2012 Basics of Beekeeping Workshop

Beekeeping Basics ................................................................................................................................................................. �

Figure 9. Equipment and dimensions for a standard langstroth hive.illustration by peter kauffman

71/4"

145/8"

Outer Telescoping Cover

3 pieces 71/4" X 3/4" X 181/8" (top)2 pieces 213/4" X 3/4" X 2" (sides)2 pieces 163/8" X 3/4" X 2" (ends)

Inner Cover

2 pieces 1/2" X 3/4" X 161/8"2 pieces 1/2" X 3/4" X 181/4"2 pieces 6" X 3/8" X 193/4"1 piece 41/8" X 3/8" X 193/4"

Section Comb Super

2 pieces 193/4" X 3/4" X 45/8" (sides)2 pieces 145/8" X 3/4" X 45/8" (ends)

Shallow Extracting Super

2 pieces 193/4" X 3/4" X 53/4" (sides)2 pieces 145/8" X 3/4" X 53/4" (ends)

Queen Excluder

2 pieces 193/4" X 3/4" X 53/4" (sides)2 pieces 145/8" X 3/4" X 53/4" (ends)

Full Depth Hive Body

2 pieces 193/4" X 3/4" X 95/8" (sides)2 pieces 145/8" X 3/4" X 95/8" (ends)

Bottom Board

3 pieces 71/8" X 3/4" X 153/8" (floor)2 pieces 23/8" X 3/4" X 22" (sides)1 piece 23/8" X 3/4" X 145/8" (end)

Hive Stand

1 piece 3" X 3/4" X 145/8" (back end)2 pieces 3" X 3/4" X 251/16" (sides)1 piece 53/16" X 3/4" X 161/8" (front end)

213/4"

193/4"

193/4"

193/4"

193/4"

193/4"

22"

22"

251/16"

45°

161/8"

513/16"

153/8"145/8"

23/8"

145/8"

145/8"

145/8"

95/8"

1/2"

53/4"

161/8"

165/8"

45/8"

1/2"

2"

Essential Equipment for New Beekeepers

This list is meant to give you a good point from which to start. You will need the hive parts and tools listed below. Other helpful things can be purchased or made as you wish.

Hive Parts

Hive Stand of some kind Hive Body – 2 deeps or 3 mediums per hive Hive Supers – medium or shallow, plan on 1-2 per hive for the first year Bottom Board – 1 per hive, screened are recommended Inner Cover – 1 per hive Outer Cover – 1 per hive, telescopic are the most common Frames – Enough to fill hive bodies, have extra on hand for the supers Foundation – Enough to fill hive body frames plus extra for the supers Feeder – 1 per hive Entrance Reducer – 1 per hive Queen Excluder – 1 per hive if using

Tools

Smoker, Fuel and Matches/Lighter Hive Tool Veil or Jacket or Suit – Go with whatever makes you the most comfortable Gloves Bee Brush – Somewhat optional, a large feather also works

For FoundationFoundation in general needs to be support by side pins or cross wires. Pre-wired foundation is available but if you chose to buy foundation without wire, you will also need the following:

PinsOR Wire Eyelets Eyelet punch (recommended, but not required) Embedder

Things to RememberUnless you’re purchasing your entire hive assembled and painted, you will need common tools to do so yourself. These may include a hammer, nails or screws, drill, good wood glue, paint and brushes.

Extracted from Beekeeping Basics, © The Pennsylvania State University 2004

Apiary LocationBoth beginners and established beekeepers should select each apiary site carefully. Throughout the foraging season, nectar and pollen sources must be within a short distance (roughly 1 mile) of the hives. Pollen is essential for brood rearing, and nectar (honey) is the bees’ basic source of energy. While bees can be kept virtually anywhere, large concentrations of floral sources (and populous colonies) are needed to produce large honey crops. Bees also need a source of fresh water so they can dilute honey, regulate hive temperature, liquefy crystallized honey, and raise brood. If a water supply is not available within 1⁄4 mile of the hives, you can provide a tank or pan of water with a floating board or crushed rock for the bees to land on. The water source does not need to be “pure.” Bees are less irritable and easier to handle when located in the open where they can get plenty of sunshine. Shade from trees retards the flight of workers and hinders finding the queen and seeing eggs within the cells. A southern or easterly exposure gives colonies maximum sunshine throughout the day. The apiary is best situated near natural wind protection such as hills, buildings, or evergreens (Figure 23). Other requirements are dry ground and good air drainage. Avoid windy, exposed hilltops or sites near the bank of a river that might potentially flood. You should also avoid apiary locations in heavily shaded woods or in a damp bottom land since excess moisture and less sunshine retard the flight of the bees and encourage development of such bee diseases as nosema and EFB. Your accessibility to the apiary is important—perhaps the most important factor in apiary location because you must visit it throughout the year in all kinds of weather. Avoid locations where carrying equipment and heavy supers of honey any distance will be necessary. Hives should be secluded from traffic, constant noise, and disturbance from animals and children. To discourage vandalism, placing colonies near a dwelling or area frequently visited yet screened from view if possible (a vegetative corral) is advisable. Safety from pesticide applications that can affect colonies directly or the bees’ forage is also important. Acquaint yourself with the pesticides commonly used in the area, and place colonies

away from fields or other areas that are routinely treated with pesticides. When selecting sites for outyards (apiary sites away from your residence), make inquiries to determine how many other beekeepers are operating in the area. A location can easily become overstocked with bees, which results in a poor honey crop for everyone. Beekeepers tend to neglect out-apiaries that are located too far from home. Increasing energy costs and efficient use of time should be included in each apiary site decision. Many farmers do not object to beekeepers locating outyards on some unused piece of farmland, but obviously you should obtain permission before considering any site owned by someone else. Outyards are usually “rented” with payment of harvested honey.

