For hundreds, even thousands of years, beekeeping has been primarily an experience of self sufficiency.
Since people have been keeping bees, they have done so in a manner which contributes to sustaining their lifestyle and figures in to their way of daily life.
Even in more recent beekeeping history, the "hobbyist" beekeeping experience has been associated with people who are self sufficiency minded and looking for ways to make money on the side by selling honey at the local farmers market.
Similarly, the modern "hobby" beekeeper uses their few hives to pollinate their own or someone else's garden. Thus giving them better produce for canning, etc.. as well as honey and wax to make candles and soap and other items with.
However in the past five, perhaps even nearly ten years, there has been a new class of beekeeper or perhaps a new sub variety of hobbyist that could be referred to as the "consumerist" beekeeper.
The "consumerist" beekeeper is typically someone who finds themself motivated to be a beekeeper, often based on dramatized information in the popular media, and doesn't really have the interest or ability to most of the work of beekeeping themself.
They seek to purchase everything to do with beekeeping in regards to equipment and supplies all the way to working the bees. They will seek out other beekeepers to "help" them inspect and otherwise work hives just as easily as they buy pre-assembled equipment so that they can simply set it up and go.
Is this a "bad" or "wrong" way to go about beekeeping? I won't say that it is either. Though personally I would say that they are missing out on the larger, core beekeeping experience.
The "consumerist" beekeeper experience tends to stay in the "newbee" phase for much longer than the typical novice beekeeper because they depend so greatly on other beekeepers to guide them or do it for them more often than not.
They don't really gain the full "appreciation" of learning how to put equipment together or how and when to work the hive to get the most out of it.
As the saying goes, "back in the day" this type of beekeeper would have been referred to as a "bee haver" rather than a beekeeper. They have bees and that provides them enough of the thrill of the experience. The excitement of getting honey and maybe wax from the hive makes it all "real enough" for them.
Someone once described it to me recently as similar to someone who likes birds, wants birds but doesn't really want to do the work of caring for birds themselves so they buy pre-built bird houses and other accessories to put out in their yards and some even go to the point of hiring a service to come out and maintain the birdhouses, add feed, etc...
It used to be that a "bee haver" was someone who had a bee hive in their yard but did nothing with the hive in terms of managing it or perhaps, at the most, collecting honey from it each year and not much more.
The new "consumerist" beekeeper essentially wants to make sure that their hives are managed and cared for. They just don't necessarily want to, or are able to, do it themselves.
This is largely a result of living in a consumerist economy where everything, even an experience, is purchased as opposed to even 25 years ago when most people might have said they were more interested in doing things for themselves and only were interested in having,at most, the experience facilitated for them instead of having others outright do it for them.
The modern marketplace is rushing to find ways to cater to this new type of consumerist beekeeper as the beekeeping stores and catalogs seeing as selling things are more in line with what they do.
There are hives in production as we speak to hang a container outside a window that will house bees inside of it so that people can look into it and watch the activity inside without needing to open the hive at all. Essentially, this is a bee birdhouse and there are more things like it hitting the market all the time.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Drawing comb
Honey Bees make wax. Honey Bees draw combs.
Honey bees go out in the Spring to locate nectar which they bring back and make wax from to draw out combs.
There is a grave concern among some beekeepers that the flowers and plants that bees are foraging from more and more frequently contain some type of pesticide that the bees will bring back and become a part of the wax combs that they will lay eggs in and store forage resources in.
Scientific research recently has shown that wax combs do indeed contain a great variety of toxins from pesticides from both outside the hive and introduced directly into the hive by beekeepers as treatments.
Can beeswax truly be "clean" anymore with all the pesticides being used so widely? Can beekeepers do anything to help bees produce clean wax?
There is a thought that by providing sugar syrup from the very beginning of placing new bees in a bee nest the bees will draw the new wax from the sugar syrup and be clean giving the bees a clean start in terms of raising brood in a clean environment.
Having said that, the bees will eventually stop taking the sugar syrup in favor of real nectar and any consequent wax drawn from that nectar will be suspect in regards to containing toxins.
In talking about pesticides, we refer to a lethal dose in terms of application dosage. How much of a toxin has to be present, how much must a creature be exposed to, before it has a detrimental affect on them?
