What Is Beekeeping?

Saying on the side of a leading beekeeping supplier.

What is Beekeeping?

Beekeepers like to make the distinction between "bee have-rs" and "bee keep-rs." Some people who have bees don't do much with them and usually loose them within the first year. Those are considered people who "have" bees.

Beekeepers have more of a direct relationship with bees. Depending on why one keeps them, bees can contribute to a garden's pollination; provide honey, and supplement income with the sale of bees. Those three purposes require different approaches to the bees, which in part explains why when someone asks two beekeepers one question they may get 5 different answers.

To me, beekeeping is just that, inviting bees into my garden and having them as part of my happy garden ecosystem. I have honeybees and native bees, both sharing my hillside garden and adding to the diversity I encourage along with butterflies, beneficial insects, birds and other wildlife.

And I agree with the saying on the grey bag, it can become a lifestyle with delicious sweet rewards.

Charlotte

Bees On Sugar Too Early

Bees On Sugar Way Too Early

Don't get me wrong, there was a time in my life when a warm day in late December would have been a gift. Temperatures in the 60s, however, are not typical of late Missouri December weather, although temperatures above average seem the norm as we end 2016.

Those warmer temperatures are not good news for my compact fruit trees, which are showing buds already, nor are they good news for my honeybees. 

All of my bee colonies were tucked into their hives in October ready for winter with a supply of sugar cakes in their top feeding shims, extra food in addition to their 60-70 lbs of stored honey to get them through winter.

In the past, they would eat through their honey before reaching the extra sugar stores on top, usually sometime mid-February. I added the sugar cakes on top in case weather was too bad to get to them between now and February, when they might need the added supplies.

Imagine my surprise when I peeked under the hive lids on Christmas Day to find the colonies already at the top of the hives, not only starting to eat the extra sugar stores but obviously having been into the sugar cakes for some time by the pattern they had left on the sugar.

Bees have apparently been eating the sugar cakes for some time now.

The warmer fall temperatures have contributed to bees consuming their honey stores almost two months faster than normal. Bees usually cluster inside the hive, consuming the stored honey while they cluster and shiver to stay warm.

When temperatures outside are above 40F, bees consume more honey to fly around outside, depleting their winter honey stores. With temperatures closer to 60F, bees fly farther and consumer even more honey as they search for pollen and other food sources, further depleting available honey.

Looks like I will need to be making more sugar patties if these girls are going to make it through spring.

Come on, winter!

Charlotte

Winter Bee Sugar Cakes

I fill my bread pans up half full, then place them in cold oven to dry out until hard.

Winter Bee Sugar Cakes

It's December 2016 and temperatures continue setting record highs. It means I have had more time to work in the garden but so have my bees. As long as temperatures invite my honeybees out of their hives, at a time of year when there is not much in nature to eat, they are consuming the honey they originally stored to eat through cold weather.

I peeked under two hive lids a couple of days ago and two colony clusters had moved into the second box from the bottom. That's not good news, it means the bees have been eating the honey in the second box already and may not have enough to get through winter.

Several years ago I lost a colony to winter starvation and I vowed then I would not let that happen again.

I was thinking about making sugar candy boards this year, heated sugar that fills the top of the hive once made.. I even bought a candy thermometer, thinking I would try something new but no time for that, winter is moving in and I don't want to risk not having something to feed my bees before weather turns cold.

No problem, making my winter bee sugar cakes is easy. Here is my basic recipe:

Winter Bee Sugar Cakes

11 1/4 cups of sugar

7.5 ounces of water

1 tsp vinegar

Add vinegar to water, then pour water into sugar and mix until all sugar is moist.

Add vinegar to water, then add water to sugar. Mix. I used an old garden bucket and the largest wooden spoon I could find. The mixture should be moist but not wet.

Dry sugar cakes made in bread pans easily span the length of one of my bee hives.

I like to use bread pans because two sugar cakes span the length of my hives. Pre-used suet containers also work because they are square and make it easy to join them in the feeding shims I already have installed on top of my hives.