Beekeeping in the Urban/Suburban SettingSince legal problems with bees most often occur in cities and suburbs, beekeepers should manage bees so that they do not bother neighbors. You can take several precautions to decrease the chances of your colonies becoming a public nuisance. Maintaining gentle colonies is imperative in highly populated areas. Keeping colonies with bees that try to sting each time they are examined, or that consistently hover around the bee veil even after the colony is closed, is not advisable in the urban setting. Selecting hybrid strains that have been bred for gentleness and requeening on a regular schedule will certainly help. If a colony becomes too defensive, requeening with a new queen will likely change colony temperament in a month or so. Providing a source of water near the hives will stop a lot of unnecessary complaints. Otherwise, the bees may get their water from the neighbor’s swimming pool, dripping water faucet, birdbath, children’s wading pool, or hanging wash. Once they have become accustomed to a watering place, they will continue to use it throughout the season, and correcting problems after they develop is not always possible short of moving the bees. Most colonies have a basic flight pattern as they leave and return to the hive. People and animals passing through this flight path could be stung. Bees also spot cars, clothing, and buildings in the vicinity of the hive by releasing their body waste in flight. Spotting from a single colony is generallynot serious, but several colonies flying in one

Extracted from Beekeeping Basics, © The Pennsylvania State University 2004

direction may make a car or house unsightly in a short time. If possible, do not allow hives to face children’s play areas, neighbors’ clotheslines, houses, and so forth. Planting a hedge (vegetative corral) or building a fence at least 6 feet high forces the bees to fly above head level and thus reduces the chance of encounters with pedestrians. Fences and hedges also keep colonies out of view, which helps reduce vandalism and concern by the neighbors who might have unfounded, but to them very real, fears related to bee stings. When manipulating and examining hives, keep your neighbors foremost in mind. Weather and time of day influence the disposition of a colony. Colonies kept in the shade tend to be more defensive. Work the bees on warm, sunny days, when the field force will be actively foraging. Avoid early morning and late evening manipulations if possible. Use smoke efficiently and work carefully and slowly to help prevent defensive behaviors by bees. During a nectar dearth, keep robbing at a minimum. Robbing stimulates defensive behavior. Keep examination time to a minimum and make sure honey supers and frames not being inspected are covered. All spare equipment stored outside should be bee-tight. Also, top entrances should be avoided in close neighbor-hoods during the summer season. Whenever a hive with a top entrance is opened and the supers moved, hundreds of bees will be flying around confused because their entrance is gone. Swarming bees can be a major concern for neighbors. Even though swarming bees are quite gentle and seldom inclined to sting, the presence of a swarm in the neighborhood tends to excite people, and your apiary, rightly or wrongly, will likely be identified as the source of the swarm. Having suffi-cient equipment to manage your colonies and reduce swarming is a must (see “Swarm Management”). Part of being an urban beekeeper is good public relations. Beekeepers who permit their bees to become nuisances force communities to institute restrictive ordinances that are detrimental to the beekeeping industry. Do not keep more colonies in the backyard than the forage in the area can support or more than you have time to care for adequately. Giving the neighbors an occasional jar of honey will also sweeten relations. Only a very small number of communities prohibit keeping bees. In most instances, violation of an ordinance or keeping

bees in a negligent manner usually means moving the bees to another location.

Rules of thumb for urban beekeeping:

• Keep only gentle colonies and employ good swarm management techniques.

• Keep no more than four hives on a property of 1⁄4 acre or less.

• All hives within 20 feet of a property line should have a solid fence or vegetative barrier 5 feet or more in height between the hives and the property line.

• All hives within 30 feet of a public sidewalk or roadway should have a solid fence or dense vegetative barrier or be elevated so as to direct the flight path of the bees well above traffic and pedestrians.

• An adequate supply of water should be provided by the property owner or beekeeper from March 1 to October 31.

Beekeeping Supply Companies

Betterbee, Inc.R.R. #4, Box 4070Greenwich, NY 12834800-632-3379www.betterbee.com

Brushy Mountain Bee FarmPennsylvania Office620 Old Route 15New Columbia, PA 17856570-568-0870www.brushymountainbeefarm.com

Dadant & Sons Inc.51 South 2ndHamilton, IL 62341888-922-1293www.dadant.com

Draper’s Super Bee32 Avonlea LaneMillerton, PA 16936800-233-4273www.draperbee.com

Forest Hill WoodworkingIssac Zook1985 Mine Rd.Paradise, PA 17562717-806-0193

Mann Lake Ltd.501 S. 1st St.Hackensack, MN 56452800-880-7694www.manlakeltd.com

Maxant IndustriesPO Box 454Ayer, MA 04132978-772-0576www.maxantindustries.com

Rossman Apiaries Inc.P. O. Box 909Moultrie, Georgia 31776-0909800-333-7677www.gabees.com

Walter T. Kelley Bee Co.PO Box 240 807 W. Main Street Clarkson, KY 42726 800-233-2899www.kelleybees.com

Local Source of FondantC.O. Nolt and Son 2316 Norman RoadLancaster, PA 17601 717-397-0751http://www.conolt.com/

PublicationsBee Culture MagazineA. I. Root CompanyMedina, OH 44256800-289-7668www.beeculture.com

American Bee JournalDadant and Sons Inc.51 S. 2nd St.Hamilton, IL 62341217-847-3324www.americanbeejournal.com

This list is by no means exhaustive, and LCHP does not promote or endorse using one supplier over another. This list is just informational and gives you contacts and possible sources for your equipment.

Package SuppliersThis list is by no means exhaustive, and LCBS does not promote or endorse using one supplier over

another. This list is just informational and gives you contacts and sources for your bees.

