Bees!

[JohnG]

I had brought this up in another thread and there was interest in a separate journal to go into more detail about beekeeping and building hive boxes. As a disclaimer, I am far from a pro. I took a course in college to learn about honey bee biology and took the corresponding lab where we managed a colony throughout the seasons and learned the practices and common issues. I find the topic fascinating and have done additional education on my own. Even so, this will continue to be a learning experience for myself, so hopefully it will be entertaining if nothing else. Feel free to ask any questions or for clarification/more detail on anything and I will attempt to clarify.

Let’s start with some basic information about the hive box. While there are many types, I am going with the more common type (at least here in the US), which is called a Langstroth hive. It is made up of several stacked boxes, each containing 10 “frames.” (You can also get a smaller Langstroth hive that holds 8 frames, which are popular when the beekeeper wants to keep the weight down). Typically the bottom two boxes are larger, called a “deep,” and then 1+ shorter boxes, called a “super,” “medium,” or “shallow.” The stack of boxes sit on a “bottom board” and are covered by an inner and  an outer cover. There are some other components, but we can get into those later. Here’s a decent graphic showing the parts of a Langstroth hive.

 

Why does it matter? Honey bees search out certain conditions to establish their colony. The Langstroth hive does a good job of optimizing these conditions while also making it easy for a beekeeper to manage and extract honey from without introducing too much stress to the colony. You can buy/make the hive boxes and if you are careful with the placement, you have a good chance of a wild colony making it their home without any work on your part. You can be a “bee-haver” instead of a “beekeeper” by placing hive boxes on your property and reap the benefits of having bees without doing any work.

Why deeper boxes on the bottom and shallower boxes on top? In most cases, the bees will naturally use the bottom boxes for brood, nectar, some honey, and pollen and then use the upper boxes mainly for honey storage. This allows you to remove just the upper boxes with honey in them, extract the honey, and replace with empty frames and repeat. The shallower boxes are used for honey to reduce weight. Honey is about 12lb per gallon, and a pine “super” full of honey weighs about 40lb, and a deep would weigh up to 90lb. This is also the reason that pine or cedar are used most often. You can imagine how much a white oak box would weigh!  The lower brood boxes will weigh up to 80lb.

The construction of the box is very simple. It’s four sides joined together with box joints (plus or minus nails) and a rabbet along the top edge of the short sides. This rabbet gives a place to hang the frames. Think of a wooden file cabinet. The frames are slightly more complicated, though it can be simplified. The ready to assemble kits are four pieces with bridle joints (could be half laps to simplify). Some have a slot in the bottom to allow you to insert a piece of “foundation,” but that is not required.

Foundation is a sheet of material with a honeycomb pattern on it that speeds up comb production and helps ensure the comb is uniform. It can be made of a plastic, real beeswax, or a synthetic wax. Some have wire reinforcements and some don’t. Bees will fill the frames with comb with or without the foundation, but sometimes they get a little off track without it. If you are going to produce “comb honey” you must use 100% beeswax foundation without wires or no foundation at all.

Super frame without foundation:

Deep frame with foundation:

And a close-up of the foundation:

[Mick S]

I picked up a copy of Beekeeping for Dummies. I'm going to get with a friend of a friend who's a hobbyist beekeeper for a little assistance in getting up and running. 

Just as an aside, do you know the pros and cons of the Langstroth hive and the Euro style bee cradles? Just curious because Felder/Hammer has a video and plans for making a cradle.

Hammer Bee Cradle

Edit: I just watched this video for the first time in a couple of years. I forgot how it gave me the willies watching him reach behind the blade while ripping narrow stock. NOT a good idea!

[JohnG]

3 hours ago, Mick S said:

Just as an aside, do you know the pros and cons of the Langstroth hive and the Euro style bee cradles? Just curious because Felder/Hammer has a video and plans for making a cradle.

I do not have much familiarity with that style. From the look of it, it makes inspecting the hive a little easier (you don’t have to remove the upper boxes and then bend over to remove the frames), but it might not be as efficient for honey production. 
 

That’s great that you are getting set up for bees! If you have ever had a bad reaction to a bee sting, or are unsure how your body will react, you may want to keep some Benadryl on hand just in case. Bees are usually non-aggressive but if you’re going to have tens of thousands of bees living near you and you occasionally open up their home and start messing with them, it’s best to expect that you may get stung at some point. 

 

[JohnG]

So we got our first package of bees today! Typically you can have packages of bees mailed to you, but this year it seems that all suppliers are doing pickup only. So, how do you mail or store bees?

Bees need a gap of 3/16"-1/4" in order to fit through, so 1/8" mesh will safely contain the bees while allowing plenty of air. In the center of the box, there is a metal can full of sugar water with a few small holes in the bottom to feed the bees while in transit. Suspended next to the feeding can is a small wooden box called a queen cage. It has one mesh side, and a hole on each end. Once the queen and a couple worker bees are placed in the box, one side is filled with "candy" and the two holes are sealed with cork.