You can also use cake pans, pie tins, even the bottom of plastic storage containers. Once dry, they should pop out by turning them over.

I considered making sugar cakes in the feeding shims but bees don't go to the sides, they work their way up the center of the hive. Sugar cakes do help with hive moisture so it's helpful to have sugar boards and sugar cakes in a hive, if for no other reason.

For me, the smaller sugar cakes are easier because I can place the sugar cakes immediately over the cluster. The cluster is easy to find by placing one's hand over the feeding shim and feeling the heat the cluster generates.

With smaller sugar cakes, I can also more easily store any extras I have for later use.

If the mixture doesn't dry, remix adding a very little sugar at a time. Before you decide it's not working, wait, these can take 2-4 days to dry to a hard consistency depending on the humidity in your house.

Once dry, remove from container, turn the sugar cakes over and let the bottom side dry out. I leave them top side down for at least a couple of days.

Save any sugar chunks that fall off. You can re-use the sugar in spring sugar water. The lighter spring sugar syrup is a favorite of other pollinators including butterflies. 

Store in an airtight container and replace as needed.

Charlotte

I See Bees Everywhere....

This gift of Nestle hot cocoa includes a little bee as the source, how cute!

I See Bees Everywhere....

Ever since I started beekeeping in 2010, I see bees all around me. I don't mean my bees are always with me, although some tend to be, especially when I'm working in my garden. It's a new awareness I have to bee-related references, and items.

A friend recently gave me a gift of hot cocoa in a cute coffee-like mug. She picked the mug, she said, because she knew I was a gardener and loved flowers.

What a charming surprise to find the hot cocoa that accompanied the gift mug had a bee on it. When I mentioned the bee, she was also surprised, she said she had not even seen the bee when she selected the cocoa.

That's okay, I told her, the bee just makes it that much more special, don't you think?

Charlotte

Getting Bees Ready for Winter

Getting Bees Ready for Winter

It's been a record warm Missouri November 2016. Usually by now I have all of my hives tucked in for winter, all of my plants in my garden and my hot cocoa stash refreshed. I am behind on getting all three done.

When I heard the weather forecaster call for below freezing temperatures by the weekend, I decided I had to make getting my bees ready for winter a priority. I can't do a last inspection, my bees have their wood hives nicely sealed with propolis and I don't want to break those seals.

Instead, I removed the frames on the edges to peek down inside and make sure there was nothing obviously amiss. I also refreshed my small hive beetle traps so on those days when temperatures warm up again, hopefully I can catch some of these sub-Sahara Africa pests that earlier this year caused havoc with some of my colonies.

To get ready for winter, I also made sure all of their hive entrances were reduced. I will reduce the entrances even more in the next couple of days to one bee-width holes but right now, several bees can easily get in and out of the hives.

The feeding shim on top gives bees another entrance in case the bottom gets snow-covered and makes it easier for me to feed them mid-winter.

I also added my feeding shims to the top of the hives so that I can easily feed them if need be mid-winter.

The shims are about 2 inches wide with two little holes that give the hive an alternate entrance in case the bottom door is blocked with snow. I like to add the shims now so that when I need to feed them, I can do it quickly later.

I have one more step I will finish once the temperatures drop, I will wrap my hives in a black insulated material to help keep the wind from chilling the colony.

Hard to think about not seeing my bees now that cold weather is here. They are very much a part of my garden and the joy I feel when I am in it.

Charlotte

Honeybee Latte

Honeybee Latte

In case no one has said anything, keeping bees definitely changes one's perspective on life. In addition to the big picture shifts - realizing the role pollinators play on our planet - there are the little perspectives, too.

One of the more controversial is the actual word, "honeybee." As a beekeeper, I tend to focus on whenever I see the word, in this case on a menu of a local deli. But I also recall a very heated debate between two experienced beekeepers about whether the word is one word, as in honeybee, or two words - honey bees.