Keeney and Zeigler Apiaries

• Taking orders now• Price is $83, $2.50 additional for marked queens• Pickup will be at their location in Bethel, PA• Pickup date is only approximate, currently 4/22/12• Bethel is approx. 33 miles north of Lancaster• Home phone is listed below, ask for Dennis when calling

9351 Old 22Bethel, PA 19507717-933-8565

Brushy Mountain Bee Farm www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/

• Taking orders now• Price is $85, $3 additional for marked queens• Pickup will be at the New Columbia, PA store• Pickup date is scheduled for March 19th• New Columbia is approx. 100 miles north of Lancaster, above Lewisburg

620 Old Route 15New Columbia, PA 17856570-568-0870

Bjorne Apiaries www.bjornapiaries.com

• Taking orders now• Price is $90• Pickup details not posted on website, talk to Mike about that (could be in Dillsburg)• Pickup date is April 23rd-24th

Mike Thomas696 Potts Hill Rd.Lewisberry, Pa. 17339717-938-0444

Walter T. Kelley Company www.kelleybees.com

• Taking orders now• Price: $85 + ~$25 insured USPS shipping. • Shipping will be from early April through mid-May. Shipping becomes considerably less per package

when ordering more than one.

PO Box 240 807 W. Main Street Clarkson, KY 42726800-233 - 2899

Making a Nuc or Split Without Finding the Queen

I certainly did not devise this method. This is just my condensed version from methods already described by more experienced and knowledgeable beekeepers.

Equipment Required:• Brush• Hive body the same depth as the brood boxes of the source hive• Queen excluder• Complete nuc with no frames:

o Bottom board, body, inner cover, outer cover, entrance reducer, robbing screen (optional but helps)

• 5 frames of comb or foundation or empty (if foundationless)• Pencil or something to mark frames for identification

Day 11. Identify the source hive. It goes without saying it should have lots of bees and resources.

A nectar flow should be in progress.

2. On day 1, take the following to your source hive

a. Full size hive bodyb. Excluderc. Brushd. Extra framese. Pencil/Frame marker

3. Locate the following type of frames in the source hive. 4.

a. 2 frames of open broodb. 1 frame of capped broodc. 1 frame of pollend. 1 frame of honeye. 2 “extra” frames of open brood

5. Brush the bees off of each one and back into the source hive, and then place the beeless frames into the new hive body. Mark the “extra” frames with the pencil in some way (write “EF” on the top bar). The brood frames should be in the middle with the honey on one side and the pollen on the other.

6. Replace frames a-d from above in the source hive with the extra frames you brought.

7. Place the queen excluder on top of the source hive and then place this new hive body with its beeless frames on top of the excluder. Cover as usual. The nurse bees from the hive body below will come up through the excluder to take care of the brood. Almost no foragers will come up.

Day 2

The next day, return to the hive and bring your empty nuc and bee brush.

1. Remove each frame except for the “EF” frames from the upper hive body and place it in your nuc. Do not brush the bees off; these are almost all nurse bees.

2. Brush just the bees off of each “EF” frame into your nuc. Then place your “EF” frames back into the source hive. These frames were just used to attract extra nurse bees for the nuc.

3. Remove the excluder from the source hive and reassemble without the extra (now empty) hive body.

4. Place the nuc where you wish, reducing the entrance to be very small. Install the robber screen if you have one. A queen or queen cell can now be introduced, or the bees can be left to raise their own. It’s also a good idea to feed the nuc until they have a strong laying queen, which will vary depending on your choice for a new queen.

Notes

The nuc must be the same depth as your brood boxes.

Using this same method, you can have a nuc in a full size hive body or make a split to turn into a full size hive. If you want to do this, the hive body you added on Day 1 becomes your nuc/split. Just bring extra empty or drawn frames on Day 2 to fill in the extra space in that hive body above the excluder. Bring along a bottom board and covers for it. Just like above, brush the bees from the “EF” frames into the nuc/split and put those back into the source hive. Simply leave all the other frames in that hive body and fill in the extra space with the frames you’ve brought. Put it on its own bottom board with its own covers. That’s now your nuc or split.

The frames do not have to come from the same hive. You could pull the frames from many hives. All the nurse bees will of course come from the hive over which the frames are placed.

If you can find the queen in your source hive(s) on Day 1 and gently move her back into the hive or simply avoid brushing that frame, that is best. At least examine the frames before you brush to try to avoid the queen.

Because these are almost 100% nurse bees, this nuc can now go anywhere in your apiary and lose almost no bees to the source hive.

FALL MANAGEMENTFall management is primarily concerned with preparing honeybee colonies for winter. Successful wintering depends largelyupon the condition of the colonies in the fall. Prior to the spreadof parasitic mites, about 10 percent of colonies were normallylost each year because of poor management, starvation, weakcolonies, or other unexplained reasons. After tracheal andVarroa mites became widespread, typical winter losses in-creased to 20 to 70 percent. However, winter losses can bereduced if colonies are properly managed and treated for mitesand diseases.

Typical fall management consists of checking colonies for theproper arrangement of hive equipment, proper hive ventilation,adequate food stores, and adequate colony strength once ortwice during the fall. Treatments for Varroa mites and trachealmites should also be applied in the late summer or early fall andthen removed from colonies prior to winter. A fall Fumidil-B®treatment for Nosema disease is also recommended.

HIVE EQUIPMENT PREPARATION FOR WINTER

All surplus honey and any honey supers that are empty or onlypartly-filled should be removed from colonies at the end of thefall honey flow or after a killing frost. All queen excludersshould be removed at this time to prevent the queen frombecoming trapped below the excluder when the cluster movesupward in the colony during winter. If queen excluders were notused, the brood should be consolidated in the bottom of the hiveas much as is possible, and any extra equipment should beremoved. Colonies should never be wintered on foundation oron partially-drawn frames; these do not allow proper clusterformation and will cause bees to freeze.