The bees always gravitate toward the queen. By having the queen in a small box, you can easily tell the thousands of bees where to go. To move the bees from the package into your hive box, you lift out the feeder can and remove the queen cage, then close up the package with most of the bees inside (some will escape and will be buzzing around). This is also when you take a moment to inspect the queen. You need to make sure she is alive and well, not injured or sickly. You remove the cork on the candy side and then suspend the queen cage between frames in the hive box. The candy will keep the queen in the box for a couple days before she and the other bees eat through the candy to release the queen. This gives the bees time to get used to the queen and also keeps the queen (and therefore the whole colony) from leaving your box and searching for a different hive location. If the queen is released too early, the colony can reject and kill the queen. 

Once the queen is in place, you reopen the package and dump out some of the bees directly on/above the queen cage. These bees will start to emit a pheromone to alert the rest of the colony that the queen is there, and then the rest of the bees will head that way. The rest of the bees can be dumped into the hive box or near it and they will make their way into the box. You can look up videos of the "honey bee march" to see how they all follow eachother right into the hive box.

Once a large portion of the bees are inside you can close up the top of the hive and let the remainder of the bees use the bottom entrance to get in. The bees are typically very docile during this time, and this can all be done without a veil, gloves, or any other protective gear. We had the whole family involved in doing this in shorts and t-shirts. My daughter (4) had a kids bee suit on that I bought for her, but mostly because she likes wearing it. My son (1.5y) wasn't wearing one (they don't make any that small, that I can find) and he kept wanting to go pick up the bees. 

For the first week or so, you want to restrict the entrance to a smaller opening to encourage the bees to stay inside and build up the comb. This also helps prevent other bees, wasps, or other pests from attacking the colony before they are established. You also have to give the bees supplemental food (sugar water) until they have built up the comb and can start building up stores of nectar and pollen. Other than adding food, you don't want to mess with the bees for the first week.

[Coop]

That’s a neat deal John. I wish you all the luck in this endeavor. Please keep us posted! 

[wtnhighlander]

Bees are fascinating! Thanks for sharing this experience, John.

[RichardA]

My puppy thought bees were fascinating, until one nailed him on the nose, now he bails from them.  Butterflies are his new go after.

[Mark J]

It's much more complicated than I imagined.

[Mick S]

So now you've got me started on a new target date for getting mine built. Good summer project for me.

Thanks for posting this!

[JohnG]

22 hours ago, Mark J said:

It's much more complicated than I imagined.

It’s the sort of thing that you can choose how complicated to get. You can simply place some hive boxes out and eventually a swarm will make it their home. You can leave them alone and let them do their own thing and just reap the benefits of having bees around if you have any sort of garden. The colony might eventually die or leave, but another will come along. This is sometimes referred to as being a “bee haver” instead of a “bee keeper” - you have bees but don’t manage the hives.

On the other end of the spectrum you can learn about their physiology and behaviors. You can inspect the hive often (too often will make them more aggressive) to ensure they are staying healthy and productive, checking the brood and pollen/nectar stores, watching for queen cells and either promoting or preventing swarming, harvesting honey, and much more.

 

On 4/9/2021 at 6:45 AM, wtnhighlander said:

Bees are fascinating! Thanks for sharing this experience, John.

They really are! Wasps, yellow jackets in particular, give bees a bad reputation but honey bees are awesome to have around and to watch.

[JohnG]

If anyone is curious what a bee egg looks like, they look like tiny grains of rice in the center of these comb cells.

 

[JohnG]

So after you transfer the bees from a package or from a swarm, you don’t go into the hive for about a week. The queen should make her way out of the queen cage after a couple days, and the worker bees will be drawing comb. 

At the week (ish) mark, it’s good to check on the bees to make sure the queen is out of the cage, locate her, and make sure she is laying eggs. You also want to see how much comb has been made and how much pollen and nectar has been stored. 

During this time you should be feeding the bees 1:1 sugar water. It varies when beekeepers end the feeding, but it’s usually at least a few weeks.

[Chestnut]

Does this all need to be timed out so there are flowers around for pollen or is that the point of the sugar water?

Was the comb in the picture made by the bees or is that a man made product?

[JohnG]

Somewhat. It can’t be too early (cold) because the smaller colony of bees wouldn’t be able keep the queen and brood warm while also building comb and gathering food. You also don’t want it too late in the year, or else they won’t be able to build up for the winter.

Some people stop supplementing with sugar water when there’s a nectar flow, and some continue through it in the first season.

That is fresh comb made by the bees. I had removed one frame to make room for the queen cage and the bees made that in the gap.

