The Practical Beekeeper Volume I, II & III EBook Beekeeping Naturally Copyright © 2004-2011 by Michael Bush All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author. Cover Photo © 2011 Alex Wild www.alexanderwild.com ISBN: 978-161476-084-9 X-Star Publishing Company Founded 1961 Dedication This book is dedicated to Ed and Dee Lusby who were the real pioneers of modern natural beekeeping methods that could succeed with the Varroa mites and all the other new issues. Thank you for sharing it with the rest of us. About the Book This book is about how to keep bees in a natural and practical system where they do not require treatments for pests and diseases and only minimal interventions. It is also about simple practical beekeeping. It is about reducing your work. It is not a main-stream beekeeping book. Many of the concepts are contrary to “conventional” beekeeping. The techniques presented here are streamlined through decades of experimentation, adjustments and simplification. The content was written and then refined from responding to questions on bee forums over the years so it is tailored to the questions that beekeepers, new and experienced, have. It is divided into three volumes and this edition contains all three: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced. Acknowledgments I’m sure I will forget to list many who have helped me along this path. For one thing many were often only known by the names they used on the many bee forums where they shared their experiences. But among those who are still helping, Dee, of course, Dean and Ramona, and all of the wonderful people of the Organic Beekeeping Group on Yahoo. Sam, you are always an inspiration. Toni, Christie thanks for your encouragement. All of you on the forums who asked the same questions over and over, because you showed me what needed to be in this book and motivated me to write down the answers. And of course all of you who insisted I put this in the form of a book. Foreword I feel like G.M. Doolittle when he said he had already offered all of what he had to say for free in the bee journals and yet people kept asking for a book. I have virtually all of this on my website and have posted all of it many times on the bee forums. But many people have asked for a book. There is a little new here, and most of it is available for free already on my web site (www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm). But many of us understand the transient nature of the medium of the web and want a solid book on our shelf. I feel the same. So here is the book that you could already have read for free but you can hold it in your hands and put it on the shelf and know you have it. I’ve done a lot of presentations and a few have been posted on the web. If you have an interest in hearing some of this presented by me try a web search for videos for “Michael Bush beekeeping” or other topics such as “queen rearing”. The material here is also on www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm along with PowerPoint presentations from my speaking engagements. Table of Contents Volume I Beginning BLUF Learn from the bees Trust the Bees Resources Panacea Why this book? Unsustainable beekeeping system Beekeeping Pests Shallow Gene Pool Contamination Wrong Gene Pool Upset ecology of the bee colony Beekeeping House of Cards How do we get a sustainable beekeeping system? Stop treating Clean Wax Natural Cell Size Natural Food Learning Bee Basics Lifecycle of a bee Queen Queenlessness Supersedure Swarming Worker Drone Yearly cycle of the colony Winter Spring Summer Fall Products of the hive Bees Larvae Propolis Wax Pollen Pollination Honey Royal Jelly Four Simple Steps to Healthy Bees Comb Choices Natural Cell Size Why not let them build what they want? Combs in frames? Draw comb without foundation? Wire? How do you do foundationless? Less work Downside? Timeline Worst case scenario Best case scenario No Treatments Ecology of the hive Downside of not treating Upside of not treating Breeding locally adapted queens What about AHB? Natural Food Looking more into pH Chalkbrood as example Pollen Pollen trapping Different Profit Formula Choices Too Many Choices? Beekeeping Philosophy Time and Energy Feeding Bees Take your time Important Decisions Easy Things to Change in Beekeeping: Difficult Things to Change in Beekeeping: Choices I recommend Frame depth Number of Frames Style of Frames and Cell Size of Foundation Eight Frame Mediums Plastic Small Cell Frames If you don't like the idea of plastic Bottom Board Feeders Essential Equipment Here are some essentials for the beekeeper: Nice to Have Beekeeping Equipment: Avoid Gadgets Useful Gadgets Getting Started Recommended Beginning Beekeeping Sequence How Many Hives? Package or Nuc? Race of Bees More Sequence Observation Hive Nucleus Hive Putting Bees in the Observation Hive Making a Split into the