Since honeybees are the only bee in the world that produces enough honey to share, it makes sense that they would be called "honey bees." However, joining both words into one also makes sense.

The Oxford Dictionary, thankfully, says both spellings are acceptable.

Drink up!

Charlotte

Donated Beekeeping Books

Rolla Public Library Director Diana Watkins takes a peek at beekeeping books donated by Rolla Bee Club, and my bee buddy, David Draker.

Donated Beekeeping Books

One of the most frequently-asked questions I get, both locally and through Missouri State Beekeepers Association, where I serve as the answer lady, is how to get started in beekeeping.

The answer is, start attending local beekeeping club meetings and reading. Like any specialty, beekeeping has a language all of its own and to understand what experienced beekeepers are saying, it is helpful to know what the different parts of a hive, and bee, are called.

When I started beekeeping, I read everything I could get my hands on. I still read, and I have a pile of books ready for winter reading. The days of raising bees in a skep - a romantic idea that was deadly for bees - or placing a hive on the back forty and not worrying about it are gone, today bees have a lot of challenges. To be a good beekeeper, one must become an amateur biologist and stay on top of current research.

To that end, my bee buddy David Draker and I did an inventory of what beekeeping books were available at our local library. We then compared notes on what books we had each read, and liked, and sampled books recommended to us. 

After getting the suggestion that people wanted to have access to borrow beekeeping books, we worked with our local public library to donate a selection of our favorite beekeeping books, from a book for children about bees and how to build your own beekeeping equipment to our very own "go-to" book, the Beekeeper's Handbook:

The selection of beekeeping books that will soon be available on loan from Rolla Public Library.

The idea is for beekeepers to be able to sample a variety of beekeeping books and then decide which ones they need for their home library. If someone is keeping bees for honey, for example, they are going to have a different focus than someone keeping bees for pollination.

Having a variety of beekeeping books also introduces potential beekeepers to a range of advice and information, something they will find very prevalent when talking to beekeepers. The joke is ask three beekeepers a question and you will get five different answers. There's a good reason for that, it depends on why one is keeping bees but it can be confusing to beginning beekeepers.

Proceeds from our local club's book sales, and donations, paid for the books. The library will be adding a book plate on the front of each book marking our donation.

We hope these books will help beekeepers on their fascinating, and challenging, journey of keeping bees.

Do you have a favorite beekeeping book?

Charlotte

Burned Out Smoker

Burned Out Smoker

Even experienced beekeepers will tell you one of the hardest skills to develop as a beekeeper is keeping one's smoker going.

A smoker is a soup-can like shape with a lid and bellows attached to keep the small fire inside going as beekeepers inspect their hives. One theory is the smoke keeps bees busy gorging on honey to escape the hive. Another theory is that the smoke calms the bees. Regardless of theories, smoke does move bees out of an area.

I inherited a very old smoker when I started keeping bees in 2010. The smoker was part of several pieces of used equipment I purchased from a local commercial beekeeper. No skep, as I had initially thought I would get, but he did "throw in" the used smoker. Although the smoker had seen better days, I didn't have the heart to give it up. It was my first smoker, who doesn't think of their first one as being special!

Keeping the fire going inside the soup can is an art form. After trying a number of items, from pinecones and dry mulch to newspapers and twine, I found it worked best as long as I could use pine needles and had the patience to get it properly started.

Once a fire is taking off, it helps to tilt the smoker to one side and gently puff oxygen through it. Not too much, just enough to keep the fire going so smoke getd produced and some embers get formed at the bottom.

Recently I was cleaning out the old smoker and noticed that the little metal table at the bottom, which allows oxygen to circulate, has a hole burned through it. When it cooled off enough for me to remove it, the little circle also appeared to be loosing a couple of legs so soon the grate surface won't give the bottom of the smoker enough clearance for oxygen.

Guess it may be time to put a smoker on my Christmas list.

What do you use to keep your smoker going?

