LESSON 13: Extracting the Honey Crop

Now that you have spent all this time raising and managing the bees, it is finally time to claim your reward! Here we will show you all the necessary steps to get the honey from the super to the jar.

The Honey House

This is simply a place where you will store your honey supers and extract your honey. Make sure it is in an area where the floors can by cleaned with water, is bee tight, and hot water is available.

Handling of Honey Super

  • Use a handling board or place on newspaper.
  • Place in a warm room if possible, especially in cool weather. This assists in the ease of extracting, but make sure the temperature is no warmer than 90 degrees.
  • Store for longer period - wax moth prevention.

Uncapping the Combs

Honey ExtractorBees store the honey in the combs and use wax to cap it to preserve it. In order to extract the honey, you must remove the wax cap to get at the honey. You can use several types of knifes to uncap the honey including heated knives (electrically or by hot water), electronic uncapping planes, vibrating knives, or even a cold knife if the cappings are warm.

  • You will need a tank or receptacle which holds the cappings and allows the honey to drain into after you cut the cappings.
  • You can drain by gravity, use centrifugal force, or can melt the cappings so the liquid will separate from the honey and rise from the surface.
  • Allow the cappings to drain in a warm room for 24 hours.

Extracting the Honey

Most hobbyist beekeepers use either a basket-type extractor in which the combs are reversed by hand, or the reversible type in which the basket swings to reverse the combs. Both of these types of extractors will typically hold 2 to 4 frames, but larger extractors that hold 9 or 12 frames are available for Beekeepers who have more than one hive.

Depending upon the temperature and the density of the honey, the time required for extracting honey is about 4 minutes a frame. New combs will break if it is warm, so care should be taken in starting the extractor and reverse the combs shortly.

Heating, Straining and Clarifying Honey

straining honeyTo facilitate straining and clarification, it is advisable to heat the honey. For most, it is not necessary to heat honey beyond 90 to 100 degrees.

Before honey enters settling or storage tanks, usually it will run through some type of strainer to clean it. The strainer can consist of a cloth through which the honey must flow through. Several thicknesses of cheesecloth are often used.

Care and Storage of Empty Supers

You can permanently store a honey super or it can be returned back the hive to be refilled. If you are going to store it, be sure to fumigate for wax moths and store in a dry place at a temperature around 70 degrees.

LESSON 12: How to Hive a Swarm

Swarming is an instinctive part of the annual lifecycle of the honey bee. The tendency is usually the greatest in the spring, when the bees increase their population rapidly before the major honey flow. Between April 15th - June 15, swarming is undesirable from the beekeeper’s standpoint and every effort should be made to understand the conditions in the colony which lead to swarming. The necessary steps should be taken to avoid and stop it from happening.

Difference Between Swarm Cell and Supersedure

Before a colony begins to swarm, they will begin to create queen cells to raise a new queen for when the old queen leaves with the swarm. The bees create swarms cells and supersedure cells to raise the queen. In their haste to create a queen quickly, sometimes the bees will raise a queen that will not be adequate to support the new colony which is why you will want to destroy the cells and add your own queen.

  • Swarm Cell - On the bottom of the frame, should be destroyed
  • Supersedure Cell - On face of combs near or next to regular cells. Should be destroyed only if you are going to replace the queen.

Time of Day for Swarming

A swarm usually leaves during the middle of the day from 10am to about 2pm. If weather is sultry, they will leave earlier or later in the day.

What Actually Happens

The swarm of bees which leave the hive take off with the old queen. Before the swarm occurs, though, the hive will begin breeding new queens. The prime swarm can be as many as half of the bees from the hive. Usually the swarming bees are older and they all fill their stomachs with honey before leaving so they are prepared for a new start.

Where Does the Swarm Land?

Pic_ManHoldingSwarmThe swarm will usually land on a nearby limb or branch. Sometimes they will land on a post, or on trunks of trees or in a shrub. After they land, scout bees are sent out to find a permanent home. When they return, they will do a dance that indicates the direction of the new home.

HIVING A SWARM

  • As a rule, a swarm is easy to hive.
  • The Bees are in a good mood.
  • If you need to transport the swarm from a location to your hive, use a burlap sack that has good ventilation to move them.
  • Place the hive in front of the swarm, and if necessary, use a smoker to drive them in. The best method is to move your hive as close to the swarm as possible, and use a bee brush to brush the bees into the hive. Once bees start going into the hive, the rest will follow like ants marching to the ant hill.

