3. Please Start By Reading This - Then Pass It On
- "The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the
man who will win." Roger Bannister
- "The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure.
These qualities are so much important than the events that occur." Vince
Lombardi
- "Success in our calling is the result of a person's love of and belief in the
work he has undertaken. Earnest and conscientious labor often accomplishes
more in the end than the brilliant genius." Anonymous
- "Food offered without affection is like food offered to the dead." Hindu
Proverb
- "What you have to do and the way have to do it incredibly simple. Whether
you are willing to do it, that's another matter." Peter F. Drucker
- The best motivation is self motivation. The guy says, "I wish someone would
come by and turn me on." What if they don't show up? You've got to have a
better plan for your life. Jim Rohn
- "How does one measure time? No, not in days, months, or years. It is
measured by the most precious of all things: Love. Without which all beings
and things whether brave and/or beautiful would perish." Irish Blesshin
4. Table of Contents:
- Training To Be A Beekeeper............................................................................................5
- The Biology of Bees........................................................................................................6
- The Science and Technology of Beekeeping...................................................................7
- The Life Cycle of the Honey Bee....................................................................................8
- A Look Into Raising Queen Bees.....................................................................................9
- Beekeeping In Different Areas of the World....................................................................9
- The Beekeeping Equipment Used...................................................................................10
- How to Acquire the Bees.................................................................................................11
- How to Harvest the Honey..............................................................................................12
- How to Make Money Producing Honey..........................................................................13
5. Training To Be A Bee keeper
Beekeeping is a very interesting hobby and the nice thing
about raising honey bees is that they can be raised almost
anywhere. Flowers don't always need to be close by, but that
does not mean you should keep them away from flowers
altogether because if you do then they will need to travel to get
to flowers.
You should choose a suitable site for bee hives that is quiet,
sheltered and shaded. You shouldn’t put them in cold spots
because damp air accumulates in wintertime.
Be considerate of your neighbours
Make sure you are considerate of your neighbours because your bees can cause you to get complaints.
The bee hives should not be placed at play grounds, cross sidewalks, or any basic public areas. In dry
weather, bees may collect water at neighbours swimming pools or other water outlets.
To avoid this make sure your bees have a water source in your yard such as a container with floating
wood or Styrofoam chips. The floating objects prevent the bees from drowning in the water.
City Slicker bees
Many beekeepers keep bee hives in their own back yards, with others using city roof tops. Honey bees
can go a long way when collecting nector and pollen, so flowers close by are not needed although its
always convenient. Once nice thing is that most suburban areas have plenty of flowers which allows
bees to make good honey.
City beekeepers must take special care so as their bees do not become a nuisance to neighbors, or a
problem for that matter, good neighborly relations is what we all want!
Bee stings are always your neighbours biggest concern. So it is very important that beekeepers take
care for their bee hives to make sure their neighbours feel safe and comfortable in their own backyards.
You should use protective fencing
A fence provides protection for both bees and people, with a fence being very important for most
backyard bee keepers. A 6 ft high fence or shrubs can serve several purposes.
This height for fences forces the bees to fly above the heads of people. Bees normally travel in a
straight path to their hive, so their flight path is raised by the fence. A fence reduces the chance of a bee
colliding with someone.
Privacy is also needed by bees
If you create an "out of sight - out of mind" situation, you will benefit from it and so will your bees. It's
a fact that there will be neighboring people who will be concerned about your bees. A high fence will
hide most evidence that you are raising bees. The high fence will also help your hives against high
winds.
6. The Biology of Bees
It is believed that there's approximately 20,000 species of bees worldwide making them the interest of
bee keepers who rely on them to cross pollinate. By bees doing that it not only changes the flowers
species, but changes the quality of the honey they produce.
Bees are also tracked by beekeepers when other species of bees cross breed with other bees and that
allows them to keep track of their habits from mating, to the origin of where they come from. Honey
production is also tracked by bee keepers since different species of bees will also produce different
types of honey.
The origination of bees is mostly from places in Europe, Africa and some parts of Asia, but most from
immigrants to the U.S over the past centuries. Antarctica is the only place where bees were not found.
The evolutions of bees are derived from wasps since they are cousins, with the exception that wasps
aren't pollinating insects and their ability to be organized rivals, beetles, flies, and butterflies. Bees are
also categorized in two social classes that are ideal for beekeepers to know in managing bees and bee
hives.
Most bees born are usually female, you have few males. The females will fight each other for control of
the hive and colony.
