Bee Safety – 7 Tips To Avoid Getting Stung When Beekeeping

March 9th, 2010

Bee safety is an important issue for beekeepers and non-beekeepers alike. Beekeeping has several safety issues, but the biggest concern, particularly for beginner beekeepers, is of course bee stings.

Despite the popular misconception, fuelled by media stories about ‘killer bees’, bees are not aggressive creatures. They do not attack for no reason, and only sting in self defence.

But if you work with bees you have to accept that there are times when you will get stung. However, sensible bee safety means avoiding bee stings as much as possible. As a beekeeper you also have a responsibility to make sure you are not putting others in danger of being stung.

So here are a few basic bee safety tips to help keep those stings to minimum.

1 Wear proper protective gear

Ideally wear a full bee suit, but at least a veil, and gloves. More experienced beekeepers sometimes do not wear protective clothing. Experience makes your bee handling skills better, and after multiple stings you’ll find that you hardly notice them anymore! But as a beginner, always take full precautions.

 2 Wear light colored clothing

Bees are much more likely to see you as a threat if you are wearing black or dark clothes. You should also avoid woollen type fabrics as the bees can get caught in them which just makes them angry. Of course, wearing a white bee suit will solve both these problems.

 3 No perfumes

Do not wear any perfumes, aftershaves or other scents, as these can make the bees more aggressive. Natural odors are fine!

 4 Work your hives at the right times

Open your hive around midday when many of the bees are out foraging. Late evening is not a good time as the hive will be full of bees and you will cause more disturbance and stress. Do not open the hive when it is very cold or raining. Especially when it has been raining for a few days, the bees will be frustrated at being stuck in the hive and can be a little bad tempered.

 5 Don’t rush

When working your hive, take your time and avoid sudden jolts – smooth gentle manipulation will cause less stress.

 6 Avoid sudden movements

When bees are buzzing around you, do not flail your arms about – it just irritates them and makes them more likely to sting. Let bees land on you and then gently brush them off.

 7 Let the bees win

Sometimes your bees will become too aggressive to continue working with them. This can be because of the weather, or some other stress beyond your control. If this does happen, close the hive as quickly as possible and turn and walk away. Do not try to continue working with angry bees – come back another day when the bees have calmed down and try again.

 Do not let the fear of stings spoil your enjoyment of beekeeping. Keep the stings to a minimum by following these 7 basic bee safety tips.

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How to Build a Beehive – Some Simple Tips

February 23rd, 2010

When you start beekeeping, there are certain pieces of essential equipment. Most of these, you will have to buy, but when it comes to the beehive itself, you have a choice. You can buy one (either ready assembled or as a flat pack for self assembly). But you also have the option of building your own beehive.

Obviously, this will not be for everyone. You do have to have a certain level of basic skills to be able to build a beehive. But you certainly do not need to be an expert carpenter – it is surprisingly easy to build your own beehive if you have a good set of plans and follow some basic rules.

The main advantage of building your own beehive is that it is much cheaper. Beehives can be quite expensive to buy – particularly fully assembled beehives, which have extra shipping charges because they are bulkier. You can build a beehive for a fraction of the cost. In some cases, you might be able to use recycled materials, making it even cheaper still – and doing your bit for the environment into the bargain.

As well as saving money, it is also immensely satisfying to build your own beehive. Beekeeping itself is a very rewarding hobby, but it really is the icing on the cake knowing that you built their home with your own hands!

So, if you would like to give it a go, here are some tips on how to build your own beehive and help to ensure that it turns out as you hoped – well-built, attractive, and long lasting.

Choose the right beehive plans

When building a beehive, you will need detailed plans and instructions. You can easily get free plans on the internet, but they are often very poor quality and difficult to follow – particularly for a beginner. Make sure that the plans you are using are comprehensive and easy to understand. The best plans include pictures from each stage of the building process or, even better, video.

Fully read the instructions before you begin

It can be difficult to resist the temptation to just get started, before you are properly prepared. Resist the temptation! Read your plans from start to finish before lifting any tools. This will give you an overall picture of the whole job. Without this, you will be likely to get confused and make mistakes.

