Here is a list of information for a beginning beekeeper:
Buy at least two reference books: 1) First Lessons in Beekeeping by Keith S. DeLaplane available through Dadant.com for about $7.50 and 2) The Beekeeper's Handbook by Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile for about $30 from many online sources.
The above suggested reference books are How-To guides. If you want beekeeping broken down even more, purchase Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston. Finally, an encyclopeida of beekeeping is found with the compact but hefty: The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture for about $50.
These four books form your core beekeeping library. Read them, re-read them and then read them again. Once you have absorbed the knowledge, you will realize that beekeeping can be done a hundred different ways within these guidelines.
Buy new hives. There are some unethical beekeepers who will offer their diseased hives for sale. DO NOT BUY USED HIVES unless you know the person and/or there are multiple beekeepers who will vouch for the beekeeper's integrity and honesty. Nothing is worse than bringing home another bee yards problems. New hives run about $170.00 and can be purchased fully assembled and ready to place in the bee yard. Once you begin to be more knowledgeable, you can buy parts, assemble the hives and frames yourself or even make your own. But please do not do any of this until you have experience under your belt.
Mark and register your hives. In Alabama, every beekeeper is required to register their hive(s) with the State of Alabama. You will need to determine a mark for your hives and mark every single component of the hive. Going back to the previous bullet, there are unethical beekeepers who will steal hives. It is a long shot to recover your hive because it can be identified with your mark but without a mark, you can guarantee it cannot be traced back to you.
Buy quality package bees with a queen. I prefer the American bees with the super hygenic queens from R. Weaver Apiaries in Texas. A package with the queen runs about $115. Your package for next spring needs to be ordered no later than November 1st of the current year. First dibs on the available packages go to long-standing orders from commercial beekeepers. Once those orders are filled, the hobbyist/new beekeepers orders are filled. Expect your package around mid-April (earliest) to mid-May (latest). No one can guarantee when the packages will ship. These are living animals who produce as they see fit. All types of problems can prevent your bees from shipping. Be ready to install them within 24 hours of receipt into the hive. Plan on feeding them throughout the spring, summer, fall and winter until the next honey flow at the end of the following winter.
You will kill a hive through stupidity or unintentional neglect. It will happen. You learn and move on.
Have a hive tracking system. Use a notebook or an on-line software tool such as Hive Tracks, which is free. You want to know the condition of the hive every time you open it. You will want to know when you last treated for tracheal mites or varroa mites or hive beetles. You will want to track how much comb/brood you see and the general condition of the hive.
Plan on harvesting honey on the hottest day of the year - in a full beekeeper's suit with veil. You will sweat, it is work, get in and out of the hive as quickly as possible. The honey needs to be extracted from the frames as quickly as possible due to hive beetles, moths and a host of other problem insects that will slime your honey comb.
Lastly, you will be stung. Again and again depending on the length of time you have the hive open and in various locations. The bees can get up your sleeves or pants legs if you have not secured them closed. They love inside your fingers. It does hurt. For most people, it is not a major event. "Oh, I've been stung", is what you think and you continue working the hive. It swells, it itches, you get the stinger out and you move on. Remember you are invading their home; what would your reaction be if someone invaded your home?
I encourage young people to pursue a beekeeping hobby. When I attend these state meetings, I see an age range of 45 - 75. I want to see more young people. Yes, it takes time to be a beekeeper: about one half hour a week per hive. More in the summertime when one harvests the honey. You can keep bees anywhere there is at least a ten foot clearance for the bees to get out of the hive and fly up and off to find pollen and nectar. Garden balcony, rooftop, back yards are some of the locations a beehive can be set up. If you have gardens nearby, your yield will increase dramatically due to the bees.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Fall 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Varroa Mites and Hive Beetles and the Alabama Beekeepers Association Annual Meeting
I am processing a varroa mite count in my hive to determine whether this honeybee pest is at a level that poses a danger to the health of the hive. I do this by placing a sticky board under the screened bottom board and count how many mites fall onto it after 24 hours.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090701.htm
Once the results are known, standard beekeeping practice is to treat the hive. However, one beekeeper says hogwash. Even if the count is 50 mites or less (the number where treatment is not recommended), a hive could still have a significant number of mites that are larvae stage in the drone cells. He recommends an entirely different method for determining the number of mites:
Varroa Mites
I like the photography method and plan on trying it before making any treatment decisions. Of course, the best treatment is to have a strong hygienic queen bee, which the American bees are known to be, and letting the bees take care of the mites.