Problems can arise when trying to hive a swarm. The swarm could be in a difficult place to access or they may have already entered a tree or building. Other problems include not being able to capture the queen or the queen doesn’t accept the new hive. Overall though, catching a swarm can be very beneficial to the beekeeper and is worth the effort.

What Happens to the Old Hive

Remember we said that before the swarm happens, the hive had already built up queen cells and begun breeding a new queen? When the swarm leaves with the old queen, the new virgin queen will emerge from her cell. She will then mate with a drone in flight and return to the hive. At this point, the worker bees will destroy all the remaining queen cells and inhabitants, so there will only be one queen and no more swarming. In some cases, the new queen that has just emerged will mate and then form a second swarm and leave the hive also. In this case, the workers do not destroy the queen cells and will let another queen emerge and mate.

Decoy Hives

If you are worried about your bees swarming, you can purchase decoy hives and place them around your apiary site. The decoys will draw the bees to them when they swarm and will make it easy to hive them later.

LESSON 11: Swarming, Causes and Control

Swarming is a very real concern for any beekeeper. When bees swarm, they usually divide the colony into a large group and leave to look for a new hive. They do this for several reasons. Luckily, with good hive management and an attentive beekeeper, swarming can be prevented.

When the colony swarms, sometimes it splits in two. The colony that leaves the hive will leave with the old queen, and the colony that stays in the old hive will have to create a new queen to run the show. Sometimes, however, all the bees will leave and you will be left with an empty hive. Below are some common reasons why bees will swarm.

Pic_SwarmInTreeCauses of Swarming

  • The population has grown too large and the hive is too small to accommodate all the bees.
  • There's not enough room to build more honey stores.
  • The temperature is too hot. With higher temperatures, more space is needed for each bee to maintain a cooler temperature.
  • The hive does not have proper ventilation and drainage. If the bees cannot ventilate the hive properly, temperatures rise, and they will likely move out of the hive.
  • High humidity and poor ventilation make the hive unbearable for the bees.
  • Problems with the queen. Sometimes older queens have a tendency to fail to produce enough eggs in times of high honey production of the colony.

Prevent & Control Swarming

  • Always give your bees plenty of room. Bees need room to rear brood, store honey, nectar, and pollen, and produce beeswax. If in doubt, add more room! Too much room is better than not enough, but if you notice bees aren’t moving into their new space, it may be too much. Start by adding one Western Honey Super at a time.
  • When bees are in the process of building up the colony and growing, they should get a good amount of sunlight and warmth. Later on, during the honey flow periods, it may be necessary to shade the hives if you live in a very warm climate.
  • Give your colonies plenty of good ventilation in warmer weather. Take out entrance reducers during hot periods and try staggering the supers so they are not flush on top of each other—this allows more air flow. A screened bottom board can also help airflow through the hive.
  • Maintain good air flow and drainage to the hive at all times. Keep grass trimmed around the hive and place the hive in an area that gets good air flow. Placing your hive on a hive stand can also help the hive stay ventilated.
  • Use young queens if possible. Older queens have a tendency to fail during times of high growth and egg laying.

LESSON 10: How to Manage Bees

When it comes to managing bees, there are three times of the year that require different types of hive management-- Winter, Early Spring and Summer. Each season is crucial to maintaining a strong and healthy colony and requires different bee management skills.

Spring Management

Spring is a critical time of the year for the bee colony to grow and strengthen. Special steps are needed to insure that the colony will grow and get ready for the busy summer months.

  • Sometime in early February, you will want to check on the bees. Make sure the colony is still healthy and has enough food. If food is running out you may want to feed them some sugar syrup.
  • queenFebruary and March are good times to check on the queen bee and see if she will need replacing. You must order your queen around this time to ensure delivery in April/May. As a rule of thumb- it is a good idea to replace the queen every other year.
  • As Spring-time progress, keep an eye on the colony to see how fast they are growing. Check about every 10 days. If the hive is getting full and 7 to 8 of the frames are covered with bees, you will want to add another brood chamber super.
  • Finish up your bee disease treatments during the spring and make sure they end at least 30 days before the honey flow begins. For more info on diseases and treatment times, check out Lesson 15.
  • Watch out for swarming. Bees will swarm if they get too crowded. Bees will generally swarm after it has been cold out and a warm day suddenly appears.
  • If your colony is growing fast, you may want to also think about splitting the colony into two separate colonies. This will require another queen to support the additional colony.The most effective method is to use a nuc. A nuc is a small hive where you will transport two frames of brood with bees on it from a very strong colony along with 2 frames of honey. Do this during the middle of the day when the aggressive worker bees are out gathering nectar. Insert the four frames into the nuc along with a packaged queen bee. Seal the entrance and move at least a mile from the old hive location. Once the nuc is moved you can open the entrance. After about 10 days, check to see if the bees have accepted the new queen then you can move the nuc back. This nuc will be used to replace a queen that has gone bad or can be used when you split a colony to start another one. The nuc introduces the bees to the queen in a stable manner and makes it less likely that when you insert her into the new colony that the existing bees will want to kill her.

