Getting Started in Beekeeping. Lewis County Beekeepers Association

Transcription

1 Getting Started in Beekeeping Lewis County Beekeepers Association

2 Today, We ll Cover: Benefits of Beekeeping Bee Biology 101 How the Hive Works Setting Up an Apiary Equipment Needed Seasonal Management A Year in the Life of a Beekeeper Costs LCBA Meetings, Classes, & Workshops

3 Why Keep Bees?

4 It Can Have Sweet Rewards Blackberry Honey ~ Onalaska

5 Fun with beeswax & soap

6 Get A Better Pollinated Garden

7 Bees Pollinate About 1/3 of Our Food Supply... Hambley, Pike s Place Market

8 What makes honey bees our most efficient pollinators?

9 Worker bee foraging in double narcissus

10 Observe Honey Bee Behavior

11 Bees on landing strip signal information to hive mates

12 One more reason to keep honey bees: they are in trouble. We can help. Dead Honeybees in front of beehive: South Holland

13 Colony Collapse Disorder U.S. Colony Loss Data: 2007: 32% 2008: 35% 2009: 29% 2010: 34% (Pettis & van Engelsdorp 2010) 2011: 30% 2012: 22% 2013: 31.1% 2014: 23.2% (Caron & Sagili 2013, 2014)

14 Honey Bees Face Many Problems Varroa destructor Mites Tracheal Mites Nosema Viruses Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus Deformed Wing Virus and more Monocrop Agriculture Habitat Loss Causes nutrition problems Pesticides

15 Bee Biology 101 Left: Queen Center: Worker Right: Drone

16 Queen Retinue Photograph courtesy of Jim Bach, former Washington State Apiarist

17 Queen Found During Hive Inspection (Photo, BeeInformed.org)

18 From Egg to Bee: Timing Matters in Colony Management Inspect for Signs of Laying Queen Days until queens, workers, & drones hatch: Brood Stage Queen Worker Drone Egg 3 days 3 days 3 days (fertilized) (fertilized) (unfertilized) Larva 5.5 days 6 days 6.5 days Pupa 7 days 12 days 14.5 days Total Time 16 days 21 days 24 days To Emergence (Caron, Dewey. Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping. Wicwas Press, 2000, Table 4.1.) (Of course, your bees don t read this stuff )

19 Worker Bee Life Cycle / Jobs Nurse Bee Make Wax / Build Comb Process Nectar -> Honey Process Pollen -> Bee Bread Forager [final stage] Other jobs: Heating / cooling the hive Cleanup / disposal of dead bees & debris Above, bee secreting wax (Pinterest); below, forager approaches flower (infiniteunknown.org)

20 Where Do Bees Live? In the Wild (below: a colony of feral bees in Louisiana) Below, a top bar frame shows how bees naturally build comb

21 Where Many Bees Live (but you probably don t want them to)

22 Managed Hives and Bee Yards

23 How do you start?

24 The Langstroth Hive Bee Space : 3/8 inch gap between frames optimal: * for bees to raise brood, store food * for beekeepers to manage hives

25 Get Hive Boxes Ready

26 Set up your bee yard

27 Get Your Bees: Packages or Nucs

28 Hiving Package Bees

29 Inserting the Queen

30 Feeding Your Bees

31 Bees Need Water, Too

32 Inspecting your hives

33 Side frame holder aids inspection

34 Inspect with Care!

35 Honey, Pollen, & Brood Cells Honey Cells: Brood Cells: Pollen Cells [Bee Bread]:

36 Ideal Brood Pattern

37 Manage Hives to Avoid Swarms... Or Try To

38 The Learning Curve

39 Getting Stung Final Sting ~ Kathy Keatley Garvey Honey Bees: Defensive Not Aggressive Barbed Stinger Sticks in Target Bees guts pulled out Bee Dies What To Do If Stung Scrape off stinger (use fingernail, credit card) Don t pull or squeeze Stinger muscle pumps more venom Allergic Reactions 0.05% of human beings are allergic enough to risk anaphylactic shock You can get your allergy level tested See LCBA website, Resources, for info

40 Harvesting Honey Our first year, we didn t put on honey super boxes.... We started in year two. Super box is the yellow top box at left.

41 Uncapping Honey Cells

42 Spinning Frames in Honey Extractor

43 Straining Honey

44 Robbing: A Risk to Colonies at Honey Extraction Time

45 Preparing Bees to Over-Winter: Mite Inspections

46 Varroa destructor

47 Fall Feeding

48 Over-Wintering

49 Equipment List Assume $ to start 5-Langstroth 10 Frame Medium Boxes-Commercial, Unassembled 50- Med frames +Wax Foundation-Unassembled 1- Screened bottom board with slider board 1 Nine Frame Spacer for Honey Super 1-Entrance reducer 1-10 Frame Inner cover 1-10 Frame Telescoping cover/sheet metal covered 1-Queen Excluder 1-Boardman Feeder 1-Hive tool Stainless Steel Frame Holder 1-Smoker OR sugar/water spray bottle 1-Bee brush 1-Bee Jacket 1-Pr gloves 1- Beekeeping for Dummies or comparable beginner s book And..Bees [3 lb. package or nuc]

50 Do you need a bee suit?

51 Join a Local Beekeeping Association! LCBA meets 2 nd month, 6-9 p.m., Centralia College, Washington Hall 103 For programs & other bee information, visit

52 LCBA Monthly Meetings: Expert Speakers / Q&A Free & Open to the Public Professor Carl Roush speaking about yellow jackets at Jan meeting LCBA members listening to talk ~ May 2013

53 Free Mentor Workshops Fall Management Workshop in Randle, September 2013 Hive Building Workshop in Chehalis, February 2014

54 Beginning Beekeeping Classes

55 Free Swarm & Colony Removals by LCBA s Bee Team

56 Questions? (FYI: you don t have to wear a bee beard to join LCBA )