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I am taking a back yard beekeeping class and I might get a hive this spring

utahraptor

utahraptor

Golden Member
What type of hive is best for beginners? I am thinking about building my own top bar bive.

How difficult is it to deal with a swarm? For instance if the hive swarms and sets up in my neighbors tree what do I do?

Has anyone ever kept a hive in a small city back yard and if so how has your experience been?
 
I am a beekeeper...well, was a beekeeper. My hives died a few years ago and I've not had time to re-establish them due to home construction projects.

You can buy beehive supplies online. The class will likely have local resources available for you to find who sells wooden hives in your area. A lot of guys like to make them as a hobby. There are a lot of options when setting up, but you basically are going to start with a base, bottom board (screen), brood box, and a lid. Once the hive starts to grow as the season goes on, you can add a honey super...then another...then another. You just want to control the hive so it doesn't get too big too quickly. You'll want to have a proportionate number of bees to supers or they'll never build out all the frames and it'll be more difficult to harvest the honey.

Some beekeepers will put a queen excluder in (screen that allows smaller worker bees to move up through the hive). That will keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey super and make it and all supers above it only for honey. Just be aware that not all hives accept the excluders. Some of them don't do as well.

You'll need to feed the bees with sugar water until it warms up. Deal with swarms if you must....if your neighbor calls police or whoever, they usually have a list of bee keepers they go down to remove them. If your neighbor doesn't notify you, someone else will get your bees. If you don't do anything with a swarm, it'll usually move on eventually until they can find another place to live.

Your biggest threats are mites, pesticides that screw with the bees causing colony collapse, blue jays eating your queen, and spiders/hornets infesting the hive.

Wild queens are typically more successful than purchased ones. Queens you can buy are usually Italian or Russian. The Russian queens are supposed to be more hardy, but Italians are more common. Research those choices and maybe start a few hives.
 
Scarpozzi said:
I am a beekeeper...well, was a beekeeper. My hives died a few years ago and I've not had time to re-establish them due to home construction projects.

You can buy beehive supplies online. The class will likely have local resources available for you to find who sells wooden hives in your area. A lot of guys like to make them as a hobby. There are a lot of options when setting up, but you basically are going to start with a base, bottom board (screen), brood box, and a lid. Once the hive starts to grow as the season goes on, you can add a honey super...then another...then another. You just want to control the hive so it doesn't get too big too quickly. You'll want to have a proportionate number of bees to supers or they'll never build out all the frames and it'll be more difficult to harvest the honey.

Some beekeepers will put a queen excluder in (screen that allows smaller worker bees to move up through the hive). That will keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey super and make it and all supers above it only for honey. Just be aware that not all hives accept the excluders. Some of them don't do as well.

You'll need to feed the bees with sugar water until it warms up. Deal with swarms if you must....if your neighbor calls police or whoever, they usually have a list of bee keepers they go down to remove them. If your neighbor doesn't notify you, someone else will get your bees. If you don't do anything with a swarm, it'll usually move on eventually until they can find another place to live.

Your biggest threats are mites, pesticides that screw with the bees causing colony collapse, blue jays eating your queen, and spiders/hornets infesting the hive.

Wild queens are typically more successful than purchased ones. Queens you can buy are usually Italian or Russian. The Russian queens are supposed to be more hardy, but Italians are more common. Research those choices and maybe start a few hives.
Click to expand...


I thank you for the advice. What has your experience been with racoons and opossums? I have both that come to my house nightly. Would I need to protect the bees somehow from them? The first day of the class I went to the instructor took us out to see the two hives and both were dead. One had been ravaged by racoons.
 
utahraptor said:
I thank you for the advice. What has your experience been with racoons and opossums? I have both that come to my house nightly. Would I need to protect the bees somehow from them? The first day of the class I went to the instructor took us out to see the two hives and both were dead. One had been ravaged by raccoons.
Click to expand...
I've not had any problems with them with the hives, but it's hard to stop raccoons unless you simply remove them from your property. I have a garden where I kept my hives, so the raccoons were more interested in the veggie platter than the honey. If you think you have a problem with raccoons, invest in a few traps. Peanut butter and sardines are great bait. Trap them, take them 5 miles away and release them. We removed about 5 of them from our property 2 years ago and haven't had many problems since....but are waiting for some new ones to return.

In many cases, people keep bees in a bee yard...surrounded by a fence. That's more to keep kids away....but you could use it to deter wildlife. Just know that raccoons can get around most fences with ease. My uncle in Maine couldn't stop them with an electric fence and had to resort to trapping.


More tips...
When you approach a hive, you want to do it from behind so they don't get overly alerted.

When you smoke bees, they'll become less productive and gorge themselves on honey stores (because they think their hive is going up in flames due to forest fire). Once you feel comfortable in the bee suit, you may not even want to use smoke. A bee brush is a soft-bristled brush that can remove bees from frames.....it's a good tool to have when inspecting and working a hive.

It's important to inspect your hives every now and then and use a hive tool to remove burr comb. It's comb that bees build NOT on a frame. Basically, if there's any space between frames or the lid, bees will sometimes build honeycomb there. If you don't remove it, it can end up sealing the frames and the lid and make it more difficult to get the frames out later....nip it in the bud. 😀
 
Scarpozzi said:
Wild queens are typically more successful than purchased ones. Queens you can buy are usually Italian or Russian. The Russian queens are supposed to be more hardy, but Italians are more common. Research those choices and maybe start a few hives.
Click to expand...