Honey Flow Management

Examine HiveManagement just prior and during the honey flow is crucial. This is the time when bees will need room to store honey and timing is critical. The timing of the honey flow is completely dependent on where you live and the primary plant nectar sources. In Oregon, one of the major sources is the blackberry bush, since there is a massive abundance of it throughout Oregon. Once it starts blooming, you know the honey flow will begin.

  • 10 days to two weeks before the honey flow, (or when the major nectar producing plants begin to bloom) add a honey super on top of the brood chamber.
  • To keep the queen out of the honey super so she won't lay eggs, you have a couple of options. One is a queen excluder, which is a wire mesh that makes it impossible for the larger queen to pass through. Another option is to use three frames of plain foundation in the middle of the honey super with drawn comb frames on the outside. A queen will always come up to the middle of the super when moving up, and if she sees the plain foundation she won't lay eggs there.
  • Keep an eye on how full the honey super gets, and add another super if it begins to get full. The best method is to add the honey supers even before the flow begins. It is better to have too much space for the bees to store honey than have them run out of room and cause them to swarm. You can add 1 to 3 honey supers on top to give them adequate room. It all depends on how strong your colony is and how much honey you think they can produce. Always err on giving them too much room.
  • After the honey flow, which is usually sometime around the end of July in areas like western Oregon, you can take off the honey supers to harvest the honey. Honey flow times can vary tremendously depending on location, and can even happen as late as August/September, depending on the types of plants in the area and when they bloom.

Winter Management

If your bees are going to make it through the winter, they need to be well fed and protected against disease. The winter months are when bee diseases are most prevalent. The bees aren't able to leave the hive often, so they are susceptible to more diseases. Below are some steps to help your bees survive the winter months.

  • Check to make sure your colony is strong enough to winter. There should be a good amount of bees covering at least 7-8 of the frames in the hive. If the colony is not strong, you may want to join two weaker colonies together. First, you will need to kill the queen in one of the colonies. Next, place a newspaper between the suppers of each colony and insert a super on top of the other with the newspaper in between. The bees will gradually bite through the newspapers and introduce each other slowly. This makes it easier on the bees and will most likely not invoke problems with the two hives merging.
  • Winter HivesMake sure they have sufficient sugar or honey stores. 35-50 pounds of honey is a good rule of thumb for a stable, healthy colony. The weather can also affect their food consumption. The colder the weather, the more the bees will eat.
  • If you are not leaving the bees honey stores to eat over the winter, use a pollen patty or hard candy called a candy board. You can even use dry sugar in some cases. Do not feed bees sugar water during the winter, because it will cause them to create waste in the hive since they can't fly outside due to bad weather. This could prove fatal to the colony. A pollen patty, which is a mixture of sugar syrup, white granulated sugar, soy flour, yeast and bee pollen, is a good food to feed them during winter. You combine these ingredients and shape them into a patty and insert into the hive. The bees will nibble on it all winter and get the nutrition and protein they need to survive the winter.
  • Early winter (around October) is when you want to do another round of disease control.
  • Put on entrance reducers. The entrance reducers will keep out yellow jackets that want to rob the hive of food and will also help keep the cold out of the hive.
  • Tilt hives a bit so that water falls off.
  • Create an upper entrance in the hive by drilling a small hole. The hole will allow condensation and moisture to escape and keep the hive dry.
  • From the beginning of October to February, don't bother the bees.

LESSON 9: Packaged Bees and How to Care for Them

Packaged bees are produced in the southern states to be shipped into northern states in the spring. The 3 lb. size is the most popular and it is said that 1 lb. of bees represents approximately 4,000 bees. Packages of bees are usually ordered in the winter to insure timely delivery around the middle or the end of April.

