. A thriving hive can consume a surprising amount of water per day; especially when the weather is hot and dry, so it is imperative that you provide enough water nearby to ensure your bees have enough and don’t go looking for water somewhere else.

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This is a heavenly location for an apiary: loads of flowers as well as a water source, but do place small pebbles or rocks in any birdbath so the bees will be able to drink without drowning.

Considerations of People and Animals

Odds are you aren’t the only one who uses the outdoors near your home! Your bees will need to be able to share it quietly and cooperatively with anyone else who makes use of your yard and land. A little common sense is all that is needed to be sure that your bees can live in happy harmony with humans and pets.

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KEEPING RECORDS

While record keeping might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about the responsibilities of a beekeeper, it really is good practice to maintain records for each and every hive. Your records don’t need to be extensive or elaborate; you just need to keep track of dates and figures that are important to your hive’s history. For example, you’ll use your records to keep track of many things, including:

• Date on which you installed a package of bees • Dates of your regular inspections

• Amount of honey harvested from each hive, and the date • Notation if the hive has been requeened

• Results of testing for Varroa mites

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These hives have been placed up off the ground on concrete blocks. This helps prevent dampness as well as discouraging some pests.

Windbreaks

If your location is particularly windy, then your bees will appreciate a windbreak to block some of the prevailing winds. A windbreak doesn’t have to be elaborate—trees or bushes work nicely as windbreaks, although a fence made of solid materials can work, too. Depending on the situation, you might also be able to use the windbreak to provide some afternoon shade.

Ground Condition

What about the ground itself? A low, damp location where puddles could form is not a good place to set up your beehives. It is preferable to place your hives on a somewhat higher piece of ground. It doesn’t have to be a hill—but it shouldn’t be the lowest part of the property, either. An area with good drainage that dries out well after rain is ideal.

HIVE STANDS

You shouldn’t place your beehives directly on the ground. For one thing, the hives will stay too damp, which isn’t a good thing. Grass may grow up and block the entrances, which confuses the bees. Sitting directly on the ground will also increase your chances of attracting pests such as skunks, mice, or even toads that may find the easy access appealing. They will be less inclined to cause trouble if they have to climb up to find the hives. Finally, hives on the ground will be a challenge on your back! You don’t want all of your time with your bees to be spent bent over; that can become very fatiguing. Some beekeepers suggest that the hive entrance should be a minimum of 18 inches off the ground. Elevating your hives solves all of these problems at once.

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(or have one built by a friend who is handy at such things), most beekeepers opt for a simpler—if less elegant—solution.

Concrete blocks (also known as cinder blocks) used in construction can be put to good use when building your bee stand. They’re cheap, durable, strong, and readily available from home

improvement stores or similar businesses).

You can place your hives directly on a stand made entirely of blocks, and this works, but it doesn’t leave you anywhere to place your tools and beekeeping supplies as you work. Another idea might be to build a table of sorts out of the concrete blocks and wood.

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The bee from her industry in the summer, eats honey all the winter. —PROVERB

A

ny time you start a new hobby or interest, there are always new words to learn, new ideas to

explore, and new tools and gadgets to purchase. Beekeeping is no exception! Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the tools you’ll need; then, we’ll explore the basics of routine care for your hives.

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TOOLS OF THE TRADE

CLOTHING

You’re probably already familiar with the protective clothing worn by beekeepers: a full body

coverall (usually white), gloves, and the very important veil. Of course, there are always beekeepers who forego the bee suit, and some even skip the gloves and veil! How do they do it? Are these people just brimming with courage?

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One item you might wish to have is a light hand cart for transporting equipment around your place. Here a beekeeper is hauling a new outer cover and a package of bees out to the apiary.

BEE SUITS

Bee suits don’t have to be white—any light color will do. It’s important to note that bee suits are never dark colors because dark colors remind the bees of predators—bears, raccoons, and so on, which are dark in color. So if you find a light blue or yellow suit that you like, that’s fine. There are different styles—some are complete, full body suits; some are simply jackets and protect only your upper body. What we recommend for a beginner is a full body suit with zippers. The zippers are fast, easy to get in and out of, and the full body suit provides good protection. Elastic wrist and ankle cuffs are also a good idea—these will prevent any loose bees from crawling their way into your sleeve or pant leg.