When most people hear about the African bee they think killer bees when in fact the Africanized
honeybee is not dangerous. It is a type of bee that is the most popular with beekeepers and the industry
of beekeeping. The African honeybees are the most used because they produce clover honey which is
the most used and produced honey.
Another reason why African bees are popular is because they're not an aggressive species that will
readily attack someone, but they will attack when they're defending their hive.
Bees are generally docile, but during picnics they can get annoying just because their sense of smell
directs them since their eye sight is bad. Their sense of smell is what helps them find flowers they
pollinate and sometimes with the food people eat in this world the smell can mimic flowers which can
result in them getting their scents mixed up.
7. This is why you'll likely find bees swarming around trash, the food wrappers that are left behind by
people attract them. The sweet scents resemble flowers and plants.
The Science and Technology of Beekeeping
Our modern science has made it possible for us to cultivate
food that works much better than sugar and is readily available,
but the issue is that the production element is seasonal
unfortunately.
That's because bees are less active during the cold months and
that can slow production down until around late March early
April when the flowers officially bloom which makes pollen
plentiful for bees to feed on.
Science is a mystery for bees because in some ways they
resemble humans by how their sense changes in weather and
environment.
If bees were able to live like humans then we would definitely be compatible yet what separates us
from bees is that the females are not permanently grounded and pregnant.
Humans only have a gestational period of 9 months and can choose the number of children they want
where as bees are constantly reproducing with no break in between. The reason being that since the
Queen will mate with 2-3 drones by the temperature of the weather and then she's inseminated for a
good 2 or 3 years. She'll then keep making babies until the sperm runs out or stops producing eggs.
The average queen once she's mated can turn out 2000 eggs a day during the spring run and essentially
live for another two years and then a new Queen is reared to take over the colony. Basically Queen bees
have the monumental task of keeping the population fresh.
All colonies are not the same since different species of bees will live identical to each other, but they
may have a different mating pattern and schedule. Humans are about right there, but we have a
different way of mating which is done when we feel like it not when the season or weather changes.
You can identify bees by their buzzing sound, which is distinct to the sound that drones and the
working bees make. The Queen's buzz is more high pitched and always surrounded with drones and the
workers that sacrifice their life’s protecting the queen bee.
That's how close knit a colony of bees is and that's the mystery many beekeepers are trying to learn and
match with the nature of humans and their interaction with each other. Bees are like one giant family
since the majority of a hive is female, but only one will make it as the Queen who rules over the colony
to carry on the next spawn of offspring to carry on the lineage of the colony.
This is what makes science and technology interesting for bees and the keepers who maintain their
homes to bring forth protecting and nurturing this interesting creature that people are blatantly
misunderstanding. There is no doubt that bees are some how like humans except they fly and reproduce
enough offspring to keep going non-stop for 2-3 years.
8. The Life Cycle of the Honey Bee
Being a beekeeper, even as a hobby or a large commercial
producer, you can not be successful if you don't understand the
honey bee life cycle.
Honey bees live in a unique way.
It all starts with the egg. The hives queen bee lays an egg in one
of the cells constructed for the soul purpose of laying eggs. Once
the queen has laid the egg and moved on to lay another (during
the spring months the queen can lay an average of 1900 eggs
daily) the egg is attached to the cell with a mucus strand.
A larvae emerges when the egg hatches. Nurse bees are in charge of caring for the young larvae. They
feed the eggs bee bread. The bee bread is mixture of honey plus gland secretions. The larvae will go
through five distinct growth stages and then after each of these stages the larvae sheds its outer skin.
When the larvae is six days old, it is then capped by a worker bee, cocooning the larvae in its cell. The
larvae remains in the cocoon for less then 10 days. When it emerges from the cocoon it is a fully
formed young bee.
The average length of life for an average honey bee depends on what purpose the bee fulfills in the
hive. A queen bee can live for two years providing that she was able to get herself inseminated with
enough sperm during her nuptial flight. A good strong queen bee can lay as many as 2000 eggs a day.
She is in charge of killing her sisters and mothers.
The queen bee doesn't have to worry about taking care of herself, she is always surrounded by an
entourage of worker bees who feed her and remove her waste. It is not uncommon for the elderly queen
bee to leave the nest in the spring time when the rest of the hive is getting ready to swarm.
Experts believe that the queen produces some sort of pheromone that prevents the hives workers bees
from becoming interested in sex. A queen bee that has not made her nuptial flight is called a virgin
queen.
Drone bees are male bees that live only to impregnate queen bees during the queens nuptial flight. The
drone dies immediately after mating with the queen bee.