I did have hive beetles when I opened my hive yesterday. Another pest, #@!!!#. It is not the adult hive beetle that is the problem, it is the larvae that they lay in the honeybees cell that can destroy the hive. The treatment for this is to eliminate as many hive beetles as possible. But the traps vary in ease of management as well as effectiveness. I think I want this type of beetle trap - it is reusable and seems very effective.
Hive Beetle Treatment and Trap
Finally, the Alabama Beekeepers Association Annual Meeting is next weekend in Montgomery AL. My oldest daughter, who is currently living in Japan, will be home visiting and attending the meeting with me. I'm taking time to enjoy her visit plus learn more about honeybee hive management. I have also signed up to become a certified beekeeper by taking the first step: Apprentice Beekeeper. There are four steps:
1) Must be a registered beekeeper in Alabama and their hives must be registered with the Alabama Dept of Agriculture and Industries. Beekeeping is a highly regulated industry - with reason - it is a food product. You cannot keep hives with registering them with the state. It costs all of $10 to register.
2) Must own at least one colony of honey bees for at least one year before taking the exams. My hive was started in May this year. I'm well on my way.
3) Must score a 70% or higher on a written exam: there is a reading list, beekeeping classes, materials provided for reference.
4) Must score a 70% or higher on a practical exam by: describing the physical parts of the beehive, igniting and properly using a smoker, recognizing the various stages of brood, differentiating castes and honey cells, describing the layout of the brood nest (placement of honey, pollen, brood), recognizing propolis and its functions.
After I complete the Apprentice Beekeeper certification, then I am to move to the next level of certification. The culmination of several years of study and practice results in Master Beekeeper certification.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090701.htm
Once the results are known, standard beekeeping practice is to treat the hive. However, one beekeeper says hogwash. Even if the count is 50 mites or less (the number where treatment is not recommended), a hive could still have a significant number of mites that are larvae stage in the drone cells. He recommends an entirely different method for determining the number of mites:
Varroa Mites
I like the photography method and plan on trying it before making any treatment decisions. Of course, the best treatment is to have a strong hygienic queen bee, which the American bees are known to be, and letting the bees take care of the mites.
I did have hive beetles when I opened my hive yesterday. Another pest, #@!!!#. It is not the adult hive beetle that is the problem, it is the larvae that they lay in the honeybees cell that can destroy the hive. The treatment for this is to eliminate as many hive beetles as possible. But the traps vary in ease of management as well as effectiveness. I think I want this type of beetle trap - it is reusable and seems very effective.
Hive Beetle Treatment and Trap
Finally, the Alabama Beekeepers Association Annual Meeting is next weekend in Montgomery AL. My oldest daughter, who is currently living in Japan, will be home visiting and attending the meeting with me. I'm taking time to enjoy her visit plus learn more about honeybee hive management. I have also signed up to become a certified beekeeper by taking the first step: Apprentice Beekeeper. There are four steps:
1) Must be a registered beekeeper in Alabama and their hives must be registered with the Alabama Dept of Agriculture and Industries. Beekeeping is a highly regulated industry - with reason - it is a food product. You cannot keep hives with registering them with the state. It costs all of $10 to register.
2) Must own at least one colony of honey bees for at least one year before taking the exams. My hive was started in May this year. I'm well on my way.
3) Must score a 70% or higher on a written exam: there is a reading list, beekeeping classes, materials provided for reference.
4) Must score a 70% or higher on a practical exam by: describing the physical parts of the beehive, igniting and properly using a smoker, recognizing the various stages of brood, differentiating castes and honey cells, describing the layout of the brood nest (placement of honey, pollen, brood), recognizing propolis and its functions.
After I complete the Apprentice Beekeeper certification, then I am to move to the next level of certification. The culmination of several years of study and practice results in Master Beekeeper certification.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Fall Cornucopia of Sacred Music
One of my passions is music. When I was small, music was the one thing that spoke truly to me. It was one reason why I so enjoyed Church. There was the rhythm, the words and the flow of heavenly sounds melting together whenever I went to Church. To this day, it speaks to me and tells me that there is beauty on heaven and earth created by God for us to enjoy.
If I could do one thing over in my life, it would be to study music in college and pursue a musical career like music therapy or music education plus my farming. It is always one of my life's regrets that I did not. When we were testing for careers in high school, I tested highly into music therapy. It was a new career field. When I mentioned it to my parents, they were highly amused. My Step-Mom thought it was funny because she didn't like me to sing. I had a "bad" voice. That comment was a major hang-up for me for years! My voice was bad?
But since everything was a struggle at that time between my Step-Mom and me, I didn't press (whine) to be allowed to go into the band. I did elect to study business in college. I wanted to be better situated in life than my parents. I didn't want the constant money fights.
