Welcome to the "The First Time Hobbyist" page of our BeeKeeping 101 section. Our goal here is to explain how to get started, how to select an apiary location and the right type of bee, and how to handle the bees. Please call or contact us if you would like us to answer any questions regarding beekeeping for you.
Getting Started
Find a local beekeeper and ask lots of questions. Each part of the world has very different conditions for beekeeping. The local beekeeper will be able to advise the best time of the year to get started, whether or not the local flowers will support the bees with sufficient nectar or whether the bees will require extra feed from the beekeeper, when to put extra honey storage boxes on the hive, and other precautions. Most beekeepers are very helpful about getting someone started and may even have equipment for sale.
You should also contact your state's apiary inspection service in order to register as a beekeeper, and perhaps to get the name of a local beekeeper or two. The other bit of advice is to check out the resources in the local library and keep reading the web pages.
Selecting the Right Type of Bee
Beginner beekeepers face the difficult decision of which strain or race of bee to order, and from whom, when they are obtaining packages and queens.
Honey bees in the United States are a heterogeneous blend of several races introduced from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Currently, there are three major races: Italians, Caucasians, and Carniolans. However, they are not the same as the original races they were named after. Many strains of the original races have developed through interbreeding and selection along with various geographic and climatic influences.
To determine which race or strain of bees would best suit your operation, first consider the advantages and disadvantages of each. Please contact BZB for any questions you may have on the selection of your queen bees.
Selecting an Apiary Location
Both beginners and established beekeepers should select each apiary site carefully. Otherwise, they may jeopardize the efficiency of their investment.
Bees need a source of fresh water so they can regulate the temperature of the hive, liquefy crystallized honey, and raise brood. They are less irritable and easier to handle when located in the open where they can get plenty of sunshine. The apiary is best situated near natural wind protection such as hills, buildings, or evergreens.
Other requirements are dry ground and good air drainage. The apiary should not be located in a woods or in a damp bottom land, since excess moisture retards the flight of the bees and encourages development of such bee diseases as nosema and EFB.
The location's accessibility is important, since many trips are made to the apiary each year in all kinds of weather. Avoid carrying equipment and heavy supers of honey to and from the apiary. Hives should be secluded from traffic, constant noise, and disturbance from animals and children. To discourage vandalism, place your colonies near a dwelling or area frequently visited yet screened from view if possible.
Relative safety from repeated pesticide applications to colonies or their forage is also important. Acquaint yourself with the pesticides commonly used in the area. When practicable, place colonies away from fields that are treated routinely.
Handling Bees
Beginners in beekeeping are naturally reluctant at first to spend much time examining their colonies and usually a little overly cautious about handling the bees and damaging the colony. With proper clothing and equipment, handling bees is neither difficult nor dangerous.
After properly lighting the smoker and putting on your veil, approach the hive from the rear and work from either side. When beginning to work a colony, blow one or two puffs of smoke across the entrance and under the lid to discourage the guard bees. Use a puff or two every time a piece of equipment is removed or replaced. This keeps the bees under control and out of the way so few bees are killed. Once the cover or a hive body is lifted up, remove it without letting it back down in place.
Bees seal the frames together with propolis at every point of contact. Use the straight end of the hive tool to pry them apart; start with the second frame in on the side you are working from. Pull the first frame slowly out of the hive, look briefly for the queen, and, if she is not on the frame, set it on end against the opposite side of the hive near the entrance. If the queen is on the frame, do not set the frame outside the hive where she may fall to the ground. After removing a single frame, the rest of the frames can be easily removed, examined, and replaced in order. Keeping combs in their original positions is desirable unless you feel a change in order will improve the condition of the colony. Hold the combs above the colony when examining them, with the comb surface vertical.
Some bee stings are inevitable, but with care most of them can be avoided. When stung, scrape the stinger away with your finger nail, hive tool, or other sharp object. Do not pull the stinger out. Pulling squeezes all the venom from the poison sac into the wound
BeeKeeping For Beginners PDF - Click here to view in a new browser window.
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