Set up your beehive in advance so you can install the bees as soon as possible after they arrive. A starting Langstroth hive only needs a bottom board, entrance reducer, one deep brood box, and the inner and outer covers. Adding a brood box between the covers provides room for a top feeder.
Beekeeping protective clothing consists of veils to protect your eyes and face; beekeeping suits and jackets for most of your body; gloves for hands; and boots for feet and ankles. The amount of protective clothing you wear depends on your comfort level and what you are doing with the bees.
Absconding bee colonies abandon a hive leaving little behind, save some very young bees and small amounts of brood and food. Learn the reasons why so you can avoid it.
A swarm trap (or “bait hive”) is a container designed and situated to attract bee swarms. We will tell you how to get “free” bees with swarm traps.
Varroa mite treatments have limitations (temperature, brood, population, and honey flow), and should be varied to avoid resistance. Choosing the best miticide requires a decision tree based on circumstances. Using our tree below, formic and oxalic acids are best for full season coverage.
Hive Tracks, available as a native mobile app and via a web browser, tracks your beekeeping data to help manage your apiary. The developer of Hive Tracks has a version designed for large commercial beekeepers. However, in this review, we will discuss the software aimed at backyard hobbyists and sideliners.
Comparing varroa mite treatments among beekeepers we polled, the most popular and effective treatment against varroa mites is oxalic acid. Another organic substance, formic acid (sold as Mite Away Quick Strips® or Formic Pro®) and Apivar®, a synthetic miticide, were 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
There are 3 major types of hives: Langstroth, Warré and horizontal hives like a Top Bar hive. We describe how they each work including pros and cons and why we think you should start with Langstroth.
A honey house is a sanitary space where beekeepers process their honey harvest. As your apiary becomes larger, you may want to have a dedicated space outside the home.
Honey bees collect nectar, pollen, and water to create three nutritional foods: honey, bee bread, and royal jelly. A beekeeper may feed honey bees protein supplements for pollen or sugar substitutes for nectar.
