Managing Bees

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Managing Bees

• 5
• Presented
• By
• The Ohio State Beekeepers Association

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Managing Bees

• Up to this point
• We have discussed topics related to honey bees
  including starting a hive from a swarm or package
  of bees.
• Now we are going to look at managing an
  established hive of bees.
• This is a nice bee yard with a bench to watch the
  bees and relax.

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Beekeeping
Management of of honey bees Honey bees lived just
fine until man came along and began to capture
them. This is called keeping bees and managing
them. In the wild they are just wild feral bees.
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Managing Bees

• Where a hive/ hives should be located.
• Some general rules
• Your honey bees should not become a nuisances to
  your neighbors! If they do, you will face
  problems with their complaints.
• It is often recommended that a hive of bees face
  toward the sun and away from prevailing winds.
• It should be located within a short flying
  distance to a water source.
• It should be protected from the heat of the sun
  during summer months. However, deep shade is not
  necessary.
• Easy access to the hives.

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Good Neighbor Guidelines

• Being a good neighbor is not building fences as
  Robert Frost once put it.  As a beekeeper our
  bees don't get fenced in.   I always recommend
  common sense.
• 1.   Place your colonies of bees away from lot
  lines and occupied buildings.  If near buildings,
  place colonies away from used entrances and lines
  of traffic.  Colonies should be in full sun if
  possible.
• 2.  If your colonies are near the line, erect a
  six foot barricade between the bees and the
  line.  Use anything bees will not pass through
  dense shrubs, fencing, etc.   An alternate
  solution may be to place the hives on a roof. 
  Anytime bees are flying close to the ground and
  across the property line of a neighbor, there are
  potential problems.
• 3.  Bees may be annoying at their water source. 
  If you do not live within 500 feet of a natural
  water source, or if you live near a swimming
  pool, place a tub of water in your apiary with
  wood floats in it.  This is to allow the bees to
  drink without drowning.  Change the water weekly
  to prevent stagnation and mosquito breeding.

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Good Neighbor Guidelines

• 4.  Minimize robbing by bees, since those which
  are being robbed become very aggressive.  To
  accomplish this, work your bees only during a
  nectar flow, keep exposed honey to a minimum, and
  use entrance reducers on weak colonies.
• 5.  Try to prevent swarming.  Though gentle,
  swarms are a nuisance.
• 6.  Do not keep more than three or four beehives
  on a lot less than one-half acre.  If more
  colonies are desired, find a nearby farmer who
  will allow you to keep your hives on his land in
  exchange for some honey.
• 7.  Do not work your beehives when close
  neighbors are in their yards.
• 8.  If you have a mean colony that may bother
  neighbors when you are working it, re-queen it.
• 9.  A pound or two of free honey each year to
  neighbors bordering on your property often makes
  bees much more acceptable to them.
• 10.  Please remember  the successful beekeepers'
  bees are not a nuisance to his neighbors.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• First, make sure all is ready.  Do you have your
  hive tool?  Is the smoker going? What about
  neighbors? Children?
• Approach the hive from the side if possible.  Do
  not stand in front of the entrance.  If you do,
  you will notice a crowd of bees in a holding
  pattern behind you.
• Use your hive tool to remove the top cover.  I
  like to lay the top cover on the ground next to
  the hive with the bottom side up.  Blow a little
  smoke toward the entrance.  Notice that I said a
  little smoke.  You don't need a lot.
• Next remove the inner cover.  Bee have a tendency
  to glue this down to the inner side of the hive
  with propolis, so you may have to pry the inner
  cover off.  Keep your smoker handy.
• Once the inner cover is off the top bars of the
  frames in the top box (super) are exposed.  Bees
  will start to migrate toward the disturbance and
  you will notice them coming up between the top
  bars.  You can apply a little smoke to calm them
  down.  A few may become air borne and fly about
  you.  Ignore them.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• What you will see
• When the hive is opened the bees will investigate
  and begin coming to the top of the frames.
• If the hive is very strong, the entire top will
  be covered with bees.
• This is the time to use a gentle blast of smoke
  directly to where the bees are coming up.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• Smoke is a great help in controlling honey bees.
  However, dont use too much.
• Good fuel to use in your smoker..
• Wood shavings
• Burlap
• Pulk wood (decaying wood easy found in dead
  trees.
• Pine needles

