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THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE GETTING BEES RESEARCH LOCAL ORDINANCES If you are in a rural area there is usually not a problem. However, if you are planning on keeping bees in town you will need to check your local ordinances to determine whether or not bees are allowed. READ ALL YOU CAN There are many books available for the beginning beekeepers to learn from. One might think that reading one “How-To” book on beekeeping would be sufficient. Each beekeeper/author has their own ideas on what works best. Reading as many of the ideas that work best will allow you to see the variety of options available and you can determine what works best for you. Ask 10 beekeepers a question, you will get a dozen different answers. Central Texas Beekeepers Association is hosting a Bee School on 4/16 at the Washington County Fairgrounds. Check their website for details. WHY DO YOU WANT TO KEEP BEES? There are many reasons people keep bees. Some keep bees for the honey. Others keep bees to help with pollination. Others keep bees to aid with the global honeybee crisis. Your answer may drive how you set up your hive and manage your bees. ARE YOU AFRAID OF BEING STUNG? As a beekeeper you will get stung no matter how many layers of protective clothing you are wearing. Yes, even in a full bee suit and gloves. Does this matter to you? Are you okay with being stung? ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO INSECT BITES OR STINGS? If it has been a while since you were last stung, you may be allergic and not even know it. You might consider getting tested by an allergist to determine your reaction to bee stings. If your reaction is mild, there are plenty of beekeepers that tend their bees with an Epi-Pen in their pocket and a cell phone just in case. If you are severely allergic, you might rethink your plans to be a beekeeper. BE A COURTEOUS NEIGHBOR Consider asking what your neighbors think. Do they mind you having hives near them? Is your neighbor allergic? Be ready to explain and educate them.

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DO YOU HAVE A GOOD LOCATION TO KEEP HIVES? Hives should be placed in a level location, receive full sun during the day, and be sheltered from strong winds particularly from northerly winds. Hives should be in a location that is accessible year-round. CAN YOU LIFT A FAIR AMOUNT OF WEIGHT? An empty hive alone can weigh 20lbs. A full deep frame filled with honey can weigh as much as 10lbs. A standard Langstroth hive contains 8, 9 or 10 frames depending on your setup. Therefore, a deep hive body that is full of honey can easily weigh 100+ lbs. Most beekeepers use these deep boxes for their “brood chambers”, where the queen lays eggs and baby bees are raised. They will use what is called a “super” box for bees to store honey. Supers come in a few different sizes, all of which are smaller than the standard deep hive body. The smallest is about half as tall as the standard deep hive body, so it can still weigh 50+ lbs when it is full of honey. STILL WANT TO KEEP BEES? Read some more. Watch how-to videos on Youtube. You can never learn too much and the more you see and experience the better you will be at being a beekeeper. Join the local beekeepers’ association. The local beekeepers’ association can be your most valuable asset. The Texas Beekeepers’ Association has a page on their website that lists all of the local beekeeping associations in the state with contact information and meeting dates. REALIZE THAT YOU CAN NOT BE A BEE KEEPER There really is no such thing as a bee keeper. More accurately, we are bee helpers. Bees are wild animals that can come and go as they please. All you can do as a beekeeper is provide them with a safe habitat and assist them with their day to day issues. Hopefully at the end of the day both bee and beekeeper will benefit.

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JOIN A LOCAL BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION

Join a local beekeeping association. The Texas Beekeepers Association is a good place to start. They offer a free membership to first year beekeepers. They also have a website and Facebook page that offers a considerable amount of information including a locator map for finding the local associations. Joining a local association is the easiest way to learn about beekeeping.

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TIMING

Timing in beekeeping is very important. Bee supplies are available all year long from a wide variety of suppliers. Honey Bees on the other hand are only available for a few short months at the beginning of the year. Orders are normally placed late the previous year for bees to be picked up or shipped the following spring.