How do you get a wild queen? Find a wild hive and capture them?
 
You would have a beekeeper catch a swarm for you. It may or may not come from a wild hive or a domestic one, but if it is near a domestic one the beekeeper would probably know.
 
Zorba said:
How do you get a wild queen? Find a wild hive and capture them?
Click to expand...

You can do it that way, but typically swarms are caught when hives split. You can think of it as a mutiny among the bees. The queen is fertilized once and lays eggs the rest of her life. If part of the colony believes the queen to be weak, they will pump a cell full of royal jelly. Typically when this happens, they actually will create a number of queens... Since the number of days before they hatch will likely be the same, they can hatch minutes apart and it's a fight to the death....or until they split. In that case, the queen leaves the hive and a large number of bees will follow her scent and protect her....until they can establish a new location for a hive.

I've heard some people say you can hang an old sweater in a tree and catch swarms.

Another method is to build a makeshift trap out of flower pots like this:
http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2012/03/making-homemade-swarm-trap.html

The key is to make it high enough that the bees can see it and that it's off the ground for their safety as well. I'm sure the secret to the flower pot trap is really the comb inside (might be a good use for old burr comb). I'm sure they could probably smell the honeycomb inside that contraption...even if there were traces of honey in it.
 
Here are a few pictures I have on my computer here...

2 packages of bees with Italian queens in my front seat. The only bad thing is that the queens attract non-caged bees, so you have to load these quick and make sure you have no hitchhikers on the outside of the cage when getting in your car.
beespackage.jpg


Here are my hives from 2 or so years ago:
hives.jpg
 
Greenman said:
I had no idea there was so much to bee keeping.
Click to expand...

It's really interesting how hives grow. Some people actually get into queen rearing (I know...I know).... They get special equipment and specifically try to produce queens for use or sale. Most states require you to register your apiary and often will request them to be inspected at some point.

The state agriculture departments want to know that the bees are healthy. I'd be interested to know how many wild hives there are compared to apiaries... (aside from the massive commercial operations)

A little known fact...there was a Beekeeper in the Village People:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVevN3WEp6Q&t=1m9s
 
Is there any legal liability to keeping bee hives? I mean say your bees sting the hell out of some kid who just say happens to be allergic etc etc etc... goes to the hospital etc... I dont know how it will be proven that it was your bees that stung someone... What risk do beekeepers face?
 
My gf and a number of friends are beekeepers. Scarpozzi has great advice. I would suggest joining your local bee club. They'll be a huge resource, may have classes, etc...

My gf is a mentor for a number of new club members.
 
NetWareHead said:
Is there any legal liability to keeping bee hives? I mean say your bees sting the hell out of some kid who just say happens to be allergic etc etc etc... goes to the hospital etc... I dont know how it will be proven that it was your bees that stung someone... What risk do beekeepers face?
Click to expand...

Thinking like this is just...wrong.

I'm excited to learn more about bee keeping and the OP's experiences. I think bee keeping itself is fairly straight forward. Most of the complexity seems to come from manipulating and organizing hives to make things easier or, more efficient for keepers.
 
NetWareHead said:
Is there any legal liability to keeping bee hives? I mean say your bees sting the hell out of some kid who just say happens to be allergic etc etc etc... goes to the hospital etc... I dont know how it will be proven that it was your bees that stung someone... What risk do beekeepers face?
Click to expand...

Varies by state on what you have to do to register your apiary. It's no crime to keep bees in most places. There may be local laws prohibiting it in some places....

Liabilities are likely more civil court liabilities.... You can protect yourself by keeping bees in a secured location. (bee yard, rooftop, etc) to limit public access to the hives. These aren't much of a threat otherwise. It's rare for a swarm to attack someone or even get out of control. They like to stay in the hive or go collect pollen. It's only when you mess with the frames that they fly around.

I even mow and weed-eat around my hives without a suit....I'm just careful when I get within 5-8 feet of the front. The hives do typically have a few bees watching for threats....so you can weed-eat if you do it fast.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
Thinking like this is just...wrong.

I'm excited to learn more about bee keeping and the OP's experiences. I think bee keeping itself is fairly straight forward. Most of the complexity seems to come from manipulating and organizing hives to make things easier or, more efficient for keepers.
Click to expand...

Keeping 2-3 hives isn't too much more difficult than one. It just gets more expensive if they start to go south for the same reasons. My neighbor kept 16 hives about 4 seasons ago...I think he lost 3-4 over the winter and had 12 the following year. In the cold months, hives will starve out if they don't have enough honey or sugar water.

The bees generate enough heat in the winter to keep the hive in the 90s inside....they do it by moving around really fast...but insulation helps if you're up north.

http://www.beeworks.com/informationcentre/wintering.html
 
Sounds interesting, I've always thought about it and have a pretty good spot for it.

would have been even better a few years ago before canker wiped out the neighbors many orange trees and my tangerine.
 
MongGrel said:
Sounds interesting, I've always thought about it and have a pretty good spot for it.

would have been even better a few years ago before canker wiped out the neighbors many orange trees and my tangerine.
Click to expand...

I almost died from an allergic reaction to a bee sting as a child so naturally I have always been fascinated by bees. I used to keep hives in my back yard, but here in California where I lived at the time there were large numbers of eucalyptus trees that are just covered with flowers at certain times of the year and sadly, I don't like the taste of that honey. I stopped raising them, however, because no matter how careful I was some would always get crushed opening and closing the hives. Wearing a suit in the summer can also be a bit hot. Hope you have fun....
 
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