Keeping Honey Bees

There are great books on beekeeping. There are lots of good websites on beekeeping. There are courses, even online ones from universities.

But there is so much that you miss unless you are out there with someone who knows what they are doing. Bee eggs are a good example. They are tiny, about the size of the comma in this sentence. They are damnably hard to see until you know what you are looking for.

Queens are another example. I have spent hours looking through hives without finding the queen. I then got my buddy Bob to have a look. He's been beekeeping 25+ years and spotted the queen in minutes. And once you know she's there, she's easy to spot.

Once you know what you are doing, she looks very different from the other bees. But until then, she's one bee amongst thousands.

A good course, with hands-on practice in the beeyard, is invaluable. But you need someone more experienced that you can call on.

Besides, beekeeping is addictive and it is great to have someone to talk to. Someone who shares your passion.

This was the first piece of advice I got from my mentor. (Thanks, Bob!)

I bought all my supers and frames from Flying Dutchman in Nanaimo. Everything fit together. Nice.

But in my second year, the bees started swarming. Gordon and I started the year with four hives, lost one to starvation (a topic for later) and promptly zoomed from three colonies to 16 or 18. I can't remember exactly. I was too busy to pay close attention.

The end result was that I was in a panic to get more gear. I borrowed from Gordon and I bought from a different company. I ended up with pieces from three different sources.

And then I found out why Bob said to buy from one manufacturer.

Even though equipment comes in standard sizes, there are still small variations between manufacturers. A difference of a sixteenth of an inch in the width of a frame becomes a difference of nearly an inch when you put 10 of those frames together into one box. I quickly found that my hives didn't fit together neatly.

It wasn't (and isn't) the end of the world. But it sure can be a pain.

Now, what I am talking about here is just the frames and supers. Maybe also the telescoping covers for your hives (that is, the roof).

I bought most of my other equipment from Bees and Glass, another Vancouver Island company that I've had great experiences with. My bee suit, smoker, hive tools, screened bottom boards and a bunch of other things came from there.

I just wish I'd stuck with Flying Dutchman for all my wooden ware.

The typical beehive* is made up of stacked wooden boxes, filled with frames that hang vertically from the upper edge of the boxes. The boxes are called 'supers' and the frames are wooden or plastic guides upon which the bees build their honey comb. OK, none of this is 100% accurate... but close enough for now.

The standard configuration is to have two of these boxes form the brood nest, which is where the queen lays her eggs and the young are raised. These boxes are deeps. That is to say, they are 9 5/8 inches high.

They get darned heavy when full, so most beekeepers use shorter supers (and frames to fit them) for collecting honeycomb. These are mostly mediums or Dadants and are 6 5/8 inches high. Full of honey they weigh 30-40 pounds.

Full deeps are closer to 60 or 70 pounds, which is really heavy when you consider that everything in beekeeping is at exactly the wrong height for your aching back.

Spare yourself! Use only mediums/standards/Dadants for all of your supers and frames. For the brood nest, simply have three supers instead of the usual two deep supers.

This has the added advantage of giving you much more flexibility. Especially in your first swarm season when you suddenly find yourself needing to create new hives to house the swarms that you have allowed to happen.

Now, there may be good reasons to go with deep hive bodies other than tradition and machismo. If so, let's hear about it in the guest book, lads.

You can always move to deeps if you find you need to after your first few years. But the only reason you would is that the old timers are laughing at you and calling you a wimp.

*There are also top bar hives that don't work quite this way. And, of course, feral bees nest in any opening that suits their needs: trees, chimneys, walls, boxes. I've even seen a picture of a colony that moved into an old radiator from a car engine!

When you start beekeeping, you'll find you are having fun. You nurse your charges, care for them, inspect them, and talk to them (yes, you will talk to them).

In exchange, they prosper and expand. Soon enough, they may swarm. If you catch the swarm and put it in a new hive, you will now have TWO hives. You might also get a call about a swarm that has appeared in someone's yard and catch it. Or you may make a split, a process where one colony of bees becomes two.

This can quickly get out of hand.

One colony becomes 2. Two becomes 4. Four becomes 8. Eight becomes 16. Sixteen becomes grounds for divorce.

Don't let this happen to you.

Beekeeping is a meditative undertaking for most enthusiasts. (Commercial beekeepers who are reading this are now falling on the floor laughing, but it is true for the average hobby beekeeper.) The bees are interesting, busy, fascinating, absorbing. Everything takes longer in beekeeping, because you are enjoying taking it all in, at nature's pace, not yours.

