So You Think You Wanna Be A Beekeeper

So You Think You MIGHT Want to be a Beekeeper? Investment vs. Benefits 2010

Agenda
Falling in love with a bug
Starting the adventure
Beekeeping calendar
Sweet rewards
2010 Philadelphia Honey Festival
Resources; next steps

Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), an insect
Superorganism: one individual bee cannot survive by itself
Labor is divided within the superorganism
Multiple generations live together
Young are cared for cooperatively
Falling in Love with a Bug? Resistance is Futile!

The Amazing Language of Bees
Pheromones – “glue” that holds it together
Queen Substance
Workers’ pheromones
Brood pheromones
Dance Language
Waggle Dance – distant location & type of food
Round Dance – near location & type of food
Piping

Starting the Adventure
Determine your potential
Fear, allergy, location, laws, money, time
Basic protective equipment & tools (approx. $100)
Basic hive “woodenware” (approx. $170/hive)
Package of bees (approx. $85)
Total startup cost ~ $355

Woodenware from the Bottom Up
Cinder block
Bottom board & entrance reducer
Brood chambers with frames of foundation
Queen excluder
“ Supers” (boxes above the queen excluder)
Inner cover
Outer cover
Rock

Demonstration of Parts City hive on front lawn, Philadelphia Country hives on Saul High School farm, Philadelphia

Thanks to the Good Rev. LLL
The moveable frame hive allows for manipulation of individual frames of bees
Intense observation & experimentation opportunities
Ability to monitor the health of the hive throughout the beekeeping year
Flexibility in managing the colony & apiary
Sustainable economic industry: apiculture

Which is more complex? Which takes more time?

Beekeeping Calendar
Jan, Feb – buy equipment & reserve bees
Mar – assemble & paint your hives
April – package bees arrive/ install & feed
May – swarm watch & management
June – add chambers, excluder, super
July – harvest honey
Aug, Sep – feed as needed; make candles
Oct, Nov – make mead, prep hive for winter
Dec – relax, read back issues of bee mags

City hive on front lawn, Philadelphia Country hives on Saul High School farm, Philadelphia

Sweet Rewards
Honey Harvest
Wax, Pollen, Propolis
Stress Relief
Bees as Pollinators
Being part of the big picture: Save the Bees
Getting an education & passing it on
Meeting some interesting people
Philadelphia Honey Festival

Resources
PhillyBeekeepers.org
Montcobeekeepers.org
Chescobees.org
Beekeeping equipment suppliers
Dadant
Brushy Mountain Bee Farm
Bee-related courses, lectures and events
Check the county-specific websites

BACK UP SLIDES

2010 Philadelphia Honey Fest
Celebrating Langstroth’s 200 th Birthday
Sept. 10-12 and year-around
Volunteers needed

2010 Philadelphia Honey Fest
Arts/Culture: Hive art, “The Bee Man”, candle-making, bee-bearding(!)
Food/Beverage: Honey tasting, mead & honey brews, cooking with honey contest
Hive and the Bee: Extracting honey, colony collapse disorder, alt. hive types
Science/History: Langstroth’s hive, the importance of pollinators to our survival

How & Why Bees Make Honey
The colony requires about 80# of stored honey going into the winter
Honey is the fuel used by the bees to maintain a temperature of 57ºF inside hive
Temperature increased to 95ºF mid-Feb as brood rearing begins
Shivering action of wing muscles, without beating the wings, converts the food into heat

Nectar  Enzymes - Water = Honey
Nectar collected from blossoms by the field bees is transported in the honey stomach
House bees accept the nectar from the field bees (mouth to mouth transfer)
Sucrose is broken down to glucose & fructose
“ Fanning bees” evaporate the moisture
“ Builder bees” cap the cured honey with wax when moisture is down to 20%

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So You Think You Wanna Be A Beekeeper

by David Harrod

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