In the winter time, worker bees are able to live up to a 100 and forty days old. During the summer
months the worker bee is lucky to live for forty days, the short summer life span is because the worker
bees are literally worked to death. The worker bee's duties are wide and varied. They are also called
nurse bees and are in charge of caring for the young larvae. Other workers are sent out to gather pollen
to be made into honey.
Worker bees are in charge of starving the unwanted drone bees plus to clean the hive. There can be
anywhere from twenty thousand to two hundred thousand worker bees in a single hive. Worker bees are
always sterile. If a worker bee lays an egg the bee then becomes a drone bee. Workers bees are the bees
that people see defending the hive.
For the hive to survive it depends on the hive having a healthy queen that is laying eggs. The queen bee
dies when something happens.
9. A Look Into Raising Queen Bees
To raise queen bees can be very profitable, but requires
you to be fully dedicated because bees are delicate.
You can buy your bees in different forms depending on
your budget, the experience you have, and how much time
you are able to dedicate to your project.
If you are one of those who are eager to get results at a
faster rate, then you need to get a complete colony to start
with. The complete colony contains one queen bee,
thousands of worker bees, and some male bees for
reproduction.
If you want to see your colony grow in front of you, then you need to get a smaller colony that contains
only few thousands of worker bees. Time is needed for a young colony to expand.
It is more difficult raising queen bees then colonies. More attention is required for queen bees and
experience, as you must separate any queen that appears from the colony to start forming a new colony.
Keeping two queens in one colony is not possible. Therefore, if a new queen appears then you need to
start a new colony for it and it will start laying new eggs that will hatch new worker bees.
The new worker bees can become guard bees that will revolve around the hive to alarm the other bees
when there is any thing endangering the colony. Worker bees also work as nurse bees that will nourish
the eggs and take care of them until they hatch.
Worker bees have other categories, like the wax producing bees and bees that produce honey. All of
these workers are dominated by only one queen.
Once another bee appears in one colony, then it should be removed or the bees will feel disoriented.
Beekeeping In Different Areas of the World
Alot of areas of the world are great producers of honey
and beeswax for medicinal and food purposes. A lot of
beekeeping can be found in the United States, Asia, Africa,
and a few in Europe.
Since beekeeping had originated in Europe and had been
modernized in the United States, the way it's done is
different and the way it's taught is different as well.
Yet this is a very interesting way to see how different
cultures train someone to do beekeeping as a way of life
and part of the culture.
The cool thing is that honey is used for mostly food in so many cultures. The honey is used to sweeten
when preparing certain concoctions or meals.
10. Americans are usually in the business of beekeeping to produce honey for the supermarket and for
shipment to overseas markets and countries. Most countries don't have beekeeping businesses that is
advanced enough to mass produce the necessary amount to ship overseas.
A number of countries overseas don't have the United States system to make mass productions of a
product like honey. To produce enough for market, beekeepers need to wait till the spring season starts
again since in the winter months bees are not active and start again in late March early April when the
mating season for bees is fresh. By this time the flowers are ready for pollination.
Beekeepers observe their hives every 7 to 8 days generally making it the ideal time on the weekend to
pass time. Hives don't need a lot of maintaining, just an hour a day between the peak season around
May to September. A good season can produce for a keeper 60-100 pounds of honey and depending on
how much the buyer charges by the pound that's what you go by to what you'll make for every harvest
you get.
The most common annoyance to beekeepers by the time of harvesting the honey and maintaining of the
hives are bumblebees. These bees are black and yellow not forgetting ugly and are seen going through
the flowers honey bees have already visited.
These bees live underground so they can be an annoyance to beekeepers when they swarm from the
ground up. A lot of beekeepers move their hives which is called migratory and is one secret of
producing lots of honey by giving bees a fresh supply of flowers to pollinate and feed from.
Each batch produced can differ with each pollination, or when hives are rotated and bees go to different
flowers. This is why sometimes honey may have distinct taste since it's the different flowers which
were available to them at that given time.
The Beekeeping Equipment Used
Just like every other hobby, raising honey bees needs some
equipment just before you setup your bee hive. The bees equipment
must be brought just before you get a call from the post office
telling you to get your bees.
The first important equipment is the bee hive.
There must be five supers in the beehive. The supers are a very
important part of the beehive because they are where the bees will
be storing their honey. The five supers should be between the
bottom of the hive and the hive cover.
Supers are very important because they are where the bees will be
storing their honey and raising their offspring. The moment the bee
hive is active each of these supers will contain nine to ten frames.
You can choose if you want a hive with shallow supers or deep supers. One advantage of these deep
supers is that they enable beekeepers to buy only one size foundation. Disadvantage is that, when full, a
deep super can weigh over a hundred pounds.
