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How To Collect Bees

Bee Apiary, Raising Bees for Honey , 0 Comment

As long as you aren’t allergic to bee stings beekeeping is a way for someone who doesn’t have a great deal of money and acres of land to take an active role in agriculture. The start up expense of the average hive is approximately $300 per hive (you only need one to get begin with). Once you have purchased a hive it can be kept in a remote corner of your back yard, it is not uncommon to see some suburban homes with a bee hive.

If you are considering starting a beehive the first thing you should do is call your local Cooperative Extension office. They will be able to tell you if you live in an area that restricts keeping bees. They will also be able to give you the contact information of your states beekeeping organization where you can become a registered beekeeper.

The next thing you need to do is select a site for your potential honey bee hive.

Once you have selected a site for your beehive you will need to go about acquiring the equipment needed to successfully maintain a beehive. Some of the equipment you will need can be purchased used on EBay. If you are unable to find the equipment you need on EBay there are several on-line sites where you can purchase equipment. If you need further assistance finding and purchasing a beehive and other beekeeping equipment call your local Cooperative Extension office or the Federation of American Beekeepers.

Before acquiring bees for your hive it’s important to make sure 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 from an established Apiary. You should plan on placing you bee order early in the winter, the average beekeeper orders their bees in January and February. The order is typically shipped in March and April. Most Apiary’s ship their bees through the U.S. postal service. When the bees arrive at the post office your mail carrier will call and ask that you pick up the bees. Very few mail carriers are comfortable driving all over the county with a car full of young angry bees in their car and most bees are healthier if they don’t have to spend several hours in a hot car.

When you pick up your bees they should 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 outside. This packaging allows air to circulate to the traveling bees and keeps handlers, such as post office employees, from getting stung.

When you get your bees, do not be surprised if you see a few dead bees laying in the bottom of the package. Traveling is hard on bees and they can’t all be expected to live through the trip. The rest of the bees should be clutching the sides of the container.

You will notice that one bee in the container has been separated from the rest of the hive.This is your queen bee. The rest of the bees in the container will make up the rest of your bee hives hierarchy. Some Apiaries ship the queen with a couple of nurse bees. The top of the queen’s container will be covered with piece of sugar candy.

You should also see a container that is filled with a sugar solution. This sugar solution is what the bees feed on while they are traveling. Once you get your bees home offer them something to drink. You do this by taking a spray bottle and covering the container with a very fine covering of water.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/how-to-collect-bees–797423.html

About the Author

To read about bee life cycle and bee hive removal, visit the Bee Facts site.

Beekeeping and Understanding the Bee Hive

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The main aspect of beekeeping has to do with the hives in which the bees are kept.  Over the years beekeepers have improved upon the hives for the bees in order to make honey gathering easier.  The Langstroth hive is the most commonly used in the United States by beekeepers today.  It is what is called a movable frame beehive.  The support structure of the Langstroth hive is a rectangular wooden frame which holds the combs within it.  There are typically nine or ten of these combs inside the frame.  Amazingly, there is no top or bottom of the frame.  The combs hang freely within the frame.  The combs are made of a sheet of wax or plastic foundation.  The bees are able to produce wax and build honeycomb by using the wax sheets as a starting point.  They are then able to deposit honey and pollen into the cells of the comb.  The box is designed to easily be able to remove the frames full of honey to be extracted.

Some hobby beekeepers within the United States are using top-bar hives that are commonly found in Africa.  A top-bar hive has bars across the top of the structure which allows the honey bees attach and hang wax combs from.  Different from the frames that are used in a Langstroth hive, the combs on bars cannot be reused after the honey extraction.  This type of design results in a lower production of honey.  But the honey from the clear yellow combs Produced in a top-bar hive is of the highest quality.  It can be sold as an in-comb honey product.

Regardless of which hive design the beekeeper decides to use, certain aspects of keeping these hives on the property must be considered.  First off, before the beekeeper decides to keep bees on their property they must research the local restrictions to keeping bees found in some areas.  They should also consider the amount of room that is available on their property and the placement of the hive.  The bee hives should not be placed near homes or areas that are used for recreation.  Bees can be bothersome to some people especially those who suffer from bee sting allergies.  The bee hives also needs to be placed near nectar and pollen sources in order to give the bees easy access to a food source.  Some beekeepers use bees solely to pollinate their crops.  The hive should also be placed near a fresh water source.  This can be a natural water source or something that is supplied by the beekeeper.  Another important aspect that should be considered when placing a bee hive on one’s property is predators and vandals.  The hive needs to be protected from natural predators like bears and skunks and from human vandals that might be interested in gathering some free honey.  The hive also needs to be protected from severe weather conditions and it needs to be accessible throughout the year.  Although bees are most active during certain times of the year, beekeeping is a job that lasts throughout every season of the year.