Most colonies in the Mid-Atlantic region are wintered in theirsummer locations, with reduced entrances (see below), and nowrapping or other insulation. The majority of colonies usuallysurvive the winter. Winter survival can be increased slightly(perhaps 5%) by wrapping hives with tar paper. Wrappingcolonies would only be profitable for the hobbyist with a fewcolonies, due to the costs of time and materials involved versusthe small gain in survival.

MOUSE PROTECTION

Mice are a cold weather pest of bee hives. During fall and winterwhen bees are clustered, field mice and deer mice may com-monly enter hives to take advantage of a warm (heated by thebees), dry nesting place. They usually do not disturb the beecluster, which is not broken during cold periods. However, micewill chew large holes in 4 to 5 adjacent combs to gain room toconstruct their nests. Hardware cloth (1/2” mesh) or an entrancecleat (with a vertical opening of less than 1/2”) placed in themain hive entrance in early fall will help to keep mice outof hives.

HIVE VENTILATION

Many beekeepers place an entrance cleat (or entrance reducer) inthe main hive entrance during early October to restrict theentrance to about 3/8-inch high by 4 inches across to conserve theheat generated in the colony. The cleat should be placed with theopening turned up rather than down, to reduce the chances of theentrance becoming clogged with dead bees and debris.

Winter survival can be increased by providing colonies with bothupper and lower entrances. A top entrance is particularly impor-tant for providing additional ventilation which facilitates re-moval of excess moisture from the hive. Top entrances help tokeep the hive dry, the bees healthier and the combs free frommold, while protecting the bees from suffocating if the lowerentrance becomes clogged with dead bees or snow. The topentrance may be a 5/8-inch hole bored through the top hive bodyat one side of the hand hold, or a small stick inserted under thefront edge of the inner cover. Top and bottom entrances are bothplaced in the front of the hive so as not to create a steady draft. Inaddition, the rear of the hive should be elevated slightly higherthan the front to prevent rain and condensation from pooling onthe back of the bottom board.

WINTER STORES

Colonies need sufficient room for cluster formation and winterhoney stores. Normally, 2 to 3 hive bodies (or the equivalent insupers) are required. In the Mid-Atlanticregion, late fall storesshould consist of at least 60 pounds of honey for winter food. Thebroodnest area should also contain several frames of storedpollen, which is essential for early spring broodrearing and build-up.

The quality of winter food is of considerable importance. Thinor unripe honey gathered from wild asters in late fall also causedysentery if the bees are unable to properly ripen the nectar dueto cold weather. Aster honey, a common regional fall honeysource, also crystallizes very rapidly, which can prevent the beesfrom moving it into the clustering space or can cause them tostarve if they are confined without water-gathering days in theearly spring (bees use water to reliquify crystallized honey).Feeding syrup in the fall can help to improve or correct thissituation.

The distribution of food in the hive is also very important. Mostof the honey should be located above the cluster since the beesmove upward during the winter as they consume their stores.Even if a colony is starving, the bees will not move down to reachhoney that is located below the cluster. The uppermost hive bodyor super should contain a minimum of 40 to 45 pounds of honey,and there should be 2 or 3 partially-full frames in the center whichcontain a small bit of empty comb. The small portion of emptycomb is essential for proper cluster formation and heat conserva-

MAAREC Publication 3.2February 2000

tion; bees cannot cluster on capped honey. If the uppermost hivebody is totally honey-bound, then one or two frames in thecenter should be exchanged with partially-filled ones from thelower hive body. Two deep hive bodies (or the equivalent insupers), bees, and sufficient stores for an average winter shouldweigh about 100-110 pounds.

If stores are not sufficient, concentrated (heavy) sugar syrupshould be fed during September and October until the bees haveat least the equivalent of 9 full deep frames of honey (in additionto pollen stores). The syrup is prepared by mixing whitegranulated sugar with hot water at a ratio of 2:1 (2 parts sugarto 1 part water) by volume. If necessary, heat only until all of thesugar is dissolved; do not boil. Allow syrup to cool beforegiving it to the bees. Some sources recommend adding oneteaspoon of cream of tartar per 20 pounds of sugar to help thebees invert the sucrose and reduce the danger of honey crystal-lization during the winter.

Each gallon of syrup that is fed to bees increases their reservesby about 7 pounds. Syrup is normally fed using either a jar or aten-pound plastic (friction-top) pail which has 6 to 8 small nailpuncture holes in the lid. Fill the jar or pail with syrup and invertit over the hole in the inner cover. Protect the syrup containerwith an empty super and replace the outer cover. Syrup can alsobe fed using a Boardman or division board feeder, but these twomethods require the bees to break cluster during cold weather tocollect syrup. For fall and winter feeding, we recommend usingeither the pail-on-top feeding method described above, or oneof the commercial varieties of top feeders, which do not usuallyrequire the bees to break cluster.

NOSEMA TREATMENT

Fall is an ideal time to apply treatment for Nosema disease, aprotozoal infection of the bee’s gut. Nosema can cause dysen-tery (bee diarrhea), decreased honey production and increasedqueen supersedure. Nosema can kill colonies, most often duringlate winter or early spring. Fall Nosema treatment consists ofmixing the appropriate amount (follow package directions) ofFumidil-B® powdered medication into heavy sugar syrup andfeeding each colony 2 gallons of medicated syrup during mid-fall. Some beekeepers also apply an early spring Nosematreatment, using light (1:1) sugar syrup.

BEE POPULATIONS

Only strong colonies should be overwintered. Weak colonies(<15 frames covered with bees) should be united with strongcolonies or combined with other weak colonies during latesummer or early fall to allow the bees time to rearrange theirbroodnest and stores before winter. You should destroy AFBdiseased colonies and colonies that have been exposed topesticide poisoning (since food stores may be contaminatedwith pesticides). Weak colonies that manage to survive thewinter will build up slowly in the spring and probably remainweak throughout the spring flow.

