ICT Role in 21st Century Education & its Challenges.pptx
Ozark small farm 2
1. The Basics of
Basic Beekeeping
Ozark Small Farm Conference
January 27 - 28, 2016
Grant F. C. Gillard
gillard5 @ charter.net
www . grantgillard.weebly.com
www . slideshare.net
2. A Head’s Up!
• There are a lot of variables
• The challenges have never been greater
• Greatest threat to the bees is loss of forage
• This is probably the most difficult time in our
history to start keeping honey bees
• Bees are dying; beekeepers are dying
• A lot of people start, a lot of people quit
• We need the bees (pollination)
3. Simple Overview – 4 keys
• Read! Read! Read! If nothing else to
understand the vocabulary and jargon.
Request supplier’s catalogs.
Watch youtube.com videos. Read blogs.
Discern verbal fertilizer!
Lots of wheat, plenty of chaff.
• Join a local association/club (or start one)
• Take a class (usually offered by local club)
• Find a mentor (“Can you just come over…”)
5. Resources – Magazines
Request a free copy
American Bee Journal (more technical)
www.americanbeejournal.com
Bee Culture (more basic)
www.beeculture.com
Advertisers and classified ads
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11. Best Learning Tool:
Get some bees and
learn by the seat of
your bee suit
The idea is when you find
yourself over your head,
you’ll learn to swim.
12. Caveats
• There are a thousand ways to keep honey
bees (most of them work).
• Every experienced beekeeper has an opinion
(not all of them correct).
• Beekeeping is more art than science.
• Learning is more caught than taught.
• Go with the flow.
13. Factors to Consider
• 1. Location
• 2. What type of hive?
• 3. What type of bee?
• 4. Where to acquire bees?
• 5. Honey bee biology
• 6. Protective clothing
• 7. Minimal tools
• 8. Harvesting Honey
• Mistakes made by beginners
14. 1. Suitable Location
• Full sun
• Offers floral diversity, water source nearby
• Sheltered from prevailing winds
• Away from direct pesticide applications
• Far away from people traffic, human activities
• Respectful of neighbors (swimming pools)
• Accessible in all kinds of weather (mud)
• Floods, flood plains, bottom ground
23. Location Factors
• LP tanks, mail boxes, on-farm stores
• Fences and gates in a pasture
• Local ordinances, city codes
• Home owner’s association, CCR’s
• Test cases
--Set up two empty bee hives in front yard
--Sting incident, moved hives, repeat incident
24. 2. What Type of Hive
• Langstroth -- 16” by 20”, stacked boxes
• Top Bar Hive (TBH) -- Longitudinal hive
• Warre Hive -- French design
• Design your own
25. Langstroth
• Perhaps originated from champagne cases
16-1/4” by 20” basically a six-foot board
• Stacked vertically, no reasonable limit
• Three sizes - height
--Brood boxes, deeps, 9-5/8” tall
--Medium supers, 6-6/8” tall
--Shallow supers, 5-11/16” tall
• Two options - width
--8-frame or 10-frame
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27. Langstroth
• Advantages
--Many parts interchangeable, moveable
--Conventional dimensions
--Plans on the Internet
--Mechanical harvest, Frames reusable
• Disadvantages
--More expensive to buy
--Involves heavy lifting
28. Styrofoam® (expanded polystyrene)
• Thought to be warmer in the winter, cooler in
the summer.
• Must be painted to protect from UV light
• Not suitable for moving/loading
• Mann Lake – BeeMax brand
• Walter T. Kelley - new this year
• Google: “polystyrene bee hive”
29. Top Bar Hives
• Perhaps not really suited to Missouri
• Longitudinal design, horizontal orientation
• Fixed, limited capacity of frames
• No need for foundation, bees draw out comb
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32. Top Bar Hives
• Advantages
--Relatively cheap to make
--Plans on Internet
--Low input construction
--No heavy lifting or bending over
• Disadvantages
--Harvest whole comb, crush and strain
--No standard conventions
33. Warre Hive
• Combination of vertically stacked, top bar hive
frames in a Langstroth box
• Plans on the Internet, inexpensive
construction
• Disadvantages of TBH and Langstroth
• “More Natural” – means the bees draw out
their own comb, which can be done with
Langstroth hives and TBHs
34. Homemade Designs
• Likely some plans on the Internet
• Make your own design -- basically reinventing
the wheel, creative but unnecessary
• Still need movable frames…that fit.
