Beekeeping for Beginners

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE • HOME AND GARDEN BULLETIN NO. 158 BEEKEEPING FOR BEGINNERS

Keeping honey bees is a fascinat- Beekeeping Equipment ing and profitable pastime that can be enjoyed in several ways. You may The basic equipment you need for want to kee2> bees for the delicious beginning beekeeping should cost no fresh honey they produce, for the more than about $25. This equip- benefits of their valuable services as ment should include the following pollinators for your crops, or per- items : haps just for the fun of learning Hive^ to house your bees. about one of Nature's most interest- Frames^ to support the honey- ing insects. combs in which your bees will store You can keep honey bees success- honey and raise young bees. fully almost any where in the United Smoher^ to blow smoke into the States with relatively little trouble hive, to pacify the bees when you and a minimum of expense. This want to work with them. bulletin supplies you wâth the basic Hive tool^ with which to pry information you should have to get frames apart, to examine the hive started. As a beginning beekeeper, or harvest the honey. you will need only— "F6^7, to protect your face and neck • A few dollars' investment in from bee stings. materials. GloveSy to protect your hands. • A suitable location for bee- Feeder^ to dispense sugar sirup until bees can produce their own Mves. food. • Elementary knowledge of the habits of honey bees. Colony Life Honey bees are social insects. The honey bee (Apis mellifera This means that they live together Linnaeus) is man's most useful in- in a colony and depend on each sect. In the United States alone, other for survival. honey bees produce about $50 mil- Most of the bees in a colony are lion worth of honey and beeswax workers (sterile females). Some are each year, and they pollinate more drones (males), whose only func- tion is to mate with the queen. than $1 billion worth of valuable Usually there is one queen bee (fer- agricultural crops. tile female) in the colony; she lays old and mates in the air with one or more drones. When she returns to the hive, she begins to lay eggs. During her lifetime she lays thou- sands of eggs—sometimes as many as 1,000 in a day. She puts each egg into a separate cell of the honeycomb. Three days after an egg is laid, it changes to a larva. Worker bee "nursemaids" feed and care for the larva until it changes into a pupa. Equipmenf used in beekeeping. Then they seal the pupa into its honeycomb cell and leave it to finish the eggs that maintain or increase developing. Twenty-one days from tlic colony's population. the day the egg was laid, an adult Worker bees number from 1,000 bee emerges. to about 60,000, depending on the egg-laying ability of the colony Bee Strains queen, the space available in the liive for expansion, and the avail- The Italian strain of bees is the able or incoming food supply. most common one in the United Worker bees live about 6 weeks. States. These bees are liardy, indus- They collect food and water for the trious, and relatively gentle. entire colony, do the housework, The Caucasian strain is also and guard the hive against intrud- widely kept. Bees in this strain are ers. Tliey also "air condition" the more gentle than Italian bees, but hive and maintain a constant hive the queens are dark colored and are temperature and humidity—what- therefore difficult to find in a clus- ever the conditions outside. Al- ter of bees. (It is important to be though worker bees do not mate, able to find your queen bee. You tliey may lay eggs if the colony loses may need to replace her after a year its «pieen. But their eggs will not or two, if she doesn't lay enough keep up the colony population, be- eggs to keep the colony strong.) cause they develop only into drones. The number of drones in a colony varies with the season of the year. There may be none during the winter, but several liundred during the summer. They are driven out of the hive in the fall, when worker Jbees can no longer collect food. BN-30050 The queen bee normally flies from From leFt: Worker, queen, and drone the hive when she is about a week bees.

