Beekeeping 101: Where to Get Honey Bees (2024)

FAQs

Beekeeping 101: Where to Get Honey Bees? ›

The hollow of trees is a preferred location for honey bees. You may discover a droning sound (like that of an engine) coming from a dead or hollow tree on your property. Keep your distance so as not to disturb the swarm.

The hollow of trees is a preferred location for honey bees. You may discover a droning sound (like that of an engine) coming from a dead or hollow tree on your property. Keep your distance so as not to disturb the swarm.

It depends entirely on the health of your bees, their hive style, your location, the weather and available forage. You should never plan to harvest in your first year, but you can expect to pull anywhere from 25 - 100 lbs of honey from an established colony in a successful year.

You can keep bees in your backyard – subject to the laws in the area where you live – but you need to make sure they have a clear flight path in and out of the hive. 'Orienting the hive so that bees fly across a path, patio area or part of the garden which is used regularly is not a good idea,' explains Pete.

It is best to order your bees in the winter for shipment in March through May. Sometimes package bees sell out, so avoid problems by ordering early. Find out more about some of the best online bee suppliers who will ship bees to you; many also have bees available for pickup.

Most new beekeepers tend

A package of bees is about 10000 bees inside a screened box, with a queen in a cage inside. Once received, a package of bees can be gently installed into a hive, with the queen being placed inside.

While many new hive owners purchase honeybees, you can start a beehive without buying bees to populate it. This is done by capturing a swarm of bees. Bees swarm naturally in response to outgrowing their existing hive; they leave the original hive and scout for other potential permanent homes nearby.

Bees are particularly attracted to bee balm, echinacea, snap dragon, and hostas, as well as a number of other wildflowers like California poppies and evening primrose. Fun fact: Did you know that bees have excellent color vision? For this reason, they flock to yellow, purple, blue, and white flowers.

Bees are especially attracted by beeswax so plenty of beeswax should be used to bait the hives. Using a fresh starter strip of beeswax on the top-bars of a movable comb hive will act as a swarm attractant.

For best quality, store honey for up to 12 months. After that time, it remains safe but the quality may not be as good. Honey can become cloudy, crystallized or solidified but this is not a safety concern. The honey can be microwaved or heated in a pan of hot water to clarify or melt it.

How long is honey good in the hive? ›

It can stay fresh for decades or even centuries when stored properly. This ability is partly due to the honey's high sugar content, low water and low pH value. But we are learning more all the time about how the specific enzymes and compounds in raw honey play a role in killing germs.

The general rule of thumb is once, maybe twice, per year in the late summer or early fall. If your hive is in hyper drive and filling up frames quickly you are one of those lucky beekeepers than can consider harvesting twice a year and earlier than most beekeepers. It all depends on your hive.

But just how close to your house can you put your hive? The general rule is there should be a minimum of 4-feet behind and on either side of the hive, with a minimum of 25-feet of clearance at the entrance – but there's really no cut-and-dry answer for this.

So one-half acre could have up to six hives, three-quarters acre could have up to nine hives, and a one acre lot could have up to twelve hives. Additionally, keeping one nuc for every two hives is also acceptable.

Feeding honey from an unknown source, such as a supermarket or even another beekeeper, can cause infection in your hives. If you feed suitable honey to your bees, place it inside the hive. Never place honey in the open outside the hive — this is illegal under the Livestock Disease Control Act 1994.

Before adding a super, beekeepers often use a standard rule of thumb, which is known as the 7/10 rule. This rule says that the proper time to add a super to a beehive is when the bees have already covered 7 of the 10 frames in the existing box or boxes.

Many farmers and land owners will gladly let you place your bees on their property for nothing more than a few jars of honey in return. The average backyard hobbyist should always start with 2 or more.

Do not open the hive when it is raining, thunderstorming, or during the coldest winter day. The bees can sense the change of weather. By observing their activity, it's quiet when it is gloomy and cloudy – as if they're predicting rain to come. Bad conditions make bees aggressive, like when it's raining.