Charlotte

Bumbled Salem Bee Call

The caller said bees were nesting in the inside of her parked truck in Salem, Mo.

Bumbled Salem Bee Call

2016 was a busy year for swarm calls but not all of them were about honeybees.

This call was from a lady in Salem, Mo. who said her grandson and dog were repeatedly stung by honeybees the day before in her yard. They had contacted an exterminator but he had told them he couldn't kill the bees if they were honeybees so she needed someone to tell her what was doing the stinging.

My bee buddy David and I headed to Salem, swarm equipment in hand, as usual but not expecting to use it on this call. We usually quickly respond to calls for swarm removal so we keep our equipment handy. 

There were some tell-tale signs that these weren't honeybees. The report of repeated stings was a sure sign they might have wasps. If the exterminator wasn't following up, though, that suggested a further identification issue.

Once on site, we found a front lawn full of blooming white clover. We checked under the parked red truck and found several bumblebees flying out of the door hole. David also checked under the truck but no honeybees. 

After I checked the underside of the truck, David decided to do another check.

I followed several bumblebees around the garden and crawled under their wooden porch to find a couple of dozen bumblebees flying around the area under the deck. Bumblebees are usually ground nesters so we suggested to the homeowner that they move the truck, they may have parked it over a bumblebee nest.

Secondly, that they watch where the bumblebees are going in under the porch and ask for exterminator help.

These were definitely not honeybees and they were not swarming.

At least it was a pretty day for a country drive!

Have you noticed bumblebees in your garden?

Charlotte

Beekeeping Help Bounty

Cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from a beekeeping student's garden.

Beekeeping Help Bounty

One of the unexpected bonuses of lending beekeeping students a hand is how they show their appreciation.

In this case, the student was a Mom with a newborn, a 20-month old and an 11-year old at home, a full time job giving her time off to deliver her son, and a first year hive getting over-run by small hive beetles. Small hive beetles are an invasive species from sub-Sahara Africa that can take over even strong hives with their fast-growing larvae sliming honey frames. They look like little black ladybugs.

After texting Lisa recommendations on what to do about the frames with small hive beetle larvae, I headed out to her apiary today to determine if the Italian colony was going to make it.

Turns out she did a good job of removing small hive beetle larvae in her frames, they are now in her freezer. If she can find a queen to add, she may be able to have a bee colony to take into winter.

As I was leaving, she showed me where she would like to add a second hive next to her garden spot. Good location, I said, as I noticed the cucumber and tomato plants nestled in small islands of other greens.

When I was ready to leave, she handed me a bag with three freshly-picked cucumbers and a small bag of cherry tomatoes.

That's a delicious way to say thank you.

After checking Lisa Powell Story's hive to make sure all small hive beetles were under control.

Thank YOU, Lisa!

Charlotte

Following the Bees

Isn't this a sweet little painted bee?

Following the Bees

I had stopped by my bee buddy David's house to return something. Actually I was dropping off a six pack of beer someone at a club had recommended where I had recently lectured. I also had something that belonged to David but returning, and borrowing items from each other, is a regular habit. This was a visit just to bee chat, something we frequently do on each others decks. 

 We have been beekeeping and sharing our adventures, and equipment, for years.  David also happens to love beer so I was pretty confident he would quickly volunteer to give it a taste test. Besides being the darker beer David likes, this beer had a special ingredient - honey.

While waiting for David to come out, I saw several bee hive boxes neatly stacked up in his driveway. I recognized some pieces he had borrowed from me; then next to them, a couple of hive boxes from our mutual bee buddy Cheryl. 

For the record, Cheryl also likes beer.

Hard to miss one of her boxes, she had little bees painted on the side!

This hive box was painted by high school students in a local art class.

The charming paint job was by a local high school student art class. The honeybees are flying over a series of painted flowers, so pretty against the honey brown hive body color.

Yes, bees have colored the way I now see the world. I can't imagine not sharing adventures with wonderful beekeeping friends, brought into my life because I followed the bees.

And the beer?

