Honey Bee Colony Assessment Workshop Colony Strength Evaluation
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Colony Growth and Seasonal Management of Honey Bees
Colony Growth and Seasonal Management of Honey Bees Management of honey bees varies based on whether Although honey is essential food for bees, colonies pollination or honey production is the primary objective. cannot grow without sufficient amounts of incoming A simple scheme for those interested in maximizing honey pollen. Pollen contains the essential amino acids, sterols, production can be a template for any beginning beekeeper. minerals, and vitamins that bee larvae need to grow into Managing honey bees involves seasonal manipulations adult honey bees. Bee colonies cannot grow without brood of hive space to provide room when necessary for the production, and brood production hinges on good-quality expanding brood-rearing area and for storage of surplus nutrition that comes from pollen. Hence, bee colonies grow honey. Good management includes reducing colony space largest during or just after periods of maximum numbers during periods of dearth of incoming food, preventing of blooming plants in the spring and autumn (Figure 1). swarming of bees, feeding food supplements to offset any These periods are called honey flows. shortcomings in winter stores or to help stimulate brood Blooming of food plants can be predicted by a crude production during critical periods of colony development, geographic rule of adding a 1-week delay in bloom for keeping young and good-quality queens in colonies, and every 200 miles or so northward in latitude. For example, if managing diseases and parasites. sumac is blooming heavily in southern Mississippi during the first week of May, a person living near the Mississippi- Basic Growth Cycle Tennessee border might expect sumac to bloom from the Good seasonal management begins with understand- third week of May into the beginning of June. -
Honey Farming by ROB Manley
HONEY FARMING by R. O. B. MANLEY FABER AND FABER LTD 24 Russell Square London First published in mcmxlvi by Faber and Faber Limited 24 Russell Square London W.C. 1 Second Impression September mcmxlvi Third impression September mcmxlviii Printed in Great Britain by Latimer Trend & Co Ltd Plymouth All rights reserved PREFACE he writing of this little book about bee-farming and honey Tproduction was suggested by the many letters I have received during the past ten years, since the book Honey Production in the British Isles was published. I have tried to make it as useful and interesting as I can, but I am very well aware of its imperfections. To write an interesting account of technical operations and methods of working is not always easy. Honey Farming is not written for the novice, and in writing it I have assumed some considerable experience on the part of the reader; but I am now working on another book intended expressly for the beginner who wishes to take up the business of beekeeping as distinct from making a hobby of it, a rather difficult thing to do. I have to thank those friends who have assisted me with the photographs used in this book, especially Mr. C. P. Abbott who did most of them. The drawings were made by Mr. R. W. Ford of Reading. R. O. B. MANLEY CONTENTS Preface page 5 I. Retrospect 11 II. Essentials 28 III. Climate, Pasturage, and Apiaries 42 IV. Apiary Equipment 57 V. Breeding Bees 83 VI. The Passing Seasons 124 VII. -
Simple Methods of Making Increase
Simple Methods of Making Increase by Wally Shaw Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. The Locally Adapted Bee 3 3. Reasons for Learning How to Make Increase 4 4. Scale of Increase Covered 5 5. Prejudices over Emergency Queens 6 6. Another Common Misconception 7 7. Making Emergency Queen Cells 7 8. Why not wait until a colony sets up to swarm? 8 9. When to Split Colonies 8 10. What Must the Colony Have to Make an Effective Split? 8 11. Which Colonies to Split? 9 12. How to Balance the Split 9 13. A More ‘Natural’ Approach to Making Nucs 11 14. Nuc Boxes 13 15. Split Boards 14 16. Finding the Queen 14 17. Details and Discussion of Examples 15 Example 1 15 Example 2 16 Example 3a and b 17 18. Drawn Comb or Foundation 19 19. Concluding Remarks 19 Appendix 1 – Finding the Queen 20 Appendix 2 – Getting Combs Drawn Prior to Making Increase 22 This booklet has been published and funded by the Welsh Beekeepers’ Association 2 Simple Methods of Making Increase 1. Introduction This booklet is intended to replace ‘Beekeeping – Making Increase’ published by the Welsh Assembly Government which was itself based on an earlier version produced by the National Bee Unit. The aim of this new booklet is to give more detailed coverage of this important subject and in a form of a practical guide for use by both individual beekeepers and associations who want to become self-sufficient for the provision of new or replacement colonies and queens. The methods described are not designed for large scale queen rearing but should be more than adequate to meet the needs of the hobby beekeepers who, let us not forget, manage about 85% of the colonies in Britain. -
Massachusetts Beekeepers Association's