Beeswax absorbs things easily. The absorption rate can increase levels of toxins held within it fairly rapidly. The more often that bees can reduce the presence of accumulating toxins or minimize the rate of absorption, the better off they will be, the healthier the colony will be, the more able their collective immune system as a super organism will be to resist illness and disease.
The practice of removing wax combs on a regular basis by Emile Warre and others so that bees will build fresh, new, clean wax has many merits. However, to beekeepers whose primary concern is high honey production, it is anathema. The more they can re-use drawn wax combs, the less resources bees use on producing wax and instead concentrate on making more honey instead.
To a honey producer beekeeper, fully drawn wax combs are just valuable as the honey itself. The notion of deliberately removing those combs from the hive is repugnant and even considered folly to them.
Manufactured wax foundation has come under suspicion in recent years because of the possibility of spreading toxins commercially thus possibly contributing to the rapid build up of toxins in hives from the start.
It's not a simple problem and there is no simple solution or answer. Lots of people want to assign a label of "Right" or "Wrong", "Good" and "Bad" and it's not that easy to say something like that. The more important thing is to find solutions that help bees to bee healthy.
Personally, I don't think it's possible at this point in the game to eliminate toxins in beeswax over the course of a season. I think the best effort we can make is to minimize the accumulation of toxins from one season to the next.
For me, I plan to keep harvesting the wax along with the honey at the end of each season and cycling through old wax every other season.
Honey bees go out in the Spring to locate nectar which they bring back and make wax from to draw out combs.
There is a grave concern among some beekeepers that the flowers and plants that bees are foraging from more and more frequently contain some type of pesticide that the bees will bring back and become a part of the wax combs that they will lay eggs in and store forage resources in.
Scientific research recently has shown that wax combs do indeed contain a great variety of toxins from pesticides from both outside the hive and introduced directly into the hive by beekeepers as treatments.
Can beeswax truly be "clean" anymore with all the pesticides being used so widely? Can beekeepers do anything to help bees produce clean wax?
There is a thought that by providing sugar syrup from the very beginning of placing new bees in a bee nest the bees will draw the new wax from the sugar syrup and be clean giving the bees a clean start in terms of raising brood in a clean environment.
Having said that, the bees will eventually stop taking the sugar syrup in favor of real nectar and any consequent wax drawn from that nectar will be suspect in regards to containing toxins.
In talking about pesticides, we refer to a lethal dose in terms of application dosage. How much of a toxin has to be present, how much must a creature be exposed to, before it has a detrimental affect on them?
Beeswax absorbs things easily. The absorption rate can increase levels of toxins held within it fairly rapidly. The more often that bees can reduce the presence of accumulating toxins or minimize the rate of absorption, the better off they will be, the healthier the colony will be, the more able their collective immune system as a super organism will be to resist illness and disease.
The practice of removing wax combs on a regular basis by Emile Warre and others so that bees will build fresh, new, clean wax has many merits. However, to beekeepers whose primary concern is high honey production, it is anathema. The more they can re-use drawn wax combs, the less resources bees use on producing wax and instead concentrate on making more honey instead.
To a honey producer beekeeper, fully drawn wax combs are just valuable as the honey itself. The notion of deliberately removing those combs from the hive is repugnant and even considered folly to them.
Manufactured wax foundation has come under suspicion in recent years because of the possibility of spreading toxins commercially thus possibly contributing to the rapid build up of toxins in hives from the start.
It's not a simple problem and there is no simple solution or answer. Lots of people want to assign a label of "Right" or "Wrong", "Good" and "Bad" and it's not that easy to say something like that. The more important thing is to find solutions that help bees to bee healthy.
Personally, I don't think it's possible at this point in the game to eliminate toxins in beeswax over the course of a season. I think the best effort we can make is to minimize the accumulation of toxins from one season to the next.
For me, I plan to keep harvesting the wax along with the honey at the end of each season and cycling through old wax every other season.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
The "Key" comb. My observations
I have opened up a lot of honey bee nests in the process of doing my job as a pest control technician who works to keep bees alive. My specialization, as it were.
I have found honey bee nests in some interesting places and in a lot of common places. Soffits, roofs, ceilings, walls, underneath floors and in the rafters. I have found them in mailboxes, under decks, in trees, in vehicles and lots of other places.
