Foreword xvii
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 4
Beyond the Book 4
Where to Go from Here 5
Part 1: Taking Flight with Beekeeping 7
Chapter 1: To Bee, or Not to Bee? 9
Discovering the Benefits of Beekeeping 10
Harvesting liquid gold: Honey 11
Bees as pollinators: Their vital role to our food supply 11
Being part of the bigger picture: Save the bees! 13
Getting an education: And passing it on! 13
Improving your health: Bee therapies and stress relief 15
Determining Your Beekeeping Potential 16
Environmental considerations 16
Zoning and legal restrictions 16
Costs and equipment 17
Time and commitment 18
Beekeeper personality traits 18
Allergies 19
Deciding Which Beekeeping Approach to Follow 19
Medicated beekeeping 20
Natural beekeeping 20
Organic beekeeping 21
Combining approaches 21
Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your Honey Bees 23
Basic Body Parts 24
Skeleton 24
Head 25
Thorax 26
Abdomen 27
The Amazing Language of Bees 27
Pheromones 27
Shall we dance? 28
Getting to Know the Male and the Two Female Castes 29
Her majesty, the queen 29
The industrious little worker bee 32
House bees 33
Field bees 36
The woeful drone 37
The Honey Bee Life Cycle 39
Egg 39
Larva 41
Pupa 42
Other Stinging Insects 43
Bumblebee 44
Carpenter bee 44
Mason bee 45
Wasp 45
Yellow jacket 46
Bald-faced hornet 47
Part 2: Starting Your Adventure 49
Chapter 3: Alleviating Apprehensions and Making Decisions 51
Overcoming Sting Phobia 52
Knowing what to do if you’re stung 53
Watching for allergic reactions 54
Building up a tolerance 54
Understanding Local Laws and Ordinances 55
Easing the Minds of Family and Neighbors 55
Location, Location, Location: Where to Keep Your Hives 57
Knowing what makes a perfect bee yard 57
Urban considerations 59
Understanding the correlation between geographical area and honey flavors 64
Knowing When to Start Your Adventure 64
Chapter 4: Selecting a Hive That’s Perfect for You 67
The Langstroth Hive 68
The Kenyan Top Bar Hive 70
The Apimaye Insulated Hive 73
The Flow Hive 75
The Warre (People’s) Hive 78
The Five-Frame Nuc Hive 81
The Observation Hive 83
Make a Beeline to the Best Beehive 86
Hives for harvesting honey 87
Hives for pollinating your garden 87
A hive for learning and teaching 88
Chapter 5: Basic Equipment for Beekeepers 91
Starting Out with the Langstroth Hive 92
Knowing the Basic Woodenware Parts of the Langstroth Hive 92
Hive stand 93
Bottom board 93
Entrance reducer 95
Deep-hive body 96
Queen excluder 97
Shallow or medium honey super 98
Frames 100
Foundation 103
Inner cover 106
Outer cover 106
Knowing the Basic Parts of a Top Bar Hive 108
The top bar 108
Everything else 109
Ordering Hive Parts 110
Startup hive kits 110
Setting up shop 111
Adding on Feeders 112
Hive-top feeder 112
Entrance feeder 114
Pail feeder 115
Baggie feeder 116
Frame feeder 117
Top Bar hive feeders 118
Fundamental Tools 118
Smoker 119
Hive tool and frame lifter 119
Bee-Proof Clothing 120
Veils 120
Gloves 122
Really Helpful Accessories 123
Elevated hive stand 123
Frame rest 125
Bee brush 125
Slatted rack 126
Screened bottom board 126
Beekeeper’s toolbox 128
Chapter 6: Obtaining and Installing Your Bees 131
Determining the Kind of Bee You Want 132
Deciding How to Obtain Your Initial Bee Colony 135
Ordering package bees 135
Buying a “nuc” colony 136
Purchasing an established colony 138
Capturing a wild swarm of bees 138
Picking a Reputable Bee Supplier 139
Deciding When to Place Your Order 141
The Day Your Girls Arrive 142
Bringing home your bees 142
Recipe for sugar syrup 143
Putting Your Bees into the Hive 144
Hiving steps for Langstroth type hives and Steps 1–7 for Top Bar hives 144
Hiving Steps 8–14 for Top Bar hives 150
Watching your bees come and go from their new home 151
Part 3: Time for a Peek 153
Chapter 7: Opening Your Hive 155
Establishing Visiting Hours 156
Setting an Inspection Schedule 156
Preparing to Visit Your Langstroth or Top Bar Hive 157
Making “non-scents” a part of personal hygiene 157
Getting dressed up and ready to go 158
Lighting Your Smoker 159
Opening a Langstroth Hive 161
Removing the hive-top feeder 164
Removing the inner cover 165
Opening a Top Bar Hive 166
The Hive’s Open! Now What? 168
Chapter 8: What to Expect When You’re Inspecting 169
Keeping a Journal 170
Inspecting a Langstroth Hive 171
Removing the first frame of your Langstroth hive 171
Working your way through the Langstroth hive 173
Holding up frames for inspection 174