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• Work your hive from the side and not the front of
  the hive.
• A few puffs at the entrance and a little on the
  top bars is enough.
• Too much smoke will cause the bees to begin to
  run out of the hive.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• Move slowly when working the bees. Fast rapid
  movement causes the bees to react to your
  actions.
• Work bees during the mid day in good weather.
• If the hive becomes uncontrollable, close the
  hive and wait for a better time of day.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• Your hive tool is used to pry off the top cover,
  inner cover and separate the hive bodies. It is
  used most often to get frames out of hive bodies.
• The hive tool is held in the hand ready for use.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• What should we be looking for when we begin to
  work the hive?
• First, a beekeepers job is to do the least
  amount of damage to the bees.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• It is not necessary to find the queen each time
  we open the hive!
• We can tell that she is present if you can see
  eggs in cells.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• A hive should not be open any longer than
  necessary to do an inspection.
• An inspection consist of looking for things that
  are not normal within a hive of bees. As you
  gain experience, this will become easier. Hold
  the frame so that the sun is reaching the frame
  from over your shoulder.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• You should see
• A good population of honey bees.
• Eggs, larva, and capped brood.
• Honey and pollen.
• Hopefully you will not see
• Varroa mite that might be on bees.
• Queen cells?
• Other things in the hive such as mice, yellow
  jackets, wax moths, etc.
• We are going to look at each of these.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• What is a good population of bees?
• If the bees are covering the brood areas of the
  hive in spring, this is a good sign. At this
  time of year, there may be only four or five
  frames of bees.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• Later in the season, you will expect to find bees
  in all parts of the hive.
• At times they may even cluster on the front of
  the hive.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• If you see a large population of bees in your
  hive, you should be looking for queen cells which
  indicate your hive may be about to swarm.
• A large swarm like this will reduce the number of
  bees in your hive. Would you rather have bees
  hanging in a tree or gathering honey?

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• What to do if the population is large?
• Add honey supers and check for swarm queen cells!
• Can you see the difference between these two
  hives?

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• Honey and Pollen?
• Cells with pollen
• A hive needs food to survive during all times
  during the year. It is critical during times of
  brood rearing.

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Beekeeping

• Honey on the hive
• If you have managed your hive well and they
  gathered some honey for you fine. But leave
  enough for the bees to survive the winter season!

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• What you should not be seeing.
• What happens if you see no eggs, larva, and some
  capped brood! You do see what looks like queen
  cells that have hatched.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• You most likely have a hive with a virgin queen.
• What do you do?
• Nothing, just wait until almost all the brood has
  emerged. About that time the virgin queen will
  be mated and start laying eggs. Look for eggs and
  signs the hive has a new queen.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• All brood emerges and you find no evidence of any
  egg laying in the hive.
• What do you do?
• Order a new queen. Install her in the hive.
  This hive should have a strong population of bees
  but with no brood, it may develop a laying worker
  and eventually die out.
• If you see a frame like this, then you can say, I
  have a new queen or my new queen was accepted.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• What you should not be seeing.
• Honey bees are subject to various diseases. The
  worst is American Foulbrood.
• Note the frame shown. The brood pattern is what
  is called shotgun pattern.
• Also note that some cells have holes in them.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• American Foulbrood
• This is a disease that is spread by the beekeeper
  and by robbing bees. Therefore, you should
  always work your bees with a very clean hive tool
  and avoid moving frames from a hive with AFB into
  other hives.
• How to detect
• The larva dies just as it is to pupate. The
  larva melts into a brownish glue like substance.
  It will rope-- that is stick to and rope from ½
  to 1 inch from the cell when a stick is placed
  into the cell and pulled out.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• American Foulbrood
• Every beekeeper should recognize this disease.
• In Ohio, the beekeeper is faced with two choices
• Treat the hive with approved chemicals. Tylan or
  Terramycin are available.
• Burn the frames, and bees. The wooden ware such
  as hive bodies, bottom board, inner cover, top
  cover can be scorched to kill the spores. Other
  treatments can be used as well.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• Queen Cells in a hive
• If you see this then you have some management
  issues to deal with.
• The bees are raising queens. These cells are
  located near the bottom bar of frames. They are
  most likely swarm cells.
• The cells are located on the face of the comb
  higher up. Brood on the comb is spotty.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• What you should not be seeing.
• Grass, leaves, or other such things in the hive.
• Or
• A patch of bare ground in front of the entrance
  to the hive.

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Management of a colony of honey bees

• What you should not be seeing.
• Yellow jackets
• Wax Moths
• Varroa mites

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Management for Beginning Beekeepers

• This has been a quick survey of some of the
  things you may deal with in your first year of
  beekeeping.
• The next set of slides will cover
• Spring management feeding, requeening, splits,
  adding honey supers, etc.
• Summer management Nectar sources, Disease
  control and identification, honey harvest, etc.
• Fall management -- Treating for diseases,
  getting hives ready for winter, etc.
• Each subject will be treated individually..

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Management for Beginning Beekeepers

• Finis