One consistent thing I find in all of these honey bee nests is that they have a "Key" comb. That is, one comb that the bees started drawing before any other comb.
In most nests, adjacent combs are built parallel to this central, "Key" comb, using it as a guide to make those immediately next to it. They then draw combs outward in both directions from there, using te previous drawn combs as guides for the next.
The bees don't necessarily have to have the "Key" comb fully drawn out to full size before starting on the next ones. They often get the key comb about one fourth to one third drawn when they start drawing out the adjacent combs and sometimes even sooner than that.
Key combs are extremely important in any new nest site because not only are they used as a guide for other combs, but it is usually the comb that the queen begins to lay new eggs in first. Also, new forage such as pollen and nectar are stored on that comb and the ones drawn out on either side as soon as they are made.
If the bees cannot draw comb right away, they are in BIG trouble.
In a managed hive, I prefer to start my new colonies with a central "Key" comb as well. By placing a frame of already drawn comb or a sheet of foundation in the #3 frame (I use 5 frame boxes for my vertical hives so #3 spot is the very middle or center location.) Even just using a sheet of foundation can be a tremendous help for the bees as the new comb they draw is to draw out the cells already imprinted instead of starting from nothing. It's not critical, but helpful.
Personally, I use foundation-less frames in frame locations 1-2 and 4-5. I do use guide strips in the upper groove of the frame to hopefully help the bees to draw straight combs. Between the "Key" comb and the guide strips, they usually do pretty well.
I prefer to have the bees draw as much comb for themselves as possible to ensure the cleanest comb to lay eggs in and minimize transference of disease and pests between hives. Though, as I mentioned, I will use a sheet of foundation for the "Key" comb as it helps the bees to a quicker, more efficient start than having nothing.
I have found honey bee nests in some interesting places and in a lot of common places. Soffits, roofs, ceilings, walls, underneath floors and in the rafters. I have found them in mailboxes, under decks, in trees, in vehicles and lots of other places.
One consistent thing I find in all of these honey bee nests is that they have a "Key" comb. That is, one comb that the bees started drawing before any other comb.
In most nests, adjacent combs are built parallel to this central, "Key" comb, using it as a guide to make those immediately next to it. They then draw combs outward in both directions from there, using te previous drawn combs as guides for the next.
The bees don't necessarily have to have the "Key" comb fully drawn out to full size before starting on the next ones. They often get the key comb about one fourth to one third drawn when they start drawing out the adjacent combs and sometimes even sooner than that.
Key combs are extremely important in any new nest site because not only are they used as a guide for other combs, but it is usually the comb that the queen begins to lay new eggs in first. Also, new forage such as pollen and nectar are stored on that comb and the ones drawn out on either side as soon as they are made.
If the bees cannot draw comb right away, they are in BIG trouble.
In a managed hive, I prefer to start my new colonies with a central "Key" comb as well. By placing a frame of already drawn comb or a sheet of foundation in the #3 frame (I use 5 frame boxes for my vertical hives so #3 spot is the very middle or center location.) Even just using a sheet of foundation can be a tremendous help for the bees as the new comb they draw is to draw out the cells already imprinted instead of starting from nothing. It's not critical, but helpful.
Personally, I use foundation-less frames in frame locations 1-2 and 4-5. I do use guide strips in the upper groove of the frame to hopefully help the bees to draw straight combs. Between the "Key" comb and the guide strips, they usually do pretty well.
I prefer to have the bees draw as much comb for themselves as possible to ensure the cleanest comb to lay eggs in and minimize transference of disease and pests between hives. Though, as I mentioned, I will use a sheet of foundation for the "Key" comb as it helps the bees to a quicker, more efficient start than having nothing.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
What's In Your Water?
Have you noticed there are some pretty cool ponds and fountains around? Look at many of the professionally landscaped locations that are installing ponds and fountains lately.
Some of these are very cool, very nice looking. Some have fish but more ofen than not, they don't.
Bees, honey bees among them, need water just like any other creature. Honey bees love to go to the edges of pools and ponds to collect water which they take back to the hive for a variety of purposes. To cool the hive, for drinking, etc...
However, there are chemicals that get applied to many of these decorative ponds and pools that can harm bee colonies and sometimes kill the bees before they can make it back to the hive. Most of these being algae control products. Very often, the labels will state that these products are highly toxic to bees (when applied to crops and other plants) but they have no problem dumping them into ponds, water gardens, ornamental pools, etc...
