So one of the things that Max and I have always talked about doing if we moved onto a piece of property was to take up bee keeping. We both love honey and thought it would be fun to raise bees, collect honey and potentially make other products from the bees.
I will literally update this as I go along. I am by no means an expert, we are navigating this whole adventure for the first time but I thought it would be fun to share.
First of all the book "Beekeeping for Dummies" was recommended to me. I don't usually opt for these being a millennial and all I tend to find most of my info on the internet but so far it has been the most comprehensive guide that I could find.
Investment:
We quickly realized that this an investment- it is not cheap to start this. We felt like it was worth the investment to see how this goes. We will never know until we try. We are thinking this will be the most expensive year and then the overall cost should decrease.
Timeline:
December- January: Order your hives and order your bees
This is typically the most expensive part because you are purchasing the two most expensive parts.
Bee Hives:
- It was recommended for us to start with two hives. This way we could compare the two and hopefully identify quickly if one was having a problem.
-There are multiple types of hives but the most common one is called the "Langstroth Hive." This is the easiest for new bee keepers to care for. You can attempt to find these used but we just decided to buy ours new of Amazon. It took a few weeks for us to receive the hives
- You will see that there is an 8 frame hive or a 10 frame hive. We decided to go with the 10 frame hives because that is considered the standard size and if we needed to replace anything it would be easier to replace something that is considered the standard size.
Bees- What kind and where do I get them
I was originally shocked to learn that most bee suppliers run out by end of January.
The first decision you need to make is what type of bees to get- there are many types. We tried to make that decision based on where we live and what type of bee was the most forgiving for new people.
The three most popular types of bees that we considered are:
1. Italian- the most popular type of bees. They are calm bees and produce good amounts of honey. Good for a first time bee keeper
2. Saskatraz- these are a hybrid type of bees that are selected for more honey production and winter-over ability. They are obviously a bit more expensive than the Italian ones.
3. Carniolan- these are known for being hardy in the winter and tend to have fewer health problems. If you live somewhere with harsh winters (like the midwest) you may want to consider this breed.
How does one acquire bees?
There are many suppliers of bees online. They will literally mail the bees to your nearest post office- which I thought was hilarious for some reason. Another suggestion is to search local bee suppliers in your area. There are bee keeper associations that can also point you in the right direction.
Vocab lesson time- bees are often sold as "Nuc" this is a term for nucleus or colony. This is essentially a few frames of bees plus an actively laying queen. You can also find that people will sell you just the queen- this is for down the line in a few years when you need to replace your queen as she gets older.
When in doubt try to go local- any transport is stressful on bees. They will be far less stressed if they are coming from across the town/state rather than across the country.
You can also attempt to capture a swarm. I would be super hesitant. One thing I did learn from this experience is that our local bee keeping association has a "Swarm Captain" which fills me with such glee. This person will go to an active swarm and capture it. You can sign up to be on a list and if you are prepared with a hive you can "rehome" the swarm. Potentially we would be interested in this but I think we need to get some more experience before we take on some swarmy bees.
Why do I need to order them in December/January
Because they are on a first come first serve basis and bees are popular. You "order" them to get your name on the list and you will receive them in Spring. If you wait until April to order your bees you have a hard time finding any.
You want to aim to receive your bees as early in the spring as the weather allows. I know this is easier said than done especially after living 30 years in the Midwest with its "Spring of Deception". Suppliers usually start shipping bees in late March early April and continue through May.
February-March: Construct your hives, pick a location for them and gather other supplies
Construct your bee hives:
We found this to be relatively easy- just slightly tedious and long. It is good to get this done before your bees come and it is a good indoor project while the weather is crappy. Also it is recommended that your hives are either sealed in wax or painted in order to prevent wood rot and increase longevity.
Also you do not want to place your hives directly on the ground. This is for a variety of reasons including bugs, creatures and moisture build up. We purchased a few cinder blocks and had some left over large pallet in order to construct a small "table" for our hives to sit on.
Picking a location for your bee hives:
There are multiple factors to consider with hive placement:
1. They are kind of cool looking but they aren't the most attractive thing so you might want to hide them. But you also don't want them super far away from your house when you are attempting to harvest honey
2. Generally you want them in a place that will be left alone by children, pets, random neighbors etc.
3. Attempt to face your hives southeast so they get an early morning sun, preferably in dappled (spotted) sunlight. You'll want to avoid full sun so that you don't cook your bees in the summer. You also want to avoid complete shade because it can make the colony damp and listless.
4. If you can provide some type of windbreak for the bees (i.e. trees, tall bushes, a man made fence) at the rear of where you place the hive they will appreciate it. This helps the bees in winter from the harsh cold winds.
