First of all beekeeping is such a passion of mine. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the bees. They are absolutely remarkable creatures. As you learn more about them and what goes on in the hive you will be amazed at how much they do in their little lives. During the summer a worker bee only lives about 40 days. They accomplish so much in their short lives it is amazing!! It really makes you think about "How much can I accomplish in 40 days! Much less 40 years!" The little bees really make me want to love, enjoy, and savor life!
Before the 1850's people use to keep bees in "skeps." These are what you see in a lot of pictures and cartoons of a beehive. They are woven baskets open end down, with a small hole for an exit/entrance. They were pretty inconvenient for both the bees and the keeper. In most cases destruction of the colony was the only way to extract the honey. In 1852 Reverend L.L. Langstroth patented the top bar bee hive, which is what most beekeepers use today. There have of course been a few small updates and modifications over the years, but it is the same concept as Langstroth. The basic idea that Langstroth discovered and implemented is the removable frames, which enables the beekeeper to remove parts of the hive without destroying the colony.
As a beekeeper the basic components of a hive are:
1. Hive stand: I usually use two concrete blocks, just something to keep it off the ground. They sell hive stands, but I don't want to spend the money.
2. Bottom Board
3. Two hive bodies: these are deep boxes. They can hold 8 or 10 frames, I use 10 frame hive bodies. You will need two of these boxes on each hive. These deep boxes can also be called the brood chambers. This is where your queen will lay her eggs, and workers will begin producing honey. These boxes always stay on your hive. This is the nucleus of the hive, the honey they store in the brood chambers is what keeps them alive through the winter. This is their home. So don't take it away from them!
4. Supers: This is the fun part! This is your part of the hive! These are just like the hive bodies but shorter. This is the part of the hive you use for yourself to extract honey and beeswax from. These also hold 8 or 10 frames, I do 10. These always go on top of your hive bodies. Once your hive bodies get filled with larvae and honey, you add a super, once that super gets close to completely filled with honey, you add another super. The more supers the better, this means more harvest for you!
5. Inner Cover
6. Outer Cover
That is what makes up a hive. For a list of basic equipment you need to get started click here.
The frames are not included when you purchase your boxes.
Also, there is a crazy amount of different types of foundation, which is a guide you place in your frames to help the bees know where to draw honeycomb. The thing about this is, it's pretty expensive, and almost completely unnecessary. Honey bees out in the wild draw comb perfectly fine and they don't have a chemically infested man made comb telling them what to do. It may speed up the comb-drawing process a few days, but this year my supers are going to be foundationless. We will see how this goes!! I will do a post about that soon!
Once you choose your equipment it is time to order your bees and your queen. I would try to find someone local to purchase your bees from. Your bees and equipment do not have to come from the same place. Local bees arrive a little better I think, because they don't have to go through the post office, you will go pick them up at the supplier. A lot of companies have parties on bee pickup day. At my supplier we have a huge pancake breakfast and get our bees. I always buy Italian bees, they are very docile bees and good honey producers. They have begun offering Russian bees. I am thinking I will try them on a few hives in 2014.
Hive components need to be purchased now, so do your bees. Do not wait till April when it is time install your bee package. Order right now! They sell out very quickly!
Right now is the time to get your equipment ordered, assembled, and ready to go. Where I live we install bees in April, this is different depending on where you live. People further south get to put theirs in earlier because it is warmer. People up north have to wait longer.
I will do a step by step how-to's on how to do everything you will need to do throughout the year. But this is basically what your are going to do. You will install your bees into their hive, let them build up their colony in the brood chambers, until you have two full hive bodies. Begin adding supers and hopefully do a spring harvest. Summertime is the big honey flow, and at the end of the summer you will hopefully do another harvest. I say hopefully because hives are very unpredictable. There are a number of things that can go wrong; pests, diseases, absconding, swarms, or just a bad summer with not very good honey flow. In the fall we will prep our hives for the winter, the bees will form a cluster and eat off the honey in the hive bodies all winter. In the spring we start all over again, except without the new packages.
I am really excited to share my beekeeping knowledge with my viewers, and I can't wait to hear from you all and find out where you are with your bees! As always if you have any questions, comments, worries, or ideas comment below or you can email me at whatcanimakeoutofthis@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment