Basic Beekeeping

Lessons in this series:  Getting Started   Modern Hive   Equipment  Hive Management   Summer Management   Honey Crop   Winter Management   Second Year   Final Words

Beekeeping basics:     Keeping honey bees is a fascinating and profitable pastime that can be enjoyed in several ways.  You may want to keep bees for the honey they produce, or you may want to keep them for their services as pollinators, or just because you would like the fun of learning about one of nature's most interesting insects.

You can keep honey bees almost anywhere in the United States. We would like to alert you to the fact that keeping bees is not for everyone.  If you have had an allergic reaction to a stinging insect such as wasp or bee, you should use extreme care.   A single honey bee sting can bring on serious reactions to some people -- even causing death.   Normal reactions include: pain, and swelling at the sting site.  The good news is that one can wear protective equipment designed to avoid bee stings.

Basic facts about honey bee biology:::::::

   Honey bees are social insects.  This means that they live together in a colony and depend on each other for survival.

   Most of the bees in a colony are workers.  Some are drones whose function is to mate with a virgin queen.  Usually there is only one queen in a colony.

•   Worker bees are sexually underdeveloped females.  They may number as many as 60,000 in a colony.  The population of a colony depends on a number of factors such as: the egg laying ability of the queen, the space available in the hive (area where the bees live) and the incoming food supply. They are called workers because that is what they do. They collect food and water for the colony, build wax comb, do the housework, maintain the interior temperatures of the hive  and guard the hive against intruders [in other words: they can sting].  Female worker bees under certain conditions can lay eggs but because they are not mated, they produce eggs that only develop into drones.
•  Drones are the males in the colony.  Note the general shape of the drone.  Notice two things: 1) the head is large and the eyes predominate the head and 2) the rear-end of the drone is rounded [they have no stinger and can not sting].   Although they are usually considered worthless, they  contribute to the continuation of  one generation to the next generation.  The worker bees usually determine the number of drones that can be found in a colony.  A strong healthy colony may have as many as 300 or more drones.  As winter approaches, the workers drive the drones from the hive to starve.
•   The queen is a mature female.  She lays thousands of eggs during her life time.  A good queen may lay over 2000 eggs in a single day.  A queen has the longest live span in the colony living for up to five years.  She is larger than the other bees in the hive and has a slim torpedo shape.  She does have a stinger, but uses it to kill other queens.  I have handled thousands of queens and have never been stung by one.

Bee Strains

       As a beginning beekeeper you should know that there are three primary strains of bees kept in the United States.  If you are wanting to purchase bees, these three strains are what most breeders  offer.   These are:

• Italian   -- This strain of bees was imported to the U.S. from Italy during the 1860's.  It has proven to be a rather hardy bee, industrious, relatively gentle, and yellow in color.  Historically, before the Italian was introduced to the U.S. the German Black Bee predominated but because of the outstanding characteristics of the Italian, beekeepers rapidly switched and the German Black Bee is no longer to be found in the U.S. for sale.
• The Caucasian strain is a gentle bee grey to black in color. They have a tendency to use an excessive amount of propolis. (Propolis is called bee glue -  it is a gummy substance collected by bees from trees and is used to seal holes and spaces in their hive).
• The Carniolan strain is one of the more popular bees in current use today.  It is a black bee and is very gentle.  Its outstanding characteristic is that it seems to adapt very well to colder climates.  You may see terms like "Russian", New World Carniolan  or "Yugo".  These bees are Carnolian strains.  

What bees need:

   Honey bees need shelter, nectar, pollen, propolis, and water.

• Shelter  -- In nature, the honey bee uses a number of natural cavities to build their brood nest.  The term "Bee Tree" was once common.  It referred to a tree that had a colony/swarm of bees living in it.  The reason we can keep bees is because honey bees will adapt to man made hives for shelter.
• Nectar  --  Bees can't make honey without nectar (nectar is the liquid sugary substance produced by flowers).  Hundred of plants produce nectar but they are not all major sources of honey.  Often we refer to honey as "wild flower honey". What that means is that the honey produced by the bees comes from a number of nectar sources.  However, bees do produce crops of honey from certain major nectar sources and these are easily identified by taste and color--  examples include: buckwheat, clover, fireweed, goldenrod, locust, tulip popular, tupelo, sage, sourwood, star thistle just to mention a few.   
• Pollen  -- As worker bees gather nectar from flowers, tiny particles of pollen stick to their bodies and are accumulated in pellets on their hind legs.  The hind legs are equipped with pollen baskets (hairs and special structures on the bees leg) to carry the pollen back to the hive.  Pollen is sometimes referred to as "beebread".  Pollen contains the nutrients that are converted into larval food by special glands in the worker bees which is then used to feed young larvae.  it should be noted that honey bee workers also produce what is called "Royal Jelly". Royal Jelly is a special food that is given to larva to be raised as queen bees.  It has been estimated that a strong colony of bees may use 100 pounds of pollen each year.
• Propolis -- As we have already described it, propolis is used by the bees to cement holes and cracks in their hive.  It is gathered by honey bees from secretions in trees and shrubs.  Bees have been know to encase a dead mouse inside their hive with propolis.
• Water --  Water is essential for the survival of the hive.  Bees should always be located near a good water source or the beekeeper should provide one for the bees.