How to start beekeeping?

First you need to take some classes. Honey bees are sensitive social insects, and the successful management of a beehive requires some knowledge. Bee & Comb offers online classes with different syllabus saturation; however, we recommend our Standard course, where you can learn from A to Z. After taking the course, you can order your bees early in the year to get your bees in springtime. Usually, there are two ways to get the bees – package bees and nucs. We recommend buying nucs. Package bees are just a bunch of bees, they don’t have any nest so that they can be organized. The queen and the brood are the environment for the bees to stay organized. Though package bees have a queen, they are not on combs, don’t have any brood. To get better results later in the season, we recommend nucs, but that doesn’t mean that package bees are always unsuccessful. You need to start with a minimum of 2 hives. In that case, if one hive needs some help (bees, open brood to rear a queen, capped brood), you can provide them from the other hive, or you may confront some difficulties as sourcing healthy brood from other apiaries is not cost-effective and is risky in a health manner. Catching a swarm is another way to have your bees.

What bee supplies do I need to start beekeeping?

You need at least two hives that include a bottom board, a deep box, a medium box, inner cover, lid (preferable telescopic lid for backyard beekeepers). Having two types of bottom boards – solid and screened is ideal, but if the choice is limited, then it is better to get a solid board. Here is why. If you use a solid board in hot summer, especially when bees are “bearding”, you can enhance the hive ventilation by using extra boxes, a quilt box, and making 1 inch diameter holes on the hive bodies. Using the solid bottom board for wintering bees helps them heat their hive efficiently. But if you use only screen bottom boards throughout the year, you will have enhanced ventilation in hot summer but on the other hand your bees will consume more energy in winter to keep the temperature on the level they need in the hive and therefore they will consume more food. The latter accelerates metabolism and bees become physiologically older by dying soon. Most loss of the honey bee colonies occurs in winter, hence, we need to do our best to avoid increasing the loss by creating conducive environment for the bees.

You need a hive tool, ready-to-go frames with beeswax foundation sheets attached, or you can buy the components separately (frames (unassembled/assembled or wired, wire, nails, spur embedders, beeswax foundation sheets) and do the job.
We recommend dual options hive tools, like J-hook, scrapers as besides separating frames in the beehive, you can lift them up as well with the hook.
The next is the smoker. Use stainless steel smokers. For 2-3 hives we recommend a small or medium size smoker. With more than 5 hives, we recommend large smokers for beginners as it takes time for a beginner beekeeper to inspect all the beehives and filling up smoker often is annoying.
For the honey harvest and extraction, you need an uncapping knife/fork, brushes, and an extractor. Use two-raw brushes.
There are manual and electric honey extractors. It’s up to you with which one you feel more comfortable. For backyard beekeepers, we recommend 4-frame honey extractors. Never borrow an extractor from others. You never know if their bees are healthy or not and what diseases you may bring to your bees when using the combs again in the next year.

Do I need to change the queen every year?

You can change the queen every 3rd year if you are not a commercial beekeeper and if you don’t have any other reason to change early. Commercial beekeepers usually supersede the queen each year.

How many times do I need to treat Varroa destructor?

Three times a year if you live in climate with four seasons. For places where the early spring, late autumn and winter are warm enough and you have a good brood, you need to treat Varroa mites more often.

What medications are registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Varroa destructor treatment?

Formic Pro, Apistan, Apivar, Apiguard, Apilife Var, For-Mite, Mite-Away Quick Strips, Hopguard II, Checkmite+ and Oxalic Acid Dehydrate.

Do I need to do a test to know the infestation level of the Varroa destructor before the treatment?

Varroa mites are always in your hives. If the infestation level is low now, that doesn’t mean that it will be the same in a month. It’s not practical to do the test every month. In the spring the mites are mostly (70-90%) on the brood and only 10-30% on the bees, so you can’t get accurate results, and when you get the bothering results later, you may have a good nectar flow and that is not the time you should treat. We recommend doing your treatments without doing a test. You can do the test after the treatment to see how effective your treatment was.

What is the best method to do the test for Varroa mites?

We recommend the alcohol wash. Fill the inner perforated cylinder of your test jar with isopropyl alcohol mixed with water (1:4) or a non-foaming windshield washing fluid until the liquid covers the bottom. Collect a sample of 300 nurse bees from open brood combs. Make sure you don’t take the queen; you can cage her before taking the samples. bees.

Should I treat my colonies prophylactically?

The only treatment that should be prophylactic is for Varroa destructor as it is epidemic and is everywhere. You don’t need to do proactive treatment for other diseases if your bees don’t have that.

How to store honey to avoid fermentation?

Honey is hygroscopic, namely, it absorbs humidity and takes odors in. Keep honey away from the devices that heat around (stove, heating pipes) and from the things that smell around (strong odor condiments, etc.) If the honey is nearby the device that heats around, the water in honey will be condensed on the lid and will drop into the honey by spoiling it within the time. You can keep honey in the room temperature or in refrigerator but if you have a comb honey, we highly recommend keeping it in refrigerator. Comb honey often has wax moth eggs on it and if you leave it at room temperature the moth will spoil the comb within the time.

How can I move hives?

If you are moving your hives at least 1.5 miles away, close the entrance in the late evening when bees stop flying and do the move. If you have multiple hives to move, move them by leaving one hive on site and moving that beehive the next day. This will allow the bees which were in the field to return to this hive.

If you are moving your hives around your backyard, move 1.5 ft daily toward the desired location.

What foundation sheets are better to use, plastic or beeswax?

If you are a backyard beekeeper, we recommend using beeswax sheets foundations. Commercial beekeepers often use plastic foundation sheets as they transport their hives frequently by providing abundant nectar sources or they just feed their colonies. If backyard beekeepers use plastic foundations, they should know that those foundations will work if their location has very good nectar flow for a long time and often it doesn’t, thus, better to use beeswax foundation sheets.

Can I heat honey?

To minimize the quality loss of the honey due to heating, it is recommended to heat honey not more than under 104 F (40 C). The best quality honey is a comb honey.

How can Bee & Comb help beekeepers?

Through our free consultations we can help you start beekeeping. We help beekeepers all over the U.S. Just call us! Beekeepers, who need some help manage their hives effectively, or want to diagnose their bees, we are here to help! Just go to our Diagnostic Service Page for more information. We offer consultations, training, online courses, and cost-effective, high-quality bee supplies. To better assist beekeepers for their bee supply budgeting in a timely manner, we offer AfterPay program at the checkout that allows to pay off within 8 weeks, without any interest charges.

Does the human immune system get resistance against bee venom over the time?

Yes, the human organism can gain immunity against the honey bee venom’s main component – melittin.

Can the human immune system go down against bee venom?

Yes, depending on the organism, the immune system against bee venom can be changed over the time.