A large population of young bees that live 5 to 6 months throughthe winter is vital to successful wintering. Strong colonies withyoung queens are a must; young queens lay more brood ingeneral, and lay later into the fall and begin laying earlier in the

spring than older queens. Extra brood in the fall and early springis important in helping colonies survive tracheal mite infesta-tions. We recommend that colonies be requeened periodically,preferably every other year. Fall requeening should be doneduring the golden rod and aster flow in late August or Septem-ber, so that the colony has time to build-up before winter.

VARROA MITE AND TRACHEAL MITE CONTROL

Parasitic mites have dramatically increased the challenges ofwintering colonies successfully. Most colonies in the UnitedStates are infested with two parasitic mites: Varroa jacobsoni,the Varroa mite, and Acarapis woodi, the honey bee trachealmite. Populations of both mites should be minimized beforewinter.

Varroa mites peak in late summer and may cause colonies to diebetween July and November. Varroa treatment should be ap-plied as early in fall as is practical considering fall honey crops,or during a July dearth period if possible. All surplus honey andhoney supers must be removed prior to treatment application.

Tracheal mites increase throughout the fall and peak in latewinter. They typically kill colonies from February through lateApril. It is important to reduce tracheal mite levels prior to mid-fall so that the majority of bees which overwinter will have lowtracheal mite infestations.

For complete information on controlling honey bee mites seethe following MAAREC bulletins:• Varroa Mites• Tracheal Mites• Integrated Pest Management (IPM) For Beekeepers• Chemicals Approved for Legal Use in Honey Bee Colonies

MAAREC Publication 3.2. Author: Maryann Frazier, The Pennsylvania State University.

MAAREC, the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium, is an official activity offive land grant universities and the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The following are cooperatingmembers:

University of Delaware University of MarylandNewark, Delaware College Park, Maryland

Rutgers University The Pennsylvania State UniversityNew Brunswick, New Jersey University Park, Pennsylvania

West Virginia University USDA/ARSMorgantown, West Virginia Bee Research Lab

Beltsville, Maryland

Requests for information or publications should be sent to: MAAREC, 501 ASI Building, UniversityPark, PA 16802 Phone: (814) 865-1896 Fax: (814) 865-3048 Web site: http://MAAREC.cas.psu.edu

This publication is available in alternative media on request.

The mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is for illustrative purposes onlyand does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research andExtension Consortium or their employees.

The U.S. Cooperative Extension Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture provide EqualOpportunities in employment and programs.

* * * * *Participants in MAAREC also include state beekeeper associations, and State Departments ofAgriculture from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Visit the MAAREC Website at: http://MAAREC.cas.psu.edu

Beekeeping Book List

The following is a list of books that you may wish to read. Most, but not all, are or will soon be available in the LCBS library.

Title Approx Price

1. The Practical Beekeeper Volume I, II & III Beekeeping Naturally by Michael Bush

$49.00

2. The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture: An Encyclopedia Pertaining to the Scientific and Practical Culture of Honey Bees by Kim Flottum, A. I. Root

$34.06

3. Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture by Ross Conrad

$23.10

4. The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses by Richard Jones

$23.10

5. The Biology of the Honey Bee by Mark L. Winston $16.54

6. The Beekeeper's Handbook, Fourth Edition by Diana Sammataro, Alphonse Avitabile

$17.79

7. Better Beekeeping: The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Stronger Colonies and Healthier, More Productive Bees by Kim Flottum

$15.86

8. The Backyard Beekeeper - Revised and Updated: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden by Kim Flottum

$15.34

9. Beekeeping For Dummies by Howland Blackiston $12.64

The Lancaster County Beekeepers Society would like to extend its thanks and gratitude to those who have given generous donations

of items to help you in your beekeeping endeavors.

Forest Hill WoodworkingIssac Zook

1985 Mine Rd.Paradise, PA 17562

717-806-0193

Dutch Gold/Gamber Container2220 Dutch Gold Drive

Lancaster, PA 17601717-393-1716

www.dutchgold.com

Bee Culture Magazine623 W Liberty St

Medina, OH 44256800-289-7668

www.beeculture.com

Brushy Mountain Bee Farm620 Old Route 15

New Columbia, PA 17856570-568-0870

www.brushymountainbeefarm.com

Dadant & Sons Inc.51 South 2nd

Hamilton, IL 62341888-922-1293www.dadant.com

Dan Chambers

Penn State Ag Extension1383 Arcadia Road

Lancaster, PA 17601717-394-6851

Beekeeping Vocabulary8-frame: A hive box designed to hold 8 frames.

10-frame: A hive box designed to hold 10 frames. Abscond: A word used to describe when an entire colony of bees, queen included, leaves their hive to find a new place to live, many times for no outwardly apparent reason.

(AHB) Africanized Honey Bee: A bee that has African honeybee genetics. Africanized honey bees are generally more aggressive than European honey bees. Africanized bees have not yet been able to survive northern winters, but are found in many southwestern states.

(AFB) American Foul Brood: A highly contagious bacterial disease which is incredibly resistant to almost all treatment, so much so that the prescribed way of controlling it is to burn the entire hive, bees included, so as to prevent the spread of the disease.

Apiary: The physical location of a collection of hives, also known as a yard or bee yard.

ApiLife VAR: Brand name of a chemical treatment for Varroa mites.

Bear Fence: A fence, usually electrified, placed around a yard/apiary to prevent destruction by bears. Bears will destroy hives to eat the honey and the larvae.

Beetle Trap: A small box like device which allows small hive beetles to entire but then kills them, usually with common vegetable oil. Many designs exist.

Bee Escape: A device designed to plug or cover a hole in such a way that bees can only go one way, enter but not exit, or exit but not enter.