The moment your hive has bees make sure you place is somewhere that has a flat surface so that the
hive will not fall over when winds blow. Also make sure that you place it somewhere that humans and
pets won't move it.
11. A spacer is a piece of equipment beekeepers use to keep an equal amount of space between the frames
while they are in the super.
The next piece of equipment you will need is a smoker. The usage of the smoker is to encourage the
bees to leave the hive when you are getting ready to harvest the honey. The smoker is surprisingly
simple in its design. The smoker consists of a funnel, a combustion chamber, and bellows.
Many beekeepers claim that old, clean burlap is the best material to use in the smoker just because the
burlap ignites easily and smolders and smokes. Other beekeepers prefer to use dried corn cobs. Once
the fire has been lit in the combustion chamber the bellows will keep it going. The funnel directs the
smoke into the hive, encouraging the bees to leave.
Another tool you will need is a metal hive tool. The metal hive tool is used to pry open the hive,
separate the hive bodies, and to scrape the frames clean. Think of it as the all purpose tool of
beekeeping.
There is no beekeeper that is ready to receive their shipment of bees until they have a bee brush. A bee
brush is used to gently brush bees out of the way so that the beekeeper can examine the frames.
When it is time to harvest your honey, you will need a fumer board. A fumer board is a board that is
covered in bee removing chemicals and is then used to encourage the bees to leave a super and let you
take their honeycombs.
If ‘used bee equipment’ is alright with you, you can find some great prices on beekeeping equipment on
EBay. There are several catalogs and websites that offer beekeeping equipment, and many of those
offer beginners packages.
How to Acquire the Bees
The average price of a normal hive is approximately $300 per hive
(you only need one to get started with). Once you have obtained a hive it
may be retained at a distant corner of your back garden, it is not
uncommon to see some suburban homes with a bee hive.
If you are thinking about getting a beehive, the initial thing you ought to
do is call your local Cooperative Extension office. They will be able to
inform you if you live in an area that restricts keeping bees.
They will also be able to give you the contact details of your states
beekeeping establishment where you can become a registered beekeeper.
The next thing you should do is select a site for your potential honey bee
hive. Once you have picked a site for your beehive you will need to go
about acquiring the tools required to successfully maintain a beehive.
Some of the tools you will need can be purchased used at EBay.
Before acquiring bees for your hive it is essential to ensure that you are properly protected, this means
you have to purchase beekeepers gear.
Once your hive is in place and you are confident that everything is in working order it's time to order
your honey bees. The easiest way is to order Honey Bees is from a founded Apiary. You ought to plan
on placing your bee order early in the winter. The normal beekeeper orders their bees in January and
February. The order is normally shipped in March and April.
12. Most Apiary's ship their bees through the U.S. postal service. When the bees reach the post office your
mail carrier will call and ask that you collect the bees. Very few mail carriers are happy driving all
around the county with a car filled with young angry bees in their car and most bees are healthier if
they do not have to spend several hours in a hot car.
When you collect your bees they ought to have been packaged in a special carrying case that is
designed just for bees. This package will be a wooden framed "house" that has a screen covering the
outer. This packaging allows air to circulate to the traveling bees and keeps handlers, such as post
office staff members, from getting stung.
When you get your bees, do not be surprised if you see some dead bees laying in the bottom of the
package. Traveling is hard on bees and they can't all be expected to get through the trip. The remainder
of the bees ought to be clutching the sides of the container.
You will observe that one bee in the container has been separated from the remainder of the hive. This
is your queen bee. The remainder of the bees in the container will make up the remainder of your bee
hives hierarchy. Some Apiaries ship the queen with a number of nurse bees.
You should also see a container that is jam-packed with a sugar solution. This sugar solution is what the
bees feed upon while they're traveling. As soon as you get your bees home offer them something to
drink. You do this by taking a spray bottle and covering the container with an extra fine covering of
water.
How to Harvest the Honey
The obvious reason to setup, maintain, and stock a beehive is so you
can harvest great honey. The right time to harvest the honey will be
known when taking a look at one super hive and find that the frames
are full of honey combs that your bees have covered with wax caps.
Now all you have to do is remove the honey combs.
Harvesting your honey won't be a problem as long as you are wearing
your beekeeping designed gear, like very light colored bee clothes
(beekeepers swear that lighter colored clothes have a soothing affect
on bees) and make sure you are calm.
When the super is full of capped honey combs you are then going to
have to remove the bees from that super. There are chemicals available
on the market that will make this easier.