3 Caucasian bees use an excessive The best time to establish a new amount of propolis in their hives. honey bee colony is in springtime. They collect this gummy substance Fruit trees and flowers are in bloom from buds and injured tree parts, then and should supply the colony and they use it as a "cement" in with sufficient nectar and pollen. their hives. Frames that become If you begin with a new swarm or heavily propolized are difficult to package of bees, instead of Avith an remove. established colony, it is usually a Some specially bred hybrid bees good idea to provide them with (crosses between two or more bee sugar sirup that is a mixture of half strains) are available. They are usu- sugar and half water. You can put ally more productive than stand- this sirup in a feeder in the entrance ard strains. But after a year or two, of the beehive. The sirup will keep the offspring they produce may the bees from starving until they bear no resemblance to the original can make and store their own honey. hybrid bees. I£ you keep hybrid bees, it is a good idea to replace your queen each How To Build a Beehive year. This should assure a uniform- Factory-made beehives and ly strong colony. frames are best. Their parts are of Getting Started standard size and are interchangeable. The best way to get started keep- If you prefer to build your own ing bees is to buy a bee colony beehive, use a factory-made hive as already established in a well-con- a model. Reproduce all parts exactly structed hive that has honeycombs and keep all dimensions the same, built into removable frames. so that the parts will fit together If you already have a hive, you well and be interchangeable with can buy a package of 2 or 3 pounds corresponding parts in other hives. of bees with a queen, from another Of special importance is the space beekeeper or from a bee supplier, you leave between frames in your and put them into your hive. Be hive. It should be about one-fourth sure the bees you huy have a certifi- inch. If the space is less, it will be cate of inspection to indicate that too small for the bees to pass they are free of hee diseases. through, and they will seal it off Another way to begin keeping with propolis. If the space between honey bees is to capture a live swarm frames is more than one-fourth and establish it in your hive. (Bees inch, it will be too wide and your are usually gentle when swarming.) Or you might transfer a colony, bees will build honeycomb in it. with its combs, from a cave or tree Neither of these is desirable. to the hive. But it's probably best The diagram on page 6 gives not to try these two methods until plans and dimensions for construct- you have worked enough with bees ing a 10-frame beehive—the most to be relaxed around them. common hive size. Beehive cutaway to show interior and placement of movable frames: Bottom, full-depth Jiive body,- middle and top, shallow hive bodies.

Wliere To Keep Beehives vailing winds—particularly in winter. When your Jiive is stocked with a Be sure there is a constant supply bee colony, put it where the bees are of fresh, «)ol water nearby. unlikely to sting anyone. For more information, write for If you live in a warm area, put Leaflet No. 530, "Shade and Water for the Honey Bee Colony," the hive in the shade. If you live available free from the Office of in an-area tJiat has extended periods Information, U.S. Department of of freezing temperatures, expose it Agriculture, Washington, D.C. to the sun and protect it from pre- 20250. ftabb«!

A. Corntr of lO-frsM« hiv* fceJy, ili>wi«| construction niii position of fromos

B. Pert of *ni of hivo bo4y, thoNÍii|i rokbot, «rtiich fhould bo MoJo of tin or (oUoRiiod CROSS SECTION OF HIVE BODY AND FRAME

Outsid« cov»r 1.1 .V1 „r .11 Insid« cov«r m ( -^ II 'wi

CROSS SECTION OF SHALLOW SUPER Shallow sup«r

Ou«en excluder

WireT ^i Brood chamber

- .71"- Reversible bottom board

SIDE,ENO,ANO TOP ELEVATION OF FRAME

Plans and dimensions for a 10-framc beehive.

