Goal Oriented Beekeeping Beekeepers who work towards goal typically have the best success Year Beekeeper Goals - Learn new skills - Master mite counting - Provide good nutrition to ensure healthy bees - Prepare the bees for the winter
Wintering Requirements.Clean, dry hive 2.Strong laying queen 3.5-lbs of winter bees 4.Mite-free 5.60-80 lbs of honey 6.3-4 Frames of pollen 7.Sunny, sheltered location
When Do You Start Winter Preparation? The race to get 5-lbs of winter bees - 6-Weeks of brood starting September Mite-free - By September the hive is loaded if you don t take action to control mites
When Do You Start Winter Preparation? Honey - Mid-May & June and 3-weeks in September - That s 9-0 weeks to gather 52-weeks worth of food! - What if there isn t a fall flow? Pollen - Usually there is enough goldenrod, but
When Do You Start Winter Preparation? Location, location, location - Sunny, sheltered, and dry - Did you think about January when you located your hive this spring? - You can easily move hives in the cold wintertime!
Management For Winter Starts Now!
Beekeepers like to divide management up into spring, summer and winter This works for us as a memory model, but for the bees Beekeepers tend hives on a touch-base schedule, but the bees are there 7x24 There is only one kind of management!
Continuous!
Let s look at the things we can do now that impact the colony for the long term
Definitions Honey bee apis melifera a single individual bee that is part of a larger social community Colony the family of bees. They are a social unit and uniquely exhibit social behaviors. Bee hive the housing in which the colony of bees lives
Definitions Lifespan the beginning and end of the colony Reproduction the replication of the colony, i.e., a swarm
What s your goal? Honey production? Pollination? Bee production? Backyard enjoyment?
. Our goal should be to extend the life of the colony for as long as we can by making them healthy 2. Healthy colonies can achieve any goal that we put in front of them! 3. Winter is the toughest challenge so we start on wintering in Spring!
Take Advantage of Bee Behavior Think Like a Honey Bee! More Definitions Honey Dome Elevator Effect Expansion Compression
Honey Dome Honey is stored over and around the brood forming a dome over the brood
Elevator Effect Workers store honey from the top moving downward The queen lays brood from the bottom moving upward
Expansion Compression In the spring and summer the goal is to expand the foraging force to gather the winter s stores In the fall and winter the goal is to compress into a cluster big enough to heat and sustain life but no so big they eat up all of the stores
With these simple concepts we can think like honey bees and help them by anticipating their needs We know the seasons and what to expect They react to environmental cues only As a team, honey bees and keeper can work together -- and Live!
New Colonies - Nutritional needs are in the hands of the keeper and gradually handing off to Mother Nature - Goal is To establish the colony, it s hive and position it for winter survival
Let s Manage Bees! Packages: It takes until about the middle/end of May for there to be enough bees to build out the first brood chamber. Nucs are much faster requiring a second brood chamber by mid-may
Let s Manage Bees! When to expand? - Add a second story when the cluster has expanded to 8 of 0 frames Continue feeding syrup & protein
Let s Manage Bees! Chimney Effect - Occurs when you expand too soon and the bees ignore the outside frames Remember that queen behavior is to move upwards!
Let s Manage Bees! When to stop feeding? Feed until they swarm! (I m kidding) Stop when there is only 3 or 4 frames of foundation left. April April May June July 5 2 0 2 0 4 eggs bees foragers End Honey flow
If you are lucky that you have filled 2-brood chambers and it is still June, you may super April April May June July 5 2 0 2 0 4 eggs bees foragers End Honey flow
Put two or three on each time April April May June July 5 2 0 2 0 4 eggs bees foragers End Honey flow
Some beehives grow very tall with 4 or more supers Make sure the beehive isn t leaning April April May June July 5 2 0 2 0 4 eggs bees foragers End Honey flow
A queen excluder keeps the queen out of the honey supers Some say a queen excluder is a honey excluder Not! April April May June July 5 2 0 2 0 4 eggs bees foragers End Honey flow
No difference in production in my apiaries Best reason to use is to combat wax moth! April April May June July 5 2 0 2 0 4 eggs bees foragers End Honey flow
Harvest Honey (not likely in st year) Expect queens to stop laying Huge spring population begins declining Consider ventilation and water sources Okay to reduce frequency of inspections