The Northern Kentucky. Master Gardener MAY Special Issue January My Experience With Bee Keeping. by Rob McCullough Class of 2015

Transcription

1 MAY 2015 The Northern Kentucky Master Gardener Special Issue January 2015 My Experience With Bee Keeping by Rob McCullough Class of 2015

2 Page 2 By Rob McCullough Beekeeping was an easy venture for me to start as I ve always been interested in attracting wildlife to my yard by feeding birds, putting up bird houses, etc. I d followed the news on honey bees and knew they were having many challenges for survival. Then I ran into a friend at a gathering who told me tales of his beekeeping and I got hooked. My first purchase was Beekeeping for Dummies. This book is recommended by the local bee clubs and is a great starter book. Next I took the beekeeping class offered at the Boone County Extension office in Googling beginning beekeeping on You Tube is another great source of information for the beginner beekeeper. My initial purpose was to help the honeybees, and I had no interest or desire to harvest honey. This worked out the first year, as most experienced beekeepers recommend leaving the honey for the bees the first year to help them get through the first winter. However, the second year I became like a hungry bear and harvested 70 pounds from my two hives. For two people that s a lot of Colonies of honeybees were first shipped to Virginia in 1621, and their honey was used by the early pioneers as their chief sweetener. These non-native bees prospered and gradually colonized all of North America. Rob McCullough tending his bees honey and I gave most of it away. At this point I have two to three hives, however someday I might go up to six hives. Early on, I bragged to an experienced beekeeper (40 years of beekeeping and former apiarist for Hamilton County) that I live next to Devou Park and have 704 acres of woods in my back yard for pollen and nectar. He looked straight at me and said, it doesn t matter how many acres of woods you live by, it s what s in the woods that counts! I know two beekeepers who started in rural areas, with (Continued on page 3)

3 (Continued from page 2) more open farmland and meadows and their hives generate twice the honey as mine. There is work involved in beekeeping, just as in a garden. I probably average a ½-hour to an hour in each hive monthly, spring to early fall. The mantra is, treat the bees like you would if you had puppies. I have two watering stations (glorified term for garbage can lids turned upside down and filled with water, sticks and rocks for the bees to gather water in the dry periods). I have small hive beetle traps in my hives that I empty and refill with mineral oil or vegetable oil to Page 3 To produce one pound of honey, bees must visit two million flowers! Photo by Rob McCullough It's important to feed the bees 4:1 sugar water and protein patties in the fall to help the bees build up food reserves for the winter. drown the small hive beetles. Small hive beetles can ruin the honey. I treat at least once a year for mites. Mites feed on the blood (hemolymph fluid) in the bees. I also feed the bees sugar water mixed with Honey B Healthy (The Original Feeding Stimulant with Essential Oils) to jump start them in the spring, and again in the fall to help build up their food reserves for winter. Ideally, the hive will have pounds of honey for the bees to get through the winter. The bees deposit random wax comb and propolis that needs to be regularly cleaned off the frames. Failing to do so is sure to create all kinds of headaches later in the season. While performing the above duties I m always trying to get a read on how the queen is performing. Is she laying eggs? This is a sign that she is alive and (Continued on page 4)

4 (Continued from page 3) that she has been active in the last couple of days. I also check to see if her brood pattern is tight and compact. A spotty brood pattern is an indication that you have an old or sick queen and may need to replace her. Sometimes finding the eggs is the only way to know you still have a queen, as she can be hard to find. Total population in a hive can range anywhere from 30,000 to Page 4 60,000 bees at peak pollen and nectar time. The hive is predominately comprised of female worker bees with one queen. The hive revolves around the queen. The queen is constantly laying (Continued on page 5) Photo by Rob McCullough One of the ten frames per hive body showing bees and nectar stores.

5 Page 5 (Continued from page 4) eggs to repopulate the hive. In the peak summer months the worker bees only live six weeks, as they work themselves to death gathering pollen and nectar. In the fall, worker bees slow down and can live through the winter. The male bees or drones number up to 300 to 3,000 in a hive. The drones sole purpose is to mate with the queen. The drones get kicked out of the hive in the fall, as they are dead weight in the winter when food reserves become precious. The queen mates one time with 10 to 20 males and the sperm from that mating lasts for her lifetime, which is usually two to four years. Beekeepers replace the queen every two years, as queens laying of eggs often slows down after two years, making honey production less robust than the first two years. It is becoming more common for bee- Photo by Rob McCullough Picture of bees and the queen with a white spot painted on her back, just to left of center of photo. The white spot to make it easier to find the queen in hive, especially in peak pollen and nectar season when there are 30,000 to 60,000 bees in the hive. (Continued on page 6) The honeybee hive is perennial, although it is quite inactive in the winter. Honeybees survive the winter by clustering around the queen for warmth. This is also known as heat balling. By self-regulating the internal temperature of the cluster, the bees maintain 93 degrees Fahrenheit in the center of the winter cluster regardless of the outside temperature. Heat Balling