MASSACHUSETTS BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES Disclaimer This document is intended solely as guidance. This document does not confer, and is not intended to create legal rights or impose legal duties or obligations. The general descriptions provided here reflect the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association’s current views regarding reasonable considerations for safe and healthy management of honeybees in Massachusetts and may not apply to particular situations based on the circumstances. This document may be revised periodically. Introduction It has often been observed that if you ask ten beekeepers the same question, you will get at least ten different answers. This adage reflects, in part, the great diversity of practice that has grown up around beekeeping. For every beginning beekeeper, there is inevitably another beekeeper, whose enthusiasm to share his or her personal observations and techniques provides the spark for the new beekeeper’s own venture into beekeeping. Diversity of ideas and practices among beekeepers is essential to the continued success of honeybees and beekeeping. Yet, it must also be recognized that beekeepers do not exist separately and apart from the communities in which they live, and as beekeeping becomes more popular, particularly in suburban and urban areas, the potential for misunderstandings with neighbors and local officials also grows. Thus, responsible management of one’s hives within the community in which they are located is also essential. For this reason, the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association has developed these Best Management Practices to provide a framework for determining appropriate, site- specific management practices to promote healthy bees and avoid potential conflicts between beekeepers and others. -
A Beekeeper's Guide Year in Management for a Virginia Apiary
A BEEKEEPER’S YEAR IN A VIRGINIA APIARY January: Long, cold nights are ideal for talking and reading about your bees. Start the New Year off by attending a beekeeper meeting in your area. Read beekeeping books and magazines. Review successes and failures of past year. Make plans for any needed changes in management and schedule. Assemble and repair beekeeping equipment. Hope for a January thaw so the bees have a cleansing flight. Monitor weights and amount of honey in hives. February: Maples, willows, and other early season plants are in bloom. Make a brief check of wintering colonies for honey and brood (laying queen). Reposition frames with honey and pollen placing them near the brood cluster. First pollen should become available. If low on pollen add a pollen supplement or substitute. Feed bees 1:1 sugar/water syrup on warmer days to minimize winter mortality. If low on honey stores feed 2:1 sugar/water syrup. In late February stimulate brood production by feeding 1:2 sugar/water syrup. March: Dandelion is in bloom. Check colonies on a warm, sunny day. Check for old and rotting wood, frames in disrepair or with old comb, food reserves, and brood pattern and size. If food reserves are short feed 1:1 sugar/water syrup. Colonies that need feeding should be monitored and fed continually as needed. Clean bottom boards. Mid to late March replace solid bottom board with screen bottom board or remove cover from screen. Reverse hive boxes to position brood in lower box. Treat soil for small hive beetle (SHB) where infestations are found. -
National Bee Unit Hive Cleaning and Sterilisation
National Bee Unit Hive Cleaning and Sterilisation Honey bee colonies are subject to infection or infestation by a range of pests and diseases. These include insects, mites, fungi, viruses, and bacteria, such as the microbes that cause American or European foulbrood (AFB and EFB) (Paenibacillus larvae and Melissococcus plutonius). Honey bees are social insects and are at risk of epidemics, so it is essential that beekeepers not only recognise the signs of such pests and diseases, but also know how to reduce their impact in colonies, apiaries and the locality. A key factor in preventing the spread of infection is good hygiene. The following Fact Sheet provides some advice about when and how you should be cleaning your hives and your equipment. Figure 1, clean apiary storage A few notes to the reader Be aware that to clean and sterilise your hives and equipment properly can be hard physical work. You need to make sure that you have all the necessary tools and equipment ready for the task before you get started. You also need to have appropriate National Bee Unit APHA, National Agri-Food Innovation Campus Sand Hutton, York. YO41 1LZ Telephone 03003030094 email [email protected] NBU Web site: www.nationalbeeunit.com March 2018 ©Crown copyright. This sheet, excluding the logo, may be reproduced free of charge providing that it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading way. The material must be acknowledged protective clothing, including eye protection, strong waterproof gloves, steel capped boots etc. If possible, arrange for someone to help you on the day. -
Beekeeper Registration Application City of Richfield