Granted, no one wants algae in their pond or pool, however, how well are the treatments being applied? Are they just being dumped in whether they are needed or not? Are the amounts adhered to strictly or is just "eyeballing it" good enough?
Algae control products aren't really monitored or accounted for especially in the discussion of beekeeping in urban areas. However, as urban landscapes are developed in urban and suburban areas to be more appealing and more people are keeping bees in areas that were already highly landscaped when they started beekeeping, things like public water sources as water forage for bees have to be taken into consideration.
When you want to start keeping bees in your area, it would behoove you to take a walk around the neighborhood looking for water forage sources your bees might visit and find out what your bees might come across and bring back to the hive.
Some of these are very cool, very nice looking. Some have fish but more ofen than not, they don't.
Bees, honey bees among them, need water just like any other creature. Honey bees love to go to the edges of pools and ponds to collect water which they take back to the hive for a variety of purposes. To cool the hive, for drinking, etc...
However, there are chemicals that get applied to many of these decorative ponds and pools that can harm bee colonies and sometimes kill the bees before they can make it back to the hive. Most of these being algae control products. Very often, the labels will state that these products are highly toxic to bees (when applied to crops and other plants) but they have no problem dumping them into ponds, water gardens, ornamental pools, etc...
Granted, no one wants algae in their pond or pool, however, how well are the treatments being applied? Are they just being dumped in whether they are needed or not? Are the amounts adhered to strictly or is just "eyeballing it" good enough?
Algae control products aren't really monitored or accounted for especially in the discussion of beekeeping in urban areas. However, as urban landscapes are developed in urban and suburban areas to be more appealing and more people are keeping bees in areas that were already highly landscaped when they started beekeeping, things like public water sources as water forage for bees have to be taken into consideration.
When you want to start keeping bees in your area, it would behoove you to take a walk around the neighborhood looking for water forage sources your bees might visit and find out what your bees might come across and bring back to the hive.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
How Do You Choose What You Use?
Why do you use the hive that you use? Is it because someone told you use it?
Did you inherit it or get it for free or nearly so?
A very great number of beekeepers I talk to typically use the hive and methodology they do because of someone else's influence by way of advice, gifting/inheriting the hive or because it was cheap.
That's all fine and well, but how much thought did you really put into the hive you are using?
What are your beekeeping goals and objectives? In other words, why are you a beekeeper?
What you want to get out of beekeeping really should be your primary reason for using the hive that you.use.
If your main reason for beekeeping is honey production, you should be using a hive and method that is conducive to mass production and ease of harvesting honey.
If crop or garden pollination is the primary purpose and honey is secondary or even tertiary, you really should use a hive and method that is most conducive to large and rapid buildup of colony population and travels well.
What if you are a "homesteader" type of beekeeper? You want all you can get out of a bee hive. Pollination, honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, etc... without needing to move the hive much, if at all.
In that case, you want a hive that allows the bees to produce as much of all of those things without requiring a lot of time and effort on your part. One that allows it to be added to with the least amount of interference except at specified harvest times.
Some people might tell you that one type of hive can do all of those things. I would agree, but I would add that while it may do all of those things, it won't do all of them equally well.
I won't try to tell you you should use this hive or shouldn't use that hive. I will tell you that you should put a great deal of thought into your goals and objectives in beekeeping (your reason for beekeeping) and do your homework and write down a comparison of what various ives do well and what they don't do well. Compare those and then put your goals against them.
Whichever hive best meets the needs of your beekeeping is the hive you should choose and use. Keep in mind there is no such thing as a universally "best" type of hive. There is most popular and most common, but those are not the same thing as "best".
There are many people who would advise you to use the same type of hive they are using so they can mentor or advise you better. Others will say to use a particular type of hive because it is so cheaply produced on a large scale thus making it easy and cheap to get.
While commonality, price and access are all things we should take into consideration, they should not be the primary reason to use a given hive type. Selecting based on those concerns first may cause you a lot of stress and headache later because while it was cheap and common, it doesn't meet all your individual needs.
Compromises always exist and must be accommodated for, but they should take a back seat to the purpose for your endeavors. Why commit to the task if the tools you are going to use are not helping to best get the job done?
