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Knowing Your Bees: Becoming a Better Beekeeper
The document outlines various strategies to enhance beekeeping skills, emphasizing the importance of understanding bee behavior and biology. Key recommendations include mentoring, regular hive inspections, observing pollen sources, and tracking hive conditions electronically. Additionally, beekeepers are encouraged to raise their own queens, monitor for mites, and participate in citizen science initiatives to improve their practices.
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Knowing Your Bees: Becoming a Better Beekeeper
- 1. KNOWING YOUR BEES: HOWTO BECOME A BETTER BEEKEEPER JONATHAN R. ENGELSMA, PH.D.
- 2. OUTLINE • Background • Thinklike a bee • 10 ways to get to know your bees better
- 3. OUTLINE • Background • Thinklike a bee • 10 ways to get to know your bees better
- 4. QUICK BACKGROUNDER • Weare a family of nine from Nunica, MI • Mieke and Jonathan share a background in agriculture • Jonathan works as a prof in GVSU’s School of Computing • Starting keeping bees in 1984. • Family runs a sideline bee operation • run 50-70 colonies mainly for honey production • retail the annual honey crop • sell nucs when able. • Website: http://hudsonvillehoney.com
- 6. A brief butrelevant diversion on fastidious Dutch homemakers…
- 7. OUTLINE • Background • Thinklike a bee • 10 ways to get to know your bees better
- 8. How do youthink like a bee?
- 9. THE ANTI-PATTERN: Bees aresocial… Bees dance … Bees are industrious… Bees are community focused… Have and care for their babies… Protect their home… Love honey!!! Sudden insight! bee behavior = people behavior The logical conclusion: Bees are just like me, only a little bit smaller…
- 10. THINKING ANTHROPOMORPHICALLY ABOUT BEES •Why we do this? • We often learn best by comparing new concepts to things we already know. • We are conditioned by our dogs & cats! • The problem: • Honeybee biology is way different than ours!
- 11. CLASSIC EXAMPLE: BRRR,ITS COLD OUT THERE… Source: http://www.instructables.com/id/Insulation-for-National-Beehives/
- 12. Obvious Conclusion: Themore you know about your bees, the more successful a beekeeper you will be.
- 13. OUTLINE • Background • Thinklike a bee • 10 ways to get to know your bees better
- 14. #1 GET/BE AMENTOR • Get a mentor • Learn faster / better • Avoid costly mistakes • More fun than going solo! • Your local club can help you find a mentor! • Be a mentor • Learn by mentoring others. • Grow the community • Give back Credit: Anne Marie Fauvel
- 15. #2 BE ANAVID AND DISCERNING READER • Books • Magazines • Online Sources • beesource.com • scientificbeekeeping.com
- 16. IMMERSE YOURSELF INOLD BEE BOOKS!! • Electronic (free): • bees.library.cornell.edu/ • https://archive.org/ • Reprints: • http://www.wicwas.com/ • www.xstarpublishing.com/
- 17.
- 18. #4 INSPECT YOURCOLONIES REGULARLY DURING THE BEE SEASON • Once a week if possible. • queen status • availability of nutrition • sufficient space? • presence of pests / diseases
- 19. #5 CONSTANT ANDCAREFUL OBSERVATION OUTSIDE OF THE HIVE • What is currently blooming in your locale? • Are the bees working it? • Entrance activity? • What’s that smell?
- 21. #6 PRACTICE GOODRECORD KEEPING • Record information gathered during inspections. (date & location) • First swarm, first dandelion, maple pollen, colony loss, frost date. • Note any reminders / todo’s. • Computer based options - try hivetracks.com
- 24. #7 MONITOR YOURHIVES ELECTRONICALLY • Join the BIP Hive Scale Portal! • “Locally Grown” at nearby GVSU! • Record the weight and ambient temperature and more 24 X 7 • An eye opening experience!
- 26. HIVE MONITOR AVAILABILITY •Purchase cost: $199 - $1500 • Operational costs vary. • Vendors: • Arnia • BeeWatch • SolutionBee • Learn More: https:// beeinformed.org/hive-scale- program/
- 27. BIP HIVE SCALENETWORK
- 28. #8 RAISE YOUROWN QUEENS • Forces you to acquire more intimate knowledge of honeybee biology. • Requires diligent record keeping. • You truly get to know YOUR bees! • Very fulfilling activity.
- 29. SMALL SCALE QUEENREARING • Small Scale: < 100 per season. • Non-grafting techniques have worked really well for us. • You need lots of bees of the right age in your cell builder! • If you plan to mate in your yard you’ll need a fair amount of stock to make up mating nucs.
- 31. #9 MONITOR FORMITES • Sample / count at least monthly from April - November. • Pre / Post treatment counts are important! • In larger yards (+20) sample a subset to make treatment decisions.
- 32. MITE SAMPLING TECHNIQUES •Sticky boards • Sugar Roll • Alcohol Wash • Send to a lab! • (Google for details)
- 33. WHY SAMPLE FORMITES? • You need to actively manage mite levels in your colonies when they are brooding or your bees will die. • If your bees die, you’ve just created a “varroa bomb” for nearby colonies. • Regular mite counts will help you learn when and how to treat most effectively.
- 34. #10 BEE ACITIZEN SCIENTIST! • Participate in Bee Informed Partnership Programs: • Bee Informed Annual Colony Loss Survey • BIP Tier 4 Program • BIP Hive Scale Program • Learn More: beeinformed.org
- 35. ANY QUESTIONS? Jonathan Engelsma’sContact Info: • email: jengelsma@gmail.com • web: http://hudsonvillehoney.com • twitter.com/honeyandcandles • Like us! /hudsonvillehoney • A copy of these slides are posted on: • http://slideshare.net/jonathanengelsma