Beekeeping Made Easy

                      Working with the bees

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If you are like most people you can not wait to get into your first hive of bees.  Over the next several class sessions, we are going to be talking about developing good basic beekeeping techniques.   It is easier to start with good techniques now, rather than trying to unlearn bad habits later in your beekeeping experience.  Please do not dismiss this section as I don't have to worry about this.  I would not put it here if I did not feel it was not that important!

Keep your hive tool, smoker, and yourself clean and free of American Foulbrood.

There is no excuse for a dirty hive tool or smoker.  They should always be cleaned after use.   Some of the items you may want to take to the bee yard with you include:  

• A small bucket with a lid.   You can use either bleach or ammonia with 1/2 gallon of water as a disinfectant in cleaning your hands and equipment but do not mix the two together -- you could create a chlorine gas time bomb.
  •  Mix in three tablespoons of bleach or ammonia per gal. of water
• A one gal. container of water to clean up after washing. 
• A pint of rubbing alcohol to clean and wipe on hive tool after each session in the bee yard.
• A can of comet or other  scouring powder to be used with the  water/bleach when cleaning the hive tool and smoker.
• A stainless steel wire pad, or cleaning pad such as "Brillo" or "SOS".
  • This is used to scrub propolis from tools. 
  •  Propolis is bee glue and is very difficult to clean up at times.
  • Propolis disserves some mention here.  It is used by the bees to seal cracks and encase things they don't like in the hive such as menthol bags, dead mice, etc.  It is also used  for medical purposes as a  product of the hive.  Several firms buy propolis and there are propolis traps you can buy to collect it.
  • In hot weather is gets very sticky and you will get it on your hands or gloves when you begin to work with frames etc. in the bee hive.  It is hard to get off.
  • In cold weather it becomes very brittle and can be easily scrapped from hive parts such as frames.
• Some type of disposable cloth to wipe and clean up tools and hands with.  Don't discard on the ground after use -- put into plastic bag for garbage.
• A pair of rubberized gloves.
• Something to light your smoker.  Many beekeepers use safety matches but cigarette lighter works well too.
• Smoker fuel

When you go to visit your bees, you could place the above items  into a five gal. bucket.  The five gal. bucket makes a good carrying container for the above as well as your hive tool and smoker.

Technique:

Always start with clean tools.  

I am often asked what spreads American foulbrood!   In many cases, using a dirty  hive tools is the answer.   The beekeeper spreads the disease by using the hive tool which has come into contact with a hive having AFB on opening and manipulating other hives of bees.  AFB is a very contagious disease of the honey bee.  It is a bacteria spore which can survive on any bee related item.   Another item responsible is the gloves that protect your hands.  It is impossible to keep gloves clean if you are doing much work with your hive of bees.  When you grasp a frame in your hands, some of the wax, honey, or propolis may stick to your gloves.  Then when you visit another hive, some of this debris is carried to the next hive.  Your smoker also can come into contact with parts of the bee hive and especially the bellows which you pump with your hands to create the smoke cloud.  

If these items are not cleaned after each visit to the bee yard, an accumulation of hive debris on your equipment will possibly carry  spores.  If you should find a sick hive, by all means, clean your equipment before going on to the next hive.

Cleaning procedure: 

• Begin by pouring about a quart of water into your bucket.  Slowly add bleach or ammonia to the water-- it only takes a tablespoon full.  I am going to repeat the warning from above --  Do not use both ammonia and bleach.  You will create chlorine gas if you do.  Chlorine gas is dangerous stuff.
• Wash your hands, hive tool and smoker.  Scrub off any propolis or hive debris on any of your equipment.  You may wash your gloves in a clorox bleach solution in your washing machine after each use.  Or you can just dip them into the solution in your bucket and hang up to dry.
• On occasions, propolis may be very sticky.  In that case use plenty of elbow grease to get it off.  That is were the scrub pads or wire scrub pad comes into play.

If you find a hive with American foulbrood:

Clean equipment immediately.   I often place my hive tool into the fire box of my smoker and heat it up before washing it and then wipe it down with the alcohol.

For the beekeeper with only several hives, I would recommend that the hive be destroyed as soon as AFB is confirmed  -- make sure it is AFB!   If you do not doing something fast, AFB will spread to your other hives as well.  If you are like 80% of the beekeepers out there, you most likely are thinking, How can I save them?    Our answer is:  AFB is the most serious bee disease out there.  Many beekeeper try to use medication (Terramycin (TM)) to control the disease but Terramycin only mask the disease -- never rids the hive of the spores that cause the disease).   If you use chemicals to control the disease, then it is extremely important to clean your equipment before touching anyone else's equipment or bees.

Comments on the use of ammonia

•   I like ammonia for washing my hands for several reasons:
  • It dissolves propolis -- it will leave your hands very clean.  Propolis will turn yellow and can be washed away with clean water.
  • If you wash your hands with ammonia before working with the bees, it seems to repel the bees.  At least they are less likely to seek out your hands as a place to sting.