In the end, when someone just wants to know the average start-up costs for a beginning beekeeper who is buying bees (in lieu of catching a swarm) I tell them to expect to pay approximately $500 for the first hive and roughly $300 for each additional hive.

A typical beehive in the United States can produce anywhere from 10 to 200 pounds of honey in a year. That is an unbelievably large range, which indicates just how critical these variables are in order for a beehive to reach peak honey production.

What size bee hive is best for beginners? ›

As far as width, you will be able to choose between 8 frames and 10 frames. The best type of beehive for beginners would be medium depth, with 8 frames. The reason being, is that it won't be as heavy as a bee box with 10 frames.

Catching a swarm is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to obtain new bees for a hive. Many areas have a swarm list of beekeepers in the area that will be called to come gather up an unwanted swarm.

Our colleagues and friends from other queen producing companies report the same; queens, whatever their genetics, simply don't sting humans. In the miniscule times where it has been reported that a queen actually has stung a person, we have heard that the sting is not as painful to a person as that of a worker bee.

If honey is not harvested from the hive, they will eventually run out of space to not only make more honey, but also for the queen to lay eggs. When this happens, your colony will swarm and you will lose a majority of your bees.

The Italian Honeybee may be the best bee for beginners, because this subspecies of the Western honeybee is not an aggressive bee which means it has little interest in swarming. It takes a lot for this honeybee to want to leave its hive.

The western honeybee, often known as the European honeybee (Apis mellifera), is the most common of all honey bee species. Apis is the Latin word for "bee," and mellifera is the Latin word for "honey-bearing," referring to the honey-producing species.

Bumble bees are important pollinators of wild flowering plants and agricultural crops. They are able to fly in cooler temperatures and lower light levels than many other bees, making them excellent pollinators—especially at higher elevations and latitudes.

Thankfully, bees work very hard and often make more honey than they need, which allows beekeepers to harvest the excess. On average, a beekeeper can expect to yield about 50 pounds (4.2 gallons) of honey each year from a healthy colony in a fertile area.

An empty beehive will attract bees if it has previously housed bees or if the beehive is carefully prepared to entice them to make it their new home. You can capture new swarms from your own colonies or attract roaming swarms looking for a new hive location.

Honey bees can thrive in natural or domesticated environments, though they prefer to live in gardens, woodlands, orchards, meadows and other areas where flowering plants are abundant. Within their natural habitat, honey bees build nests inside tree cavities and under edges of objects to hide themselves from predators.

Can you eat honey straight from the hive? ›

Raw: Raw honey comes straight from the hive. “Raw honey is the least processed and probably has the most antioxidants,” Ilic says. Despite its raw status, it's considered safe to eat except for children younger than 1, who should avoid all honey.

While honey never spoils, it may change color (from clear to cloudy) or texture (thicker and grainier) over time. That's ok! Unless your honey becomes exposed to moisture and ferments (which will be super obvious), it's safe to consume.

When a hive becomes overfull, the queen doesn't have enough room to continue to lay eggs and produce brood, and a swarm is more likely to occur. Beekeepers should be aware of the signs that a hive is about to overflow, so they can take the correct actions to prevent it from becoming honey bound.

Beekeepers will find the honey they harvest will be different colors in different seasons, based on what plants are in bloom and when. Honey that also remains inside of honeycomb for longer periods of time than other honeys can become darker in color, due to some oxidation.

By consuming raw unfiltered honey, you are consuming propolis, which is actually small pieces of the beehive. Often, you can see this propolis in your honey jar in the form of small black specks.

Even though honey doesn't have an expiration date, it can still undergo natural changes. The National Honey Board says that over time honey may “darken and lose its aroma and flavor or crystallize,” depending on changes in temperature.

The old queen and about half of the worker bees leave their former nest and seek a new home, usually in the spring but sometimes at other times of the year when local conditions permit.

We have found the bees are often calmest in the late afternoon, and at this time the honey in the hive is likely to be warmest and may flow more easily, so this can be a good time to harvest. Also check out our harvesting checklist.