GloryBee sells Packaged bees each year at it's Annual Bee Weekend.

Delivery

  • Traditionally packaged bees were shipped parcel post.
  • Today, they are trucked to your region by local beekeeping supply dealers. This is your best guarantee of timely delivery and better handling.

Protection

  • If temperatures are below 45 degrees, packages should be covered with burlap or paper.
  • Bees should be kept cool with temperatures between 50-60 degrees.
  • Never leave packages of bees or queens sitting in direct sunlight when it's very warm. If bees are restless and they are too warm, sprinkle them with cool water.

Condition on Arrival

  • Drones usually die in shipment and normally you will see a few hundred dead workers.
  • Expect shipper to give overweight of 1,000 bees.
  • If queen is not alive upon inspection, your local package bee dealer will replace the queen.

Have Your Equipment Ready

  • Have your brood chamber super ready with only 4 frames in the middle and a frame feeder on the right side with sugar water.
  • If you can obtain 2 or 3 combs of drawn comb from your hives, your packaged bees will do better.

How to Handle and Hive Packaged Bees

  • Immediately upon receiving the package, check to see if there is enough syrup in the feeder can.
  • The best time to hive your package of bees is in the late afternoon, when the weather is moderately cool and bees will not want to fly.
  • It is best to mist bees with sugar water (50/50 sugar and water) before removing Pic_PackagedBeesintoHivethem from the package. Simply spray the bees using a spray bottle.
  • Remove the feeder can and the queen. Check the queen to see if she is still alive.
  • Place her into the hive hanging between the two middle frames. The queen bee comes in her own package with one hole in the end that has cork in it and a screen on the top. While in the box, the bees feed the queen through the cage.
  • When you take the queen and place her into the hive, be sure to replace the cork in the hole with a gummy bear or marshmallow. When your bees get into the hive they will eat the candy and the queen will be able to get out. This timed release is crucial for a stable introduction and pheromone adjustment to the new colony.
  • Shake the bees from the package over the queen. The reason we only have 4 frames installed is so the bees can fall to the bottom of the hive very easily. Be sure to also mist the inside of the hive with sugar water.
  • Once the bees have been transferred, put in the remaining frames and immediately close up hive and reduce entrance of hive. It is important that the bees get their orientation of the new hive before they fly out so they know where exactly their hive is and will return safely.
  • After three days, check to see if the queen has been released, if not, release her.
  • Continually feed bees sugar or honey syrup until they draw out all foundation in deep super. (25 lbs. of sugar will be needed.)
  • Place second brood chamber super on the hive when 7-8 frames are drawn out.
  • When adding another brood chamber with Carniolan bees, take a frame or two of drawn comb from the first chamber or super and place in the center of the second super. This will make it easier for the bees and the queen to begin laying eggs in the second brood chamber.

LESSON 8: Selecting the Apiary Site

There are several factors you should consider when selecting a site to place your hives. One of the most important factors is: will there be a sufficient food source near the bees? Bees can forage usually 1-1.5 miles away from the hive fairly easily, so make sure there are food sources within that radius. Open fields with clover are excellent sources as well as near fruit trees and blackberry bushes. Take the time to examine your area to see what kinds of plants are available. Spring sources of nectar and pollen from willow, fruit trees & dandelions are very helpful for colony build-up during the spring.

Next, you want to inspect the actual land where the hives will be placed. First, make sure there is adequate wind protection for the hives. Trees or hedges at Pic_HivesInGardenground level in the direction of the prevailing winds are a must. Second, don't select an area that is in the shade too much. Long dead grass around the hives can add warmth to a hive and allows for faster colony development. When the weather gets really hot later in the summer it can be necessary to move the hive into a partially shaded area so the bees don't overheat.

When actually placing your hive on the site you have chosen there are a couple of things you should do. First, the entrance should be facing the morning sun. Second, the hive entrance should be leaning forward just a bit like in the picture.

Other factors to consider when selecting a site are:

  • Avoid Flood areas
  • Can animals get to the hives (ie bears or cattle)

LESSON 7: Beekeeping Equipment & Hive Assembly

To be successful in beekeeping, certain beekeeping equipment is necessary. All equipment must be uniform and standard when assembling a hive.

There are several types of hives in use today. TheLangstroth, Top Bar, Warre, or a custom design.