• Widows and Orphans – don’t meet Langstroth
conventional dimensions
• Resale value? If this is an issue…
• If the only size you use is what you create…
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38. Once you decide….
• Buy new hives
– Buy hives pre-assembled
– Buy hives unassembled
– Buy plain wood and cut out your own
• Buy used hives
– Disease issues rare, but beginners obsess about it
– Much shorter life span, but they get you started
– Harder to find than ten years ago (Craig’s list)
– Retiring beekeeper = a lot more stuff than you want
39. Make Your Own
• Can be therapeutic, but time is money
• Ample plans on the Internet
• Or buy a set of conventional hive bodies and
duplicate the dimensions
• Decent table saw is all you really need
• Do not need “finger” joints (dovetail joints)
• Cost of raw wood at Lowes = cost of precut
from beekeeping supplier with no labor
• Value of scrap or free lumber, crating
40. Finish Protection
• Wood = pine, cedar, cypress (think weight)
• Short life span if not finished/protected
• Walter T. Kelley = “ECO Wood Treatment”
• Paint = doesn’t matter, any color
• Paraffin/rosin for dipping/boiling (260 degrees)
• USDA public domain formula FPL-0124
1-1/2 cup boiled linseed oil, 1 oz paraffin
6-1/2 cups turpentine to make one gallon
Heat linseed to melt paraffin, add turpentine
Brush or dip for 3 minutes. Two coats, less than four
hours apart. Dry for several days. Paint after cooling is
an option, but must use oil-based paint.
41. Frames
• Wood with wired wax foundation
• Wood with no foundation (foundationless)
• Wood with plastic foundation
• All plastic
42. 3. What Type of Bee
• Races of bees
Italians – gentle and productive
Carniolans – thrifty and calm
Russians – tough and winter hardy
Hygienic Behavior, VSH, SMR, etc.
Feral Stock, i.e., “wild,” unmanaged swarms
• Management
Commercially raised, treated for mites
Treatment-free survivors
43. 4. Where will I acquire my bees?
• Buy Packages – can be delivered in the mail
• Buy Nucs (Nucleus, mini-colony)
• Catch Swarms (traps and phone calls)
• Purchasing whole, existing hives
• Taking feral colonies out walls and trees, “cut
outs” and “trap outs”
• Different sources will raise different
expectations, yield different results.
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47. Prices
• Packages for this year $110 - $125
• Nucs for this year $150 - $170
• Package – loose bees and a new, mated queen
• Nuc – frames of bees, brood, laying queen,
and a three-week jump on the season
53. Swarm Trapping – the lazy way
• Set up a bee hive right where you want it.
• Buy “Swarm Commander” a swarm lure from
Kelley Bee. Follow directions. $30
• Buy lemongrass essential oil, rub a little on the
entrance every week. $8
• Get some old dark stinky comb from a
beekeeper.
• Wait.
54. Buying Existing Hives
• Quite often a good value for the money
• Often neglected, but not always
• History can be fuzzy, why are you selling?
• REALLY HEAVY TO MOVE (honey is heavy)
• Have to be moved with bees in them
• Best to move after dark, entrances screened,
bees agitated, and hot
• Better yet, split into nucs, requeen and lighten
the weight…but only in warm weather
61. 8. Honey Harvest
• You will need a place to extract (process) your
honey
• Extraction equipment: Plastic or stainless steel
• Check with local, county health regulations
• County regulations will vary
• Generally, if you sell face-to-face, no
inspections are required
62. Bringing it all together
• 1. Study honey bee biology
• 2. Decide your purpose in keeping bees
• Honey production
• Pollination
• Raising bees and queens
• 3. Put #1 first, and integrate #2
63. Top Beginner’s Mistakes
1. Not starting with two, or more hives
2. Opening up the hive too often
3. Being afraid of opening the hive and not
inspecting at all. **Once every two weeks.
4. Not recognizing queelessness. **eggs?
5. Thinking you have to find the queen every time.
6. Not installing full compliment of frames or
leaving frames out **slabs of burr comb.
64. Top Beginner’s Mistakes
7. Taking honey early (uncapped) or taking too
much honey.
8. Not feeding newly established colonies
** 1:1 syrup
9. Placing hives in full shade or troublesome
locations (people traffic, activities, garden)
10. Not suiting up (nucs are gentle, but increase in
temperament)
11. Not using smoker
12.Thinking you know it all after one or two
seasons and not continuing your education.
13. Being too embarrassed to ask for help (a
mentor)
