Beekeeping For Dummies

Howland Blackiston has been keeping bees for almost 40 years. He has appeared as an expert on CNBC, CNN, NPR, The Discovery Channel, Sirius Satellite Radio, and other broadcast outlets, and has written numerous articles on beekeeping. Howland has been a keynote speaker at conferences in more than 40 countries.

• Foreword xviiIntroduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 3Icons Used in This Book 4Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 5Part 1: Taking Flight with Beekeeping 7Chapter 1: To Bee, or Not to Bee? 9Discovering the Benefits of Beekeeping 10Harvesting liquid gold: Honey 11Bees as pollinators: Their vital role to our food supply 11Being part of the bigger picture: Save the bees! 13Getting an education: And passing it on! 13Improving your health: Bee therapies and stress relief 15Determining Your Beekeeping Potential 16Environmental considerations 16Zoning and legal restrictions 16Costs and equipment 17Time and commitment 18Beekeeper personality traits 18Allergies 19Deciding Which Beekeeping Approach to Follow 19Medicated beekeeping 20Natural beekeeping 20Organic beekeeping 21Combining approaches 21Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your Honey Bees 23Basic Body Parts 24Skeleton 24Head 25Thorax 26Abdomen 27The Amazing Language of Bees 27Pheromones 27Shall we dance? 28Getting to Know the Male and the Two Female Castes 29Her majesty, the queen 29The industrious little worker bee 32House bees 33Field bees 36The woeful drone 37The Honey Bee Life Cycle 39Egg 39Larva 41Pupa 42Other Stinging Insects 43Bumblebee 44Carpenter bee 44Mason bee 45Wasp 45Yellow jacket 46Bald-faced hornet 47Part 2: Starting Your Adventure 49Chapter 3: Alleviating Apprehensions and Making Decisions 51Overcoming Sting Phobia 52Knowing what to do if you’re stung 53Watching for allergic reactions 54Building up a tolerance 54Understanding Local Laws and Ordinances 55Easing the Minds of Family and Neighbors 55Location, Location, Location: Where to Keep Your Hives 57Knowing what makes a perfect bee yard 57Urban considerations 59Understanding the correlation between geographical area and honey flavors 64Knowing When to Start Your Adventure 64Chapter 4: Selecting a Hive That’s Perfect for You 67The Langstroth Hive 68The Kenyan Top Bar Hive 70The Apimaye Insulated Hive 73The Flow Hive 75The Warré (People’s) Hive 78The Five-Frame Nuc Hive 81The Observation Hive 83Make a Beeline to the Best Beehive 86Hives for harvesting honey 87Hives for pollinating your garden 87A hive for learning and teaching 88Chapter 5: Basic Equipment for Beekeepers 91Starting Out with the Langstroth Hive 92Knowing the Basic Woodenware Parts of the Langstroth Hive 92Hive stand 93Bottom board 93Entrance reducer 95Deep-hive body 96Queen excluder 97Shallow or medium honey super 98Frames 100Foundation 103Inner cover 106Outer cover 106Knowing the Basic Parts of a Top Bar Hive 108The top bar 108Everything else 109Ordering Hive Parts 110Startup hive kits 110Setting up shop 111Adding on Feeders 112Hive-top feeder 112Entrance feeder 114Pail feeder 115Baggie feeder 116Frame feeder 117Top Bar hive feeders 118Fundamental Tools 118Smoker 119Hive tool and frame lifter 119Bee-Proof Clothing 120Veils 120Gloves 122Really Helpful Accessories 123Elevated hive stand 123Frame rest 125Bee brush 125Slatted rack 126Screened bottom board 126Beekeeper’s toolbox 128Chapter 6: Obtaining and Installing Your Bees 131Determining the Kind of Bee You Want 132Deciding How to Obtain Your Initial Bee Colony 135Ordering package bees 135Buying a “nuc” colony 136Purchasing an established colony 138Capturing a wild swarm of bees 138Picking a Reputable Bee Supplier 139Deciding When to Place Your Order 141The Day Your Girls Arrive 142Bringing home your bees 142Recipe for sugar syrup 143Putting Your Bees into the Hive 144Hiving steps for Langstroth type hives and Steps 1–7 for Top Bar hives 144Hiving Steps 8–14 for Top Bar hives 150Watching your bees come and go from their new home 151Part 3: Time for a Peek 153Chapter 7: Opening Your Hive 155Establishing Visiting Hours 156Setting an Inspection Schedule 156Preparing to Visit Your Langstroth or Top Bar Hive 157Making “non-scents” a part of personal hygiene 157Getting dressed up and ready to go 158Lighting Your Smoker 159Opening a Langstroth Hive 161Removing the hive-top feeder 164Removing the inner cover 165Opening a Top Bar Hive 166The Hive’s Open! Now What? 