  • Modern Bee Hive
    GloryBee sells the Langstroth style of hive. The Langstroth bee hive, patented on October 1852, is the standard beehive used in many parts of the world for beekeeping. It can hold a total of 10 frames inside the hive body. A start up hive typically begins with only one hive body that you will insert your packaged bees into. This hive body (also called a brood chamber) will be for brood rearing, honey and pollen storage for food. As the bees multiply and begin to fill the frames, then you can add another hive body on top for the bees to expand into and begin to store honey. This second story is usually added when 7 out of 10 frames are full. We have nicknamed these two deep boxes the brood and food chambers. The hive bodies added on top of the brood chambers are usually called a honey super.
  • Bee Space: Langstroth discovered that honeybees always allow a 3/8" space between combs. Any greater space is filled with additional comb and any smaller space is filled with propolis.
  • Bottom Board - This is the bottom floor of the hive and creates the entrance to the hive. Many beekeepers will use a screened bottom board. This helps with mite control and improves ventilation.
  • Slatted Rack - Use a slatted rack for better egg laying and less gnawing. Adds more cluster space for less congestion.
  • Hive Body/Super - Hive Body/Supers are the boxes that holds the frames in place. They can be a brood chamber or honey super.
  • Brood Chamber/Deep Super - This is where all of the eggs will be laid, bee pollen and honey stored for maturing bees. A deep brood chamber is a 9 5/8" super. In the Pacific Northwest we use two 9 5/8" supers, everything in these two supers are for the bees.
  • Western Box/Honey Supers - This is where the bees will store the honey and this is where you will extract your honey from. A typical honey super is a 6 5/8" super. The reduced size allows easier handling when full. A full honey super can weigh up to 40 pounds!
  • Ross Round Honey Super - This is used for making the round comb honey. A Ross Round super is 4 5/8" and should only be used on a thriving, established hive.
  •  Inner Cover - An inner cover is used so that the outer cover is easier to remove. Also used as an escape board for removing honey and as an entrance for top feeder.
  • Top/Outer Cover - An outer cover will protect the bees from the harsh weather. A metal telescoping top will better protect the bees from the elements and will last longer.
  • Queen Excluder - Available in plastic or metal. Used to allow workers to pass through but not the queen. Queen excluders can be placed in between the brood chamber body and honey super body to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey you will extract.
  • Frames and Foundations - A super can hold ten frames and foundations in each box. An empty frame is made of wood (think of a window frame) the foundation is made of beeswax (similar to the glass pane in the frame.) These two items create the finished frame that hangs in the hive. Standard wood frames have to be assembled and then have the foundation wired to the frame. This is where the bees will build honeycomb to store honey and pollen, and where the queen will lay her eggs.
  • Pre-Assembled Frames and Foundations Combination - The ultimate convenience; a frame and foundation in one unit. GloryBee sells the popular pre-waxed plastic frame and foundation called Pierco. No assembly required.
  • Painting The Hive - Use a Latex waterbased paint. Use two coats and paint all the exterior surfaces. Never paint the inside of the hive. Avoid dark colors because they will make the hive too hot in the summer.

BEEKEEPING EQUIPMENT

  • Bee Smoker - A smoker is a near necessity in handling bees. This smoking causes bees to rush to the cells of nectar and honey and gorge themselves. This results in them becoming less apt to sting. Materials used for smoker fuel can be burlap, dry leaves, pine needles or cotton. Make sure the smoke is cool, If it feels fine on your hand it is cool enough. (You don't want the singe the bee's wings!) Puff smoke first at the entrance and secondly as you are lifting the hive cover with a few puffs now and then. Always stand to the rear of the hive. Move quickly, but not with jerky movements and never swat at bees.
  • Bee Veil - Always wear a veil when visiting your bees. Bees love to explore and your ears, mouth and nose are very tempting. Your head is very sensitive and a sting can cause more intense swelling than when stung in a fleshier part of the body.
  • Bee Gloves - Thick long gloves will protect your hands.
  • Hive Tool - A hive tool is a necessity in handling bees. Used in removing the cover, cleaning off burr comb, propolis etc. It is especially helpful in removing frames.
  • Bee Brush - Use your bee brush to gently remove bees from undesired areas.
  • Frame Grip - A frame grip allows you to get a better grip on the frame.
  • Clothing - Wear light colored clothing so that the bees don't mistake you for a bear or other predator. Avoid wool or other materials of animal origin. Shop our jackets and suits for items with built in veils.
  • Hours - Work bees when they are flying, as bees are easiest to handle when they are busy.

