Smoking Encouraged
Along with the
attire you get, you must have a smoker. This amazing tool lets you keep
bees. When you puff a little bit of smoke across the top of an open colony
the bees inside retreat down to rapidly consume honey and they stay out of
your way as you do your work. Any communication between them inside is
disrupted because the smoke masks all the chemical signals going on and
they can’t talk… the confusion goes on for several minutes while you work. Then, when it begins to clear, they stop eating honey and start again to
the top, a bit more smoke gives you a few more minutes to work
undisturbed. You have maybe 15 minutes though before all this smoke simply
overloads the system and they quit eating and start checking out the
problem. That’s when it’s time to move to the next colony.
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Practice lighting you smoker and making sure it says
lit for
some time BEFORE you begin working bees. Use pine needles,
sawdust, punk wood, seasoned burlap, seasoned baler twine, or
commercially available smoker fuel to burn. Start by lighting a
small ball of paper and drop it in the smoker, puff a few times, then
slowly add your fuel, puffing all the time. Keep puffing, and
adding, and gently pack the fuel, still puffing. Keep adding
until about half to three quarters full, and pack it fairly tightly,
still puffing. It should stay lit now for up to 20
minutes without puffing. Try and see. If it goes out, you
packed too
tightly and air couldn’t get through. Keep or bring extra fuel
when
working bees so you don’t run out in the middle of examining a colony
.
When done, cork the tip, turn on its side, or empty the smoker to
extinguish the smoldering material. More fires are caused by
smokers that were supposed to be out than you can imagine. Make
sure it is out. |
Spring is the best
time of year to begin this adventure because it gives the bees the longest
possible time to build up their population, get enough food collected and
stored and prepared for the winter to come.
So to start, you
need a safe place to put your bee hives, the right kinds of hives to put
them in, the right gear to wear, and next, the bees to put in those hives.
What Kind of Bees?
Let me be right out
front with what’s next. Honey bees are susceptible to a variety of pests
and diseases. The worst of these is a tiny external mite that infests both
brood and adult bees. It damages the bees, its bite injects material that
compromises the bees’ immune systems, and they vector many of the lethal
viruses that can, and do kill honey bees.
The beekeeping community has
spent more energy, money, time, and resources fighting this beast than any
other, ever. And the success rate has been, at best, barely noticed. Varroa mites have been, and remain a formidable enemy. The frontal assault
has been to throw chemicals at it, and then more chemicals at it. And the
story is always the same... with only a few choices available these very
adaptable mites quickly develop resistance to everything they
encounter... and continue to thrive. After a time the very few choices are
gone, and the mites remain. The chemical treadmill story is the same for
all of modern agriculture.
Meanwhile, a few
integrated pest management control techniques have been discovered that
seem to be successful and new management practices have helped the
problem. But still... varroa mites have not gone away. However, a proven
way to deal with this type of problem is to select for bees that are
naturally resistant or tolerant to these mites. These bees, through
behavior, psychology, or plain good luck, seem to be far less affected by
these pests. You can buy strains of resistant bees or you can buy strains
of bees that are partially resistant to varroa mites. Either of these will
reduce your dependence on artificial controls for mites, reduce the need
for chemicals in your hives, and reduce the cost of keeping bees. Russian
honey bees are one type that have shown resistance, as are any of the many
types that demonstrate strong hygienic behavior that helps keep colonies
clean and free of these pests.
Of course other bees
are available. But your best choice seems obvious to me.
You can order any of
these honey bees through the mail (bee sellers advertise in the journals)
or pick them up locally if a beekeeper travels to the producer and picks
them up. Once you’ve ordered and received your bees, there a thousand
places to find out about installation and summer management. You’ll need
to make sure they are constantly fed (see feeders, above) so they have a
steady source of food, and make sure, as the population increases over the
summer that you supply enough hive-bodies and honey-supers to give them
plenty of room to expand. Always err on the side of just a little too much
room rather than not quite enough.
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Honey bees are bought by the pound, and they come in
boxes like this. They can come in the mail (your post office will call
you when they come in and you will have to go get them. Don’t delay,
post office people usually don’t like bees in the post office). Or, a
local supplier will go and get a load for you to pick up, like this.
They will schedule arrival times, and don’t delay…get those bees out
of the package and into a hive as fast as you can (and the weather
permits). Once installed, feed, feed, feed, feed them sugar syrup
until they don’t take it any more, which may be as much as 2 or 3
months, depending on the weather. |
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Installing your package of bees. Once home, take 4 or 5
frames out
of your deep hive body so you have room for the bees. Carefully remove
the feeder can and the queen from the package, dump the bees into the
opening in the hive body, hang the queen in the hive so the screen is
facing the opening between frames, not the frame next door, and she
and
the bees can get together (they have to feed her or she will die, and
to
replace her will cost you about $20.), slowly replace the frames, add
the
feeder you are using and close up the hive. Wait about 5 or 6 days
before
releasing the queen. To release her, open the hive, remove the cage
she
is in, and remove the cork over the candy end of the queen cage so the
bees can eat the candy and open the hole and she can walk out.
Note the candy in one end, and the hook for hanging the
cage in the hive when installing the package. |
Join a club, meet
other beekeepers, read everything you can find on keeping bees, visit
other beekeeping operations, take classes, and don’t hesitate to go out to
your colonies and take a look inside as often as you feel the need. That’s
the only way you’ll ever learn what’s going on inside. And have fun… there
are few things in life as totally satisfying as watching a colony of honey
bees develop from a tiny bunch of bees to a full-size, healthy colony
producing honey for you… and for the many generations you and they will
produce.
Welcome to the
wonderful world of being a beekeeper.
|
On the left you can see the larvae as they are growing.
They are fed many, many times a day by the worker bees. On the
right you can
see capped brood, that will emerge as adults is several days. |
This is what a frame of honey looks like when it is
cured, capped, and ready to harvest. |
Beekeeping equipment
suppliers will send free catalogs if you contact them.
Brushy Mountain Bee
Supply
www.brushymountainbeefarm.com
Mann Lake Supply
www.mannlakeltd.com
Dadant
www.dadant.com
Walter Kelley
www.kelleybees.com
B&B Honey
www.bbhoneyfarms.com
Root Publishing
www.BeeCulture.com
Rossman Apiaries
www.gabees.com
Glory Bee
www.glorybeefoods.com
Betterbee
www.betterbee.com
