Beekeeping 101   Lesson One    

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It is always somewhat of a dilemma of where to start a course on beekeeping.  The major assumption I am making in this class 101 is  basic beekeeping topics need to be discussed.  Thus we will begin with the basics such as who should keep bees and the effort required to keep bees.  Many other topics will follow in this lesson.  The topics found in each lesson are located in the box under the lesson number.

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Who Should Keep Bees?

"Any person who is cautious, observing and prompt, will succeed in beekeeping," says, Albert J. Cook in his The Bee-Keeper's Guide or Manual of the Apiary written 125 years ago.  It is true to this day.   However, beekeeper in today's world must deal with issues that Albert J. Cook did not have to deal with.  The challenge is greater as new issues arise.   So we must add to Cook's list the following: “to succeed in beekeeping you not only need to be cautious, observing, and prompt but be well informed about issues of management and problems facing the survival of honey bees.”  Individuals may want to keep bees for various reasons; however, if you are that individual and you are not willing to take time to keep bee, then I would suggest you find some other hobby.

 There are individuals who should not keep bees.  Your chance of dying from a bee sting is about as rare as being struck by lightening.  However, some individuals do have allergic reactions to the venom of the bee sting.  These reactions vary according to the individual immune system.  First, it is normal to swell around the sting site.  Some of us have seen someone with an eye swollen shut as the result of the bee sting.  It is unsightly, uncomfortable and hurts.  The swelling may last for several days.   An individual who has a severe reaction will exhibit symptoms such as excessive swelling, itching, rashes, and trouble breathing.  We would recommend that you contact your doctor to get a prescription for an epi-pen called a sting kit if you have the reactions mentioned above.   Obviously, an individual who exhibits severe or life threatening risk from a bee sting should not keep honey bees.

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Bee stings hurt.  The new beekeeper will enjoy working with bees if fully protected from bee stings.  Bee sting becomes less and less trouble-some the more one is stung.  If bee stings are a big concern for you, then I would suggest buying the more expensive protective bee suit.  The suit consists of an attached bee veil which is of the zipper type and allows no room for a bee to find its way inside.   You will need gloves to put on your hands.  The difference between regular gloves and bee gloves is this: the bee gloves have an extension of light material which covers your arm from the elbow to your Gloves and is sewn to the top of the gloves.  This prevents bees from finding a way to sting your wrist or climb up your sleeve.    Socks can be pulled up over your pant legs or you can buy a good pair of high top shoes to prevent bees from crawling up pant legs.  If completely dressed in this fashion, you are ready to go to war so to speak.  The weapon of the honey bee will do little damage to you.

You can get by reasonably well with clothes you already own.   Most bee books suggest white clothing because bees are more attracted to dark colors such as red and black.  The clothing should be loose fitting but not at the neck, sleeves, waist, or the pant legs.   You do not want bees to find their way inside your protective gear.   You will need a good bee veil as well as gloves -- canvas gloves will work but bees can sting thru them.  A roll of duct tape is a necessity to bind and close any openings in your defensive armor.

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  You will notice that some beekeepers work bees without protective equipment.  This can be achieved once you develop a certain confidence in the bees and have been stung on a number of occasions.  Whenever a person works bees without protective equipment, they run the risk of being stung about the face, arms, hands and other places.  Even the people you see working this way will have a bee veil handy in a nearby truck or car and know when to close the hive and call it a day or  put on the protective equipment.  

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Where can I get beekeeping information?

A new beekeeper needs to know any number of things.  What follows is a list of items you may desire to know right away:

Bee magazines to subscribe to: 

We highly recommend :  The American Bee Journal   published by Dadant & Sons, Inc. 51 South 2nd St., Hamilton, Illinois, 62341-1397    www.dadant.com

                                      Bee Culture    published by A.I. Root Company,  623 W. Liberty St., Medina, Ohio 44256    email:  info@beeculture.com

Hint:  You can get a sizable discount on either of these magazines thru your bee clubs almost 25% off.  Check with the club secretary.

 

 

 

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Where can I get bee Equipment?

