This is a talk I gave recently to beginning beekeepers. How to get up the beekeeping learning curve, what equipment you need, how to get bees, how to care for your bees, honey production and how to prepare your bees to survive over a long cold winter.
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So You Want To Be a Beekeeper?
1. JONATHAN R. ENGELSMA, PH.D.
H T T P : / / W W W. H U D S O N V I L L E H O N E Y. C O M
SO YOU WANT TO BE A BEEKEEPER?
2. TOPICS
• Getting up the learning
curve.
• Equipment you’ll need.
• Getting your bees.
• Caring for your bees.
• Harvesting Honey
• Wintering bees.
3. TOPICS
• Getting up the learning
curve.
• Equipment you’ll need.
• Getting your bees.
• Caring for your bees.
• Harvesting Honey
• Wintering bees.
4. SCALING THE LEARNING CURVE
• Get yourself a local mentor!
• Join a local bee club.
• Read some good bee books.
• Engage in the online beekeeping community.
7. READ SOME GOOD BEE BOOKS!
• “Backyard Beekeeper”
/ Kim Flottum
• “How to keep bees
and sell honey” /
Walter T. Kelley
• “Honey Bee Biology
and Beekeeping” /
Dewey Caron
8. VISIT SOME GOOD WEBSITES!
• beesource.com
• scientificbeekeeping.com
• michiganbees.org
• bees.library.cornell.edu
9. TOPICS
• Getting up the learning
curve.
• Equipment you’ll need.
• Getting your bees.
• Caring for your bees.
• Harvesting Honey
• Wintering bees.
21. PA C K A G E S V S . N U C S
• Packages
• Nucs (northern raised)
• raised in the south
• build up faster
• slower start
• get stock that winters
• no old combs!
well.
• you might get junk
combs…
ORDER YOUR BEES EARLY!!!
22. TOPICS
• Getting up the learning
curve.
• Equipment you’ll need.
• Getting your bees.
• Caring for your bees.
• Harvesting Honey
• Wintering bees.
23. CARING FOR
YOUR BEES
• In order to care for your
bees, you need to think
like a bee…
• NEED TO UNDERSTAND
BASIC BEE BIOLOGY!
27. THE QUEEN
• 16 days from egg to bee
• fertile female: “mother”
• lives 2 or more years
• lays as many as 2000 eggs
per day
• mates (in flight) with a
number of drones
28. HONEY BEE BIOLOGY
• Worker bee
• 21 days from egg to
bee
• infertile female
• does all the work:
housekeeping, childrearing, foraging,
guard, etc.
• Drone bee
• 23 days from egg to
bee
• mates with queen
(maybe)
• kicked out when
going gets tough…
29. BEEKEEPING /
S P R I N G TA S K S
• Start new colonies (feed!).
• Feed wintered colonies if
necessary.
• Monitor/treat for mites
• Split strong wintered
colonies to prevent
swarming.
30. BEEKEEPING /
S U M M E R TA S K S
• Monitor for mites
• Super colonies
• Harvest honey
31. BEEKEEPING /
F A L L TA S K S
• Monitor / Treat for mites
• Feed if needed.
• Prepare hives for winter
32. YOUR #1 CHALLENGE IN KEEPING YOUR BEES ALIVE:
VA R R O A D E S T R U C T O R
33. D E A L I N G W I T H VA R R O A M I T E S
• Hard Chemicals (miticides): not recommended
• Soft treatments: formic acid, thymol
• Integrated Pest Management
Note: If you don’t do something for mites, you will
most likely be buying new bees every year!
34. TOPICS
• Getting up the learning
curve.
• Equipment you’ll need.
• Getting your bees.
• Caring for your bees.
• Harvesting Honey
• Wintering bees.
35. IF YOU ARE NICE TO YOUR BEES, THEY MAY PRODUCE
S O M E V E R Y TA S T Y H O N E Y ! !
43. O U R C O N TA C T I N F O
• Jonathan & Mieke Engelsma, Nunica, MI
• Phone: (616) 209-9BEE
• Email: sales@hudsonvillehoney.com
• Web: www.hudsonvillehoney.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/hudsonvillehoney
• Twitter: @honeyandcandles