Bee Space: The space that bees naturally leave between comb and any other parts of the hive, including other comb. This is generally accepted to be about 3/8”.

Body: Any chamber that makes up a hive. When referring to a Langstroth style hive, this is just a box, usually made of wood that contains frames. In a Langstroth, complete hives are usually said to be made up of “bodies” and “supers”. These boxes go by many, many terms and are used somewhat interchangeably.

Bottom Board: The board that serves as the bottom of the hive. The bottom box of a hive rests on this board. The board is usually designed to provide an entrance/exit to the hive.

Box: A wooden enclosure that makes up a section of a Langstroth hive. These go by many names.

Breeder Queen: A queen with exceptional qualities whose eggs are used solely for breeding new queens. Because of the lengthy and rigorous selection process, these queens are generally very expensive.

Brood: The collective name for larvae and eggs.

Brood Pattern: The queen usually lays eggs in a pattern. A tightly clustered pattern, meaning eggs in almost every cell, not just here and there, and working from the center of a frame toward the outside, is regarded as ideal and said to be a “good pattern.”

Candy: A substance usually made of sugar, water, and occasionally corn syrup so that the result is solid or near solid. This is then used to feed the bees in a variety of situations.

Cap: A wax cover put onto cells to protect its contents. Bees will cap honey once ripe, and also cap larvae once ready to pupate.

Carniolan: See Race

Caste: A caste is a classification of members of a society. Bee society has three castes, queen, drones, and workers. Other castes can also be made of classifications by present job/task within the worker caste.

Cell: The single, six-sided compartment in a honeycomb. The comb is made up of thousands of cells.

Comb: The wax structure that is made up of cells.

Combine: The process of joining one group of bees with another. Commonly, one group will be queenless, the other queenright. This can be done by a variety of methods.

Cut-out: The process of removing an established hive of bees from a cavity or structure. This usually involves cutting into walls, floors, etc.

Dead-out: A hive that has died out through some cause. This term is usually applied to a hive that has died over the winter.

Deep: A word used to describe a Langstroth hive box that is 9 9/16” deep. The depth is the only difference in size indicated by using this term. This term is often used as a noun to indicate the box, not just its size.

Double Screen Board: A board approximately ¾” thick which is large enough to cover the top area of a hive box. It has a large section of its middle removed and covered on both sides with screen. This can be used to separate two hives while allowing the warmth from the lower hive to be shared with the upper hive. Draw: The word used to describe the act of creating comb. Once a frame has comb created on both sides across its entire field, it is said to be “fully drawn”.

Drone: A male bee which comes from an unfertilized egg. Each time she lays an egg, the queen “decides” if it will be fertilized, usually based upon the size of the cell in which she is laying. A drone is very large compared to workers and has very large eyes.

Drone Cell: A cell in a comb containing a drone larva. These are most noticeable once capped as the cap is large and protrudes in a bullet shape.

Entrance: Any opening to the hive allowing the bees to come and go.

Entrance Reducer: A device used to reduce the size of the entrance. Used most times to make defense of the hive easier for a weak hive or for the winter.

(EFB) European Foul Brood: A contagious bacterial disease that infects the larvae of a hive. Unlike American Foul Brood, this disease is generally regarded as treatable with antibiotics but containment is still very important.

Essential Oils (EOs): Oils extracted from natural sources such as plants, usually added to sugar syrup as an enticement for the bees to feed on the syrup and arguably providing health benefits to the bees. Any health benefits of essential oils are hotly debated.

Extraction: The process of removing honey from the comb. A myriad of methods exist for extraction. Common methods include “crush and strain” or spinning the combs in an extractor after removing the caps.

Extractor: A device usually made of a large metal tub with a spinning mechanism, sometimes motorized. Inside this tub is a holder in which frames of uncapped honey are mounted. The holder is then spun and the honey is flung to the outside of the tub via centrifugal force. Extracting in this way allows the frames and comb to be put back into the hives for the bees to use again.

Field Bee: See Forager.

Fondant: A sugar-based dough-like product usually used in cake decorating. It is useful as a bee feed in certain situations. Be aware of the ingredients when used.

Forager: A worker bee in the last stage of its life which collects pollen, nectar, propolis or water from outside the hive and returns with it. A forager will work at this task until it can no longer return to the hive and dies.

Foundation: A thin sheet, usually made of plastic or wax, that is embossed with a honeycomb cell pattern. This is placed in the middle of a frame and gives the bees a guide to build comb.

Foundationless: A method of beekeeping wherein the bees are allowed to build comb without foundation, therefore building cells of the size they would in the wild. Because of the lack of a guide, this can be challenging to keep the bees building properly inside the frames.

Frame: A wooden rectangle with an open middle and tabs from each top corner. The frames hang inside the boxes from a ledge, spaced at “bee space” intervals. Sheets of foundation are usually mounted inside the field of the frame as to prompt the bees to build comb there. These frames can then be removed for inspection without damaging the comb or hive.

Frame Grip: A tool used to grip the center of a frame so it can be pulled straight up and out of a hive.

Fumagillin-B: A commercially available antibiotic treatment for nosema.

Fume Board: A wooden board the size of the top of a hive box. The center is cut out leaving a frame and the field of the frame is covered with an absorbent cloth or felt. Most often this is used in harvesting honey as a way to drive the bees from the honey supers. A chemical is placed on the cloth and the board put onto the top of the hive. The smell of the chemical will drive the bees down further into the hive, allowing removal of the upper boxes.

Gloves: Gloves used while inspecting a hive in order to prevent stings to the hands. Using gloves, and what kind, is a very personal preference.

Grafting: The process of moving an egg from one cell to another, most often for the purpose of queen rearing.

Harvesting: The process of removing a hive product from a hive. When the term is applied to honey (“honey harvesting”), this implies frames of capped honey are removed from a hive and the honey extracted in some way.

