This is an excerpt from the full length (85 minute) DVD “Alternative Beekeeping Using the Top Bar Hive and The Bee Guardian Methods“, available at BackYardHive.com

Beekeeping with top bar hives is getting more and more popular, as it is thought to be a more natural way to keep bees, more in tune with the way they would live in their natural environment. In other countries around the world, particularly in Africa, top  bar beekeeping is still very common – the Langstroth hive being more expensive to make.

This top bar beekeeping DVD was filmed in the beautiful Colorado mountains. It includes footage from a top bar beekeeping workshop held by Corwin Bell, and shows hands-on techniques, close-up footage of hives, combs, cells and bees, and lots and lots of practical tips and techniques for the natural beekeeper.

I think it is beautifully filmed (as you can see from the extract above), so it is also a delight to watch.

It is primarily aimed at beginner beekeepers – although experienced beekeepers will really enjoy it too – and goes from explaining the features of a top bar hive, getting your hive set up, sourcing your bees, working with your bees, right through to harvesting your honey – and lots more in between.

You can read a full list of the contents and learn more about the DVD by visiting BackYardHive.com

I found this amazing video showing bees working in a top bar hive. It starts with the colonisation of the empty beehive, then shows 3 months (condensed into 2 minutes!) of activity. You’ll notice the number of bees suddenly drops – this is because they swarmed.

Fascinating!

When you find queen cells which are close to sealing (containing larvae or royal jelly), you can create an artificial swarm. If they are already sealed, you are too late! As with all things beekeeping, there are several ways to do this, but here is one of the simplest methods.

To do this you will need a spare hive, including hive stand, floor, brood box, frames, crown board and lid. (If you are not sure what these all are, see components of a modern beehive.) Be sure to have them ready before you start.

1. Move the original hive to one side onto another hive stand
2. Put your new floor and empty brood box on the stand on the original site
3. Open the original hive, find the queen and place her and the frame she is on in the centre of the empty brood box. Make sure that there is plenty of unsealed brood on this frame, and NO queen cells
4. Fill the new box with frames of foundation, and put on the crown board and lid
5. Replace the frame you removed from the original hive with a frame of foundation, and replace the supers (if there were any), crown board and lid

Your artificial swarm has now been created. The queen is in the new hive, but as it is on the original site, all the flying bees will return to it. This mimics what happens naturally in a swarm, as the queen leaves the original hive with the flying bees.

The original hive, in its new position, is full of nurse bees, brood and stores, but is queenless and has no flying bees. But it has several queen cells which will (hopefully) soon produce a queen. Because it now has no foraging bees, it is a good idea to feed sugar syrup to this colony  for the first few weeks. This should get it off to a good start, and hopefully you will have 2 strong colonies before the winter sets in.

To understand how to do this, you need to know a bit about the timing of the swarm.

If bees decide to swarm, they will build queen cells – these are easy to spot as they are built on the face or bottom of the frame, point downwards, and are about the size of an acorn. To help prevent swarms, it is important to know the life cycle of the honey bee – and in particular of the queen.

The queen will lay an egg in these queen cups, and when they hatch (at 3 days old) the worker bees will feed the larvae with royal jelly. It is one of the fascinating facts about bees that the egg which grows into a queen is no different to one which grows into a worker bee – the only difference is the diet it is fed on (royal jelly rather than pollen and nectar).

The queen cells are sealed on day 8, and the new queen will emerge on day 16. On the day the queen cells are sealed, the bees will swarm – remember this fact! This is why it is important to open your hive and inspect your bees once per week during the swarm season. If you wait longer than this, you might miss the swarm. So, if there are no queen cells, then there will be no swarm for at least 8 days.

If there are queen cells, and they have eggs or larvae in them, then they will swarm when these are sealed – and you must take action right away.

How To Prevent Swarms

One of the main reason bees will swarm is because of overcrowding. If the brood box is too full of brood and stores (honey & pollen), then there will not be enough room for the queen to lay eggs – remember she will lay up to 2,000 eggs per day at her peak, one in each cell, so she needs plenty of room.

If there is no room left in the brood box, you have several options. You can remove 1 or 2 frames of honey, and replace them with empty frames, so that the workers have comb to draw out and the queen has somewhere to lay.

If there seems to be too much honey and no room for brood, then add a super – the bees will start to store honey in this, leaving room for the brood in the brood box. Remember to put a queen excluder between the brood box and the super.

Another option, if you have a very strong colony, is to simply add another brood box. Some beekeepers recommend using a super instead of a full brood box, so that there is not too much space – this is known as ‘a brood and a half.’

Unavoidable Swarms

Swarms gather in the unlikeliest of places!

Sometimes, rather than being an ‘overcrowding’ swarm, bees will have a ‘reproductive’ swarm. If this is the case, their minds are made up to swarm and nothing you do will prevent them from trying. But all is not lost – you can create an artificial swarm, and effectively fool them into thinking that they have already swarmed.

Or of course you can just let them swarm, and then collect them when they do & put them into a new hive. The difficulty with this is that you might miss the swarm, and also in built up areas a swarm of bees can cause problems – especially for non beekeepers!

So, in the interest of nature, should you not let the bees swarm? Well, no – for several reasons.

Firstly, mainly because of varroa mites, honey bees will not survive for long in the wild. Without treatment, varroa will eventually kill of the new colony – and this is obviously not in the best interests of bees as a species.

Also, if you are an urban beekeeper, it is obviously doubly important that you prevent swarms – a swarm of bees is not very welcome in a populated area, and if they set up home in the roofspace of someone’s house, they can cause real damage.