 

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/beekeeping-and-understanding-the-bee-hive-3388874.html

About the Author

Beekeeping is the controlled raising of bees in hive in order to gather honey.  It has a long history and is a wonderful hobby.

Bee Hives for Sale — Excellent Input to Know Prior to Investing in Your Beehive

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If you are new to beekeeping, you are pretty excited to get started with your new hobby. You are anxious to get your own beekeeping kit! You are probably looking for bee hives for sale.

A bee hive is the sanctuary to a colony of bees. Here is where they live, reproduce and go about their daily lives. Obtaining a highly fuctional bee hive is an integral component of beekeeping. Lately, there has been a rise in the number of people who are beginning beekeeping. This is partly due to the ability to create an income from selling the honey bees’ produce — honey, honey combs, beeswax, etc.

I’m sure you will want to make well informed decisions by doing a thorough study about bee hives and beekeeping. By being informed you can save a lot of money.

As you begin studying bee hives for sale, you will learn there are several forms and structures available. Among those that are available are these four brands: Langstroth, Top bar hives, Skeps and Bee gums.

When deciding on a bee hive to use, these are a few elements to investigate: quality of the hive, cost of the hive, and why you have decided to get into beekeeping.

You can find a lot of new bee hives for sale online and perhaps in your local area, (based on where you live). These are usually expensive, depending on the type of bee hive you buy. Prices usually range from approximately $300 USD up.

If funds are tight, you maywant to look for used bee hives for sale. These can be found online. They are being sold by beekeepers who are wishing to change their old beehives. Retiring beekeepers also sell their hives. Used beehives are much cheaper than brand new ones; but still are great for starting beekeepers.

If you are the type of person who is talented enough to and enjoys building items yourself; you might as well build your own bee hive. It is less expensive that way and you can make your hive exactly how you want. You can find books or online articles that will guide you with the creation of your own bee hive.

Beekeeping done the right way has the potiential of being a very good business since you can sell your golden honey, some of your bees, the beeswax, some honey comb and even some of your materials to other people who are just beginning this hobby/business venture.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/bee-hives-for-sale-excellent-input-to-know-prior-to-investing-in-your-beehive-3916784.html

About the Author
Visit here to find out more about beekeeping and bee hives . Take a look at our very informative website and don’t forget to sign up for a FREE e-mail mini course and a FREE e-book about the Essentials of Beekeeping.

Beekeeping Information Overview

Beekeeping Information, Life Cycle of A Bee , , 0 Comment

Have you thought about beekeeping, but just don’t know where to start? Or maybe your neighbors taken up beekeeping, and you have a few questions? Once you understand some basic beekeeping information you understand that beekeeping can be very safe, easy, and quite enjoyable and if you run it as a business, quite profitable.

Beekeeping requires Human Interaction

Do you need to understand that you will have to personally interact with your bees. This is because you’ve taken the bee from its “100% of the work goes to the bee” natural state into a much more controlled “the bee shares the fruits of his labor with the beekeeper” environment.

It is also important to understand that during interaction there is always the possibility of being stung. This is their way of protecting themselves. However, bees do not sting for fun, as a hornet or wasp may do. They generally only sting when they feel threatened.

It is very important to have an anaphylactic injection nearby in case someone is stung that is allergic to bees. A person allergic to bees can have serious reactions, including death. This is not to scare you away from beekeeping; however, it is meant to help you be prepared. Beekeeping requires you to be responsible and prepared at all times.

Beekeeping for a Hobby

Beekeeping can be an interesting hobby where you can learn about their intriguing role in nature. Do you have a passion to learn about the queen bee and how the other bees serve her? Do you have a desire to learn about how bees pollinate and improve the environment? The beehive concept is intriguing in itself. Imagine the bee actually teaching you something about your life. There is so much to learn from bees and how they survive.

Beekeeping as a hobby is not very expensive, doesn’t take much time, and doesn’t require much space. But if you want a lot of honey, you’ll need a larger area and a plentiful supply of flowers within 2 miles of the hive.

Beekeeping truly is a fascinating hobby. Not only can you learn something new each day, but you get to enjoy some tasty honey.

Beekeeping for Business

Beekeeping is a common business for those who intend on selling honey. While this is the common reason people start a beekeeping business, there are many other options available to you for making an income as a beekeeper. Bees have a variety of qualities.

The bees turn the nectar they have collected from nearby flowers into honey and beeswax. Beeswax is used to make the honeycombs where the young bees are raised and also as a place to store extra honey. This beeswax is a secondary product you can sell

Worker bees also produce a substance called Royal Jelly which they eat to produce extra energy. Bees also collect propolis, a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources, that they use as as a sealant in their hive. Propolis is sold by health food storesas a traditional medicine.