This beer was available at our local Aldi's store in Rolla, Missouri.

David says the beer is "very good." He likes to follow the honey.

Charlotte

Providing Bees Water

Honeybees land in one of Bluebird Gardens bee baths with rocks and twigs.

Providing Bees Water

The sounds of summer include the sounds of bee wings beating 200 times per second, twice as fast as a hummingbird, as they move around a garden. Bees, like birds, need water to survive. Bees collect water to help cool off the hive as well as to mix to make bee food.

As temperatures in Missouri continue to set new records, making sure bees have a safe source of water is important.

Turn Bird Baths into Bee Baths

One way to provide bees water is to turn bird baths into bee baths. To make a bird bath safe for bees, add rocks and twigs where bees can safely land. Water levels also can be lower than for birds so the water can easily be changed every couple of days.

Make Plant Saucers Into Bee Bars

If you don't have a bird bath, take the saucer from under a pot and add rocks and sticks prior to adding water. Place the saucer away from main traffic paths so bees don't disturb walkers and walkers don't frighten bees and you have a nice bee bar.

Feed Water Inside Hives

One beekeeping friend puts glass jars with water covered by lids with holes inside hives to make sure bees have a ready water source.

Water, Water Everywhere

How are you providing bees water?

However you do it, just make sure your buzzing friends have a good source of water this summer!

Charlotte

Comfortable Salem Swarm

The caller said the swarm was in her backyard tree and sure enough, there it is!

This is a typical swarm size.

2016 was a busy year for swarm calls. Every call had a twist and this one was no different. The lady in Salem, Mo. said she had been ill for the past week and only today looked outside her back door to find a bee swarm in her backyard tree.

As we removed the first bunch of bees, the comb they had built on the branch became apparent. These bees had been in the tree long enough to start building comb.

Comb on fruit tree branches under where the swarm was hanging.

We also found comb built on the back of tree leaves.

Once we scraped the comb off the tree limb, no bees returned to the swarm spot.

Brand new comb being built on the back of leaves.

Bees follow the queen into the hive under the careful watch of my bee buddy David. After we had most of the bees, we sealed up the front, tucked the hive in the back of the car and headed home.

The colony is doing well in its new home so far. 

Charlotte

Happy Mother's Day, girls!

My little nuc welcomes a new Russian queen just in time to celebrate Mother's Day.

It's my last little nuc of spring, or so I keep telling myself. My goal this year was to  have all hives queen-right before the flow AND host two extra queen bees, just in case. Easier said than done.

It's not the bees that were the problem; I had to get my mind around what colony had what queen swarm cells and when they might be hatching, a guess as good as divining with a crystal ball. Or so it seems.

After a number of different combinations, Mother's Day approached with only one nuc being queenless. It was a small number of bees so I was getting ready to combine them with a larger colony when I was able to buy a new Russian queen.

She's in the little white plastic queen tube with several worker bee attendants, waiting for worker bees to help her chew her way out of the sugar tube stopper.

I gave them a little help this morning by removing some of the sugar. After all, it is Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day, girls!

Charlotte

Prospective Beekeeper Gift

One of the beekeeping books I recommend to new beekeepers.

The wife of my step nephew contacted me a few weeks before his birthday. She had bought him a bee hive and wanted to know where to find bees for his birthday gift.

He had never kept bees before so I suggested she instead add a good beekeeping book to his beekeeping gifts first and donated one of my favorites, Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile's The Beekeeper's Handbook, fourth edition.

I picked up a copy from Bluebird Gardens' supply for Rolla Bee Club students and added a card about our next meeting date. Getting to know other beekeepers and learning about local conditions is a critical part of being a successful beekeeper.

Adding a gift tag and Bluebird Gardens gifts label completed the beekeeping book gift-wrapping.

Once gift-wrapped, it was just a matter of adding a gift tag, ribbon and label, and getting it delivered before the birthday candles were lit.

Happy birthday, Nathan!