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VEILS

Veils are also very important. Some bee suits have a veil/hood built into them, but often you’ll need to purchase the veil and suit separately. Some veil and suit combinations zip together, which works very well, while others simply tie on. Any of these versions is fine, as long as you make sure that there are no gaps between the veil and suit when you put it on.

GLOVES

Beekeeping gloves come next. Most of the gloves you’ll find in beekeeping catalogs have very long cuffs that can be used for even more protection. This is probably the route you will want to take at first, but later you may want to experiment with other types of gloves—perhaps thinner, more tightly-fitted gloves that are more comfortable. Some people use ordinary rubber dishwashing gloves,

claiming they provide excellent dexterity.

THE SMOKER

As a beekeeper, one tool that you absolutely must own is a smoker. A smoker is a really simple tool —it’s just a little metal can that holds a fuel (sawdust, for instance) and burns it. The smoker isn’t really supposed to hold a fire—there aren’t flames shooting out—rather, the materials inside the smoker are meant to just smolder and, well, smoke.

Why the smoker? Because smoke has an interesting effect on your bees. While the phenomenon is not completely understood, the smell of smoke seems to send an alarm throughout the colony—“Hey! Smoke! There must be a fire—maybe the hive is on fire!” The bees think they might need to evacuate the colony, so they begin to take emergency measures—they start eating honey. This is so that they won’t lose all of their food supplies in case the fire threat is real. With luck, they hope, they’ll be able to eat a large amount of honey and then have enough energy to flee the hive and begin anew. But eating all this honey makes the bees very full and a bit drowsy—which actually calms them. Plus, they’re so busy thinking about the threat of a possible fire that they stop paying much attention to other things.

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WHEN TO SKIP THE GLOVES

At first, you’ll want to always wear your beekeeping gloves. That’s only natural. But eventually, most people find that they’re more comfortable without gloves. Why is that?

Well, first of all, the gloves make you clumsier. Even well-fitted gloves insert an extra layer of material between your fingers and what you’re doing. For instance, the gloves may make you clumsier when fine-tuning things—such as moving frames—and the bees don’t like that.

Secondly, let’s face it, the gloves are hot. It’s not as easy to enjoy what you’re doing if you’re uncomfortable. For these reasons—comfort and dexterity—many experienced beekeepers forego the gloves when making routine inspections of the hives.

What about you? Should you leave the gloves at home and dig into the hive bare-handed? Not necessarily. It all depends on what you’re comfortable with. If the gloves aren’t bothering you, and you enjoy the extra layer of protection they give you—especially when bees are crawling all over your hands—then by all means go ahead and keep on using them. There is nothing wrong with that. But, someday down the road when you’ve been beekeeping for a few years, you just may find that removing the gloves doesn’t bother you at all.

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The essential smoker. When properly used, the smoker has a calming effect on the colony and will make your job as a beekeeper much easier, as well as less stressful on the bees.

You can purchase a smoker from any beekeeping supply store. All of the smokers are essentially the same design—they look a bit like a watering can, but with small bellows that can be pumped with one hand and used to increase the smoke and blow it around. But you will also need fuel—something for your smoker to burn and create smoke. Again, the bee supply companies come to the rescue, because you can purchase smoker fuel at the same time. Smoker fuel is often made of cotton or sawdust pellets, which are materials that sort of burn, but not really. Mostly they just make a lot of smoke—which is just what you want.

Of course there are other things you could burn in your smoker: pine needles, or sawdust, or even bits of damp wood, but you must be careful that these materials don’t contain any unwanted

contaminants, such as sawdust that came from chemically treated lumber. Bees are very sensitive to this kind of thing and it wouldn’t be healthy for them (or you, either!).

THE HIVE TOOL

One essential piece of equipment is a small object known simply as the hive tool. It’s a general-use lever, pry bar, and scraper. You’ll use it for opening the hives and manipulating frames. Remember, bees use propolis—their sticky building material—to seal cracks and make spaces within the hive exactly how they want them, and you’ll definitely need a hive tool to help you free up such sticky situations. There are a few different types of hive tools available, from basic scrapers and levers to more specialized models with specific jobs in mind (for instance, a hooked end for helping to lift frames out of the hive).

