The beginners guide to beekeeping daniel johnson

A worker honey bee that is out collecting pollen will almost never sting, because it is not worried about defending the hive.. The bees in this kind of hive build their combs and store t

THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO

BEEKEEPING

SAMANTHA JOHNSON

AND DANIEL JOHNSON

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 A ENEID, 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 beekeeperswill find some helpful tips for getting started, that more advanced beekeepers will pick up some newideas and further their knowledge, and that everyone will have some fun along the way We’ll do ourbest 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 ofour favorites:

1 Bees make honey! This one is pretty obvious There is nothing like the satisfaction of enjoying the

sweet produce of your hives

2 Bees make beeswax Bees make more than just honey, you know! Additional products from your

hive include beeswax and pollen, which—along with your honey—can be used to make a widevariety of products from candles to soaps We’ll discuss all of this in greater detail later on

Beekeeping is a fascinating hobby and the number of beekeepers in the United States is increasing It is becoming more and more popular in urban locations as well as remaining very important in our rural areas.

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 andtravel 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 timesaround the earth

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

• Bees fly approximately 15 miles per hour

For many people, the best part of raising bees is the harvest of honey.

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

socialization You’ll witness the life cycle of the bees, from egg to adult, as well as their fantasticwork ethic

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 youhave 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 “innerfarmer.”

The most sought-after and bestselling item for most beekeepers is the honey their bees produce It’s very satisfying to care for your hives over the year and then be able to harvest the honey at summer’s end.

BEEKEEPING CONCERNS

You may have some questions or concerns about this beekeeping idea of yours Let’s see if we canhelp 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 particularlyserious 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” toprotect 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 willhave 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 dailybasis Bees don’t have to be fed twice a day, or walked on a leash—they don’t even need to beinspected every day While a schedule is a good idea so that you don’t fall too far behind or misssomething 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), thehoney harvest, and some general preparations in spring and fall Overall, if you’re looking for arewarding project that doesn’t require you to conform to a rigid schedule, keeping bees may be justthe 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!) anddoes not pose a significant threat You could even invite the neighbors to watch you work with thehives 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 yourneighbors view beekeeping in a positive light!

4 “What if I goof up?” While we certainly hope this doesn’t happen, mistakes in an uncertain world

are always possible To that end, we’ll do everything we can to keep the instructions in this bookclear and concise However, if something does go wrong—if one of your colonies of bees does notsurvive the winter, for instance—try not to be discouraged You can always try again next spring—and you’ll be a wiser and more experienced beekeeper On the other hand, there really is no oneright way to keep bees there are as many methods and options as there are individual

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!

The tremendous trifecta of bounty from the hive: pollen, beeswax, and honey!

A few tomato blossoms await pollination Although tomato blossoms are usually pollinated by air movement, bees can be very helpful to ensure successful pollination

And the after-effects of the successful pollination Gardeners everywhere should be thankful for honey bees.

Even the youngest bee enthusiasts can enjoy watching and learning about our friends in the hive Protective beekeeping gear is always important, especially for youngsters.

As with the care of many types of animals, you may find yourself looking for help and advicebeyond 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 tomeet other fellow beekeepers and ask specific questions that you may have

This hive may look quiet from the outside, but inside it’s a-buzz with activity!

BEE CAREFUL

We don’t want you to move about in a perpetual state of fear that something bad will happenwhile you work with your bees, because generally speaking, beekeeping is a safe hobby that youcan participate in without incident As we discussed on page 7 (“Beekeeping Concerns”), beestings 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

potentially cause anaphylactic shock in these individuals The good news is that the majority ofpeople will never experience any trouble after being stung But if you are an allergic individual,then beekeeping is probably not a hobby that you will want to pursue Your health and well-beingare much more important

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

In this chapter, we’ll begin to learn about the bees themselves It’s important that you get to know thelifestyle and behaviors of these fascinating creatures before you actually jump in and start workingwith them We’ll also cover a brief history of beekeeping—did you know that you’re about to share in

an endeavor that is thousands of years old?

This is a busy group of worker bees! Their responsibilities are varied, but include capping the honey cells once the honey is dry enough to cap.

Beekeepers throughout the ages have enjoyed working with bees and harvesting honey, along with collecting wax, pollen, and propolis to use or sell.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEEKEEPING

The lure of honey seems to have always been a strong incentive to people of all backgrounds acrossmany cultures The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, Israelites, and Romans are all known to havetended 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 inNorth America are descendants of Western honey bees, which were developed in Europe and carriedacross 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 ofharvesting the honey Harvesting could involve the destruction of all or part of the hive depending onthe 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 newstyle 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

The Langstroth hive design, developed in the 19th century, revolutionized beekeeping and is still the most popular hive design among beekeepers Two other types include the top bar hive and the Warré hive, with the top bar hive gaining in popularity with organic beekeepers.