 

 

Where to get bee equipment:  I am listing a number of bee supply dealers.  I have confidence in any of those listed here either because I have purchased something from them and never had a problem or they have very good reputations.  Some dealers may feel offended that they are not on my list.  The reason for this is either I have not had dealings with them, don't know about them, or have heard some things about their business that causes me not to list them.  I do not get paid by any of those listed for listing their names.   It is purely a choice I have made to include only the ones I am familiar with.  If you have problems with any of the individual business's listed, I would appreciate a chance to know about it to determine if they should continue to be listed in future editions of this CD.  A good business is one that will take your complaints seriously, try to address your complaint, and offer to do something about it.  Many will refund money when products are returned if defective.  Package bees are a bit more tricky.  If you purchase package bees to be delivered in the mail, you should insure your purchase.  Once a package of bees leaves the company that produced the bees, many things can happen during shipment.  One of these is mishandling by the shipper causing the death of bees in the package.  Bees being shipped must be well ventilated and kept cool.  They must also be protected against the very cold weather they encounter in early spring.  If is normal to find a few dead bees in the bottom of a package.  It is not normal to find layers of bees dead on the bottom.  You are paying for bees by the pound and for every pound dead, you are loosing money.  Every package you receive must have a live queen.  If the queen is dead, contact the seller immediately for a replacement queen.   Sometimes queens are poorly mated when you purchase them.  If a queen is a drone layer or produces poor brood patterns, contact the seller as well.

A complete bee suit.    Bee keepers need protection against stings.  This is a complete bee suit with no opening for a honey bee to get into your space.  If you look closely, you will see that this beekeeper has left one opening for the bees to find a way in.  His pant legs are open.  We recommend you use duct tape to seal this opening or use high top boots/shoes with the pant legs stuffed inside the boot collar.

Bee veils       Bee veils come in many different styles.  They are also necessary to avoid being stung around the face.  These veils are used either with or without a hat. Veils come in two styles - zipper style designed to fit a zipper on the bee suit, or a string which is drawn tight so bees can not enter.  With the drawstring bee veils it is not unusual for a stray bee to find its way into the veil.  For the new beekeeper, this can cause a great amount of concern.  The bee will usually fly toward the screen but then again, it is in your veil and can sting.   It is best to walk away from your bees some distance -- take your bee veil off and release the bee inside.  Then you can put the veil back on and return to work.

Bee Gloves -- A necessary piece of equipment for the beginning beekeeper and the beekeeper working with nasty bees. They are shown being used above with some really aggressive bees.

Shoes A good pair of high top boots will prevent bee stings to your ankles and feet.  Pant legs can be fitted into the top of these boots to prevent any bees from climbing up pant legs.  A bee climbing up your leg on the inside of your pants can cause you to forget everything else you are doing.

Tools you will need:

A Smoker	A smoker is used to control honey bees.  The smoke causes the bees to be less aggressive.  When used in moderation, you will enjoy your bees.  A light puff at the entrance lets the bees know you are there.  Once you lift the top cover, you can again direct some smoke at the inner cover hole.  The bees should back off -- they are alerted to the hive disturbance and seek to see what has caused the disturbance.  You can then remove the inner cover and again direct some smoke at the bees on the frames.  Avoid using too much smoke.
Hive Tool	The hive tool is a handy tool for many things.  It can scrape paint.  It can separate hive boxes.  It can be used to pry the lid from the hive.  It is very easy to misplace.
Other Items	This is a hive frame puller.  It is fitted over a frame so the frame can be lifted from the hive.  The only problem is -- you will also have to use your hive tool as well.  Bees glue frames in place with propolis and the frame puller can not overcome the effect of the propolis.  Eventually, you will end up using just your hive tool.

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Bee Equipment

As you read through bee catalogs you will see many things that seem to attract your attention.  Some items are useful and others are just a waste of money.  Items such as frame grips may look good but before long you will discard them and they are no longer needed.  Because many individuals are afraid of being stung when taking frames from the hive, this tool is often in the beginner tool box.  You will need to develop some confidence in lifting frames from the hive with your hands protected by bee gloves and even later with no gloves at all.  If you plan on picking up a queen, you will need to work without gloves and this will come in time.  The necessary items are a smoker and hive tool.

Things that would be nice to have but you can get along without them:

• A bee tight work room

• Electric hand uncapping knife

• An extractor

• a storage tank for honey

• Some honey jars or honey containers (5 gal. buckets).