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The bee brush is useful to politely encourage stray bees to move along out of your way. This is important, because you don’t want to accidently crush any bees while maneuvering hive components.

THE BEE BRUSH

You’ll also want to acquire a bee brush. This is simply a little tool that is used for gingerly encouraging bees to move out of the way. For instance, when you want to pull out a frame for

inspection, but there are bees crawling all over it and blocking your way, the bee brush can be used as a polite way to ask them to move along. A bee brush has very soft bristles that should not harm your bees when used properly. Some beekeepers prefer not to use the brush at all, preferring to gently blow or slide the bees away with their hand.

FRAME GRIP

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INSTALLING A PACKAGE OF NEW BEES

All right—enough talking about it! Let’s actually get some bees and get going! Back in Chapter 2, we talked about some ways that you might obtain your bees, including buying locally or purchasing from a bee breeder who perhaps lives far away from you. In this case you might be receiving your bees through the mail or through another carrier service. If so, you’ll want to schedule your shipment so that the bees arrive to you in the spring, a few weeks before your first flowers and blossoms begin to bloom. This will give your new colony a chance to build itself up before summer. If your bees are arriving through the post office, you will ideally time your order so that the bees arrive during the middle of the week, thus avoiding a weekend-long stay at the post office.

Once your bees arrive, it’s time to get them out of their shipping container and into the hive where they belong. (For the purpose of this discussion, we’re going to assume that you have purchased a package of bees [see Chapter 2].)

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A “package” of bees is a small screened box that contains about 10,000 bees and a queen. These bees are ready to go!

PREPARATION

There are a couple of things you can do to ensure a smooth transition. First of all, you should have everything prepared and ready ahead of time. Here are some things you will need:

1. Your new hive (of course!). Initially, you’ll just be using a single deep brood box. Take off the lids, and then remove three to five frames from one side, so you have a large open area in the box. 2. A smoker (to aid in calming down rambunctious bees). Get it lighted and going ahead of time. 3. Sugar syrup water in a spray bottle (this is also helpful in calming the bees). You can prepare this

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that might harm the bees).

4. Your bee suit (it’s a stressful day for the bees and a few may get riled!). 5. The hive tool.

6. Your bee brush.

7. A miniature marshmallow. (Just in case you get hungry—no, not really! Later, we’ll explain what this is for.)

8. Scrap wood or cardboard.

Prior to installation, be sure to give your package of bees a healthy spray of sugar-water. This will make the transfer into the hive much smoother.

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1. A lot of bees (something like 10,000!)

2. A can of syrup (this gave the bees something good to snack on during their long journey) 3. A queen (separated from the main group in her own private cage)

These three hives are empty, and each one is ready for a new package of bees. Note that several frames have been removed from each hive to create a space wide enough to install the bees. They’ll be replaced once the bees are in the hive.

REMOVING THE SYRUP AND QUEEN

All right, let’s open the box! First, take your sugar spray and generously spray the sides of the cage. You don’t need to go crazy with this, but you need to spray on a good amount. The sugar spray helps put the bees in a good mood and relaxes them. Keep the bottle handy.

In all likelihood, most of the bees will be congregated around the syrup can, hanging out and enjoying its goodness. This is exactly where we don’t really want them, because that syrup jar is

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Here is a new queen bee in her private cage. This particular queen was not shipped with any attendant worker bees. Your queen cage, however, could have several attendants inside.

With luck, a good many bees will lose their footing and jump down to the bottom of the box.

Repeat this a time or two if you need to, and give them another few sprays with the sugar water. You probably won’t be able to get all the bees away from the can—but just try to do your best and get the majority of them to move. Now, with your hive tool, pry off the syrup can and set it aside. You should also discover the queen in her private cage. Pull out her cage, too. Be careful not to drop your queen into the bottom of the package, as you’ll find it more challenging to retrieve her.

In case you didn’t notice, the door of the package is now open, so put something over the top—a piece of wood or cardboard or something. Take a look at your new queen. She should be moving about happily in the cage, perhaps alone, or perhaps with a few attendant worker bees (it depends on the provider). There should also be a hook or hanger of some sort on her cage.

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