Beekeeper Registration Application City of Richfield FEE: $30.00 Directions: Print legibly in blue or black ink. Answer all questions and indicate not applicable if appropriate. Any falsification of answers may result in denial of the registration. Please complete both sides of the form. Return to Richfield Business Licensing – 6700 Portland Avenue, Richfield MN 55423. Section 1: Applicant 1. Name: Last First Full Middle Maiden Name 2. Permanent Residence Address: Street City State County Zip 3. Apiary Address (if different than above) Street City State County Zip 4. Home Phone: Cell Phone: Business Phone: 5. Email Address 1: Email Address 2: Section 2: Beekeeping Education / Experience 6. Do you have formal education (courses) or prior hands-on beekeeping experience/ Yes No If yes, please describe and provide documentation: Section 3: Acknowledgements Please check each box and then sign and date indicating that you have read and agree with the following: Copies of city code 906 (the Beekeeping ordinance) and city code 509.21 (the Home Occupation ordinance) are attached to this registration form. I acknowledge that I have read, understand and will comply with all the requirements of both ordinances. City code 906 requires that the Richfield Public Safety Department shall send notice to all owners of lots adjacent to any lot line of the apiary site. I acknowledge and understand that the City will send notice to all owners of lots adjacent to any lot line of the apiary site. I understand and agree that I may not engage in the practice of beekeeping within the City of Richfield until I have received notification from the Public Safety Department that my beekeeping registration has been approved. -
View Our Catalogue
Professional beekeepers, manufacturers and retailers est.1953 NEW products for 2021 Catalogue of Beekeeping Equipment 2021 Introduction Welcome to Contents WE WILL BE HAVING OUR Starter Kits 2 Maisemore Apiaries Ltd SALE ONLINE Packaged Rock Bottom Bee Hives 3 Contents FOR 2021 Bees on Comb, Queens/Honey & Books 4 Honey House & Storage Cedar Hives & Hive Parts 5 We no longer have a shop FOR THREE DAYS ONLY, FROM SATURDAY 26TH JUNE Poly Hives, Nucs & Parts 10 but offer a ‘Click & Collect’ Frames 16 TO MONDAY 28TH JUNE. service from our premises. Beeswax Foundation 18 Shows & Exhibitions 2021 Clothing 20 Maisemore Apiaries began when Leo and Leslie Hiam The Environment Extraction 24 started keeping bees as a hobby, when the Second All the timber used in making our bee hives and ALL SHOWS ARE VIRTUAL EVENTS World War began they had to go and help the war Bee Health 34 hive parts come from sustainable forests around the DUE TO COVID19: effort so the bees were left to their own devices, on world. their return they increased the number of bees and Feeders & Bee Feed 38 Wood waste is all recycled, ULSTER BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION began to make beekeeping equipment. Smokers 42 saw dust and shavings ANNUAL CONVENTION Now Maisemore Apiaries is still a family run and are all bagged in our plant Friday 19th - Saturday 20th February Hive Tools & Hardware 43 owned business, looked after by Eric, Johnathan, and used as bedding for Caroline and Mark Hiam, we now have approx. 1000 pets and horses, timber off Greenmount Campus, Co. Antrim, BT41 Parts & Accessories 44 hives of bees all in standard National hives around cuts are used as firewood. -
<Article-Title>Langstroth's Hive and the Honey-Bee
naturalists.This small book is full water. The head is almost nonex- American Goldfinch, Canada of interesting facts about the istent and lacks a radula or any Goose, and Great Blue Heron are groups of animals that live in the significant eyes" (p. 104). introduced with the family they sea. The authors cover sponges, This book is definitely worth belong to, the habitat in which sea anemones, jellyfish, sea mats, reading if you are interested in they are found, their call or song, marine worms, mollusks, echino- marine animals. It is interesting and general size information. In derms, sea squirts, cartilaginous and contains many wonderful old the lower corner of each bird fish, marine reptiles, birds, seals, drawings, some as old as 200 page, an "Also meet" section is [-' sea lions, walruses, whales, and years. However,it really is not very included where the authors intro- sea weed. The book also contains useful for research purposes in duce us to a relative of that bird. a glossary, index, and a section on either a college or a high school For example, the Downy [-' books and Web sites that are use- setting. Woodpecker page also introduces ful for further research. the Hairy Woodpecker and the Although this book contains Herring Gull page introduces the many beautiful drawings, it is real- Lorelei Crerar Ring-billedGull. ly not very useful for research pur- J.E.B.Stuart High School The book includes a delight- 14 poses. A lot of the information Falls Church,VA 22044 ful chapter on notable birds with contained in the book is in the incredible facts. -
Introduction to Honey Bees and Beekeeping What Aren’T Honey Bees
