#1 What to expect when you're expecting honey bees. An introductory course by Grant Gillard at the Great Plains Growers Conference on 2010-01-09 in St. Joseph, Missouri.

1. #1
“What to think about when you’re
Thinking about getting into honey bees.”
Grant Gillard

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Great Plains Growers Conference
Grant Gillard 2020-01-09

6. 1. Advice on Advice
“There’s plenty of free advice in
beekeeping…and most of it will conflict
and compete with other advice from
other beekeepers.”
Advice is just an opinion
based on experience.

7. 1. Advice on Advice
Red Flag Statements
“Bees will always ______________.”
“A Beekeeper should never ___________.”
“If I was you, I’d ________________.”

9. 1. Advice on Advice
 When given advice…
Evaluate the context - does it matter?
Evaluate the source – is it credible?
Evaluate the meaning – does this affect me?

11. 1. Advice on Advice
 Better idea: Stop taking advice and
start listening to yourself.
 What do you want to do?
Do your research, then
Find what works best for you.

12. 2. The Beginner’s Trifecta
1. Take a class
2. Find a mentor
3. Join a local bee club (association)
4. Take another beginner’s class

13. 3. Never Stop Being a Student
 American Bee Journal
www.americanbeejournal.com
 Bee Culture
www.beeculture.com

14. 3. Never Stop Being a Student
 Beekeeping supply catalogs
Dadant
Mann Lake
Betterbee
Kelley

15. 4. Stay current on our vocabulary
CCD
PMS
VFD
WTF

16. “WTF?”
Where’s
the
Foundation?

17. 5. Beware of Experts
Who qualifies to be
an “expert?”

18. Definition of an “Expert”
Someone who had made
enough mistakes to finally
figure things out.
(resiliency and perseverance)
from the Latin expertus, meaning “to try” or “experience.”

19. Never as easy
as you think…..

21. #7 Study Honey Bee Biology
David Tarpy:
“Anybody can raise bees by
being told what to do…

22. #7 Study Honey Bee Biology
“but great beekeepers become aware of
what the bees are doing,
how they function,
what’s happening, and why.”

23. #7 Study Honey Bee Biology
 The seasonality of the colony
 The delegation of work
 The impact and influence of pheromones
 The way the physical hive is organized
What is the reason bees do what they do?

27. Beginner questions/complaints
I think I have a bad queen.
My bees are in the neighbor’s
swimming pool!
Did my hive swarm?
They aren’t building comb!
The colony suddenly got aggressive!

28. Beginner questions/complaints
My favorite:
“Is it too late to __________.”
(If you have to ask, it probably is)

33. Dura-gilt foundation

34. #7 Study Honey Bee Biology
“Every beekeeper action
has a honeybee reaction.”

35. #7 Study Honey Bee Biology
Appreciate the colony as a
“Superorganism”
Not a collection of individual bees, but a
cohesive unit that relates synergistically
to benefit the whole.

36. #8 Network Incessantly
 Attend a conference ($$$$)
--Best learning environment:
during the breaks
--Visit with the vendors, what’s new?
--Ask questions…
…then listen and take notes

37. #8 Network Incessantly
You might find a
better way (more efficient)
to keep bees.
Frustrations are often one “tweak”
away from becoming a solution.

38. #8 Network Incessantly
Discernment:
Deciding who to listen to.
E. F. Hutton
George Imerie’s “Pink Pages”

39. #9 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
Think like a bee,
Act like a beekeeper.
Always be one step ahead of the
bees. Anticipate what they need
and provide it.

40. #9 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
When should I add the next box
(hive body or super)?
When the frames are 70% drawn out.
What about when you buy a
nuc box and 5 frames are
already drawn out?

41. #9 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
Prudence:
Not acting on what you see,
but acting on what you don’t see,
that you know is coming.
Swarming and its prevention
Queen rearing and hatching virgins
Providing supers prior to the flow

42. #9 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
Mitigating potential problems
Because when you discover you have a problem,
it’s probably too late.
Mountain Camp Method of winter feeding
Treating for mites in September
(based on an alcohol wash in August)

43. #10 Find an Anchor
Keep your bees in a manner that best suits
your situation
your purpose for keeping bees
your location
the kind of bees you keep
Jesse Williams

44. #10 Find an Anchor
Once you find your anchor
Be magnanimous in sharing
Remain open to new ideas
Be slow to jump and innovate
Need a reason to change
“Because I know what works best for me.”

45. #11 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
 Kim Flottum: “Many hives are in decline,
beyond the point of saving. Sadly, very little
can be done to pull them out of this death
spiral.”
 Is requeening always the best answer?
 How many resources do you invest in a colony
with laying workers?

46. #11 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
Recognize beekeeping is filled with inequity
No two hives are alike
No two apiaries are the same
No two seasons can compare
Don’t invest major effort for minimal gain.

47. #12 Comfortable with Contradictions
There are very few immutable rules in
beekeeping.
“Beekeeping is local.”
There are too many idiosyncratic variables to
simply “shadow” someone else.
Complexity defies an easy fix.

48. #13 “Find Your Bliss” (purpose)
When the police arrested Willie Sutton,
the famous criminal bank robber,
they asked him,
“Why did you rob the banks?”
His response was,
“Because that’s where the money is.”

49. #13 “Find Your Bliss” (purpose)
For most beekeepers, the most precious
commodity is time and energy
to work their hives.
“Find out where the honey is.”
Invest your resources where you
will find the most satisfaction.

50. A Final Thought
“Does beekeeping
take a lot of work?”
“No, but it seems
take a lot of worry.”

51. Beekeeping is supposed to be fun,
and it can be.
Enjoy the journey.

52. Any Questions?