BEEHIVE FEEDERS

Feeders are necessary when the following conditions apply:

  • Feeding medicine in liquid form
  • Winter and Spring Feeding
  • Starting with or bringing in Packaged Bees
  • Bringing in a Swarm
  • Divisions
  • Nuc's

Types of Bee Feeders

*Never feed bees liquid in a dish because they can drown.

Beekeeping FAQ

Our bee facts and glossary are a collection of interesting facts about bees and also beekeeping terms that are commonly used.

A honey bee can fly up to 15 miles per hour.
The average worker honey bee makes 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
To make one pound of honey, honey bees must tap 2,000,000 flowers.
A hive of honey bees must fly over 55,000 miles to bring in one pound of honey.
It would take about one ounce (two tablespoons) of honey to fuel a honey bee’s flight around the world.
The U.S. per capita consumption of honey is 1.31 pounds.
To make one pound of honey, honeybees must gather 10 pounds of nectar.
A honey bee visits between 50-100 flowers during one collection trip.
Honeybees communicate through a series of “dances” and use the sun as a reference point to communicate to other bees the angle of flight to be followed to arrive at newly discovered nectar-bearing flowers.
GLOSSARY:

Brood - Baby Bees.
Brood Chamber - Where eggs are laid and the young bees grow.
Propolis - A antibacterial material that bees create to clean the hive.
Royal Jelly - A special food that bees create and feed to young bees and the queen bee.
Bee Pollen - Gathered from plants and mixed with bee secretions to create food for young bees.
Nectar - Gathered from plants and used to make honey.
Foundation - Material in the hive where the bees lay eggs or store honey and food.
Frame - Hold the foundation together when it is in the hive body.
Honey Super - A hive body where the bees store honey.
Apiary - A place where bees and bee hives are kept.

LESSON 6: Nectar and Pollen Plants of the Pacific Northwest

You will be quite surprised at how many plants produce a surplus of nectar and pollen for the bees. For this section we will be focusing on the Pacific Northwest region. For your local region, it is best to research what types of nectar and pollen plants your bees will be visiting and if there is enough to sustain the hive. Remember a bee can travel up to 6 miles to find nectar but they can be more efficient if the plants are nearby.

There are great differences in honeys depending on what type of plants the bees visit. The color and flavors of the honey will vary tremendously from light amber to dark, and mild to strong flavors. Successful beekeepers learn to manage their bees so as to harvest only the best grades of honey. Some plants that bees visit will cause a lower grade of honey to be produced with inferior flavor.

There are many factors that determine the nectar flow of a plant. Soil types, irrigation practice, quantity of rainfall, elevation, temperature and wind all have huge impacts on how much nectar a plant will give off. The more nectar there is from a plant means more honey to the bee, so finding good plants that have a surplus of nectar is important.

Main Honey Plants in the Pacific Northwest Sorted By Month

  1. bee-on-raspberryMustard - March, pollen
  2. Oregon Grape - April, pollen and nectar
  3. Cotton Wood - April, pollen
  4. Willow - April, pollen and nectar is warm
  5. Cherry Tree - April, nectar and mainly pollen
  6. *Maple Large Leaf - April-May, pollen and surplus nectar
  7. Deciduous Fruit Trees - April-May, mainly pollen
  8. *Poison Oak - May, nectar surplus
  9. Madrene - May, nectar
  10. Manzanita - May, pollen and nectar
  11. *Vine Maple - May, surplus
  12. Cabbage - May, pollen and nectar
  13. Crimson Clover - May, pollen and nectar
  14. *Snowberry (Buckbrush) - May-June, surplus
  15. *Cascara - May-June, nectar
  16. Hairy Vetch - May-June, surplus nectar
  17. Raspberry - June, surplus
  18. Thistle - June, nectar and pollen
  19. *Blackberry - June-July, nectar and pollen
  20. White Clover - June-July, pollen and nectar
  21. Dill (oil) - July, pollen and nectar
  22. Fire Weed - July-August, no pollen and variable nectar

Honey Plants in Eastern Pacific Northwest (Dryer Regions)

  1. Dandelion - Spring, pollen and nectar
  2. *Alfalfa - June-August, pollen and nectar
  3. Red Clover - June-August, pollen and nectar
  4. *White Clover - June-August, pollen and nectar
  5. Mint - August-September, pollen and nectar
  6. *Sage - September, pollen and nectar

* Indicates best surplus sources of nectar

LESSON 5: Race of Bees

This is a very quick condensed description of some of the more popular honey bees for bee keeping. For more information we suggest reading one of our books.