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 fromflower to flower collecting pollen and nectar Wow! When people talk about “busy bees” they surelymust 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 Inexchange for their care, the queen supplies the hive with the eggs needed to sustain a healthy, workingcolony The queen is the largest bee in the hive, with a slender, elegant body—considerably largerthan that of a worker bee There are only two times when there might be more than one egg-layingfemale 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 beginlaying 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 toreplace her

Before a queen can lay eggs however, she must take to the skies and perform a mating flight with

several drone bees, discussed next

HONEY BEE ANATOMY

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

Honey bees are insects, of course, and like all insects, they have bodies that can be classifiedinto 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

Drones are male bees They have a slightly different build than the workers, with a generally

larger body and significantly larger eyes to aid in the location of a flying queen The drones fly withnew queen bees and mate with her, but do not contribute to the hive otherwise You won’t see dronesout collecting pollen, since their legs have no pollen baskets, and you won’t see them defending thehive—drones don’t have a stinger! They cannot produce wax for building, either Still, they are

essential to the lives of bees, and a healthy colony in mid-summer might be home to 1,000 drones

The individual, removable frames in the Langstroth hive make it easier to access the hive for inspection and make it possible to harvest honey without damaging the entire hive.

A colony of bees contains three distinctly different bee types: the queen, the drones, and the ever-hardworking, multitalented, and multitasking worker bees They each have very different roles and responsibilities in the hive The worker bee in the smallest, the drone

is larger and wider and the queen is the largest and most beautiful—or so say many beekeepers Illustration courtesy Emily F.

Johnson

A multitude of worker bees in the hive: it’s easy to see where the term “busy as a bee” comes from.

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 thebeekeeper 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

Larvae

Within a few days, the egg hatches (“dissolves” might be a better word for it) and out pops a smalllarva The larvae are white and chubby and don’t really look at all like insects They can’t feedthemselves, so they are fed instead by the workers

Here’s the nursery! The cells you see that are filled with a white substance are actually the baby bees in the larva stage They are fed as often as a 1,000 times a day by nurse bees If you look closely, you can also see pollen in some of the cells and honey in a few of the other cells, stored conveniently for feeding the youngsters.

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 growinglarvae are switched to a diet of honey and pollen (If, however, the hive is replacing a queen, theywill continue to feed a handful of larvae straight royal jelly, which will spark the development of anew 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 tobecome 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 afull-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 queenbee, however, develops rapidly and only stays in the pupa stage for about seven days During thistime, the growing queen bee is exclusively fed royal jelly If it wasn’t for this, she would simplydevelop into another worker bee)

The honey bee is an amazing pollinator and this job also falls on the wings on the worker bee She makes more than 10 trips per day—

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 thehive, tend to larvae, and take care of the queen Slightly older workers also begin to produce waxfrom the wax glands on their abdomens, which they use to build comb Older workers also act as hiveguards It is only after about three weeks of adult life that they begin to fly outside the hive, visitingflowers 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

bees also collect pollen on their bodies and on the fuzzy hairs on their legs (there is a special cavity

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 inadvertentlypollinate 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 forraising 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, thearea 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 “burrcomb” (which is just a name for comb that is not where you want it!) Propolis is something you willcertainly run into as a beekeeper—it will often stick to your clothing

The worker bee has “pollen baskets” (corbicula) on her hind legs The baskets are not what you might think; there is a small area on the

bee’s hind legs where she packs the pollen to carry back to the hive.

Awesome is the only word that can describe the miracle of the honeycomb inside a bee colony The comb is made from wax, which the

worker bees make from their wax glands on the underside of their lower abdomens.

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 Thisnectar 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 outany 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.

Both honey and pollen are stored in cells near the larvae, down in the bottom of the hive in thedeep brood chambers, but when these areas begin to fill up, the bees begin to store excess honeyhigher up in the hive in the honey supers, which are supplied by the beekeeper when needed (seeChapter 2 for more information on the structure of a hive)

Bees use propolis, collected from trees and plants, to seal their hive They fill in all cracks and holes with this extremely sticky substance that you’ll come to know quite well This bee is working on a strip of propolis.

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 faintand disappear, and the worker bees sense this and go about the business of crowning a new queen (byfeeding extra royal jelly to a few special larvae) When a young queen is on her mating flight, shereleases 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 theirabdomens 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 foragingworkers 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, itreleases a “Danger! Caution! Warning!” signal throughout the hive, which just might make other

workers consider stinging as well

Even the brood gets into the pheromone act, which helps the worker bees to properly tend to theneeds of the brood The brood may signal something like “We’re three days old—time to change ourdiet to honey and pollen!” The sense of smell is truly important to the socialization and productivity

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

And, of course, there are the famous bee dances, which workers use to help communicate the location

of productive food sources (flowers) to their fellow workers Workers perform two variations of thedance: a “round” dance and a “waggle” dance The round dance is used to share information about afood source that is fairly close to the hive, while the waggle dance, which is a figure-eight, is used forfood sources that are farther away When performed, the two dances are able to convey informationabout the size of the alleged food source, its distance from the hive, the quality of the food source, andits direction relative to the sun Bees use the sun in much the same way that a person on a hike mightuse a compass

Coated with pollen from visiting a garden’s squash plants, this worker bee will return to the hive and “dance” to communicate to the other bees the location of the flowers in relation to the hive.

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 afew 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, sothey require less food in storage They are also quite adaptable to variations in environment; they’requick 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

Russian honey bees are gaining popularity The Russian honey bee (technically a hybrid) shares

some traits (and genes) with both the Italian and Carniolan One of the Russian bee’s most appealing

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

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

The Russian honey bee, said to have a good resistance to the Varroa mite and some resistance to tracheal mites The Russian is a darker bee.

Look closely at this frame, near the bottom—those objects that look like peanut shells are actually queen cells This hive is preparing or thinking about preparing for a new queen Raising your own queens is an activity you might wish to pursue as you move along in your adventure with bees The location of these queen cells indicates that a swarm may be imminent.