Hive Body: A hive box. The term “body” generally denotes a box used for the lower portion of the hive where brood is raised, but this is not necessarily a hard and fast rule when the term “body” is used. A hive “body” is no different than any other box used on a hive.

Hive Stand: Any stand used to place a hive off the ground in some way. Some have small ramps leading to the hive entrance but this is rarely seen as a requirement. Having a very tall stand (24” or more) is the most common defense against nighttime marauding from skunks.

Hive Tool: A device used to assist in separating hive boxes from each other and in removing frames when doing an inspection.

Honey: The most well known of the hive products. Doesn’t need much definition.

Honey-B-Healthy: A fairly popular commercial product made of essential oils. This is added to sugar syrup by the beekeeper to entice the bees to feed on the syrup. See “Essential Oils”.

Illinois: Another term for a medium hive box. Inner Cover: A cover which is exactly the same size as the top of a hive box. It generally contains an oval hole in its middle and is used to cover the top of the top-most box. An outer telescopic cover is then placed over the inner cover.

Inspection: The process of opening a hive and removing frames for the purpose of checking its overall health and wellbeing.

Italian: See Race

Jacket: A piece of clothing worn to provide protection against stings for the upper body.

Lang: Shorthand for Langstroth.

Langstroth Hive: The type of hive now in most common use in the US. It is the hive type which is made of stacked rectangular boxes containing removable frames, invented by the Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth in 1851.

Larva: The small grub-like form of a newly-hatched juvenile bee.

Laying Worker: A worker bee which has begun to lay eggs, usually because of a missing queen. A hive usually must be without a queen for many weeks for a laying worker to develop, and if this occurs many laying workers may be present. Because the workers are not mated, all the eggs will be drones. A hive in this state can be very difficult to recover and save.

Mating Flight: The flight in which a newly-emerged queen mates on the wing with multiple drones.

Medium: A word used to describe a Langstroth hive box that is 6 5/8” deep. The depth is the only difference in size indicated by using this term. This term is often used as a noun to indicate the box, not just its size.

Migration Cover: An outer cover that does not overhang the edges of the top of the hive, allowing for the hives to be stacked more closely together during shipping.

Mites: See Varroa Mite

Mite-Away: Brand name of a chemical treatment for Varroa mites. Mouse Guard: A type of entrance reducer most commonly used in the winter to prevent mice from entering and making nests inside hives.

Nectar: The sugary substance collected by bees from flowers for use as the carbohydrate portion of their diet. This is what is ultimately turned into honey through chemical changes and dehydration.

Nosema: A disease caused by a small parasite which infects the gut of the bee. Nosema can be effectively treated by feeding Fumagillin-B in sugar syrup.

Nuc: See Nucleus Hive.

Nucleus: See Nucleus Hive.

Nucleus Hive: A small but established queenright hive made up of usually 3-5 frames, kept most often for rearing new queens, having a spare queen, having a source of brood frames, or drawing new frames.

Observation Hive: A hive made with clear windows in order to permit direct observation of the bees in the hive without disturbance. Many designs exist.

Outer Cover: See Telescopic Cover and Migratory Cover

Out-Yard: A yard/apiary located away from your home or main apiary, to which visits usually require a vehicle.

Package: A screened box of bees usually of a stated weight, which contains only bees and a queen in a queen cage. Bees are often purchased as “packages”.

Pollen: The powdery substance collected by bees from flowers for use as the protein portion of their diet.

Pollen Trap: A device used to dislodge the pollen being carried back to the hive by workers so the beekeeper may harvest it.

Propolis: A sticky substance gathered by bees from tree resin and other plants which they use to seal cracks in the hive and to “glue” together anything they’d like.

Propolize: The act of bees filling a gap with propolis, thereby “gluing” parts together or sealing off gaps.

Pupa: The form of a juvenile bee during its time in a capped cell when it transforms into an adult bee much like a caterpillar changes into a butterfly.

Queen: The only mated member of a hive. There is almost always only one queen in a hive and she should be the sole egg layer in the hive.

Queen Cage: A small screened box in which a queen is placed along with a few other bees from her original hive called “attendants”. A queen cage is used for shipping, transporting, and introduction of a queen.

Queen Cell: A very distinctive cell in which the workers are raising a queen. The cell is larger than normal and looks a bit like a long peanut.

Queen Cup: A small bulging protrusion from the comb which is the start of a queen cell. Seeing these in the hive is normal, and some colonies make more than others. These are “just in case” cells that are rarely used. Seeing them does not necessarily mean that that your hive will swarm or supersede.

Queen Excluder: A grate made of metal or plastic containing spaces small enough so worker bees may pass but too small for a queen to pass. This is used to keep the queen in one part of a hive. These will also prevent drones from passing. These are effective but not totally infallible.

Queen Rearing: The practice of prompting the bees to raise many queens. This is usually done by artificially keeping a hive queenless. The queens are then generally used for new hives or sale.

Queenright: A word used to describe a colony that has a healthy, well laying queen.

Race: A classification given to bees based on their hereditary global origins. The most common races of bees kept in the US are Italian, Carniolan, and Russian. Each race has its benefits and drawbacks.

Ripe: A word used to describe nectar that has been fully dehydrated and turned into honey. Once the honey has reached this stage, the bees will cap it. Also used to describe a queen cell that is almost ready for the adult queen to emerge.

Run: A term often used by beekeepers to describe using a particular method.

Russian: See Race

Screened Bottom Board: A bottom board wherein a large portion of the center has been removed and covered with screen. This allows for ventilation but also helps in mite control as some mites will naturally fall off the bees and if these then fall through the screen, they cannot reenter the hive.