Brown Bee

German 1st, mean, susceptible to AFB (American Foul Brood Disease), EFB (European Foul Brood Disease)

Italian Bees

Brought into the US soon after 1859, originally from Italy. They are yellow bee races and vary in color from dark yellow to golden yellow and have three to five black bands.

BEHAVIOR AND CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Generally not too gentle but can be.
  • They have a very strong disposition to breeding, colonies start breeding early in spring and maintain a large brood area regardless of flows in late fall.
  • Italians have an average amount of swarming.
  • Italians winter in strong colonies and have a high consumption of food.
  • Winter losses are high.
  • Excellent wax builders.
  • They show a tendency to rob, which undoubtedly is a factor in the spread of bee diseases.
  • Golden queen is easily located.

Carniolans

Originally part of the Austrian Alps and North Balkan Yugoslavia. Dark colored, sometimes leather bands. Depends on strain of Carniolan, as hybrid bee today.

BEHAVIOR AND CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Quietest and one of the most gentle races.
  • Their rhythms of brood production is very steep. They overwinter with small colonies and with small food consumption. Brood rearing starts with first income of pollen and fast development occurs thereafter.
  • They maintain a large brood nest only if pollen remains adequate.
  • In fall, the population of the colony declines rapidly.
  • Overwintering very well.
  • Strong disposition to swarm but this disposition can be influenced by selection.
  • No inclination to robbing.
  • Use of Propolis is small.
  • Poor wax builders.
  • Very difficult to locate queen
  • Work in cooler temperatures

Caucasians

Originally from the high valleys of the central Caucasus mountain region. They have a shape and size similar to Carniolans. It is difficult to find a pure gray breed. Most strains we have today have been imported to us from Russia during the 40's.

BEHAVIOR AND CHARACTERISTICS:

  • They are very gentle, and calm on the combs.
  • They are ardent brood producers and raise strong colonies
  • Their disposition to swarm is weak.
  • They are great users of propolis.
  • Overwintering very well.
  • No inclination to robbing.
  • Use of Propolis is small.
  • Poor wax builders.
  • Very difficult to locate queen
  • Work in cooler temperatures

LESSON 4: Queen, Worker and Drones Behavior

Through the centuries, man has tried to solve the secrets responsible for the success of the honey bees. Only now are we beginning to lift the veil of mystery from the life of bees.

To successfully manage your bees, you must possess a basic understanding of what is happening in your hives. There is a division of labor in the hive according to the caste of the different types of bees, which establishes a hierarchy. The queen lays the eggs, workers do all the work and drones serve for fertilization of the virgin queen.

Understanding each individual bee's role in the hive will help you understand how to manage a hive more efficiently. For the most part, we will focus on the worker bee, as it does most of the work. The queen and drones are there to mainly just reproduce.

The working phase of worker bees in time sequence

  1. Cell cleaning - from 1-25 days
  2. Feeding larvae - from 7-30 days
  3. Building activities including cappings - 1-32 days

Various Activities

Age does exert a strong influence on the division of labor for the individual bee, but the determining factor seems to be based upon the needs of the colony as a whole. A normal colony consists of bees of all ages, and there is a certain general sequence of work which the bees perform; however, this division of labor is very flexible, constantly changing according to the conditions inside and outside the hive.

Comb Building

In summer, a worker spends half of her life as a hive bee and the other half as a fielder. Beeswax is the material used by honey bees in the construction of their combs. It is the product of their own bodies secreted through a gland on the bottom of their abdomen. The wax glands on the worker bee reach the height of their development and productivity when the bee is about 12-18 days old. Wax can be secreted only at relatively high temperatures and only after the consumption of large amounts of honey or nectar. Workers actively engaged in secreting wax will gorge themselves on honey and hang out near the site of building operations. Wax scales are removed by the bee using her legs and mandibles that are fixed to the comb. The mandible glands secret a juice used in masticating the scales building combs.

Nursing

Young bees normally take up the work of nursing at the age of 3 days. Nurse bees begin to make visits to the cell as soon as the egg is laid and continues.