EQUIPMENT

To keep bees you will need to acquire a few items; a suit, tools, a hive, and bees. Costs of each will vary depending on what you want. SUITS There are beekeepers that do not wear suits. This is not recommended. Other beekeepers will wear a veil, long sleeve shirt or light jacket, and gloves only. This is the minimum I would recommend. Most beekeepers wear a full head to toe suit. This includes a veil, a suit, gloves, and boots. Depending on the suit you decide on, some come with a veil that attaches with a zipper. Others require a separate veil. Most beekeepers’ gloves a full arm length gloves. Whether you wear boots or regular shoes, it is recommended that some sort of strap is used to bind the cuff of your pants to your leg. There are Velcro straps that can purchased. Duct tape works just as well. Veil only with long sleeve shirt Full suit with zipper veil

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TOOLS

Bees have a habit of “gluing” everything together. They use a substance called propolis which they make from tree sap. Hive tools are used to separate hive parts that have been glued together. They come in different sizes and shapes but all are basically a mini pry bar. Bees communicate primarily through smells, odors, pheromones. Smoke disrupts their ability to communicate. Smokers also come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Make sure your smoker has a cage guard. The surfaces of the smoker will get extremely hot. Bees normally will not move the way you want them to. A bee brush can be used to gently persuade them go where you need them to. Gloves should come up as high on the arm as possible. Some have vents. The vents really serve no purpose since you will be wearing long sleeves under them.

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BEE HIVE A bee hive is a man-made structure that bees live in. Components include a bottom board, a reducing bar, a brood chamber, a super, and a cover. Depending on the type of cover, an inner cover may also be necessary. As with everything in beekeeping there is a variety to choose from. Langstroth hives come in both 8 frame and 10 frame. 8 frame hives are somewhat lighter. Bottom boards are be solid board with an edge around three sides. The fourth side would be the entrance to the hive. Others have screens on them, sticky boards, and even trays for catching pests. A reducer bar is used on the open, fourth side of the bottom board. It can be turned to increase or decrease the size of the entrance of the hive. A deep brood chamber, also referred to as a hive body is where the queen lays eggs and baby bees are raised. Some beekeepers use what is called a queen excluder. This is a device that has spaces large enough for worker bees to go through but small enough to keep the queen out. These are used to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers. Supers, or the superstructure is where honey is stored. These come in a variety of sizes. If a deep hive box is used as a super, it can weigh as much as 100lbs when full of honey. Most bee keepers use a shorter hive box for their honey supers. Both brood chambers and supers have frames placed in them. If you have an 8 frame hive then each box will hold 8 frames. 10 frame hive boxes hold 10 frames each. Frames are wooden rectangular structures that the bees build their comb on. Some type of foundation is normally placed in the frame to help get the bees started. Foundation can be a sheet of wax or a plastic sheet that is covered in wax. Once the comb is built the queen can lay eggs and workers can pack them with pollen and honey. The two common covers are referred to as a migratory cover and a telescoping cover. The migratory cover only overlaps the top super in the front and back. A telescoping cover overlaps the top super on all four sides. Since bees will glue all of these pieces together it is difficult to get a hive tool between a telescoping cover and the top super. Therefore an inner cover is used to keep the bees from being able to get to the telescoping cover.

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BEES Once you have finally decided you want to get bees, learned a bit about them, bought a suit, tools, and a hive, now it’s time to get some bees. The cheapest way to get bees is to catch a swarm! However, this is definitely not the easiest and probably not the best way to get bees for your first hive. Bees can be purchased in Packages. Packages of bees are wooden boxes with screened sides. The box will contain approximately 15,000 bees or 3 lbs of bees. It will also include a feeding can which contains sugar water. There are small holes in the bottom of the can that allows the bees to drink from it. The package will also contain a queen cage.

When you get a package and before you put them into their hive, spray them down with some sugar water. Sugar water should be mixed 1:1. This will calm them down and take their attention away from you for a while. To install a package you will need to first remove the feeding can. Obviously when you remove the can, bees will begin flying around. Make sure you are suited up before you remove the can!! Also make sure you have removed the hive cover so that the installation can go as quickly as possible.

The queen cage will usually be attached to the top of the box by a piece of wire. Make sure to hold the wire while removing the feeding can. Otherwise the queen may fall into the box making removal of the queen a bit more difficult. After the feeding can is removed, remove the queen cage. Place her on top of the frames in your hive, over to one side and out of the way.

