Big Bee Honey

This is a frame which you would normally find in a brood box. You can see that the yellow cells are brood which has been capped by the workers. Along the top of the frame is a section of honey that has been capped with wax. The dark brown things are bees. A frame of brood is usually covered with bees whose job is to tend to the developing bee eggs. They open the cell and feed the developing bees. A frame of brood without covering bees would get cold and die.

Frames are typically made of wood and have a sheet of foundation which is made of beeswax which has the impression of the cells imbedded in the wax. The bees will draw out the wax cells to form the comb. Bees have glands on their backs which produce wax which the bees use to draw out the foundation.

Plastics frames are now in use and the time will come when wood is no longer used but that won't be for a few years. Frames are reusable but have to be cared for as they are easily damaged by moths, mice or mould.

An observation hive is essentially a box with windows in which we place several frames so that we can see what is going on in the hive. Sometimes they are temporary and made up only for a show or event. Others are set up permanently so that visitors can see the progress of the bees. Permanent observation hives can be about ten feet high and hold eight to ten frames of bees.

This observation hive was set up at the Cancer Society Relay For Life which is held each June at CFB Petawawa in Ontario, Canada. The Relay for Life sees teams of about ten people conducting a relay around the sports track from 7 PM to 7 AM. The team must have someone on the track at all times. The relay has been very successful and has raised over $1M over the past five years.

Our Beekeeping Association has had a team in the last two relays. We do it to support a great cause and to get exposure for our Beekeeping Association. We managed to get a lot of attention with our observation hive as folks are fascinated with beekeeping and the hive allows them to see workers, drones and if they are lucky, the queen. As part of the Relay we also give a great briefing on beekeeping at 3 AM. We had sixty folks at our beekeeping briefing and while there were a few folks nodding off, most enjoyed themselves and found it very educational.

Anyone who keeps bees will eventually have to deal with swarms. Bee swarms are simply nature's way of reproducing hives and they usually happen in the May-June period when hives are increasing the numbers of bees in the hive. What happens is that the number of bees increases to the point where there is not enough room in the hive for the honey or for all the bees. At one point, the queen gives of pheremones which cause the bees to prepare to swarm. Several bee eggs will be fed royal jelly so they can become queen cells and eventually hatch into queens.

Once the queen cells are ready, the queen with half the bees will leave the hive in a large swarm. The worker bees will gorge themselves with honey which they use to fuel their trip and to provide stores for the new hive. These swarming bees are said to be too full to sting, however, they are pretty intimidating.

The swarm will alight onto a tree or post near the beeyard. From that place they will send out scouts who will search for a new home. They may stay on their temporary location for several hours until a scout bee returns with news of a new location. They then all leave at once and make their way to their new home where work begins on new comb for honey storage and brood.

Beekeepers are aware of the tendency to swarm and will look for swarm cells which are an indication that swarming will take place soon. As a beekeeper, I have captured many swarms. The trick is to have an empty hive box available with some used drawn comb. The bees can bee simply lifted off the post with a large can or piece of cardboard and dumped into the new hive. If they are on a branch, they can easily be shaken off the branch with a jerk and they will all fall into the new hive.

The important thing about hiving swarms is to catch the queen. Once you have the queen, the bees will all follow into the hive. Nothing is neater than watching thousands of bees marching into a new hive.

What do you do if you find a swarm around your home? Call the closest beekeeper and he will probably come and remove the swarm from its perch. If you observe a swarm, you are lucky because very few people have actually seen a swarm. Keep your distance and enjoy this interesting spectacle of nature!

Once you find a swarm you can simply transfer them into an emply hive box. You can see that the bees are flying around everywhere; do not try this without your beekeeping suit done up properly.

The wintering of bees can be very challenging as they have to spend up to six months in their hives without being able to go out and forage for nectar. Each fall, the topic of wintering bees is discussed at length at our beekeeping meetings as there is much controversy regarding the best way to prepare them for winter.

There are four important factors which must be considered when wintering bees. The first is that the hive must be queen right. That means that the hive must have a queen that is in good condition, able to lay up to two thousand eggs per day. Typically, a queen that is one or two years old should be fine. Many beekeepers change their queens each two years so that they are ensured of having young queens.

Another major factor is the medication of the hive. Mites have caused much damage to hives over the past few years. It is critical that your hives have been properly medicated in the fall so that they will survive the winter without being damaged by the mites.

Feeding is also very important as the bees must last from October until the dandelions are in bloom in April. We remove the surplus honey from the hives in August/September and then feed the bees so that they will last the winter. It is important to ensure that the bees get enough food so that they will last trhoughout the long winter. Many hives have lasted right through the winter only to die in the last few weeks when they ran out of food.

The last major factor is ventilation. It is critical that the beehive have ventilation so that the moisture expelled by the bees is ventilated out of the hive. Failure to provide enough ventilation will result in the moisture condensing in the hive and freezing into a block of ice. This will then kill the hive.

Insulation is also provided so that the bees can keep the heat in the hive and so that the major shifts in temperatures are not felt so much within the hive. You can see from the picture above that I use a plastic insulated blanket that hslips over the hive like a sheath. Being black, the winter sun heats the hive up a bit which helps out.

Many beekeepers have developed different ways to winter their hives. Some beekeepers use large boxes that hold two or four hives and they pack these with wood shaving which makes the whole package quite cozy. The downside is that this is a lot of work and if you have several thousand hives a lot of time is required.