Nucleus Box Managing Growth Starting With More Hives Foundation and Frames Brood foundation Foundation for supers Kinds of frames Locating hives? Safety Convenient access Good forage Not in your way Full sun Not in a low-lying area Out of the wind Water Conclusion Installing Packages Not to do: Don't spray them with syrup Don't leave them in the shipping box Don't hang the queen between the frames Don't use an excluder as an includer too long Don't spray the queen with syrup Don't install bees without protective equipment Don't smoke a package Don't postpone Don't feed in a way that makes excessive space Don't leave frames out Don't dump bees on top of a baggie feeder Don't close up a newly hived package Don't leave empty queen cages around Don't let messed up comb lead to more messed up comb Don't destroy supersedure cells Don't panic if the queen in the cage is dead Don't freak out if the queen doesn't lay right away Don't freak out if one hive is doing better than the other Don't get just one hive Don't feed constantly Don't mess with them everyday Don't leave them on their own for too long Don't smoke them too much Things to do: Always install them in the minimum amount of space Have your equipment ready Wear your protective equipment How to install: Frames tightly together Do feed them Enemies of the Bees Traditional Enemies of Bees Bears. Bees Robbing Skunks Opossums Mice Wax moths Nosema Stonebrood Chalkbrood European Foulbrood (EFB) American Foulbrood (AFB) Parafoulbrood Sacbrood Neighbors Recent enemies Varroa Mites Physical methods. Tracheal Mites Small Hive Beetles Are treatments necessary? Queen Spotting Do You Really Need to Find Her? Use Minimal Smoke Look for the Most Bees Calm Bees Larger and Longer Don't count on her being marked Bees around the queen act differently The Queen Moves Differently Different Coloring Believe there is a Queen Practice Fallacies Myth: Drones are bad. Myth: Drone comb is bad. Myth: Queen Cells are bad Myth: Home grown queens are bad Myth: Feral Bees are bad. Myth: Feral swarms are disease ridden Myth: Feeding can't hurt anything. Myth: Adding supers will prevent swarming. Myth: Destroying queen cells will prevent swarming. Myth: Swarm cells are always on the bottom. Myth: Clipping the queen will prevent swarming. Myth: 2 Feet or 2 miles. Myth: You have to extract. Myth: 16 pounds of honey = 1 pound of wax. Myth: You can't raise honey and bees. Myth: Two queens can't coexist in the same hive. Myth: Queens will never lay double eggs. Myth: If there is no brood there is no queen. Myth: Bees only like to work up. Myth: A laying worker hive has one pseudo queen Myth: Shaking out a laying worker hive works Myth: Bees need a landing board. Myth: Bees need a lot of ventilation. Myth: Bees need beekeepers. Myth: You have to requeen yearly. Myth: A marginal colony should always be requeened. Myth: You need to feed pollen substitute Myth: You should feed syrup in the winter. Myth: You can’t mix plastic and wax. Myth: Dead bees headfirst in cells have starved. Realistic Expectations Honey Crop Plastic Foundation Wax Foundation Foundationless Losses Splits Harvest Comb Honey Expense of making wax Crush and Strain Extracting Removing bees for harvesting Abandonment Brushing and/or shaking Bee Escapes Blowing Butyric Fischer Bee Quick Frequently Asked Questions Can queens sting? What if my queen flies off? Dead bees in front of the hive? Frame spacing in supers and brood nests? Why do the bees mess up the combs? How do I clean up used equipment? How do I prepare the hive for winter? How far do foragers fly? How far do drones fly to mate? How far do queens fly to mate? How many hives can I have on one acre? How many hives can I have in one place? How many hives to start with? Planting for bees Queen excluders? The reasoning for using them: If you want to use them Queenless bees? Requeening Push In Cage Making a Push-In-Cage Using a Push-in-Cage How do I keep queens for a few days? What's an inner cover for? Can I not use an inner cover? What's that smell? What's the best beekeeping book? What's the best breed of bees? Why are there all these bees in the air? Why are there bees on the outside of my hive? Why are they dancing at the entrance in unison? Why not use an electric fan for ventilation? Why did my bees die? Why do bees make different colors of wax? How often should I inspect? Should I drill a hole? How do you brush bees? How many cells on a frame? Burr comb? Appendix to Volume I: Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Appendix to Volume I: Acronyms Volume II Intermediate A System of Beekeeping Context Examples Locale Why a system? Integration and related issues Why this system? Sustainable Workable Efficient Decisions, Decisions… Kinds of beekeeping Commercial Migratory Fixed Sideliner Hobbyist Personal Beekeeping Philosophy Organic Chemical Science vs.