6 Page 6 (Continued from page 5) keepers to replace the queen every year. There are a number of bee clubs in the area that are great sources of information; some clubs have hive demonstrations in season. I belong to SWOBA (Southwest Ohio Bee Association), as the meetings are convenient for me. The Northern Kentucky Bee Club meets year round. In March, in Loveland, Ohio, SWOBA and Ohio State co-host an all-day series of seminars on different aspects of beekeeping. Up to 400 to 500 beginning and experienced beekeepers and suppliers from the Midwest attend. Before you go to clubs or buy books to begin beekeeping, it s Photo by Rob McCullough Our Bee Beagle (Trinny) patrolling perimeter of bee hives to keep skunks away who like to eat honeybees Actually the skunks do this at night and our Beagle prefers to chase the neighbor's cats!. important to let your neighbors know what you re up to. I m lucky because I live on a dead- (Continued on page 7) The State of North Dakota is the number one producer of honey. The beehive is in the center of Utah s state seal, and is a symbol of hard work and industry. Locations of registered apiaries (blue dots) in North Dakota

7 Page 7 (Continued from page 6) end street with three small lots and no homes across the street, and our back yard is adjacent to Devou Park. I put the hives on the lot farthest from our one neighbor and faithfully take honey to that neighbor when we have a harvest. If you re queasy about getting stung or allergic to bee or insect stings beekeeping is not a good idea. I ll never forget an experience I had in my second year of bee keeping. In late September during a dry spell of pollen and nectar I had been in the hives and forgot a tool. I thought I would get the hive tool and return to the hive with no issues, after I d already taken my suit off. Well, seven stings later I learned a lesson! The bees tend to be more ornery in the fall, as they are working to store up enough honey to get through the winter. I ve read where their sting venom can be stronger in the fall versus spring when food sources are more plentiful. Generally, if you respect the bees and are slow moving and gentle while working the hives they will leave you alone. Sixty percent of the fruits and vegetables we rely on to feed our families need honeybee pollination. Beekeeping is the reason I became involved with Master Gardening as I had read how a flower garden and bees are a perfect match. Bees gather nectar and pollen enabling plants to reproduce. Then pollen feeds baby bees, and nectar is turned into honey to be eaten by the bees and you. The Master Gardener class and my volunteer work have given me new plant ideas and taught me how to take better care of the annuals and perennials to help the honey bees. The class and volunteering have also helped me learn about other plants to attract other pollinators. In the end, beekeeping is like gardening: you are continually learning something new about bees and plants.

8 Page 8 How Honey Is Made By Rob McCullough To produce honey the forager bees use their long, tube-like tongues (proboscis) like straws to suck the nectar out of the flowers and store it in their crops or "honey stomachs." Bees actually have two stomachs: their honey stomach that they use like a nectar backpack, and their regular stomach. The honey stomach holds almost 70 mg. of nectar and when full, weighs almost as much as the bee. Honeybees must visit between 100 and 1,500 flowers in order to fill their honey stomachs. The honeybees return to the hive and pass the nectar on to other worker bees. These bees suck the nectar from the honeybee's stomach through their mouths. These "house bees" "chew" the nectar for about half an hour. Honey found in the tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs was still edible that s a long time in a properly sealed container. The proboscis of a honeybee During this time, enzymes are breaking down the complex sugars in the nectar into simple sugars so that it is both more digestible for the bees, and less likely to be attacked by bacteria while it is stored within the hive. The bees then spread the nectar throughout the honeycombs, where water evaporates from it, making a thick syrup. The bees make the nectar dry even faster by fanning it with their wings. (Continued on page 9)

9 Page 9 How Honey Is Made (Continued from page 8) (Note: nectar is 80% water and honey is about 14-18% water). Once the honey is gooey enough, the bees seal off the cell of the honeycomb with a plug of wax. The honey is stored until it is eaten. In one year, a colony of bees eats between 120 and 200 pounds of honey. Beekeepers, large and small, harvest honey by collecting the honeycomb frames and scraping off the wax cap that bees make to seal off honey in each cell. Honey is hygroscopic, meaning that is absorbs moisture from the air. This is why baked goods made with honey stay moist and fresh. (Continued on page 10)

10 Page 10 How Honey Is Made (Continued from page 9) Once the caps are removed, the frames are placed in an extractor a centrifuge that spins the frames, forcing honey out of the comb. The honey is spun to the sides of the extractor, where gravity pulls it to the bottom and it can be collected. After the honey is extracted, it is strained to remove any remaining pieces of wax or other particles. Some beekeepers and bottlers might heat the honey to make it easier to strain, but this does nothing to alter the liquid s natural composition. It only makes the straining process easier and more effective. So there it is. From bee to hive to honey. It is a magical enterprise. In olden days, a common practice was for newlyweds to drink mead (honey wine) for one month to assure the birth of a son, thus the term honeymoon.

11 Page 11 Even if you never have any interest in beekeeping here are some fun bee jokes to share with others while volunteering...rob Q: What rock singer do bees listen to? A: STING!!! Q: What do you call a bad movie? A: A bee movie. Q. What is a bee s favorite flower? A. Bee-gonias. Q: Where do bees go on holiday? A: Stingapore!

12 Northern Kentucky Master Gardener Assoc Marshall Road Covington, KY We re on the Web by Rob McCullough Class of 2015 Special Issue of the NKYMGA Newsletter ~ January 2015