One of these chemicals that beekeepers use to remove bees from the super is Bee-Go. All beekeepers
have to do is apply Bee-Go to a fumer board. When the bees smell the Bee-Go they head to the bottom
of the hive, leaving the honey in the super for you to harvest.
Another product beekeepers use to clear out supers is called Fishers Bee Quick. Neither of these
products harm the bees, the bees simply find the scent offensive and move away from it.
Once you have the honey comb you need to prepare it to be extracted. The first thing to do is removing
the wax caps the bees have used to seal the honey into the honey comb. A majority of professional
beekeepers like or prefer using nine frames not ten for their supers. By using nine frames they give the
bees enough room to draw the comb out, placing the cap right on the very edge of the comb.
13. A metal knife is used to remove the caps, the knife works best if the knife blade is warmed, after all its
easier to cut warm wax then it is to cut cold wax. You can keep the knife blade warm with frequent
dunking in a basin that is full of hot water.
A lot of beekeepers like to use their bread knife to remove the wax caps from the honey comb while
other beekeepers use specially designed beekeeping knifes. Removing the caps from the dripping
honey is easy, a cheese cloth is used for this process, the cheesecloth drains the honey and the top
collects the bee wax.
Once the caps are removed from the honey comb the honey is ready to be extracted.
When removing the caps, let them fall into a pot, do not just through them away. One thing to note is
that lots of honey will stick on these caps, honey that can be processed and used. Once the caps have
been removed from the honeycombs the honey combs are ready to have the honey extracted.
How to Make Money Producing Honey
There are quite a number of beekeepers who raise honey
bees just as a hobby with no intended profit. Some of them
are interested in these tiny creatures that are able to build a
productive kingdom just based on their instinct.
Some others are fascinated with the raw honey that's
extracted from the hive. They say that it is totally different
from those canned honey brands you buy from your
supermarket.
Meanwhile, other beekeepers turned to realize that
beekeeping is very profitable as well as interesting so they decided to turn their hobby into an
investment and enjoy the hobby while generating money.
For both type of bee farms there are some principles that apply, either for fun or for business. The
production of honey consists of several hives. The bee keeper acts as a maestro to conduct the
operation from the beginning to the end.
When deciding to become a professional who takes honey beekeeping is a job, the number and size of
the hives has to be taken into consideration.
Since monitoring one bee hive would not take longer than half an hour per day then you can look after
a dozen or two with less trouble, especially if you started out as a hobby.
Should you increase the hive size or number of bee hives?
This question could be answered only by you, since it depends on your physical strength. Buying a
bigger sized hive means less cost but it is not simple to remove the super frames full of more than
hundred pound of honey. So its better to buy more hives. However, it's more expensive and needs more
space.
All of these are considerations as you pursuit to become a professional beekeeper. So, what should you
do to take a step closer in becoming a professional beekeeper?
14. Discover How To Start Successful Beekeeping
With This Step By Step eBook That Will Guide
You From Starting On Beekeeping All The Way
To Harvesting And Packaging
Your Honey.
Introducing...
Beekeeping for Beginners
How to Keep Bees Successfully
Here is what you will learn inside this ebook...
How to get Started in Beekeeping - You Will Know All the Right Steps
to Take
The Right time of Year to Start Beekeeping
How to Make Sure your Bees Don't Harm Your Neighbors or Passer Bys
Raising Bees in Different Kinds of Areas
What are the Challenges of Beekeeping
What needs to be Considered when Picking the Location for Your Bees
15. The Right Number of Hives to Start With
Which Kind of Bees to Start With
How to Acquire Your Bees
Clothes and Equipment Needed
Using Pollen Substitutes
Using Nectar Substitutes
The Required Flowers and Plants for Bees to Produce Quality Honey
How to Easily Drive Away Ants and other Enemies from Your Hives
Queen Bee Management
Raising Queen Bees - You need to get this right
How to Get Your Queen Bee to Live the Longest Lifespan Possible
Choosing the Best Hive for Your Bees
How to Make Sure that you are always Safe from Bee Stings
How to Setup a Colony of Bees
How to safely Handle Bees
How to know for Certain when your Honey is Being Ripened
The Right Way to Extract Honey from a Bee Hive
16. A Major Tool you have to Own for Beekeeping
The Easy Way to Calm Your Bees.
The Right Conditions Needed for Storing your Harvested Honey
Getting the Right see through "observation" hive for Maximum Honey
Production
Want to Start a Beekeeping Business? This Guide will give You
Direction
You also get a List of Top Affordable Beekeeping Equipment Suppliers
and Resources
(Click Below)
To The Wonderful Hobby Of Beekeeping!
Best Regards,
Paul Reyes.