Bees will remain in the hive and only go out when the temperature increases to near zero. On those days, the bees will attempt to do a cleasing flight where they will try to defecate outside the hive.

Winter bees are different from summer bees. Summer bees last about six weeks. They essentially work themselve to death making numerous trips to the nectar sources. Winter bees essentially just hang around the cluster and try to keep warm. Winter bees last about six months.

Once the weather starts to get nicer around end February/March, the queen will start to lay eggs at a rate of about two thousand per day. The cycle will then begin again with the hive building up and as the weather gets nicer the bees will start to venture out in search of nectar. The dandelions and trees provide the first nectar and pollen.

Bears are a problem in beeyards. This is a picture of a beeyard that has been struck by a bear. The bears don't go after the honey like many people think, but rather, like to eat the brood which provides them with protein. Either way, they can destroy a fifty-hive beeyard pretty quick.

The only answer to combat bears is to put up an electric fence and keep an eye on it. Beekeepers with numerous remote beeyards have to use solar charged batteries to run their electric fences. While this may be an additional expense, the cost to replace a hive with bees and wooden ware would cost about $300 per hive. A bear can destroy a dozen hives in one visit and will continue to come back each night for another snack. A dozen hives is worth about $3500 so a solar panel system is well worth the investment.

This is my friend Joe, a fellow beekeeper who joined me in the recent Rural Ramble. We had the only honey stand set up and had a great time meeting folks and explaining all about the bees. We managed to sell lots of honey and had an observation hive which always fascinates everyone.

One of the challenges in beekeeping is to sell all of your product. One hive will generally produce about one hundred pounds of honey. If you have two or three hives it is easy to sell two to three hundred pounds of honey (two hundred to three hundred one pound bottles). Once you find yourself with twenty to thirty hives, it becomes a significant challenge to sell the two to three THOUSAND bottles of honey that you have produced. At that point you have to be organized and develop relationships with lots of folks who will buy your honey all year round and with stores who will also sell for you. It takes time but it is part of the fun.

Going to events like county fairs and major events pays dividends as you can get lots of exposure, sell lots of product and pass your business card out to lots of folks. A sign at the end of your driveway will also bring in lots of folks who will be interested in beekeeping in general. Also helpful in selling product is a kiosk operated on the honour system.

The key to beekeeping (like everyting in life) is to keep it manageable fun. The minute it becomes tedious and stressful then you have gone too far and need to suck back a bit. Go slow, take your time and you will eventually find your comfort level in terms of number of hives and production levels.

The closest beehive was a swarm which I caught outside the beeyard and managed to put into an empty hive box. Each hive is home to one queen, about three hundred drones and about thirty to fifty thousand worker bees. If you walk into the beeyard, expect to meet a few bees as they will bounce off you...only beekeepers or folks with nerves of steel wander into a beeyard. Not much of a chance that anyone will streak through the bee yard.

A beehive is composed of a series of bottomless and topless boxes in which are found frames which hold the comb. These boxes are called supers and will be either brood boxes or honey supers. The bottom one or two boxes will hold the brood and the boxes above them will be honey supers. Between the brood boxes and honey supers is placed a metal screen which is called a queen excluder; its job is to keep the queen below it in the brood boxes. We do not want the queen to go into the honey supers and lay eggs there; she does this in the brood boxes.

Honey is a great natural product which has many benefits. If you eat honey every day you will feel much better and live longer!

Welcome to the Big Bee Honey blog. I am a hobby beekeeper and have been involved with bees for about six years. My wife and I live on a ninety acre farm located about seventy five miles north of Ottawa Canada. I keep about twenty hives and thoroughly enjoy all aspects of beekeeping. The aim of this blog is not to provide realms of technical information, but rather, to provide some practical advice based on my experiences with bees.

Why Beekeeping?

Living on a farm, I always wanted to do something with the farm that would provide some kind of income while being a bit fun at the same time. I thought about cows but they seemed to be too much trouble and needing of constant attention. As well, I did not want to get into something that needed a significant investment. Not that I couldn't afford it, I am just cheap and did not want to have to invest significant funds into machinery. By chance, I happened to be speaking to a neighbour who actually lived on our farm where he kept bees. This planted a seed in my mind. Later, at a yard sale, I found a small book on beekeeping which explained some of the various aspects of beekeeping. At another yard sale (I love yard sales) a person was selling honey; turns out she was a beekeeper and I ended up buying one hive and a nuc from her. Since then, I have increased my hives to twenty and become much involved in the local beekeeping association and met all the beekeepers in our area.

Beekeeping is a great hobby which offers many opportunities. If you enjoy learning about nature, you will love beekeeping. I love it because I enjoy learning about bees and find the whole topic of apiculture simply fascinating. As well, the bees produce many products which are pure and natural. Honey purchased from a beekeeper is not the same as store bought honey; it is much better.

Getting Started With Bees

The easiest way to get started with bees is to seek out a local beekeeper who can mentor you and help you to learn about the fascinating world of bees. Beekeepers are very friendly and enjoy nothing more than talking about bees. You won't necessarily have to purchase any bees until you are comfortable working with bees. If you cannot find a local beekeeper, contact your local beekeeping association (try the Internet for a contact number) where you will at least be able to speak to beekeepers and get lots of good information. For a beginner, it is advisable to begin with two hives. The idea behind starting with two hives is that if one does not survive the winter, you will still have another to work with. As well, you can compare the two hives during the year and in that way identify signs of problems in one of your hives.