Use untreated wood

When you are buying the wood for your hive, make sure that it has not been treated in any way. A lot of modern methods of pressure-treating wood use chemicals which can be poisonous to honey bees, so stick with untreated materials.

Do not take shortcuts with the glue

As well as nailing the parts together, be sure to use glue. Apply this just before nailing. It is easier to just rely on the nails, but glue provides extra strength and the extra effort will pay of in the long run.

Keep your beehive square

It is not essential that your boxes and frames are perfectly square, but they need to be reasonably square to allow the frames to fit properly. Use a carpenter’s square to make sure they are as true as possible.

Use paint or wood preservative

Hive bodies must be treated with wood preservative or paint. Apply a coat of good quality latex base paint, followed by an exterior latex paint, or else just double coat with an exterior wood stain. Either is equally effective – which you use is down to personal preference. Do not paint or stain the inside of the supers.

In very hot locations, painting the beehive white will help to stop it getting too hot in the summer. If you are going to keep a lot of hives in one location, it can be a helpful identification aid to the bees if each hive is a different color, although this is not essential.

 

Hopefully these tips will set you on the right path. The key really is having good plans. Nick Hampshire, a well known natural beekeeper, has produced a set of plans and detailed instructions (which now actually include video and audio) for building your own Warre hives (Warre hives are just vertical top bar hives).

If you would like more details about Nick’s plans, click here.

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Start Beekeeping in 2010

January 18th, 2010

So we are into a new decade, and what better time to start beekeeping? There are lots of reasons to start beekeeping now. Beekeeping is fascinating. It is a great way to get back in touch with nature, and a great way to get away from the stresses and strains of everyday life. If you have a garden, bees are the best pollinators there are, and you’ll see a real difference in your plants and flowers. Bees are under threat right now and really could use some help. And of course, all that delicious honey.

 If you are thinking of starting beekeeping in spring or summer 2010, then the time to do something about it is now – by May or June it will really be too late for this year. Although you’ll probably not get your bees until then, you do need to put in a bit of groundwork now.

Bees can be difficult to source. This is partly because of the decline in bee numbers (mainly caused by colony collapse disorder), and partly because beekeeping is becoming more popular. Supply is down, demand is up, so you have to get in quick. If you are buying packaged bees, they will most likely be delivered in April or May. To be sure to get them before they are sold out, you need to get your order in now.

Nucleus hives will usually be available a bit later (May or June) but will also be scarce, so again if you want a nuc get your order in now. If you are hoping to get a swarm from your local beekeeping association, it will be first come first served – get your name onto the list right away.

While you are waiting for your bees, use the time to get ready for their arrival. Choose a spot for your beehive. You do not need a lot of space, but you do want somewhere that is reasonably dry, sheltered, and undisturbed. Once bees get accustomed to their new home, they will follow the same flight path as they travel to and from the hive. Position your hive so that their path does not interfere with people (especially your neighbors).

Do lots of reading about beekeeping – Beekeeping Made Easy is a good starter guide, and there are many other beekeeping books  to choose from. Decide which type of beehive you want to use. If you are going to build you own hive  (which is less expensive and great way to learn about the different parts of the hive), get the plans and materials and assemble it in good time.  Learn about the equipment you will need, and buy the essentials.

If there is one, join the local beekeeping association or group, and take a beginner beekeeping class. Beekeepers are generally very generous with their time and will happily share their knowledge with others interested in beekeeping – you will really benefit from their experience.

During the first few weeks after your bees arrive, the support of more experienced beekeepers will be especially welcome. Bees, like all living creatures, can behave in unexpected ways and you will undoubtedly encounter some problems.

But ask any beekeeper, the rewards of beekeeping outweigh these hundredfold.

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Colony Collapse Disorder

December 8th, 2009

Colony Collapse Disorder is the single biggest threat currently faced by honeybees. Beekeepers first started to report the sudden disappearance of bees from their hives in 2006 in the Eastern United States. Over the last 3 years, CCD has killed over one in three bee colonies in 35 states across the US. In some cases, up to 90% of bees have been lost, and the problem is now worldwide – there have been losses reported in both Europe and Asia.