But then you have three swarms in three days, when you promised to take the kids camping. And you need to put two different medications into each hive and take off hundreds of pounds of honey when you are supposed to be at the in-laws for the Labour Day barbecue. Or you need to move the hives to better forage, after dark or before first light (or both).

Beekeeping is a lot of work. There is a lot of lifting and hands on work, mostly at just the wrong height for your aching back. A thirty pound box of honey isn't too big a deal for most of us to move. But after you've moved 10 of them, it is a big deal!

Don't expand exponentially. Start with 2 or three hives. Add one or two a season.

Trust me on this one. EVERYONE makes this mistake.

My honey has come in handy lately. It has been one of the hottest items in our preschool's silent auction for the last two years... one of the few things that goes for more than its retail value. Turns out, people like local, they like distinctive taste, and they like to meet the producer.

Honey also makes a great 'thank you'. I've given mine as prizes for small contests at work (such as draw prizes for our United Way campaign). Most recently, a large jar was our way of thanking the couple that found my wife's lost wallet. MUCH more personal (and welcome) than a $20 bill. Though I'd still give cash to a kid...

There has been increasing scientific interest in honey as medicine. Last year, there was the report that thick, dark honey was as effective as over-the-counter cough medicine (in children, at least -- the study didn't look at adults). More recently, a study has found that honey can be used against chronic sinus infections. They are reportedly very hard to treat with conventional antibiotics.

Before you start injecting honey into your sinuses, you might want to wait for a little more research. Some types of honey were deadly against microbes, even antibiotic-resistant ones. Others had no effect at all.

What if you aren't a beekeeper yet?

Go to the local farmers' market and pick up some small jars of honey. Dress them up a bit with ribbon or whatever (I can't wrap a Christmas gift without making it look like it was hit by a bus, so I can't really help you with that part.) Now what makes this special is the local flavour. THAT'S why I recommend going to the farmers' market -- so you can talk with the beekeeper. Find out from them what flowers the nectar came from, when it was harvested, how the bees are doing... anything interesting that adds a little colour to your gift.

A jar of honey off the shelf in a national chain grocery store: NOT very interesting. Not such a great gift idea.

A jar from somewhere local or somewhere exotic, with a bit of human interest attached -- MUCH better!

*Photo: Me, extracting honey for said hostess gifts. Top tips are start with a spotless kitchen. Extract first, strain second. Doing both at the same time is too slow. That's the club extractor I'm using: rental of $5 a day vs $400 bucks to buy it.

Milie was just too cute as a bee for Halloween 2006, her first time trick or treating.

But the beekeeper costumes... sheer brilliance!

First off, they are dead easy. You've already got them ready to go. And, hey, always good to have two jackets in case you want to show someone your bees or get some help from a non-beekeeper. Or if you rip a veil and want to keep working.

Secondly, they hide your face sort of. Just enough to get into the Halloween spirit, not enough to scare the kids.

Thirdly, they're white. Drivers can see you from a mile off. Unlike most everyone else out there. If you get hit by a car, it wasn't by accident!

Umm. Oh, you noticed that did you?

My costume is not exactly 100% authentic. I'm wearing shorts, which is NOT RECOMMENDED for actual beekeeping. I may include it in my "Beekeeping for Masochists" lens, if I ever build one.

I don't think that this is critical advice, as long as you are part of an active club or have a mentor with extra hives.

But it is generally pretty good advice not to start with a single hive. If something goes wrong with that one hive... you could well be out of luck. If you have a backup, you can use it to raise another queen or to reinforce a weak hive or to transfer honey/pollen stores to an underweight hive.

You will also see the natural variation in different colonies, which is an important part of the learning. And you might find that one of your hives is superior to the others, so you can raise queens from the better one and start improving your own stock.

Lastly, beekeeping is such a rewarding pastime. I suspect, though, that most people who stop beekeeping are the ones who lose all their hives in one go. Colonies die... it's normal. But if you only have one, that die out could stop you in your tracks.

On Squidoo

Honey Recipes -- Some of my honey goes into mead and most of it gets eaten on toast. But some people have much grander ideas.

On the web
Basic Beekeeping -- It is hard to beat this site, if you want clear instructions on how to get started in beekeeping. I like their whole approach!

Linda's Bees -- Linda's blog is much more stream-of-consciousness than an organized course like Basic Beekeeping. But it is packed with information, with video, with stories of trials and tribulations. It is a fun read, but the most valuable thing is that Linda is learning as she goes... so the information is perfect for new beekeepers.