168Chapter 8: What to Expect When You’re Inspecting 169Keeping a Journal 170Inspecting a Langstroth Hive 171Removing the first frame of your Langstroth hive 171Working your way through the Langstroth hive 173Holding up frames for inspection 174Knowing when it’s time for more smoke 175Replacing Langstroth frames 175Closing the Langstroth hive 176Inspecting a Top Bar Hive 177Working your way through the Top Bar hive 177Top Bar comb management 179Looking into Top Bar cells 180Replacing the top bars and closing the hive 181Understanding What to Always Look For 181Checking for your queen 181Storing food; raising brood 182Inspecting the brood pattern 182Recognizing foodstuffs 183Your New Colony’s First Eight Weeks 183Checking in: A week after hiving your bees 183The second and third weeks 186Weeks four through eight 188Chapter 9: Different Seasons, Different Activities 193Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer 194Your summer to-do list 195Your summertime commitment 195Falling Leaves Point to Autumn Chores 196Your autumn to-do list 196Your autumn time commitment 200Clustering in a Winter Wonderland 201Your winter to-do list 202Your wintertime commitment 203Spring is in the Air (Starting Your Second Season) 203Your spring to-do list 204Your springtime commitment 205Administering spring medication 205Reversing hive bodies 207Managing Top Bar Hives in the Spring 208Finding the cluster 208Preventing the urge to swarm 209Expanding the brood nest 209The Beekeeper’s Calendar 210Part 4: Common Problems and Simple Solutions 213Chapter 10: Anticipating and Preventing Potential Problems 215Running Away (to Join the Circus?) 216Swarming 216Absconding 227Where Did the Queen Go? 227Letting nature take its course 228Ordering a replacement queen 228Introducing a new queen to the hive 229Avoiding Chilled Brood 230Dealing with the Dreaded Robbing Frenzies 231Knowing the difference between normal and abnormal (robbing) behavior 231Putting a stop to a robbing attack 232Preventing robbing in the first place 232Ridding Your Hive of the Laying Worker Phenomenon 234How to know if you have laying workers 234Getting rid of laying workers 235Preventing Pesticide Poisoning 237The “Killer Bee” Phenomenon 237What are “killer bees”? 238Bee prepared! 239Chapter 11: Colony Collapse Disorder 241What is CCD? 242What to Do If You Suspect CCD 243Why All the Fuss? 243What’s Causing CCD? 244The cellphone theory 244It may be the perfect storm 244Answers to FAQs 248What You Can Do to Help 248Chapter 12: Keeping Your Bees Healthy 251Understanding the Importance of Good Nutrition 252What bees eat 252The need for good gut health 253Taking steps to ensure good nutrition 253Medicating or Not? 254Knowing the Big-Six Bee Diseases 254American foulbrood (AFB) 255European foulbrood (EFB) 256Chalkbrood 257Sacbrood 258Stonebrood 258Nosema 259A handy chart 260Chapter 13: Heading Off Honey-Bee Pests 263Parasitic Problems 263Varroa mites 264Tracheal mites 271Zombie (Phonid) flies 276Other Unwelcome Pests 276Wax moths 277Small hive beetle 278Ants, ants, and more ants 279Bear alert! 280Raccoons and skunks 281Keeping out Mrs Mouse 282Some birds have a taste for bees 283Pest Control at a Glance 283Chapter 14: Raising Your Own Queens 285Why Raising Queens is the Bee’s Knees 286Understanding Genetics 287Dominant and recessive genes 287Inbreeding versus outcrossing 288Accentuate the positive 289What Makes a Queen a Queen 291Talking about the Birds and Bees for Honey Bees 292Creating Demand: Making a Queenless Nuc 293Queen-Rearing Method 1: Go with the Flow 294If the queen cells are capped 294If the queen cells are open 294Mind the timeline 295Queen-Rearing Method 2: The Miller Method 296Queen-Rearing Method 3: The Doolittle Method, also Known as Grafting 298Tools and equipment 298How it’s done 301Providing nuptial housing 303Finding Homes for Your Queens 304Evaluating the Results 305The Queen Rearer’s Calendar 306Marking Your Queens 307Part 5: Sweet Rewards 309Chapter 15: Honey, I Love You 311Appreciating the History of Honey 311Understanding the Composition of Honey 313Healing with Honey 314Honey and diabetes 314Honey’s nutritional value 315Honey and children 315Choosing Extracted, Comb, Chunk, or Whipped Honey 315Extracted honey 316Comb honey 317Chunk honey 317Whipped honey 317Honeydew honey 318Taking the Terror out of Terroir 318Customizing your honey 319Honey from around the world 320The Commercialization of Honey 324Is it