• Woodworking tools -- electric saws, hammers, etc.

• Power tools: such as stapler, compressor, table saw, drill press, etc.

The list of dealers below is by no means complete.  Check the latest edition of American Bee Journal or Bee Culture Magazine for ads.

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Where can I find bee clubs

In the computer age, this is becoming easier and easier.  First, go to the internet and Goggle for the following information:  First, [bee association], followed by [state], or [city and state].   Most clubs have the name association in their name.  So a search would include the following words:  [bee association Ohio]    A search will turn up a number of links which fit your search words.  You could even narrow the search by adding a region such as: [bee association central Ohio] 

Where can I get Web site addresses?

Some good web sites:   This list is not complete and I suggest you explore the various beekeeping sites by using a search engine such as Goggle.

The equipment you need will vary according to your needs not others.

 I will try to give you some idea of the advantages and disadvantages of the various pieces of equipment we will examine.  One factor may be the amount of weight you can lift.  Depending upon where you locate your bee hives, carrying heavy supers full of honey any distance can be a back breaking experience. You may want a cart or wagon to pull to the bee hives.  It will be used to carry your supplies as well as return heavy supers full of honey to the place you want to harvest the honey. 

In many ways, we are fortunate today with the choice of hives in use.   Our standard hive is patterned after a hive developed by L.L. Langstroth. This hive has movable frames and is usually found in two sizes.  These sizes are the eight frame hive or the ten frame hive.  Which ever width you select, you should maintain that size so all of your equipment will be interchangeable. 

 Picture of eight frame bee hive

This is the cute little garden hive sold by Brushy Mountain Bee Farm.   The bottom board of this hive is placed on a hive stand which elevates the hive above the ground and provides a sloping landing board in front of the hive.   You can buy deep, medium, and shallow supers for an eight frame hive.  The standard frames (deep, medium and shallow) will fit these supers.  The major advantage of the eight frame hive is its weight.  The front width of the hive is 13 ¾ inches wide compared with the 16 ¼ width of the standard 10 frame hive.  The standard length of either eight or ten frames hive equipment is 20 inches.  Bottom boards, inner covers, queen excluders, top covers etc are not interchangeable between the two sizes of hives.  This means that if you buy eight frame boxes, you will also need to buy eight frame bottom boards, top covers and everything else.  The only thing standard is the frame which will fit either eight or ten frame equipment.

The ten frame hive is sold by most bee supply companies.  It is the standard hive used in the United States today.  It is easily interchangeable with all ten frame equipment.

Just remember that bees need room to expand the brood nest.  If for some reason the queen can not find cells to lay eggs -- the brood nest becomes so crowded that the bees will naturally begin the process of building swarm cells.  This will led to the old queen leaving the hive with many of the older workers and some drones to establish a new nest.  This is called swarming.  More on this topic in a later lesson.

The Eight frame hive:   (See picture above for a eight frame hive) This hive is used by hobby beekeepers but some commercial beekeepers use them as well.  It may not be available from many bee supply dealers and it might need to be special ordered.  Frames will be no problem however because all frame sizes are pretty standard.  The major advantage is the size and weight of the hive.  It does not take up as much room as a ten frame hive and fits into the garden scene quite well.  When used for pollination, more hives can be placed on a truck to be moved from place to place and that translates into more money for the person doing the pollination work.  The eight frame hive is good for the person concerned about lifting the weight of honey off a hive or moving the hive.

The disadvantage of the eight frame hive is the number of frames in the hive available for the queen to expand the brood nest.  An eight frame hive will survive the winter almost as well as the ten frame hive if kept as a two deep hive body brood chamber winter colony.   All colonies will need ample supplies of honey for winter stores to survive. The only problem is this size is more prone to cast swarms.  It will require a little more attention than the ten frame hive.

The ten frame hive:  This is the most common size and equipment is available for it at most bee supply dealers.  Thru many years of trial and error, beekeepers for the most part have come to accept this hive because the brood nest is large enough for a single hive or double hive.  During this course, I will show how the various hive configurations are used both in the north and the south as well as what applies to beekeeping in the colder regions and what applies to bees in the warmer regions of the United States.   You will need to consider the climate of your home and place you keep bees as it will be different from where I keep bees for the most  part.