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With the feeding can removed and the queen cage out of the way, turn the cage over above the hive. Give it a nice, hard shake. The bees will drop out in a big blob. Shake the box a bit to get the excess out. There will be stragglers left in the box. Set the box in front of the hive and they will find their way out on their own. The queen cage will contain one queen bee and usually several nurse bees to attend to her.

It will have a cork in at least one end, possibly both. It will also have candy in the one end. Make sure to remove the cork from the candy end. DO NOT REMOVE THE CORK FROM THE OPEN END. The bees will take several days to eat through the candy. This will give your package several days to get used to their new queen. Once the candy is eaten, the queen will be able to escape the cage and start doing her job.

To install the queen, make sure you have the cork removed from the candy end. Then place the cage between two frames in the hive. The screen side of the cage should not be facing the frame foundation. The bees have to be able to feed and take care of the queen. If the cage has a metal strip or wire attached, use it to help brace the cage to the top of one of the frames.

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Rather than using the dump method as described above, if you have an empty super, it can be easier to place the opened package with feed can removed on its side in the empty super. The queen cage can then be place across the frames of the lower brood box, screen side up. Place the cover on the hive and you have completed your installation. After approximately 3 days, remove the cover and check the queen cage. The bees should have eaten through the candy and the queen escaped. If the queen remains in the cage you will need to remove the cork from the open end. If you have to remove the cork to release the queen, do it over the hive. You don’t want her to jump out and fly off or worse, get stepped on. She will exit the cage and move down in the frames. Remove the queen cage and empty package and super if you used them. Replace the cover. You are now a beekeeper!

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A Nuc (nucleus hive) is a small hive, normally containing 5 frames or 4 frames and a feeder. A nuc is more established than package bees. The bees in a nuc already know the queen. She is already working laying eggs. There is no need to release her from a cage. Bees have already built comb and are storing pollen and nectar. A good nuc will have all of the frames mostly built out and filled in. There should be no empty frames. All that is required to install a nuc is to move the frames from the nuc and place them into your hive. When moving the frames, keep the nuc and hive as close together as possible. Move each frame directly from the nuc into the hive to avoid dropping any bees, possibly the queen, onto the ground. When placing the frames into their new hive, keep them in the same order as they were in the nuc and place them in the center of the hive. Even though the bees are in a newer, larger house, everything will stay quite similar. The last, easiest, and most expensive method of acquiring bees is to purchase a full, established hive of bees.

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Pros and Cons of packages, nucs, and full hives. Packages: Pros - Packages are the cheapest method of purchasing bees. Cons - Packages are the most difficult to install. The bees do not know the queen and the possibility of the bees absconding is much higher. Being the least expensive method of acquiring bees makes packages the first method that bee suppliers run out of. Therefore, packages are only available for a very short timeframe each year, and must be pre-ordered. Since the bees will be starting with nothing, they will need to be fed for quite some time, a couple of months at least. You will not be able to harvest honey the first year. Nucs: Pros – A nuc is already established, the bees know the queen, and comb should be fully built out and mostly filled. The need to feed is much lower. The possibility of the bees absconding is much lower. Some honey may be harvested the first year. Cons – A nuc is quite a bit more expensive than a package. Although available for a longer timeframe than packages, nucs are still only available for the first part of the year. Nucs should be fed for at least a short period, a week or two. Full Hives: Pros – Install the hive, add supers and wait for the honey flow! The likelihood of bee absconding from and established hive are minimal. You will be able to harvest honey the first year. Hives are available just about anytime throughout the year. New hives should only need to be fed once to get them back on their feet. Cons – The most expensive method of acquiring bees.