Introduction to Honey Bees and Beekeeping What aren’t Honey Bees Honey Bee Bumble Bee Not Honey Bee Nests Bald Face Hornet Wasp (yellow jacket) The Honey Bee Apis mellifera Anatomy and Biology Compound Eye Thousands of individual lenses (3000 – 9000) Hairs tell wind direction, flight speed, collect pollen Excellent motion detection – high flicker threshold - move slowly! Comparison of light wavelengths visible to humans and bees ▬ Don’t see red, no photoreceptor for it ▬ Can see ultraviolet light (needed to find nectar) ▬ Detects polarized light (navigation) Nectar guide = UV-absorbing area of a flower Antennae - majority of bees' sensory organs are located in the antennae - 170 odor receptors (chemoreceptors), O2, CO2, moisture - locates pollen-rich flowers and hive pheromones - used for communication by touching Mandibles (jaws) • eat pollen for food; • cut and shape wax; • feed larvae and queen; • clean the hive; • groom themselves; • fighting. Thorax • Point of Attachment for – Six Legs – Two Pairs of Wings • Wings held together by hooks Pollen Baskets Honey Bee Stinger Removing Bee Stingers http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/beestings.html Use your hive tool Worker, Drone, & Queen The Population of a Colony Depends on: - the egg laying ability of the queen, - the space available in the hive, - the incoming food supply. MikeHaberland Complete Metamorphosis 1) Queen lays egg In brood cell Egg 2) Worker feeds hatched larva Larvae 3) Larva reaches full growth 4) Worker caps cell 5) Larva spins cocoon and Pupa becomes pupa 6) Adult bee leaves cell Adult https://forum.teksyndicate.com/t/bee-syndicate-s1-e3-8-17-2015-how-brood-you-do/86119 Honey Bee Development Days after egg is laid Cell Adult emerges Start of Larvae hatches Larva Pupa capped from cell Fertility Queen 3 5 ½ 7 ½ - 8 8 16 Approx. -
The Beekeeper's Role
THE BEEKEEPER’S ROLE ENSURING HONEY BEE HEALTH ON WORKING AGRICULTURAL LANDS Proactive communication between growers, applicators and beekeepers is essential to protect honey bees from unintended pesticide exposure. Beekeeper and landowner cooperation based on mutual interests is important to mitigate risks of pesticide exposure to pollinators. BEEKEEPER RESPONSIBILITIES GROWER RESPONSIBILITIES Maintain healthy, vigorous colonies-manage pests and diseases, provide supplemental feed when Always refer to the pesticide necessary. Follow best management practices label for application according to your State or provincial apiarist. requirements. Contact state or provincial lead agency/extension offices to Review the managed pollinator understand state or provincial and local apiary regulations or protection (MP3) or other bee requirements. Review the managed pollinator protection plan health plans for the state or (MP3) or other bee health plans for the state or province province if available. if available. Work with beekeeper to Alert the local Mosquito Control office of the location of determine the best location to the apiary place the apiary. Ensure that the apiary location has sufficient nutrition and a Abide by the agreement – fresh source of water. verbal or written. Inform growers, neighboring landowners, and custom Protect water sources from applicators of apiary locations. contamination by pesticides of concern. Register apiary for notification program if available. Inform applicators of apiary Face hives away from fields and with buffered area between the locations, agreements and field and apiary when possible. pollinator friendly practices. Post the beekeeper’s name and contact information near apiary. Notify the beekeeper as soon as possible before an Notify grower as soon as possible if any problems occur. -
Aberdeen and District Beekeepers' Association
www.aberdeenbeekeepers.net Page 1 of 4 ADBKA Newsletter Newsletter Aberdeen and District December 2014 Beekeepers’ Association (SCIO) - promoting the study and development of apiculture, and advancing the heritage, culture and science of beekeeping amongst its membership and throughout the wider community Established 1910 President: Scottish Charity Number SC031754 Mr R Wood Merry Cothal Lodge Don’t forget to get your Cothal 2015 membership Dyce subscription form in as Christmas! soon as possible. It’s Chair: especially important this Graham Torrie year as we manage the Hillcrest transition from the old Craigmyle Road ADBKA to our new Torphins , AB31 4HN SMALL HIVE BEETLE Tel. 013398 82038 SBA CALLS FOR BAN ON incorporated charity. e-mail: BEE IMPORTS adbkanewsletter@ btinternet.com The Executive Committee of the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association has written to Hon. Secretary: the Scottish Government urging them to take the strongest possible action to halt Rosie Crighton the spread into this country of the Small 29 Marcus Cres. Hive Beetle, Aethina tumida. Blackburn, AB21 0SZ Tel. 01224 791181 The SBA ‘urges that all possible measures are taken to prevent the e-mail: aberdeenbeekeepers introduction of small hive beetle into the @gmail.com UK. These should include a cessation of trade in live bees from the rest of Europe Hon. Treasurer: for 2015 until the true spread of the pest is better known.' Louise Forbes 56 Morningfield Rd Meanwhile, ADBKA members have This year’s Honey Show trophy winners, snapped looking Aberdeen, AB15 4AQ spotted a couple of on-line petitions happy at our end of year social gathering last month.