What Bees Need produced by flowers. It is the raw material of honey and tlie bees' Bees need four basic niateFials: main source of food. Nectar, j)o]len, proiôlis, and water. Several hundred kinds of plants They make honey out of nectar. produce nectar, but only a few kinds They make pollen into beebread are common enough, or produce (food for young bees). They use enough nectar, to be considered propolis to seal cracks and water- major sources. proof their hive. They dilute honey with water before eating it, and The best sources of nectar for they use water in their hive "air con- producing surj^lus honey vary from ditioning system." place to place. As a beekeeper you will want to learn the plants in your Nectar area that are best for honey production. Here are some of the plants Bees can't make honey without that are major nectar sources in the nectar, a liquid sugary substance United States— alfalfa locusífc aster grasses aster mesquite corn maple buckwheat palmetto dandelion oak catclaw tuliptree fruit blossoms poplar citrus fruit túpelo goldenrod willow clover sage cotton sourwood fireweed star thistle How Bees Make Honey goldenrod sweetclover The nectar that bees collect is gen- holly sumac erally half to three-fourths water. horsemint willow After nectar is carried into the hive, The color and flavor of honey de- the bees evaporate most of the water pend on the kinds of plants that from it. While evaporating the bees collect nectar from. Honey may water, they change the nectar into be clear, amber, or even reddish; honey. Then the bees seal the honey its flavor can range from mild to into cells of the honeycomb. strong. Try to put your beehive Beeswax begins as a liquid made where the bees can collect the kind by glands on the underside of the of nectar that will make the honey worker bee's abdomen. As it is pro- you like best. duced, it hardens into tiny wax scales. Worker bees then use this Pollen wax to build honeycomb. As worker bees gather nectar Beekeepers often provide their from flowers, tiny particles of pol- bees with honeycomb foundation len stick to their bodies and are made of sheets of beeswax. This carried back to the hive. The bees foundation fits into hive frames and store this pollen as "beebread" in becomes the base of the honeycomb. cells of the honeycomb. Later they It enables bees to speed up comb feed it to young bees that are de- construction, and it provides a pat- veloping into workers and drones. tern for building a straight and (The few young larvae selected by easy-to-remove honeycomb. the workers to become new queens are fed a special food—royal jelly— How To Move a Colony made by the workers in their own bodies.) Pollen, then, is necessary If you need to move your bee for producing the new bees that be- colony, remember that you must get come new honeymakers. the bees oriented to the new loca- An average-size colony of bees tion. Otherwise, unless you move uses about 100 pounds of pollen each the colony at least several miles, the year. That is w^hy you need to locate bees will find their way back to their your colonies near good sources of old location. pollen. Many wild flowers, orna- If you want to move your bees mentals, weeds, shrubs, and trees only a few hundred yards, first take will provide pollen. Some especially them several miles away and leave good sources are : them for about a week. When they are oriented to the new location, to the hive, or onto the supers al- move them to the site you originally ready in^lace. intended, and let them get oriented Always leave plenty of honey for there. the bees. Kemove only the amount Or, move the colony a few feet that you estimate to be more than each day, until you have moved it they can use. Be sure there are at to the location you want. least 60 povmds of honey m the hive It is not advisable to move bees when winter begins; otherwise, your during the period of honey produc- bees might starve before springtime. tion. The honey already stored will Since one frame holds 3 to 5 add extra weight; new honeycomb pounds of honey, an average size may break loose; or you may dis- colony needs about 10 to 15 frames turb your bees and cause a slow- of honey to get through a winter. down in honey storage. Night is the best time to move a Honey Production colony. All the bees are inside then. If the weather is cold, you can com- Beekeepers usually measure pletely close the hive entrance. honey production in pounds. The If the weather is unseasonably average yearly production of sur- warm and the colony strong, do not plus honey from a colony is about seal the hive entrance. You might 50 pounds, though a properly man- suffocate your bees, even if you seal aged hive can produce several times that amount. them in for only an hour. Instead, cover the entrance and top of the Liquid honey hive with a fine screen. Probably the most efficient way to Staple, crate, or tie the hive so get honey out of the comb is to un- that parts cannot shift during the cap the honey cells with a wârm move. knife and spin the liquid honey out of the cells in a honey extractor. The How To Manage a Colony honey is poured off; the emptied comb is returned to the hive, to be As your bee colony grows, it will refilled with honey. need more room. If the bees become It may not pay, however, to buy too crowded and there isn't enough an extractor for the amount of honey yielded by only one or two room for expansion of the brood- colonies. You may, instead, be able rearing area, they will swarm (fly to rent or borrow an extrad:or from off in large numbers, along with the a bee dealer, a neighbor, or a local queen, to start a new colony). You beekeeper association. But using should prevent this, if possible. borrowêd equipment sometimes Loss of a swaxm of bees may leave spreads bee diseases. the remaining colony too weak to The least expensrvê (but also tJie store surplus honey. least desirable) wây to harvest To make more room for your bees, liquid hoiirey isto cut out the entire add extra boxes of combs (supers) comb, squeeze the honey from it,