Beekeeping Process

The process of beekeeping is simple, yet requires basic knowledge to be successful. Bee hives inhabit three particular types of bees. There is the queen bee, drone bee, and the worker bee. The drone bee will die soon after mating with the queen bee. The worker bee protects the hive and does the majority of the work.

Honey bees pollinate plants to help plants reproduce. This process also helps them obtain the nectar that the bee needs to take back to the hive as a source of food. This is why it is very important to have flowers nearby. As a beekeeper, your job will be to:

– Make or purchase a hive

– Create your first colony

– Regular inspection of your hives

– Keep the bee hives healthy

– Maintain hives

– Handle pests

– Harvest the honey

Also, if you are doing beekeeping is business you’ll need to package, market, and sell the honey.

Tips for Beginner Beekeepers

– Set your hives facing to the East, as bees will use the sun as an alarm clock. Bees work early, and this is the best time to get the pollen and nectar they need.

– Educate your neighbors and family. This is important because people tend to be afraid of bees. Explain how they can improve a neighbor’s flower garden and how they are different from wasps or hornets.

– Buy new equipment. Older used equipment can contain bee diseases. You want to give your bees the best chance so just make sense to buy new apartment.

– When purchasing a bee source, make sure the bees are mite and disease free. It is not recommended that beginners collect and transfer bees from a bee swarm.

– Start in late spring or early summer.

– Wear Personal Protective Equipment or PPE for short, including beekeeping suit, veil, hat and gloves.

– Mand I willake sure there is an adequate supply of water near the hive otherwise bees may stop at your neighbors kidde pool to drink.

– Provide sugar syrup if there’s a lack of flowers or nectar.

– Divide the colony if necessary to prevent overcrowding.

beekeeping can be a rewarding experience if you’re responsible and take the necessary precautions. It can be an enjoyable hobby or even a profitable business for a very long time.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/beekeeping-information-overview-3662455.html

About the Author
Get even more beekeeping information and a 10-lesson beekeeping e-course at http://www.beekeepingstarterguide.com

Apiary Supplies – Langstroth Bee Hive

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Are you serious to expand your beekeeping business? Then, managing an apiary for honey beekeeping is a strategy that is worth to be considered. Building an apiary of your own is quite simple, as I once told you. You can just rent a piece of land that is near to nectar sources to ease your bees to collect nectar.

Other things to consider and to attend to are the temperature of your apiary location where you should consider a place with a maximum temperature that isn’t too hot. Security of your hives as well as the safety of passing people should be taken care. And to avoid the bees leaving the hive, avoid windy places.

Now, let us talk about a beekeeper supply which is most vital to your apiary honey business. The beehive. This is the housing of your little creatures, which are going to work for you to collect nectar and transform it into honey. And talking about bee hives, the name of Langstroth should be taken into consideration.

Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, a Reverend from Philadelphia is the gentleman who invented the movable bee hives which today become the reference and standard of beehive construction all over the world. His invention in 1851 is considered a milestone in beekeeping.

The main advantage is that bees are encouraged to build their honeycombs into movable frames. The design of the frame is such so that the bees are not able to attach wax between frames or to the hive wall. Bees are also disabled to use propolis to cement the frames to the box sides. This movable frames makes it easier for the beekeeper to perform his delicate task, which was impossible in the past time.

The typical Langstroth hive is constructed in such way so that the frames are separated from the surrounding parts of the hive. This includes all walls, the floor, the cover of the hive and other frames. The frames are the spots where the bees build their comb. The Langstroth design has set an exact separation gap of 3/8 inch or 6.35 mm.

Removing a frame from a hive will be much easier since the beekeeper does not need to cut any combs which were the problem in the earlier hive design. Formerly, the beekeeper had to cut the adhered frames to the adjacent structures which were cemented by the bees using propolis. Removing the honeycombs easily provides practicality to a beekeeper to manage multiple hives on a regular basis in a very safe way.

The standard Langstroth hive includes (from top to bottom):

  • A telescoping cover
  • Inner cover
  • One or more supers or hive bodies
  • Queen excluder (optional)
  • 8 – 10 frames of various sizes this include a cell foundation
  • Brood box
  • Bottom board
  • Hive stand

Setting up an apiary with multiple hives is quite an easy task, since there are plenty of beekeeping kits available which include the beehives. You just decide how you are going to expand your business. You can judge this using your past experience of beekeeping. Good luck and great success!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/apiary-supplies-langstroth-bee-hive-3622299.html

About the Author

Uno Birawan is a writer and wrote a lot about beekeeping. You can find the information on Beekeeper Supplies by visiting his site www.TheHoneyBeekeeper.com