Pic_3BeesFood Transmission

In a colony of bees, food is passed from one worker to another and also from worker to the queen and drones. Both the act of begging for food and offering of food are instinctive reactions by honey bees and improve in precision with age. Food transmission is important for the cohesion of a colony. It also may serve as a form of communication for the bees by informing each other of the amount of food and water available. Bees need two types of food, both provided by nature. Yet these two foods, which are brought back to the hive by foraging bees, are so diametrically different from each other in nutrition and form that one cannot doubt the existence of an intelligent Creator -- one is nectar, which is rich in sugar but mostly free of protein, and the other is pollen, which is very rich in protein.

Guard Duty

The hive entrance is a portal through which both friends and enemies can enter the hive. When very little nectar is available, the colony is constantly alert. Guard bees are persistently present at the entrance of the hive. Would-be robbers are intercepted and quite often stung to death. Apparently the guards recognize approaching bees by smell to determine if they are a friend or enemy of the hive.

Robbers

Robbers can be recognized by their peculiar flying to-and-fro in front of the hive entrance. This behavior of robber bees is an innate response. Other bees recognize them by a combination of behavior and smell.

Fanning

In the warm weather, bees reduce the temperature within the hive by fanning at the entrance. During the honey flow season, the air currents set up within the hive hasten the elimination of excess moisture from unripe honey in the open cells.

Habits of Field Bees

Activities involving flight sometimes begin as early as the third or fourth day of a bee's life but normally takes two weeks before foraging trips are made. Field bees become familiar with plants and will only gather from that species of plant as long as food is available. When that floral species near the hive runs out of food, they will find a new plant species. It is generally agreed that an individual bee works in a restricted area of the field. She may be attached to a particular group of plants or a single plant. The speed of the work depends on the type of plant. A normal field bee can visit up to 42 flowers in sweet clover per minute for example. They travel about 13-16 mile per hour when flying.

Homing Instinct

Bees of a colony moved from their old location to a new place will mark the location of the new hive on their first flight. As they fly out they will apparently take a survey of all the surroundings adjoining their home. The circles become larger and larger until they are lost to sight. If the hive is moved a few feet, the bees that have so thoroughly and so carefully marked the location will fly to the old spot and cluster on the ground. Yellow bees, especially Italians, would form a cluster on the spot where the old hive stood and starve to death unless there was another hive within a few inches of where the old hive stood.

Other Characteristics

It’s survival of the fittest! Old bees are dying all the time. Colony odor and queen odor-- bees can tell when a new queen enters the hive. Bees are red blind. Red flowers are rare, but not in America. Red flowers only get pollinated by insects and butterflies, not bees.

LESSON 3: The Brood Rearing Process

During the spring season, an efficient queen can lay about 1,500 eggs in a twenty-four hour period. Those 1,500 eggs collectively weigh about the same as the queen herself. It’s easy to estimate how rapidly the eggs are forming inside the queen and understand why she has no other responsibilities.

What the Queen Does

  • First she puts her head inside a cell to determine that it is empty.
  • Second she lowers her abdomen into the cell and stays absolutely still for a few seconds.
  • Third she withdraws her abdomen leaving the egg sitting on the bottom of the cell.

Eggs are laid in a well-defined order

  • Eggs are deposited in the central portions of the cells on the frame.
  • Adjacent cells are filled with pollen and then honey is deposited in the outermost cells of the brood.

Stages of Egg Development

Development time is different for queens, drones & worker bees.

For this lesson, we will focus on the development of worker bees, as they make up most of the hive's population. The below example is the timeline for a worker bee.

  • Pic_BroodDrawing_01st Stage: After three days a small white larva hatches from the deposited egg.
  • 2nd Stage:  Larva stage- in six days after the larva hatches, it will complete its growth. During these six days its weight has increased more than five hundred percent.
  • 3rd Stage: Transformation stage- from larva to completed bee. Worker bees build a slender vaulted lid of wax over the cell, and beekeepers call this stage sealed brood. Inside the closed cell, the larva turns into a pupa. This stage takes 12 days, and at the end of the 12th day, the bee breaks the lid or capping and emerges a complete bee. During the larva stage, the worker bees feed the larva.
  • Temperature: Worker bees maintain a constant temperature of 95 degrees in the hive for proper brood development. This is achieved by an astonishing process: The workers crowd together by the thousands on top of the cells to insulate them with their collective warmth. In cooler weather, they crowd together and cover the brood cells with their bodies. On warmer days, they scatter and if the heat becomes excessive, they bring in water and cover the combs with a fine film, which they cause to evaporate by fanning it with their wings.
  • Total Time: It takes a total of 21 days for a worker bee to fully transform from an egg to a full bee.