Cape Career and Technology Center, January 25, 2016 "The Basics of Basic Beekeeping"

1. The Basics of
Basic Beekeeping
Part 1 – January 25, 2016
Grant F. C. Gillard
gillard5 @ charter.net
www . grantgillard.weebly.com
www . slideshare.net

2. 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…”)

3. Bee Clubs
• Jackson Area Beekeepers
– 4th Tuesday, 7:00 pm
– First Presbyterian Church
– 206 East Washington Street
• Parkland Beekeepers – Farmington
– 3rd Tuesday
• Dexter Beekeepers – Dexter
– 1st Tuesday

4. 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.

5. Resources – Supplier Catalogs
• Brushy Mountain Bee Farm
www.brushymountainbeefarm.com 800-233-7929
• Blue Sky Bee Supply www.blueskybeesupply.com
877-529-9233
• Dadant www.dadant.com 888-922-1293
• Kelley Beekeeping www.kelleybees.com
800-233-2899
• Betterbee www.betterbee.com 800-632-3379
• Mann Lake www.mannlakeltd.com 800-880-7694

6. Resources – Local Suppliers
• Buchheits – Little Giant, pre-assembled. More
expensive (convenience) cheaper quality.
• Isabees – www.isabees.com, St. Louis. Fantastic
people! Dealers for Walter T. Kelley
• The Bee Barn – www.beebarnshop.com Paducah,
KY Good reports. Never met the guy.
• Facebook: Missouri State Beekeepers
www.mostatebeekeepers.org

7. 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

13. Caveats
• Most bee clubs run by opinionated, though
successful beekeepers.
• Most bee clubs bogged down in bureaucracy.
• Most classes teach a traditional method of
beekeeping, the “dominant” model, that fits
the average beekeeper with chemical
treatments.
• Most mentors share what works for them.
Learn their way, then find your own niche or
make your own path.

14. More 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. Go with
the flow.

15. Factors to Consider
• 1. Location
• 2. What type of hive?
• 3. What type of bee?
• 4. Where to acquire bees?
• Mistakes made by beginners

16. 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

17. Some sun, sheltered from wind

19. Leveled on hive stands

20. Usually relegated to the side of a field,
out of the way, but with access

23. Seasonal Flooding

25. 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

26. 2. What Type of Hive
• Langstroth -- 16” by 20”, stacked boxes
• Top Bar Hive (TBH) -- Longitudinal hive
• Warre Hive -- French design
• Design your own

27. 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

30. Langstroth
• Advantages
--Many parts interchangeable, moveable
--Conventional dimensions
--Plans on the Internet
--Mechanical harvest, Frames reusable
• Disadvantages
--More expensive to buy
--Involves heavy lifting

31. 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”

32. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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…

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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.

44. Frames
• Wood with wired wax foundation
• Wood with no foundation (foundationless)
• Wood with plastic foundation
• All plastic

45. 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

46. 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.

50. 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. www.createspace.com/4107714

54. Swarm Trapping

55. Swarm Trapping
https://www.createspace.com/4106626

56. 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.

57. 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

58. Bee Removals = cut outs

61. My Method
• No perfect bee, no pure breed, “open” matings
• Buy a few commercial queens here and there
to diversify genetics
• I really like trapping feral swarms (free!)
• Find a locally-adapted bee
– Works well in your area, survives
– Responds well to your management (gentle)
– Raise new queens from this stock

62. 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.

63. 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)