Charlotte

Peeking Under Hive Lid

Bees eat a sugar patty and festoon under the hive lid at the end of winter.

End of winter is a challenge for most beekeepers, including me. It is so tempting to want to open up the hives to see how the bee colonies in my garden are doing but it is not a good idea. Bees have carefully sealed up their homes in fall and, if opened late winter, they don't have the worker bee numbers, or energy, to reseal their homes.

To make sure my bees don't starve towards the end of winter, I add a two-inch wired shim to the top so I can easily feed them if I think they are running out of food. The shim also gives me an easy way to peek into the hive and see my bees, something I love to do.

On this particular February 2016 sunny day, the girls were festooning, or hanging together under the lid over a sugar patty I had given them earlier. By peeking under the lid I did not break their sealed home and I could easily check to see if they were making it through winter. 

So nice to see them still alive and well!

Charlotte

Swarm Season Starts

My car packed for swarm-catching with both a ten-frame hive and a nuc.

The middle of April used to be tax season for me. Since I started beekeeping, the middle of spring is more importantly swarm season, when bees split off from their mother hive and set off to establish a new colony.

I went on my first call this morning but the bees had moved on. They had chosen a blooming holly tree for their temporary home, a good bee choice since holly has a great deal of pollen. Only issue is that swarms don't collect food when they are on the move; they are waiting for scout bees to come back and communicate they have found a wonderful spot for a new home. While bees wait for that news, they have left their mother hive gorged in honey so not only are they sluggish but they aren't interested in collecting pollen just yet.

Someone contacted me several weeks ago interested in catching a swarm but he didn't have an extra hive, a bee suit or transportation, all three major components needed when swarm-catching.  If you can only focus on one, get a bee suit and be ready for the call. Bees don't wait!

Charlotte

When to Unwrap Bee Hives

Missouri welcomed spring 2016 with a good dusting of snow covering a "sprung" garden.

One of the frequent discussions I have with my beekeeping friends is when to uncover my winterized bee hives. As soon as the weather warms and the sun comes out, both bees, and beekeepers, seem impatient to get a start on the most exciting of seasons for beekeepers. Winter can be a very long wait away from spending time with our bees.

Although I am as impatient as the next beekeeper, I have lived in Missouri long enough to know our weather is precarious at best. Adding our rapidly changing climate to the mix means today it is even harder to have a reliable seasonal weather pattern, and forecast.

As the first day of spring rolled around, I was not among beekeepers taking the winter, quilted plastic wrap off my hives. I was glad I didn't. I woke up the first day of spring to snow blanketing my garden but my girls were warm in their hive homes. 

Sometimes it does pay to wait.

Charlotte

Choosing Hive Paint

There are a number of ways you can get paint for your bee hives. I started by raiding my own leftover paint stash in my garage, where I found a half gallon of white primer paint ready for treating my hive bodies.

My friend David, who has his hives color-coordinated, shared his leftover tester paints available in small jars that will cover 6 deeps or 8 mediums. Each jar cost around $3.

Most paint and hardware stores also have a section with paints customers rejected. Those paint cans usually have a smudge of the paint color on the top and have been marked down for a quick sale.

Whatever paint you use, make sure it's a water-based paint and allow hive bodies to dry for several weeks before using. Even though paint is sold as usable within 24 hours, hives need a little time in the sun to fully dry or you will have more than propolis to try to pry apart when you are moving hive bodies.

If you can't wait, go ahead and use the hives but understand they may stick together because the paint hasn't cured.

Why no, it's not true bee hives have to be painted white. Who told you that?

Charlotte

Midsummer's Night Eve

June 23, 2015 is Midsummer's Night Eve, or St. John's Eve. St. John is the patron saint of beekeepers.

June is also the leading month for U.S. weddings and the month when hives are full of honey. The full moon is called the Mead Moon because fermented honey is made into mead. It's also the basis of the expression "honeymoon."

There's a Swedish proverb that says "Midsummer Night is not long but it sets many cradles rocking."

Charlotte