Knowing when it’s time for more smoke 175
Replacing Langstroth frames 175
Closing the Langstroth hive 176
Inspecting a Top Bar Hive 177
Working your way through the Top Bar hive 177
Top Bar comb management 179
Looking into Top Bar cells 180
Replacing the top bars and closing the hive 181
Understanding What to Always Look For 181
Checking for your queen 181
Storing food; raising brood 182
Inspecting the brood pattern 182
Recognizing foodstuffs 183
Your New Colony’s First Eight Weeks 183
Checking in: A week after hiving your bees 183
The second and third weeks 186
Weeks four through eight 188
Chapter 9: Different Seasons, Different Activities 193
Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer 194
Your summer to-do list 195
Your summertime commitment 195
Falling Leaves Point to Autumn Chores 196
Your autumn to-do list 196
Your autumn time commitment 200
Clustering in a Winter Wonderland 201
Your winter to-do list 202
Your wintertime commitment 203
Spring is in the Air (Starting Your Second Season) 203
Your spring to-do list 204
Your springtime commitment 205
Administering spring medication 205
Reversing hive bodies 207
Managing Top Bar Hives in the Spring 208
Finding the cluster 208
Preventing the urge to swarm 209
Expanding the brood nest 209
The Beekeeper’s Calendar 210
Part 4: Common Problems and Simple Solutions 213
Chapter 10: Anticipating and Preventing Potential Problems 215
Running Away (to Join the Circus?) 216
Swarming 216
Absconding 227
Where Did the Queen Go? 227
Letting nature take its course 228
Ordering a replacement queen 228
Introducing a new queen to the hive 229
Avoiding Chilled Brood 230
Dealing with the Dreaded Robbing Frenzies 231
Knowing the difference between normal and abnormal (robbing) behavior 231
Putting a stop to a robbing attack 232
Preventing robbing in the first place 232
Ridding Your Hive of the Laying Worker Phenomenon 234
How to know if you have laying workers 234
Getting rid of laying workers 235
Preventing Pesticide Poisoning 237
The “Killer Bee” Phenomenon 237
What are “killer bees”? 238
Bee prepared! 239
Chapter 11: Colony Collapse Disorder 241
What is CCD? 242
What to Do If You Suspect CCD 243
Why All the Fuss? 243
What’s Causing CCD? 244
The cellphone theory 244
It may be the perfect storm 244
Answers to FAQs 248
What You Can Do to Help 248
Chapter 12: Keeping Your Bees Healthy 251
Understanding the Importance of Good Nutrition 252
What bees eat 252
The need for good gut health 253
Taking steps to ensure good nutrition 253
Medicating or Not? 254
Knowing the Big-Six Bee Diseases 254
American foulbrood (AFB) 255
European foulbrood (EFB) 256
Chalkbrood 257
Sacbrood 258
Stonebrood 258
Nosema 259
A handy chart 260
Chapter 13: Heading Off Honey-Bee Pests 263
Parasitic Problems 263
Varroa mites 264
Tracheal mites 271
Zombie (Phonid) flies 276
Other Unwelcome Pests 276
Wax moths 277
Small hive beetle 278
Ants, ants, and more ants 279
Bear alert! 280
Raccoons and skunks 281
Keeping out Mrs Mouse 282
Some birds have a taste for bees 283
Pest Control at a Glance 283
Chapter 14: Raising Your Own Queens 285
Why Raising Queens is the Bee’s Knees 286
Understanding Genetics 287
Dominant and recessive genes 287
Inbreeding versus outcrossing 288
Accentuate the positive 289
What Makes a Queen a Queen 291
Talking about the Birds and Bees for Honey Bees 292
Creating Demand: Making a Queenless Nuc 293
Queen-Rearing Method 1: Go with the Flow 294
If the queen cells are capped 294
If the queen cells are open 294
Mind the timeline 295
Queen-Rearing Method 2: The Miller Method 296
Queen-Rearing Method 3: The Doolittle Method, also Known as Grafting 298
Tools and equipment 298
How it’s done 301
Providing nuptial housing 303
Finding Homes for Your Queens 304
Evaluating the Results 305
The Queen Rearer’s Calendar 306
Marking Your Queens 307
Part 5: Sweet Rewards 309
Chapter 15: Honey, I Love You 311
Appreciating the History of Honey 311
Understanding the Composition of Honey 313
Healing with Honey 314
Honey and diabetes 314
Honey’s nutritional value 315
Honey and children 315
Choosing Extracted, Comb, Chunk, or Whipped Honey 315
Extracted honey 316
Comb honey 317
Chunk honey 317
Whipped honey 317
Honeydew honey 318
Taking the Terror out of Terroir 318
Customizing your honey 319
Honey from around the world 320
The Commercialization of Honey 324
Is it the real deal? 324
Raw versus regular honey 325
Organic or not? 325
Your own honey is the best 325
Appreciating the Culinary Side of Honey 326
The nose knows 326
