Apprentice Beekeeper
Class
• 12:15pm – 2pm (w/break) Fred/Gail Pollard
• After the bees arrive (nucs vs pkg. of bees)
• Installing the bees & queen
• Early care (feeding)
• What to look for
• What you might see (Drawing comb)
• Requeening
Your Start
• Hive
– Accessible by vehicle to transport honey
– Pick a sunny spot with air ventilation
– Avoid heavy wind areas use wind breaks
– Place hive south to east catching early sun
– Place hive 4-6 inches above ground
– Use of standard size equipment allows
interchange between hives (home made?)
Working Bees
• Wear comfortable clothing light color
(PPE)
• Use a smoker (only if needed) with just
enough smoke to control bees
• Temp should be 55 degrees or warmer
• Best time of day between 10am & 4pm
• Move slow and steady as not to trigger
aggressive behavior
Buying Bees
• Types of bees
• Spring Time – Bees arrive mid-April
– One pound of bees is approx 3,500
• Equipment – New or used
• Packages, NUC, or buy used?
• Inspect any winter colony you buy
– Look for diseases
– Weak colonies
– Poor equipment
Types of Bee: CARNOLIANS
• Dark bees with gray or
brown hairs. Native to the
Alps of Europe.
– Large dark bees (good for
cold climates)
– Gentle Bees
– Conserve winter stores
– A little late in spring raising
brood
– Dark bees, makes finding
the queen harder
Types of Bee: CAUCASIAN
• Dark bees with gray
hairs.
– They are gentle
– Long tongues
– Winter well in cold
climates
– Finding the queen is a
challenge
Types of Bee: ITALIANS
This is the most popular bee
in North America. Light
color with bands of brown
to yellow.
– Gentle
– Good producers
– Use less propolis than
some darker breeds
– Their biggest weakness is
that they are prone to rob
and drift
Types of Bee: RUSSIAN
• Due to isolation in
Siberia and a century
of exposure to mites
these bees are hardy
winter and resist
parasitic mites.
– Gentle
– Frugal winter eaters
– Can be aggressive
After the bees arrive
(Nuc vs Package bees)
• When you decide to get bees, you can
obtain your colony in two ways:
– A Nuc, pronounced nuke, is a nuclear hive. It
is four or five frames from a working hive
including a queen.
– Package bees come in a screened cage the
size of a shoebox. There are three pounds of
bees (upwards to 10,500) in the package.
There is a can of sugar syrup in the cage and
a queen in a box.
NUC: 5 frames = small hive
• A nuc comes in a nuc
box. It is usually a
cardboard hive. The
cardboard nuc boxes
cost around $7.
• You can get wooden
nuc boxes for a bit
more.
Nuclear Hive
• A Nuc is 4 or 5 frames from an existing hive.
• It is a colony that had been working well for a time and
the bees know and are related to their queen.
• The frames will contain honey, pollen, eggs and larva.
• The frames were pulled from a working hive.
• This is the nucleus of a hive. If you feed the bees and
keep them happy, they will have a good start
• Some think a NUC will stand a better chance of success
than a package.
Installation of NUC
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Remove 4-5 frames from hive body
Transfer frames from NUC box to hive
Add sugar syrup via feeder
Close hive body to insure the bees stay
and get acquainted with their new home.
• Seal the hive for 3-7 days
Package of Bees
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Screened Wood Box
Can of syrup (1:1)
One Queen in cage
3 lbs of bees /
~10,500 workers
Package
• The bees are grabbed from many existing hives
• The queens are raised separately and may not
be related to the hive.
• Store your package 2-3 days, if necessary
• Empty the package into your hive and let them
get used to the queen.
• If you feed them enough and all goes well, they
will all get along and start a colony.
• In three or four weeks the hive should be
established and start increasing.
Installation of package
Install Package
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Prep - have a cover ready to replace can!
Remove can (hive tool)
Pull queen cage (PREP)
Cover opening
Replace cork with marshmallow
Locate cage in hive
Add bees
Package: Prep Queen Cage
• Wait for queen to
move away from cork
• Pullout cork
• Keep hole covered!
• Add marshmallow
• Workers will eat
marshmallow and
release queen
When you Hive
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Feeding
What to look for
What you might see
Drawing comb
Requeening
Hive Package Bees (pg17)
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Prepare with two hive bodies and a feeder
Remove most of the frames from the top hive body
Add a feeder of your choice
Set the can of syrup drip side down into the space you
made (can rests on the top of the frames)
Place the queen cage w/marshmallow use the metal tab
make a loop, secure to the inside of the hive body
Sprinkle a little syrup onto bees through the side screens
of package
Gently place the package down into the hive body
Close the hive, seal the hive for 3-7 days
To Hive Bees
continued
• After 3-7 days open the front of your hive,
allowing a 1.5 inch opening
• Remove top cover and inner covers
• Inspect the hive, you should be ready to
remove the package box, syrup can and
queen cage…..
• Introduce new frames
Early Care of Hive: Feeding
• Feeding sugar syrup to honey bees helps
ensure that bees survive periods when
honey may run short, such as new hive or
before winter.
• Feeding syrup is also an important way to
ensure bees build up well in spring.
• Bees should never be allowed to run short
of feed. (how long before a bee starts to
starve?)
Feeding Hardware
• External
– Boardman
– Easy to see level
– Refill often
• Internal
– Top Feeder
– Holds large amount of
syrup
– Hard to see level
Feeding Alternatives
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Small Chicken water bottle
Solid patties
Pile of sugar
Humming Bird feeders
Feed the Bees
• Feed the bees as necessary, keep a
constant supply of sugar water.
– Feed until 2-3 frames are full of drawn comb
on the bottom hive body
– Remember Top feeder (pg17)
Drawing Comb
• Bees can make the wax
comb on anything
• Plastic wax foundations
help keep uniformity for
extraction
• Bees build the comb
structure with wax
• Angled comb keeps the
honey inside
• Comb is caped when full
What you should not see!
• Dead or Missing
Bee’s
– What might go
wrong??
– What causes loss
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Lack of water
Hive ventilation
Insects (ants)
They simply left?!
Insecticide Spray
What If’s
• Queen is trapped in cage
– Gently release her into the bottom of the hive and
close the hive ASAP to keep her from flying away
• Queen is missing
– The queen has left the building
• Need a new queen ASAP (Who ya gona call?)
• Queen is dead
– Need a new Queen ASAP
• Add a frame from an older hive, larvae, capped brood,
After 6-7 days
• Check to see if
Queen is laying
– Work carefully use
minimum smoke,
– Queen is usually in the
center of the bee
cluster
• If you see brood
present then you
know the queen is
there
What to look for 3 weeks
• Frames with drawn
out comb
• Caped honey
• Brood (eggs – larva)
• Queen
• Lots of working bees
Requeening
• WHY?
– Sick queen
– Old queen
– Queen is gone?
– Swarming
Looking at your Queen
• How Sick Is The
Queen?
Queen issues
• Sick queen
– Diseases
– Parasites
– Insecticides
• Old Age
– Pheromones, different or low?
• Swarming
– Honey bound
- other?
Queen Cells (two types)
• When; typically just
before nectar flow
• Often supersedure
and swarming take
place at the same
time (inside frame)
– Need to replace
• Swarm cells (edge
of frame)
– Need to leave
Need A Queen??
• Buy a queen
– Online
– Local seller
• Buy a frame (How long before a queen is
raised)
– Local seller
– Brood
– Worker bees
Questions and Answers
Thank You