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FEEDERS

Feeders are used by beekeepers when installing new bees and when there is no food available to the bees in the wild; i.e. winter, drought. There are a variety of feeders that can be used. Each has their own pros and cons. Boardman Feeders A board feeder is usually a piece of wood or plastic that slides into the entrance of a hive. A mason jar lid with holes in it is supplied. You supply the jar and sugar water (1:1). It has a slot on the side that goes into the entrance that allows the bees enter beneath the jar to gain access to the sugar water. They will hold whatever amount the jar holds that you place on it. Pros: Economical. Due to being outside the hive it allows the beekeeper to see when it needs to be refilled. It’s light weight. The beekeeper does not need to open the hive and disturb the bees to refill. Cons: It promotes robbing from other hives. To minimize robbing cut a reducer bar in half and place it next to the boardman feeder. The bees will have entry to the hive on one side of the reducer bar and access to the feeder on the other side.

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Frame Feeder Frame feeders are plastic containers the same size as a normal deep frame. They are placed in the hive in place of a frame. They are then filled with sugar water. These feeders will hold approximately one gallon of feed.

Pros: Being inside the hive it reduces the chances of robbing. Cons: Bees cannot swim. You will have bees drown in this feeder. Drowned bees will contaminate the feed if left for any length of time. You can get covers for these feeders that have mesh “ladders” for the bees to climb up and down. This reduces drowning, but it will still occur. You must open the hive and disturb the bees to see when it needs to be refilled. Hive Top Feeders Hive Top Feeders are placed in a super. They will normally have a wire screen or mesh that keeps the bees confined to a certain rather than giving them access to all of the feed. These feeders can hold 2-3 gallons of feed. Pros: Will hold much more feed. Being inside and at the top of the hive, robbing will be minimal if any. Refilling only requires removing the cover on the hive, therefore less disruption. The feeder tray covers all frames and bees below so there is minimal disruption to the hive. Cons: Being inside the hive the beekeeper must open the hive to see if it needs refilling. It has a mesh to reduce drowning, but it will still occur.

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In Hive Bucket Feeder

There are several variations on this design but most work the same. This is usually a one gallon container with holes in the lid. The container is filled, flipped upside down, and placed in an empty super on top of frames.

Pros: You can add one, two, or three gallons depending on how much you want to feed. No drowning. Robbing is at a minimum, if any. Cons: The beekeeper will need to remove the cover, exposing the bees and frames below which will disrupt the bees. The bees will have access to the open space in the super. They will begin building burr comb which will need to be cleaned up when feeding is complete.

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Community Feeders A community feeder is exactly what it sounds like. This is a feeder placed in an open area, not in a hive. Bees from all hives, including feral bees, will have access.

Pros: You can make these out of just about anything that will hold water. If the container is clear, the beekeeper can see when it needs to be filled. Bees will not need to be disturbed to refill. You can make these as big or small as you like. Cons: All bees will have access to the feeder as well as ants, yellow jackets, raccoons, whatever happens to be around that likes sugar water. Bees will drown. Make sure to put some type of screen mesh or pebbles around the bottom for the bees to be able to climb out.

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COSTS

This page illustrates costs for what some of the items you may get can cost. Depending on the supplier, size and design of the product, prices will vary.

Miminum Equipment Needed to start a Bee Hive Mann

Lake Item #

Price

Economy suit CV-310 79.95 *

Economy gloves CL-610 12.95 *

Hive tool HD-584 4.50 Smoker HD-560 31.95 Smoker fuel HD-550 3.95 Bottom board w/reducer WW-314 15.95 Brood box KD-802 14.95 Frames FR-921 13.50 Medium super KD-798 13.95 Medium frames FR-926 13.50 Foundation FN-260 14.90 Migratory cover WW-365 11.95 Minimum Equipment Total

232.00

Package of Bees 180.00 **

Minimum Required to be a BEEKEEPER

412.00

Additional Equipment you may want to consider Telescoping cover w/inner cover WW-301 20.00 ***

Medium foundation FN-235 9.95 Queen Excluder HD-125 3.75 Feeder FD-100 3.65 Frame wire HD-130 4.95 Spur embedder HD-145 9.95 Wire Crimper HD-144 6.50 Eyelets HD-185 6.75 Velcro Leg Staps CL-250 2.95 Additional Equipment Total

68.45

* - Suit & Glove Item #s vary by size ** - Price for package bees from Bee Weaver in 2015. *** - Shown price is difference between Migatory & Telescoping cover.

Telescoping cover price is $31.95.