Practice makes perfect 327
Recognizing defects in honey 328
Pairing Honey with Food 328
Infusing Honey with Flavors 329
Judging Honey 329
Honey Trivia 330
Chapter 16: Getting Ready for the Golden Harvest 333
Having Realistic Expectations 334
What Flavor Do You Want? 334
Assembling the Right Equipment to Extract Honey 335
Honey extractors 335
Uncapping knife 336
Honey strainer 336
Other handy gadgets for extracting honey 337
Honey containers 340
Planning Your Extracted Honey Harvest Setup 340
Gathering Comb Honey Equipment 342
Section comb cartridges 342
Cut comb 342
Branding and Selling Your Honey 342
Creating an attractive label 343
Finding places to market your honey 346
Selling your honey on the web 346
Chapter 17: Honey Harvest Day 347
Knowing When to Harvest 348
Bad things come to those who wait! 349
A few pointers to keep in mind when harvesting liquid gold 350
Getting the Bees out of the Honey Supers 351
Shakin’ ’em out 352
Blowin’ ’em out 353
Using a bee escape board 353
Fume board and bee repellent 354
Honey Extraction from a Langstroth Frame 356
Harvesting honey using an extractor 357
Cleaning frames after extracting 359
Harvesting Honey from Your Top Bar Hive 360
Selecting the comb to harvest 360
Getting the bees off Top Bar comb 362
Harvesting using the crush-and-strain method 362
Harvesting honey using a honey press 363
Harvesting cut-comb honey 365
Harvesting Wax 365
Part 6: The Part of Tens 367
Chapter 18: More than Ten Fun Things to Do with Bees 369
Making Two Langstroth Hives from One 369
Making One Langstroth Hive from Two 371
Dividing a Top Bar Hive into Two Colonies 373
Combining Two Top Bar Hive Colonies 375
Building an Elevated Hive Stand 376
Building materials list 377
Cut list 377
Planting Flowers for Your Bees 378
Asters (aster/callistephus) 379
Bachelor’s buttons (Centaurea) 380
Bee balm (Monarda) 380
Hyssop (Agastache) 380
Malva (Malvaceae) 381
Mint (Mentha) 381
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum minus) 381
Poppy (Papaver/Eschscholzia) 381
Salvia (Salvia/farinacea-strata/ splendens/officinalis) 382
Sunflowers (Helianthus/Tithonia) 382
Brewing Mead: The Nectar of the Gods 382
Create Cool Stuff with Propolis 385
Propolis tincture 386
Propolis ointment 386
Propolis varnish 387
Making Gifts from Beeswax 387
Beeswax candles 388
Beeswax furniture polish 389
Beauty and the Bees 389
Use your cappings 390
Equipment 390
The recipes 391
Packaging and labeling 396
Chapter 19: More than Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Bee Behavior 397
Chapter 20: My Ten Favorite Honey Recipes 403
Honey Curry Vegetable Dip 405
Golden Cornbread 406
Honey Picante Chicken Wings 407
Apricot Honey Bread 408
Asian Honey-Tea Grilled Prawns 409
Broiled Scallops with Honey-Lime Marinade 410
A Honey of a Chili 411
Beef and Potato Tzimmes 412
Chewy Honey Oatmeal Cookies 413
Apple Honey Tart 414
Part 7: Appendixes 415
Appendix A: Helpful Resources 417
Honey Bee Information Websites 417
Apiservices — Virtual beekeeping gallery 417
The Barefoot Beekeeper 418
Beemaster Forum 418
Bee-Source.com 418
Facebook — Top Bar Beekeeping 418
Honey Bee Health Coalition 418
Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAARAC) 419
National Honey Board 419
Bee Organizations and Conferences 419
The American Apitherapy Society Inc 420
American Beekeeping Federation 420
American Honey Producers 420
Apiary Inspectors of America 420
Apimondia: International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations 421
Eastern Apiculture Society 421
Heartland Apicultural Society Inc 422
International Bee Research Association 422
USDA Agricultural Research Service 422
The Western Apiculture Society 423
Bee Journals and Magazines 423
American Bee Journal 423
Bee Culture 424
Bee World 425
Beekeeping Supplies and Equipment 425
Apimaye Insulated Hives 425
Barnyard Bees 426
Bastin Bees 426
Bee-commerce.com 427
BeeInventive 427
Bee Vital 428
Betterbee 428
Blue Sky Bee Supply 428
Dadant & Sons, Inc 429
Glorybee Inc 429
Healthy Bee 430
Hive Butler 430
Hive Tracks 430
Hungry Bear Farms 431
Kelley Beekeeping 431
Mann Lake 431
Miller Bee Supply 432
Oliverez 432
Pierco 433
Pigeon Mountain Trading Company 433
Rossman Apiaries 433
Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies 434
Swienty Beekeeping Equipment (EU) 434
Thorne Beekeeping Supply (UK) 435
Western Bee Supplies 435
State Bee Inspectors (United States) 436
Appendix B: Beekeeper’s Checklist 437
Appendix C: Glossary 441
Index 449