the real deal? 324Raw versus regular honey 325Organic or not? 325Your own honey is the best 325Appreciating the Culinary Side of Honey 326The nose knows 326Practice makes perfect 327Recognizing defects in honey 328Pairing Honey with Food 328Infusing Honey with Flavors 329Judging Honey 329Honey Trivia 330Chapter 16: Getting Ready for the Golden Harvest 333Having Realistic Expectations 334What Flavor Do You Want? 334Assembling the Right Equipment to Extract Honey 335Honey extractors 335Uncapping knife 336Honey strainer 336Other handy gadgets for extracting honey 337Honey containers 340Planning Your Extracted Honey Harvest Setup 340Gathering Comb Honey Equipment 342Section comb cartridges 342Cut comb 342Branding and Selling Your Honey 342Creating an attractive label 343Finding places to market your honey 346Selling your honey on the web 346Chapter 17: Honey Harvest Day 347Knowing When to Harvest 348Bad things come to those who wait! 349A few pointers to keep in mind when harvesting liquid gold 350Getting the Bees out of the Honey Supers 351Shakin’ ’em out 352Blowin’ ’em out 353Using a bee escape board 353Fume board and bee repellent 354Honey Extraction from a Langstroth Frame 356Harvesting honey using an extractor 357Cleaning frames after extracting 359Harvesting Honey from Your Top Bar Hive 360Selecting the comb to harvest 360Getting the bees off Top Bar comb 362Harvesting using the crush-and-strain method 362Harvesting honey using a honey press 363Harvesting cut-comb honey 365Harvesting Wax 365Part 6: The Part of Tens 367Chapter 18: More than Ten Fun Things to Do with Bees 369Making Two Langstroth Hives from One 369Making One Langstroth Hive from Two 371Dividing a Top Bar Hive into Two Colonies 373Combining Two Top Bar Hive Colonies 375Building an Elevated Hive Stand 376Building materials list 377Cut list 377Planting Flowers for Your Bees 378Asters (aster/callistephus) 379Bachelor’s buttons (Centaurea) 380Bee balm (Monarda) 380Hyssop (Agastache) 380Malva (Malvaceae) 381Mint (Mentha) 381Nasturtium (Tropaeolum minus) 381Poppy (Papaver/Eschscholzia) 381Salvia (Salvia/farinacea-strata/ splendens/officinalis) 382Sunflowers (Helianthus/Tithonia) 382Brewing Mead: The Nectar of the Gods 382Create Cool Stuff with Propolis 385Propolis tincture 386Propolis ointment 386Propolis varnish 387Making Gifts from Beeswax 387Beeswax candles 388Beeswax furniture polish 389Beauty and the Bees 389Use your cappings 390Equipment 390The recipes 391Packaging and labeling 396Chapter 19: More than Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Bee Behavior 397Chapter 20: My Ten Favorite Honey Recipes 403Honey Curry Vegetable Dip 405Golden Cornbread 406Honey Picante Chicken Wings 407Apricot Honey Bread 408Asian Honey-Tea Grilled Prawns 409Broiled Scallops with Honey-Lime Marinade 410A Honey of a Chili 411Beef and Potato Tzimmes 412Chewy Honey Oatmeal Cookies 413Apple Honey Tart 414Part 7: Appendixes 415Appendix A: Helpful Resources 417Honey Bee Information Websites 417Apiservices — Virtual beekeeping gallery 417The Barefoot Beekeeper 418Beemaster Forum 418Bee-Source.com 418Facebook — Top Bar Beekeeping 418Honey Bee Health Coalition 418Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAARAC) 419National Honey Board 419Bee Organizations and Conferences 419The American Apitherapy Society Inc 420American Beekeeping Federation 420American Honey Producers 420Apiary Inspectors of America 420Apimondia: International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations 421Eastern Apiculture Society 421Heartland Apicultural Society Inc 422International Bee Research Association 422USDA Agricultural Research Service 422The Western Apiculture Society 423Bee Journals and Magazines 423American Bee Journal 423Bee Culture 424Bee World 425Beekeeping Supplies and Equipment 425Apimaye Insulated Hives 425Barnyard Bees 426Bastin Bees 426Bee-commerce.com 427BeeInventive 427Bee Vital 428Betterbee 428Blue Sky Bee Supply 428Dadant & Sons, Inc 429Glorybee Inc 429Healthy Bee 430Hive Butler 430Hive Tracks 430Hungry Bear Farms 431Kelley Beekeeping 431Mann Lake 431Miller Bee Supply 432Oliverez 432Pierco 433Pigeon Mountain Trading Company 433Rossman Apiaries 433Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies 434Swienty Beekeeping Equipment (EU) 434Thorne Beekeeping Supply (UK) 435Western Bee Supplies 435State Bee Inspectors (United States) 436Appendix B: Beekeeper’s Checklist 437Appendix C: Glossary 441Index 449