Now I encourage every student to study a band instrument because I missed that opportunity. Should have, could have, would have, if only, whateva', right? Get over it, I tried, I truly tried. But life has a way of leading you back to where you should be.
How many times have I dreamed of teaching a little boy or girl their first Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano, guiding their little fingers to play the melody. Or helping a person recovering from a stroke enjoy a moment of music again. Music is healing, it is the universal language. I don't need to understand Chinese when a Chinese person plays a beautiful Mozart piece.
I remember my cousins had a gospel music family quartet that toured to the different churches on weekends and I always thought that was so great. What a great way to earn extra money as a family.
Over the years, whenever my kids took music lessons, I did too. I learned to play the flute as my daughter learned to play the french horn. I took piano lessons as an adult. When my daughter joined the Church Choir at 15, I did too. I had to be there anyway because she couldn't drive yet. Time was the biggest constraint. Trying to balance my career against everything else that was needed of me was a constant pull.
I stayed in the choir, grateful that they allowed me to sing. I tried to not call attention to my bad voice. Recently I started voice lessons. I have seen a big improvement in my voice quality during this time. I am as pleased as punch with my progress; I am certain I have damaged my voice teacher's ears. And I wish for more time to study and practice. But I do what I can do with the time I have. My voice is not operatic or distinctive like Celine's but it holds a tune true. Solo performing in front of people is one of my biggest phobia's that I am trying to conquer.
Which leads me to this, my choir is presenting a Fall Cornucopia of Sacred Music and I am singing Amazing Grace and The Lone Wild Bird. It is a beautiful line up of songs, both familiar and new. Ya'll are welcome to come: October 13th, 6:30 p.m. at Our Lady Queen of the Universe Catholic Church in Huntsville, AL.
If I could do one thing over in my life, it would be to study music in college and pursue a musical career like music therapy or music education plus my farming. It is always one of my life's regrets that I did not. When we were testing for careers in high school, I tested highly into music therapy. It was a new career field. When I mentioned it to my parents, they were highly amused. My Step-Mom thought it was funny because she didn't like me to sing. I had a "bad" voice. That comment was a major hang-up for me for years! My voice was bad?
But since everything was a struggle at that time between my Step-Mom and me, I didn't press (whine) to be allowed to go into the band. I did elect to study business in college. I wanted to be better situated in life than my parents. I didn't want the constant money fights.
Now I encourage every student to study a band instrument because I missed that opportunity. Should have, could have, would have, if only, whateva', right? Get over it, I tried, I truly tried. But life has a way of leading you back to where you should be.
How many times have I dreamed of teaching a little boy or girl their first Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano, guiding their little fingers to play the melody. Or helping a person recovering from a stroke enjoy a moment of music again. Music is healing, it is the universal language. I don't need to understand Chinese when a Chinese person plays a beautiful Mozart piece.
I remember my cousins had a gospel music family quartet that toured to the different churches on weekends and I always thought that was so great. What a great way to earn extra money as a family.
Over the years, whenever my kids took music lessons, I did too. I learned to play the flute as my daughter learned to play the french horn. I took piano lessons as an adult. When my daughter joined the Church Choir at 15, I did too. I had to be there anyway because she couldn't drive yet. Time was the biggest constraint. Trying to balance my career against everything else that was needed of me was a constant pull.
I stayed in the choir, grateful that they allowed me to sing. I tried to not call attention to my bad voice. Recently I started voice lessons. I have seen a big improvement in my voice quality during this time. I am as pleased as punch with my progress; I am certain I have damaged my voice teacher's ears. And I wish for more time to study and practice. But I do what I can do with the time I have. My voice is not operatic or distinctive like Celine's but it holds a tune true. Solo performing in front of people is one of my biggest phobia's that I am trying to conquer.
Which leads me to this, my choir is presenting a Fall Cornucopia of Sacred Music and I am singing Amazing Grace and The Lone Wild Bird. It is a beautiful line up of songs, both familiar and new. Ya'll are welcome to come: October 13th, 6:30 p.m. at Our Lady Queen of the Universe Catholic Church in Huntsville, AL.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Happy October!