Beekeeping is a fascinating endeavor. It will easily become more than "just" a hobby or pastime. For many, it is a second job or career. For others, it is a passion. For everyone who takes it up though, it should be something gone into wide both eyes wide open and a complete awareness of what you you will put into it and what you plan to get out of it.
A beeyard is no place for rose colored glasses.
Did you inherit it or get it for free or nearly so?
A very great number of beekeepers I talk to typically use the hive and methodology they do because of someone else's influence by way of advice, gifting/inheriting the hive or because it was cheap.
That's all fine and well, but how much thought did you really put into the hive you are using?
What are your beekeeping goals and objectives? In other words, why are you a beekeeper?
What you want to get out of beekeeping really should be your primary reason for using the hive that you.use.
If your main reason for beekeeping is honey production, you should be using a hive and method that is conducive to mass production and ease of harvesting honey.
If crop or garden pollination is the primary purpose and honey is secondary or even tertiary, you really should use a hive and method that is most conducive to large and rapid buildup of colony population and travels well.
What if you are a "homesteader" type of beekeeper? You want all you can get out of a bee hive. Pollination, honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, etc... without needing to move the hive much, if at all.
In that case, you want a hive that allows the bees to produce as much of all of those things without requiring a lot of time and effort on your part. One that allows it to be added to with the least amount of interference except at specified harvest times.
Some people might tell you that one type of hive can do all of those things. I would agree, but I would add that while it may do all of those things, it won't do all of them equally well.
I won't try to tell you you should use this hive or shouldn't use that hive. I will tell you that you should put a great deal of thought into your goals and objectives in beekeeping (your reason for beekeeping) and do your homework and write down a comparison of what various ives do well and what they don't do well. Compare those and then put your goals against them.
Whichever hive best meets the needs of your beekeeping is the hive you should choose and use. Keep in mind there is no such thing as a universally "best" type of hive. There is most popular and most common, but those are not the same thing as "best".
There are many people who would advise you to use the same type of hive they are using so they can mentor or advise you better. Others will say to use a particular type of hive because it is so cheaply produced on a large scale thus making it easy and cheap to get.
While commonality, price and access are all things we should take into consideration, they should not be the primary reason to use a given hive type. Selecting based on those concerns first may cause you a lot of stress and headache later because while it was cheap and common, it doesn't meet all your individual needs.
Compromises always exist and must be accommodated for, but they should take a back seat to the purpose for your endeavors. Why commit to the task if the tools you are going to use are not helping to best get the job done?
Beekeeping is a fascinating endeavor. It will easily become more than "just" a hobby or pastime. For many, it is a second job or career. For others, it is a passion. For everyone who takes it up though, it should be something gone into wide both eyes wide open and a complete awareness of what you you will put into it and what you plan to get out of it.
A beeyard is no place for rose colored glasses.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
What of the survivors of the Winter of 2013?
I can't speak for anywhere else, but in Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa, Winter had bad news for honey bees. Losses in general were high, often, too high.
This year, the bee club I belong to ( The Omaha Bee Club) has a bee trapping contest this Spring. Whoever catches the most swarms in their bait hives wins the contest.
Some in the area have bemoaned the fact that not as many colonies, managed and feral, survived into the Spring to catch very many swarms. This is unfortunately true.
Having said that, for those bees that have survived and made it through to see the Spring of 2014, those are some AWESOME genetics. Talk about having some tough survivor stock to build up from.
They managed food stores well. They were able to break and reform the main cluster during the rapidly up and down temperatures. They resisted Varroa mites successfully. They built up a strong population when they were supposed to.
I want those bees!
You know you want them too.
This year, the bee club I belong to ( The Omaha Bee Club) has a bee trapping contest this Spring. Whoever catches the most swarms in their bait hives wins the contest.
Some in the area have bemoaned the fact that not as many colonies, managed and feral, survived into the Spring to catch very many swarms. This is unfortunately true.
Having said that, for those bees that have survived and made it through to see the Spring of 2014, those are some AWESOME genetics. Talk about having some tough survivor stock to build up from.
They managed food stores well. They were able to break and reform the main cluster during the rapidly up and down temperatures. They resisted Varroa mites successfully. They built up a strong population when they were supposed to.
I want those bees!
You know you want them too.
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