How To Start Beekeeping (A Complete Guide)
Follow our steps on how to start beekeeping and avoid many of the issues that discourage beginning beekeepers.
What Is A Beehive? (A Home For Honey Bees)
A beehive is a manufactured structure that mimics a natural honey bee nesting site. Beekeepers use them to manage honey bees and harvest hive products like honey. Bee hives are typically made of wood though other materials may be used. Beehives consist of either vertically stacked boxes or a single, horizontal cavity.
Where To Buy Bees | A Beginner’s Guide To Buying Honey Bees
You can buy honey bees for pick up from local beekeepers or distributors. Online suppliers will ship bees to you. You can trap a swarm to get free bees, though we do not recommend it for beginners. Reputable local beekeepers are the best source for honey bees. You can buy starter colonies or mated queens.
Best Bee Smoker Fuels | Fuels For Smoking Bees
The best bee smoker fuels are nontoxic organic items that smolder and do not burn quickly. Many options are free (or cheap), including cotton fibers, burlap, dry pine needles or grass, and herbs. Suppliers sell fuel. Never use chemicals, treated material, plastic, or rubber that can harm you or the bees.
When To Add Honey Supers | How To Super A Beehive
Begin to add honey supers when a beehive’s upper box is about 75% full of drawn comb with brood or food. If it is early in the season, bees can use the new box for brood. If honeyflow has begun (or is imminent), using a queen excluder keeps brood out of the added honey super, reserving it for ripening nectar.
What Are Honey Bees? A Beginner’s Guide To The Honey Bee
Honey bees are flying insects that live in complex social organizations called colonies. They build wax comb in nests to raise young and store food. Adult bees are either male or female. Females consist of two castes: queen bees and workers. Honey bees divide labor and work collectively for the benefit of the colony.
What Is A Drone Bee? | About Male Honey Bees
A drone bee is a male developed from a queen’s unfertilized egg. Larger than workers, a drone’s sole purpose is to mate with a virgin queen. Drones perform no other hive tasks and cannot sting. Since they have a limited function, the colony controls the drone population, so they do not burden resources.
What Is A Worker Bee? | 13 Jobs Of Worker Bees
A worker bee is an infertile female unable to reproduce. A queen bee’s pheromones suppress the workers’ reproductive organs. In their 45-day lifespan, workers perform most of the tasks needed in a hive. Workers forage for resources, make honey, nurse brood, and guard the hive, among other responsibilities.
What Is A Queen Bee’s Role In The Hive? A Beginner’s Guide To Queen Bees
A queen bee’s role in the hive stems from being the colony’s only fertilized female. Her primary roles are egg-laying for population growth and the production of pheromones to guide colony behaviors. Though she does not rule the hive, a healthy queen bee is critical to the hive’s survival and productivity.
How To Assemble A Hive Body (Assembling A Langstroth Beehive)
To assemble a hive body, join the sides at 90° angles, checking corners with a square. Tighten joints with a mallet. Secure the connections with nails, staples, or screws. Exterior wood glue and clamps are optional but strengthen joints. An assembly jig can speed the process.