Two more 3' x 6' raised bed gardens were set up this weekend. One is now filled with bok choy seed and garlic. The other is still in a pending stage because it needs more soil. It will be my blackberry garden. Garden soil for vegetables, fruits and flowers needs to be carefully considered. The soil on our land is stony, lots of clay and little nutrients. I've tried to build it and make it more loomy but it takes just too darn long. The composter I use for garden debris and kitchen scraps and the hen house mulch also cannot keep up with my demand for gardening soil. I used about 1/3 of the composter soil as the base for both new gardens. I've been buying Miracle-Gro garden soil to fill the raised beds. It does do a fantastic job of supporting the plants throughout their life and the production volume based on this summer's tomatoes is great. Some of the volume may be attributed to the composted soil mixed in with the bought soil.
My other two raised bed gardens continue to produce: lettuce, turnip greens, cherry tomatoes and peppers. I have installed a cold frame canopy over one of the raised beds in order to have four seasons of vegetables.
Cold Frame
Our consumption of home-grown fall vegetables has increased to the point that I no longer need to buy salad greens at the store. The mescali mix of lettuce is just awesome. It grows very well and seems highly bug resistance. My turnip greens were gorgeous and tasty and then the patch was hit by pests over night. They decimated the crop. I am trying to decide whether to pull the skeleton greens out and start over or wait and see what the plants do with the secondary leafs and roots. I did break-out the organic bug spray solution, NEEM.
Organic Pest Control
The deer are back. They have babies with them. Turkeys, deers and raccoons, oh my! Wish I had a organic pest control for them. The turkeys also had a bumper crop of offspring this year. Now our turkey population is around 150 birds that roost in our mature oak trees hanging over Limestone Creek. It is very hard to hunt them as they disperse throughout the homes in the neighborhood. Can't shoot a neighbor or a pet! The deer are nuisances in the garden and graze the undergrowth around the trees to nothing. They compact soil and love to eat my greens.
They are lucky critters though; my hubby and I have converted to vegetaranism due to my gout. Red meat, fish, shellfish, turkey, chicken - all meat - have been given up. We have also cut our consumption of beer and wine to nothing. (I did enjoy a $12 glass of merlot this weekend when we ate out). So far, no further gout attacks. My hubby has lost fifteen pounds and I have lost eight pounds since we became all veggie-lovers.
My Dad loved bitter mustard greens. His way of planting his fall garden was to dump his turnip green seeds and his mustard green seeds together, till up the garden and then broadcast the seeds by thowing them in handfuls like baseballs at the ground. He would have a half acre of greens. I hated the taste of mustard greens; still do. But Dad would always have a pot of greens on the stove, bacon grease flavored, with buttermilk in the frig and cornbread in the iron skillet ready to go. I think the greens, buttermilk and cornbread combo kept his blood pressure down, his arteries clear and his overall health as hearty as an ox.
My other two raised bed gardens continue to produce: lettuce, turnip greens, cherry tomatoes and peppers. I have installed a cold frame canopy over one of the raised beds in order to have four seasons of vegetables.
Cold Frame
Our consumption of home-grown fall vegetables has increased to the point that I no longer need to buy salad greens at the store. The mescali mix of lettuce is just awesome. It grows very well and seems highly bug resistance. My turnip greens were gorgeous and tasty and then the patch was hit by pests over night. They decimated the crop. I am trying to decide whether to pull the skeleton greens out and start over or wait and see what the plants do with the secondary leafs and roots. I did break-out the organic bug spray solution, NEEM.
Organic Pest Control
The deer are back. They have babies with them. Turkeys, deers and raccoons, oh my! Wish I had a organic pest control for them. The turkeys also had a bumper crop of offspring this year. Now our turkey population is around 150 birds that roost in our mature oak trees hanging over Limestone Creek. It is very hard to hunt them as they disperse throughout the homes in the neighborhood. Can't shoot a neighbor or a pet! The deer are nuisances in the garden and graze the undergrowth around the trees to nothing. They compact soil and love to eat my greens.
They are lucky critters though; my hubby and I have converted to vegetaranism due to my gout. Red meat, fish, shellfish, turkey, chicken - all meat - have been given up. We have also cut our consumption of beer and wine to nothing. (I did enjoy a $12 glass of merlot this weekend when we ate out). So far, no further gout attacks. My hubby has lost fifteen pounds and I have lost eight pounds since we became all veggie-lovers.
My Dad loved bitter mustard greens. His way of planting his fall garden was to dump his turnip green seeds and his mustard green seeds together, till up the garden and then broadcast the seeds by thowing them in handfuls like baseballs at the ground. He would have a half acre of greens. I hated the taste of mustard greens; still do. But Dad would always have a pot of greens on the stove, bacon grease flavored, with buttermilk in the frig and cornbread in the iron skillet ready to go. I think the greens, buttermilk and cornbread combo kept his blood pressure down, his arteries clear and his overall health as hearty as an ox.
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