Technically, beehives can be placed as close or as far as you want. In other countries mobile bee houses are comprised of rows of beehives stacked right up on eachother. While that may work for that type of commercial beekeeping, placing hives so close may lead to some problems for the average beekeeper.

Which direction should a beehive entrance face? ›

Face the hive entrance away from the prevailing winds. Ideally, face the entrance in a southerly direction if you're in the northern hemisphere and northerly direction for the southern hemisphere.

Keeping bees is a complex hobby, and many beekeepers admit that the more experienced they become, the deeper they fall down the beekeeping rabbit hole and end up spending an inordinate amount of time reading, researching, and taking classes about all aspects of this hobby.

Open meadowland is the most ideal for beekeeping and allows for the greatest honey yield, especially if there is wetland nearby. Land surrounded by forests and trees is not preferable if the shade limits the growth of plants that bees pollinate, which can hinder honey production.

Starting a bee farm is not hard, but it takes a lot of time and effort. You'll need to make sure you have enough space for the hives. You'll also need to be able to provide enough food for the bees. In addition, you'll need to be prepared for the work that comes with keeping bees, such as collecting honey and pollen.

The RSPB suggests getting a small container or spoon and offering two tablespoons of granulated white sugar to one tablespoon of water. If you have your Bee Revival Keyring, this is an easy step for your spontaneous encounter with a tired bee.

Feeding sugar in any form is fine as long as the honey bees are not actively collecting nectar and making honey. If you feed syrup while the bees are making honey, the honey will be become diluted with the syrup. Honey is made from the nectar of flowers.

Queens cannot create a new colony alone: You'll need a nuc or bee package to start a colony, both of which include a queen. However, there are some circ*mstances where you may need to order a queen, rather than a nuc or package.

How long does it take for bees to make a hive? An efficient, healthy colony that's thriving may build its hive within one month. If they become too crowded, they are likely to swarm. Bee colonies that are new or struggling may take all season to finish building out the hive.

How many honey bees does it take to make a hive? ›

A typical honeybee hive contains about 60,000 to 80,000 individuals of three different kinds: workers (also called foragers once they begin to leave the hive), drones, and a single queen.

If honey is not harvested from the hive, they will eventually run out of space to not only make more honey, but also for the queen to lay eggs. When this happens, your colony will swarm and you will lose a majority of your bees.

In a nutshell, well-stored honey never expires or spoils, even if it's been previously opened.

So one-half acre could have up to six hives, three-quarters acre could have up to nine hives, and a one acre lot could have up to twelve hives. Additionally, keeping one nuc for every two hives is also acceptable.

In a queenless hive, worker bees who were previously occupied with the task of caring for brood will be out of the job. Without a queen there to lay eggs, there will be no more brood for them to care for. This creates a job imbalance in the hive and may result in increased foraging and food stores.

When starting a beehive, the spring is ideal time. As soon as the weather begins to warm up and flowers start to bloom, you can set up your hive. Plan well and get your bees into the hive as soon as possible to allow them the time to gather as much nectar as possible through the next few months.

For best quality, store honey for up to 12 months. After that time, it remains safe but the quality may not be as good. Honey can become cloudy, crystallized or solidified but this is not a safety concern. The honey can be microwaved or heated in a pan of hot water to clarify or melt it.

The old queen and about half of the worker bees leave their former nest and seek a new home, usually in the spring but sometimes at other times of the year when local conditions permit.

When the weather turns cold, drones are unable to perform their sole function. If there are no queens around to mate with, then drones are a suck on resources and worker bees stop rearing drones. Any drones left get booted out of the hive.

If the hive is starting to get too full, both for the workers to store resources and for the queen to lay, the workers will start raising a new queen. Though sometimes an inconvenience to humans, as swarm is the sign of a healthy, growing colony.

Why do bees make honey if they don't eat it? ›

The short answer is: Honey bees make honey as a way of storing food to eat over the cooler winter period, when they are unable to forage and there are fewer flowers from which to gather food.