Shallow: A word used to describe a Langstroth hive box that is 5 3/4” deep. The depth is the only difference in size indicated by using this term. This term is often used as a noun to indicate the box, not just its size.

Shim: A small wedge of wood used to create a gap, sometimes between a top cover and a box, or a gap between boxes, usually when the beekeeper feels ventilation or another entrance is required.

Small Hive Beetle: A beetle which enters hives and lays eggs in the hives so the beetle larvae can eat the pollen and honey from the comb. They are only now beginning to appear in numbers in the northeast but are a large problem in the south where small traps are generally put into hives.

Smoker: A device in which a fuel is burned at very low levels and produces smoke. A bellows on the device allows the smoke to be directed. Smoke causes bees to gorge on honey which makes them less likely to fly and sting.

Smoker Fuel: The fuel burned in a smoker. Common fuels are egg crates, dry pine needles, wood pellets, and raw cotton.

Solar Wax Melter: An enclosed box with a clear cover used to trap the sun’s heat and melt/render wax for collection.

Split: This is both the action and the resulting noun. A split is created by removing usually 3-5 frames of eggs, larvae and bees (but not the queen) from a hive and placing these frames in another box. These bees will then begin raising a queen using the eggs on the frames. In this way a new hive can be created without purchase of new bees.

Suit: A full suit designed to prevent stings over most of the body.

Super: Another term for a hive box of any size. Most often used to describe boxes added to the top of a hive and intended only to contain honey and to therefore be harvested.

Supersedure: The act of worker bees raising a new queen without interference in order to replace a queen that the bees deem to be unhealthy or inferior in some way.

Supersedure Cell: A queen cell in which the workers are raising a queen for supersedure. These are most often found in the middle of a frame.

Swarm: A noun and a verb. The noun is a group of bees originating from an established colony and containing a queen. This group is currently outside of a hive and looking for a new location in which to live. The verb is the act of this group leaving the hive to start a new one. When a colony swarms, approximately half its bees remain in the original hive with a newly raised queen.

Swarm Cell: A queen cell that has been created in a hive for the purposes of allowing the colony to swarm. Colonies will often raise multiple queen cells at a time with the purpose of producing one queen. These are most often found at the bottom of the frames.

Swarm Collection/Retrieval: The practice of collecting a swarm of bees into a container of some kind for the purpose of transferring them into a new hive.

Syrup: Bee food made from sugar and water. Large commercial operations will often use High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

Telescopic Cover: The outer top cover of a Langstroth hive, generally covered in metal, wherein the edges of the cover extend down over the top-most box to provide weather protection.

Top Bar Hive: A hive, which often looks like a trough, constructed in a horizontal fashion wherein bars are placed across the top and the bees build comb downward from these bars.

Tracheal Mites: A microscopic internal mite that clogs the breathing tubes of adult bees, blocking oxygen flow and eventually killing them.

Trap-Out: A time-intensive method of removing bees that are living in a structure or other cavity such that the colony is depleted of bees by not allowing them to reenter the structure (using a bee escape or some other method) and instead enticing them to live in a hive box placed very near to the structure’s entrance.

Varroa Mite: A parasitic mite which feeds on the bees themselves and lays eggs inside the cells of the hive. Its young then feed on developing bees. Widely regarded as the #1 pest of modern US beekeepers.

Veil: A covering for the face to prevent stings. This is usually attached to a hat or built onto a jacket or suit.

Wax: The substance produced by the bees from which they construct the comb and caps.

Wax Moth: A moth which attempts to lay its eggs inside a hive so the larva can feed on the combs. Healthy hives are very good at keeping these under control, but precautions must be taken when storing frames of drawn comb.

Worker: An unmated female bee that does all the work in the hive except laying eggs. Most bees in a colony are workers. Workers go through many jobs inside the hive as their lives progress, the last job being a forager.

Yard: See Apiary.

Beekeeper Info:

Previously registered? Yes: No: If so Previous Beekeeper ID: ____________ Don’t Know:____

Name: _________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

City:______________ State:______ Zip: ________ County: _____________________

Home Telephone: ________________ Alternate Telephone: __________________

Email:______________________________

Signature_________________________ Date__________________________

Complete and return with registration fee of $10.00 payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Bureau of Plant Industry – Apiary Section 2301 North Cameron Street Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408

Phone 717-772-5225 Fax 717-705-6518

ApiaryNumber

of Colonies

County Township Address Property Owner

____ I have previously submitted a registration form (Registration number issued:_________________)

____ I no longer have bees in Pennsylvania

Check applicable:

Application for APIARY Registration

Application for New And Renewal MembershipPennsylvania State Beekeepers' Association

$1.00 Junior Membership (under 17) annual dues

$20.00 annual dues $25.00 family dues $200.00 Lifetime MembershipI understand the dues entitle me to the Newsletter and all other benefits of membership.

Name

Address

City State Zip Phone

Email County

New Renew

Fill out and print this form. You may also wish to print a copy for your records.Make check payable to: PA State Beekeepers Association

Mail this form and your check to: Yvonne Crimbring, 2565 Southside Road, Canton, PA 17724

Honey Bee WebsitesThere are probably thousands of websites about honey bees. This is a small selection of sites that are local, and the forums are often a good place to post questions.

www.lancasterbeekeepers.org : Our Website

agdev.anr.udel.edu/maarec : Mid Atlantic Apiculture & Extension Consortium

www.pastatebeekeepers.org : PA State Beekeepers Association

www.ycbk.org : York County Beekeepers Association

www.capitalbeekeepers.org : Capital Area Beekeepers Association

Online forums can be found at:

www.beesource.com

www.beemaster.com

LCBS also has a Yahoo group which allows you to send messages to all who subscribe. Visit groups.yahoo.com and create an account or sign-in if you have an existing account. Then search for the group name “LCHP” (our previous acronym before LCBS). Click the “Join this Group!” link.