[JohnG]

At the top they started to store some pollen and a few cells of nectar.

 

This is typical of hives. The worker (female) brood will be toward the center, a bit further out will be drone (male) cells, then on the outskirts will be pollen and nectar. Honey will be the furthest out since it gets capped and doesn’t need to be frequently used.

[Mark J]

I heard this interesting report on NPR and thought of you.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/06/08/bees-pesticide-immunity

[stevenkingg99]

Awesome Mate! Keep doing the great work. Looking forward to your update. 

Thanks!

[Mark J]

so @JohnG, how are your bees doing?

[JohnG]

Sorry @Mark J I was sure I had responded to your post with the article, very interesting! We do avoid using pesticides whenever possible. I did use some recently to get rid of a hornet nest, since hornets can and will destroy honey bee colonies. 

The bees are doing very well. Their numbers have increased greatly. One colony has fully drawn out comb in two deep boxes and will soon begin on the “super” I added to the stack. The second colony is nearly done drawing out the comb in two deep boxes. Both have a lot of brood production and have started to store pollen and honey.

I’ve been meaning to post another update, I’ll get started on that.

[Mark J]

@JohnG, how are the bees?  Starting to bunk down for the winter?

[Coop]

On 10/25/2021 at 9:32 PM, Mark J said:

@JohnG, how are the bees, starting to bunk down for the winter?

Glad you bumped this.  I haven’t seen a honey bee since our big freeze back in February and from 22 tomato plants, I bet I only have a couple dozen small tomatoes. Plenty of blooms and great looking plants, just no pollination. I will be having me a bee hive come February of next year. 

[JohnG]

They are still pretty active, there are a good bit of flowers continuing to bloom. I’ve been meaning to inspect the hive recently to check their honey stores, but somehow with a 6wk old and 2 more under 5 I have struggled to find the time! 
The hive we set up second is still lagging behind, so we’ll almost certainly have to help feed them through the winter. Our first hive should hopefully have plenty homey stored up.

[tperson]

@JohnG, thought since I replied about solitary bees in another post that I'd pass along some bee advice in this thread too. I've found that (in Nebraska) mid-February is a super-critical time for bees. The bees are nearing the end of their winter stores and are getting ready to gear up for spring (by late Feb/early March our queens are in full egg-laying mode). In mid-feb is when I like to put a candy board on every hive, regardless of how much honey is left...I figure if they need/want it, they have it and if they don't, they can just ignore it. Candy boards are simple to make (look at beesource.com for plans) and the candy is easy too. If memory serves, the recipe is 15# of sugar and 3c of water. Heat it to hard-ball (250-265deg) for 10 min and then add a couple of splashes of apple cider vinegar (to slightly increase acidity). IMMEDIATELY pour it in the candy boards and let it harden overnight. Be careful, not only is the candy 250deg+ it sticks like tar too. Once cool, put these on your hive(s) as supplemental feed.

As I'm sure you know, honey is used to feed the adult bees and it's the brood that consume the pollen (as a protein). Spring brood-up strength and speed is dependent on the amount of pollen collected or stored...the more pollen (protein) they have access to, the faster they brood up. This is where a protein supplement comes in. I started a few years ago giving each hive a protein supplement at about the same time as the candy board (or 2-3 weeks later, weather depending) and have been amazed at the difference. The recipe that I use is 17# of HOT water, 42# sugar, 6c veg oil, 25# UltraBee...I made a 1/5th batch a few years ago and was surprised how much it made. With a couple of hives, you should think about a 1/20th or 1/30th sized batch. Mix it in a 5gal bucket until it makes a batter then roll it out between parchment paper until it's 1/4" thick and freeze it. Before you feed it, cut/poke little slits into the top and bottom for bee access. Here's my warning: be prepared to split...early...like 2-4 weeks early. Mine brooded-up so fast that they caught me off-guard the first year and a couple of them swarmed. 

Being that you appear to be in NC, I'd estimate that it'd be about right to put candy boards on and in a few (2-3) weeks your girls should be close to ready for a protein supplement. 

[JohnG]

It’s much milder here. We supplement when/if necessary but otherwise let the bees do their thing. We aren’t focused on getting maximum honey production.

[tperson]

I hope I didn't give you the wrong impression, I'm just a hobbyist beekeeper and only have about 15 hives. While I'm always trying to increase production (more honey = more money = more bees = more honey), winter survival is more important to me than honey (dead or weak hives don't produce much). Candy boards are cheap insurance to increase the odds of survival; protein supplements definitely help with brood-up and overall honey production and aren't necessarily needed...

I'm not trying to steer the conversation, force opinions on you, or question your operation...but what do you use to treat for varroa mites (this is a genuine question)? We switched from ApiGuard and Apistan to OA (dribble then later sublimation) several years ago and have been very happy.