8 and then strain the honey through jars. Support the jars so they do a coarse cloth to remove wax par- not rest directly on the bottom of the ticles. Although the crushed comb container, and so water can circu- cannot be used again by the bees, late beneath them. you can melt it and sell the beeswax • Heat gently, until granules that you salvage. have disappeared. (The time re- quired will vary, depending on the Comb honey size of the jars of honey, and the Some beekeepers produce comb temperature to which you heat honey by cutting out pieces of them. DO NOT heat w^ater above honeycomb, putting them in glass 160° F.; excessive heating wdll containers^ and pouring liquid darken your honey and lower its honey around them. quality.) Another popular method of pro- • Stir occasionally, to distribute ducing comb honey is to place small heat evenly throughout the honey, wooden boxes or "sections" in the and to determine when the granules top of the hive just before the honey have disappeared. flow begins (illustration, p. 5). Bees will neatly fill the sections with What's In a Sting? honey—about a pound in each sec- As a beginning beekeeper, you'll tion. If you remove the sections as want to know what happens when soon as they are filled, you will have a bee stings you. no problem with honey dripping or A bee's stinger is barbed and has leaking, and no further handling a poison sac attached to it. When or processing will be necessary. the bee stings you, the barb and sac usually tear out of the bee's body. Granulated honey Convulsive movements in the sting Honey tastes best when it is fresh, muscle then push the stinger deeper whether in the comb or in liquid into your flesh and pump venom form. But some honeys, even when into the wound. fresh, granulate or become sugary— If you are stung, remove the and most honeys will granulate stinger immediately by scraping it sooner or later. The size of granules off with your fingernail or a knife that form, their appearance and blade. Do not try to pull it out, be- flavor, depend on the kinds of plants cause this will force more venom that the bees collected nectar from. into your skin. Granulated honey is good food. Stings are intensely painful when In fact, some people prefer it to first inflicted. The pain is followed either liquid or comb honey. But by reddening and swelling near the if your honey granulates and you sting. N"ormally pain will subside do not prefer it this way, liquefy it after a few minutes, but the swell- by this method : ing may persist a day or more. • Place jars of granulated honey Usually you develop a resistance in a container with enough water or immunity to stings after you've to reach to the level of honey in the been stung a few times. But some people become allergic to bee stings ing you. This amount will vary, de- and develop a severe reaction to pending chiefly on the strain of bees them. Such persons should consult and the weather. (Bees are more ir- an allergy specialist if they plan to ritable in cool, cloudy weather than work with bees. they are when it is warm and sunny.) Direct smoke into the hive Avoiding Stings entrance before you disturb the bees. When you remove the hive cover or Smoke pacifies bees. Always use a super, apply smoke to the bees as a smoker when you are working you expose them. with them. But use only enough Wear protective clothing : A veil smoke to keep the bees from sting- over your head and face; thin rub-

BN-30060 BN-30061 Brood combs showins (A) k«althy brood necessary for high-honey production and (B) diseased brood, which results in weakened colonies and low-honey production.

10 Brood comb infested with greater wax moth larvae. ber gloves; and close-woven, light- Government Printing Office, Wash- colored overalls sealed at the ankles, ington, D.C. 20402. wrists, and neck. Keep your colonies strong. This is good beekeeping practice. It is also your best protection against wax Bee Diseases and Pests moth larvae, the serious insect pests Several diseases attack honey that invade unprotected honey- bees. None of them are dangerous combs. To learn more about the wax to humans. moth, write for FB 2217, "Con- Nevertheless, most States have trolling the Greater Wax Moth," laws to control bee dise

11 the likelihood of your being stung, in laboratories across the country, and how to get honey out of the usually in cooperation with State hive. agricultural experiment stations or Your county agricultural agent universities. Here is a list of USDA should be able to supply you with bee research laboratories : pamphlets or direct you to other Arizona—Honey Bee Pollination information sources. Or you may Investigations Laboratory, 2000 find that you can take a course in East Allen Road, Tucson, Ariz. beekeeping at your State agricul- 85721. tural college. Louisiana—^Bee Breeding Investi- You might also find it useful and gations Laboratory, Room 240, enjoyable to join a beekeepers or- Agricultural Center, LSU, Baton ganization ; most States have one or Rouge, La. 70803. more. And you can subscribe to bee Maryland—Bee Disease Investiga- journals, or borroAv beekeeping tions Laboratory, Building A, magazines or textbooks from your Agricultural Research Center, public library. Beltsville, Md. 20705. More complete information on all Utah—^Wild Bee Pollination Inves- phases of beekeeping is available in tigations Laboratory, Room 261, Agriculture Handbook Ko. 335, F. & B.S. Building, Utah State "Beekeeping in the United States." University, Logan, Utah 84321. It is available from the Superin- Wisconsin—Bee Management In- tendent of Documents, U.S. Gov- vestigations Laboratory, Room ernment Printing Office, Washing- 436, Russell Laboratories, Uni- ton, D.C. 20402. Price, $1. versity of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 53706. ÜSDA Bee Laboratories Wyoming--Bee Disease Investiga- tions Laboratory, University Sta- Department of Agriculture work tion, Post'Office Box 3168, Lara- on bee culture and insect pollination mie, Wyo. 82071. is directed by the Apiculture Re- search Branch of Entomology Re- You may address questions to search Division, Agricultural Re- these laboratories. Or, if you wish, search Service, Beltsville, Md. Most you may visit the laboratory nearest bee research, however, is conducted your home.

Prepared by Entomology Research Division Agricultural Research Service

Washington, D.C. Issued October 1968

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 15 cents

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1968 O—311-620