After a couple of hours examining colonies, you will be
very glad for this little piece of advice. Hive stands then, should be
raised a bit off the ground, and be large enough to accommodate at least
one more colony that you put on them... a stand large enough for three
then, should always hold two colonies. Life gets a lot simpler when
your work is easy. Be aware that by the end of the season, these
hive stands will be holding as much as a thousands pounds of beehives,
honey, bees and equipment. Sturdy is as sturdy does here.
Bees live in beehives, and beekeepers need to provide
those. What to get, how many, what kind, what size, what else?
This is where belonging to a local club is a life saver. Beekeepers
in different climates do use different kinds, and sizes, and styles of
equipment because the environment requires or allows more or less space
for bees to live in.
What Do You Need?
Sometimes a local beekeeper isn’t available to ask, so here
are some very general recommendations. A honey bee colony requires
two deep brood boxes for the bees to live in, store some honey and pollen
in, and raise their young. A deep brood box (also called a
hive-body) is one that holds eight or ten frames of comb and are 9-5/8”
tall (or so... exact standards in beekeeping equipment are a bit fuzzy).
This can weigh as much as 90 pounds or so when full of bees, honey and
pollen.
Your beehive also needs additional boxes, called
honey-supers (super = above), that are stacked above the brood boxes for
the bees to store honey in. These honey-supers can be the same size
as a hive-body or, to confuse things, there are two sizes of smaller boxes
– one is called a shallow honey-super because it is only 5 -11/16” tall.
This will weigh about 30 pounds or so when full of honey. The other
is a medium honey-super because it is 6-5/8” tall, and weights about 50 or
so pounds when full. Which box to use will depend to some degree on
your ability to heft.
A bee hive needs a floor, called a bottom board, that has a
large, screened area so debris falls completely out of the boxes rather
than accumulate inside. The bee hive should also have an inner cover
that sits directly on top of the top box (think of this like the ceiling
in your house), and an outer cover that goes over the inner cover (much
like the outside roof). Together, these two covers keep the internal
environment somewhat controlled and the elements out.
You’ll need a collection like this – bottom board, brood
chamber(s) for raising young, honey-supers for storing honey, and covers -
for each colony you want to start. But consider this: equipment made
by one company may not be perfectly suited to fit equipment from another
company. Think Ford parts for a Toyota vehicle. So once you
pick a supplier, pretty much stick with that supplier so your equipment
always fits.
But each hive you have needs additional equipment to help
it get started and to continue running. For instance, you’ll need
feeders... yes, you sometimes need to feed your bees. Like free
range chickens, cattle in the field, and cats that hunt... sometimes, they
still need to be fed because nature isn’t as generous some days as others.
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Using a feeding pail, or simply a quart jar with small
holes in the lid is one way to feed sugar syrup.
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One way to feed is to use bakers fondant,
available from bakeries or grocery stores. It comes ready made, but
make sure you don’t get the kind with flavoring or coloring. It should
be simply high fructose corn syrup and table sugar. |
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Quart jars with small holes in the lids can sit right
on top of the hives, but beware of raccoons and bear when you do this. |
So what do bees eat? Sugar syrup... a mix of half
sugar and half water, fed in a container that the bees can get to inside,
or sometimes outside the hive. There are a variety of feeder styles
available and each has advantages and disadvantages. Find them in
the catalogs you get from the advertisers in the journals you read, on the
web (see references at the end) or from local suppliers you find out about
at club meetings. And don’t hesitate to ask other beekeepers what
they use... and why they use what they do.
You will also need
beekeeping attire – protective gear to wear when working bees. A good veil
to keep bees out of your hair, and a light-colored, light weight
protective suit to keep your clothes clean when in the hives is a good
start. And beekeeping gloves. Having bees walk on your hands the first few
times in a hive can be very distracting, so use beekeeping gloves until
you are comfortable with this aspect of the craft.
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Full bee-suits and jackets – both with veils attached
and completely bee-proof are available. They are easy to use,
very bee-tight and will keep you clean. And they are expensive. |
A hat with a bee veil will keep bees out of your
hair and away from your face, and keep your feeling safe while you
work bees. A jacket or full bee-suit will keep your clothes
clean while you work bees. Bee gloves will protect your hands
and keep you at ease when first learning about handling bees.
You’ll also need a hive tool for removing frames,
prying apart boxes, fixing equipment in the field and generally making
life easier. They are inexpensive, and easy to lose. Get 3 right away. There are
several styles. Start with the most common that looks like a scraper.
It’s not. Hive tools are made of hardened steel, paint scrapers will
chip and break. Get hive tools.
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