So, what are the symptoms and causes of colony collapse disorder? The main symptom of CCD is simply no or a low number of adult honey bees present but with a live queen and no dead honey bees in the hive. Often there is still honey in the hive, and immature bees (brood) are present.

Symptoms of Colony Collapse Disorder

  1. An almost overnight disappearance of virtually all the worker bees – within a few days, previously thriving well established colonies lose almost all of its adult bees. Unlike other diseases or infestations, there are no dead bees to be found. They simply leave the hive and never come back.
  2. The queen and a small number of very young bees, just hatched, remain and these tend the queen. You know they are young as they are light colored and still fuzzy.
  3. Lots of honey and pollen still in the hive, and also a lot of brood left behind.

Normally when a colony dies or is abandoned, scavengers (like ants, small hive beetles, and wax moths) very quickly come in and steal the honey, dead bees, or pollen that has been left behind. But with CCD, the anecdotal evidence is that this does not seem to happen. Other creatures stay away from the hive. No-one knows why, but it does suggest that they somehow instinctively sense that it is contaminated and so stay clear.

Causes of Colony Collapse Disorder

Causes are largely still unknown, but there are several main suspects. There is one theory that cell phone masts may be scrambling bees’ navigational systems. While this has not been completely ruled out, recent research has failed to find any evidence of a link. Most experts believe the cause of colony collapse disorder is more likely to be related to parasites (particularly Varroa and Tracheal mites), disease (especially Nosema) or pesticides.

Each individual beekeeping parasite and disease, while often damaging, is not thought to be sufficient to cause colony collapse disorder. In colonies affected by CCD, scientists found some evidence of infestation or infection, but no more so than in colonies without CCD.

More attention is now turning to chemicals. An analysis by Penn State researchers of beehive wax has shown very high levels of pesticides used by beekeepers in the hives to combat Varroa mites – particularly fluvalinate and coumapho.

The researchers also found lower levels of 70 other pesticides, not used by beekeepers but by farmers on agricultural crops. These were also present in pollen and in the bees themselves.

And particularly worrying is the interaction between these different chemicals. For example, initial research has found that some combinations of fungicides and insecticides can be a 100 times more toxic than any of the chemicals individually.

Whether these pesticides are a contributory factor to CCD is still unclear, but they are definitely stressors. One theory is that the combination of pesticides with the other existing stressors (parasites and disease) together cause the perfect storm, and hence colony collapse disorder.

Whatever the cause, CCD is a serious threat both to bees and to our food supply. The one positive is the increased public awareness of the crucial role that bees play. Hobby beekeeping has never been so popular, which can only be good – the more people who start beekeeping, the better the chance of survival for the honey bee.

So, yet another good reason to get out there, and start beekeeping.

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Welcome to the BestBeekeeping Blog.

October 11th, 2009

Welcome to the BestBeekeeping Blog.

Bees are fascinating creatures, and here we’ll look at all things beekeeping – why keep bees, what you need to start beekeeping, diseases and other issues to watch for, honey and other bee products and their uses …. the list is almost endless!

Beekeeping has never been more popular, but paradoxically bees have never been more at risk

Bees are under serious threat from pests like the Varroa mite, diseases like American Foulbrood or European Foulbrood, and more recently from Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD).

Of course the revived interest in beekeeping is partly because of the increased media interest caused by these threats. People are more aware of how important bees and beekeeping are for our food supply (one third of everything we eat depends on pollination, and 80% of all pollination is done by honey bees).

But I believe beekeeping is also rising in popularity because more and more people are beginning to realize that just maybe there is more to life than work, money, material possessions… and then some more work.

Bees and beekeeping have a unique power to allow you to switch off from the pressures of everyday life, to de-stress and unwind.

From the outside, it looks like mayhem. 60,000 bees buzzing about their hive in a seemingly bewildered and incoherent way. But each one has a specific job to do, and together they accomplish more every day than you could possibly believe.

Fascinating is a word that is probably overused when it comes to describing bees, but they really are fascinating .

You are reading this, so you are obviously interested in bees and beekeeping. So stay tuned, we’ll be posting to the blog very often. If you have any questions or suggestions we’d love to hear them, so please leave a comment below, or email us.

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