Its advantage is:  Still considered light enough to move easily, easily re-sold because most beekeepers use this size, and when well managed, causes less management problems for the beekeeper.

Its disadvantage is:  Weight of honey supers.  When full of honey a deep 10 frame hive body weights approximately 60 pounds.  It usually will take two full grown men to move a double deep hive and a deep super is just about all one person can handle.  Therefore, you will find the depth of honey supers being a bit smaller than the standard deep which is 9 5/8 to 9 7/8 inches from top to bottom.  Remember that manufacturers of bee equipment will use the same inside dimensions.

If starting with one hive  -- a bottom board, at least two deep hive bodies, two honey supers (deep, medium, or shallow (boxes)), an inner cover, and a top cover      .  

To the left are two bottom boards.  One is wood and one is plastic.  Wood is far more popular but doesn't last as long if placed directly on the ground.

  Hive bodies are shown below.  First is the deep 10 frame hive, follow by the medium and shallow hive bodies usually used as supers (boxes the bees store honey in).  They are placed on the bottom board.  Note that frames are placed in these box with a wax or plastic foundation upon which the bees will construct cells.  This is the reason it is called foundation.

  You will most likely need two of the deep boxes (Used as a brood chamber where the queen will lay her eggs).  Eight frame hives will require maybe three of these.                                                                                                                                                          

You will need to decide on a type of honey super. 

Shown here are two sizes. On the left is the 10 frame medium super and to the right of it is the 10 frame shallow super.  You will need frames to fit these supers and foundation for the frames.  Usually you will use wax foundation with them but plastic is available for the medium size only in addition to the deep size.  We will discuss the advantages of wax and plastic later in the lesson on hive equipment.

And finally, you will need an inner cover to place between the top box and the top cover which is a lid placed over the inner cover to keep out rain, snow, etc.  Usually it will be called a telescoping cover.  It is available in wood with a metal top or plastic.

Several styles of top covers are available.  Wood migratory covers are used by migratory beekeepers.  I recommend the telescoping cover for most hobby beekeepers.  Just make sure that if you have ten frame wide hive bodies that you order all ten frame equipment and if you have eight frame wide hive bodies you order all eight frame equipment.

 If buying from a local dealer, do not accept a package of bees with a lot of dead bees in the bottom of the cage.

And finally two pictures of bee yards.  Both include more than just a few hives. 

• One is located without much shade.   Shade helps the bees as well as the beekeeper during hot summers.

•  Just make sure you do not place too many hives in a small back yard. 

• You need quite a bit of room for this many colonies in one location.  A city lot can handle one or two hives without much trouble but consider your neighbors and the amount of room available for other yard activities.    Generally bee yard should not contain any more bees than the forage area will permit.

• Bees will fly up to two miles from the bee yard location to gather nectar, pollen, and water.

•  Bee hives should be located well away from occupied dwellings.

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Bee yard photos:  Later in this lesson, a link will take you to many more bee yards.

You will find more information in later lessons on establishing a bee yard and finding places to locate bees.  I would like to leave you at the end of this lesson with some words from L.L. Langstroth who in 1853 wrote the following:

There are a few first principles in bee-keeping which ought to be as familiar to the Apiarian as the letters of the alphabet:

1^st.  Bees gorged with honey never volunteer an attack.

2^nd. Bees may always be made peaceable by inducing them to accept of liquid sweets.

3^rd. Bees, when frightened by smoke or by drumming on their hives, fill themselves with honey and lose all disposition to sting, unless they are hurt.

4^th. Bees dislike any quick movements about their hives, especially any motion which jars their combs.

5^th. Bees dislike the offensive odor of sweaty animals, and will not endure impure air from human lungs.

6^th. The bee-keeper will ordinarily derive all his profits from stocks, strong and healthy, in early spring.

7^th. In districts where forage is abundant only for a short period, the largest yield of honey will be secured by a very moderate increase of stocks.

8^th. A moderate increase of colonies in any one season, will, in the long run, prove to be the easiest, safest, and cheapest mode of managing bees.

9^th. Queen-less colonies, unless supplied with a queen, will inevitably dwindle away, or be destroyed by the bee-moth, or by robber-bees.

10^th.The formation of new colonies should ordinarily be confined to the season when bees are accumulating honey.