5. When you place your hive make sure that it is level to prevent water from pooling within the hive.
6. Make sure they have some sort of water source- this was something that surprised me. I didn't realize bees needed water. If you have a stream or pond nearby this is good otherwise you need to provide some sort of water source. One person suggested filling a bucket mostly with water and then putting packing peanuts on the top to give the bees something to land on as they are drinking the water so that they don't drown. This will also discourage other creatures from invading/stealing their water.
Gathering other supplies that you will need:
Because the bees and the hives are so expensive you can wait a little bit to purchase some other supplies that you will eventually need.
1. Head net/veil. While it's not recommended to be in a full jumpsuit something to protect your head is essential. You don't want bees near your eyes, mouth or flying up your nose
2. Smoker- smoke changes the bees behavior and enables you to inspect the hive safely.
3. Hive top feeder- I found this to be the next most expensive thing from amazon. This is important for feeding your hive in the beginning when they are establishing and throughout winter (because you are stealing their food supplies) There are multiple ways to feed your bees but the hive top feeder seemed to be the most user friendly and best for new bee keepers
4. Hive Tool- this is considered the multi-tool of bee keeping and has a variety of handy uses such as scraping wax and manipulating frames
5. Frame Rest- a pieces of metal that hangs off the hive to set your frames on as you are inspecting/manipulating them
6. Bee brush-soft bristle brush that allows you to remove bees from a frame without hurting them or making them angry
April: Establishing your colony
This is the more fun part because you get to see the fruits of your labor over the past few months.
Our bees arrived the first week of April. They were delivered via UPS right to our front porch in their own "Bee Bus"
Some random things that you will need for this part include:
- A spray bottle for applying water and sugar syrup.
-Sugar for making sugar syrup- ideally you want to make the sugar syrup in advance before your bees arrive
Recipe: Boil 5 pints of water on the stove and add 5lbs of white sugar once the water comes to a boil. Turn the stove off after you add the sugar and stir it in until it completely dissolves. Let the syrup cool to room temp before spraying on bees. The ratio is 1lb of sugar to 1 pint of water.
-Mini Marshmallows-for the queen (this will be explained later)
Step 1: Right when your bees arrive spray the package with water using a spray bottle. The bees are dehydrated after a long journey. Also place them in a cool dark place out of the sun for at least an hour for them to calm down after a stressful journey.
Step 2: After an hour spray the bees with sugar syrup to feed them after the stressful journey
How to "Hive" your bees
If you can hive your bees the same day that you get them that's great. If not be sure to spray them 3-4 times a day with sugar syrup to provide them with nutrition. Our bee's came on a Wednesday afternoon and we were not off work until Friday so we had to give them a day of sugar syrup.
Ideally you want a semi warm day in the afternoon. If it is raining and quite cold it is recommended that you wait a day before hiving them in hopes of better weather.
Make sure you are wearing light colored clothing and at least veils when you go to do this. We were surprised at how docile the bees were- they were more curious rather than vicious. Max did get stung twice but it was because two curious bees accidentally got up his jacket and got scared. It's probably a good idea to have some benadryl on hand nearby incase you have a reaction to a sting.
Step 1: 30 minutes before you hive the bees spray them with sugar water- to calm them and prevent them from flying too far because they will be sticky.
Step 2: Using the hive tool pry off the wood cover on the package- save the wood cover!
Step 3: Firmly shake the package down sharply to get the bees to fall to the bottom
Step 4: Remove the feeding can and queen box from the package and replace the cover over the hole so all the bees don't fly out!
Step 5: Look at the queen cage and verify that the queen is alive. If she is not you are going to want to contact your supplier right away. If she is dead it is still ok to put the rest of the bees in the hive but you are going to need to provide them with a queen rather quickly.
Step 6: Remove the cork on the queens cage and don't let her escape. Replace the cork with a mini marshmallow. This ensures a slow release of the queen into the hive. It will take her a few days to eat through the marshmallow and enter the rest of the hive. In the meantime the rest of bees have a few days to adjust and accept her as the queen bee.
Step 7: Remove 4-5 frames from the bottom most hive. Hang the queen cage in between two of the remaining frames
Step 8: Firmly shake the package down again so the bees drop to the bottom and quickly pour them into the hive. We tried to pour roughly 1/3 on the queen box and then the rest on the open part of the hive.
Step 9: Slowly replace all of the frames that you took out except one- to give the newly hived bees some space. Leave the extra frame out for one week.
Step 10: Provide your bee's with some sort of food source for the week. Either use a top hive feeder or we filled a gallon sized bag with sugar syrup and cut a small slit in it.
Step 11: Put the tops back on your hives and leave them alone for a week! They need time to acclimate to their surroundings without being disturbed.
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