And of course, if your bees swarm it will seriously affect honey production – you lose about half of the bees, and the rest of the season is generally spent building up the numbers again, so you will be unlikely to get any surplus honey.

If your bees do swarm, they need to be collected (by you or by someone else) and put into a beehive of their own. Normally they will gather on a branch or gate post close to the hive, while scout bees go looking for a suitable new home. They will stay here for between 12 and 48 hours – this is your window of opportunity to collect them and put them into a new hive.

This is of course the positive side to swarming – that is provided you don’t lose them – you now have 2 colonies instead of one. Or if you are just starting beekeeping, getting someone elses swarm is a great way to get your first bees. And provided it is still early in the season, the new colony should be productive.

Remember the proverb – A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly!

Swarm Image courtesy bushfarms.com

1. Honey bees are the only insect that produce food eaten by man.

2. The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

3. A hive of bees will have to fly a total of 55,000 miles to get enough nectar to make 1 pound of honey – equivalent to flying twice around the planet earth.

4. Bees will fly up to 6 miles from their hive to collect pollen and nectar.

5. Bees have 2 pairs of wings, which move incredibly fast – about 200 beats per second. This is what makes honey bees buzz!

6. At its peak in the summertime, there will be about 60,000 worker bees in a colony, 2,000 drones and just one queen. The worker bees are all female, and do all the work.

7. Drones are the male honey bees. They are noticeably larger than worker bees, have no stinger and do no work at all. Their only job is to mate with a queen bee. Only one drawback – after they mate, they die.

8. The queen bee only leaves the hive once to mate, with up to 20 drones. When she returns to the hive, her only job is to lay eggs – up to 2,500 eggs per day when the colony is at its busiest in the summer months.

9. The queen controls the colony by releasing pheromones which get passed from one bee to another through contact. If these pheromones become too weak, it is taken as a signal that the queen needs to be replaced (or ‘superceded’).

10. The new queen comes from exactly the same eggs as worker bees – but because she is fed a different diet (of ‘royal jelly’) she develops into a queen rather than a worker. Definitely a case of “you are what you eat!”

Why not experience these fascinating creatures for yourself, and start beekeeping today?

Of course, all backyard beekeeping is natural, in a way that commercial beekeeping is not. For commercial beekeepers pollination is often the biggest earner, so bees are transported thousands of miles to pollinate huge swathes of mono culture crops. This excessive transportation, the lack of biodiversity, and the associated heavy chemical use - little wonder that scientists are increasingly citing stress as a likely cause of Colony Collapse Disorder.

But some forms of hobby beekeeping are seen as more natural than others – particularly top bar hive beekeeping and it’s close cousin Warre hive beekeeping. Both of these are arguably less invasive than traditional beekeeping with Langstroth hives, and the bees allowed more freedom to act as they would in their natural environment.

Build Your Own Top Bar Hive

One of the real advantages of top bar hives is their simplicity. If you have even basic carpentry skills, building a top bar hive is really simple. You can get top bar hive plans from the Back Yard Hive shop for just $9.95 (and they also supply materials if you need them). If you are interested in building your own top bar hive, the video below should also help.

Buy a Top Bar Hive

Alternatively, if you do not have the time or inclination to build your own beehive, the Back Yard Hive also has hand crafted top bar hives for sale. This is definitely a more expensive option, but their hive does include a full length viewing window making it easy to inspect your bees without disrupting them, and it is beautifully made.

Whether you make your hive yourself or buy it ready made is really a personal choice. And of course so too is the choice between top bar, Warre or Langstroth – they all have their own merits.  The important thing is to pick one, and start beekeeping – you won’t regret it.

BEESWAX COSMETICS RECIPES

Moisturing Vitamin E Cream

Melt the oil and the wax in a double boiler. Remove from heat, add water, and stir thoroughly. Add your Vitamin E, essential oil and stir continuously until cool.  After you have added the essential oil and the cream is still warm enough to pour, carefully pour it into Salve Jars or Metal Tins.

This cream is very moisturizing and emollient. It is nice for rough, dry, or chapped complexions and should help promote healthy looking skin.

Antiseptic Balm 

Makes enough to fill 4 each 1 ounce salve jars or 1 ounce metal tins.  A rule of thumb is 2 parts oil to one part beeswax. Simply heat the Sweet Almond and Jojoba oil in a saucepan and add Beeswax. If you want a thin consistency ( such as a cream or Vaseline ) add only a little bit of Beeswax. Want it thicker like wax? Just add more Beeswax. Allow the base to cool down to see what the consistency is like. If it’s too thick, add more Sweet Almond oil and reheat. Too thin? Add more Beeswax.

As the base is cooling add the essential oils to enhance the healing effect of the balm.  After you have added the essential oil and the lip balm is still warm enough to pour, carefully pour it into Salve Jars or Metal Tins.

Use this instead of antiseptic ointment, this is far superior!

Coconut Butter Body Moisturizer 

Melt the beeswax over low heat with the water. Spoon in cocoa butter and blend. Gradually blend in oils. Pour into glass jar. The lotion will thicken as it cools.

This is particularly good for wind and sunburned skin.

Skin Cream

Melt the oil, lanolin and beeswax to 160 degrees F. Heat the borax and water in a separate container to 160 degrees F. Be sure the beeswax is melted and the borax is dissolved. Add the water mixture to the oil mixture while stirring. When a white cream forms, stir slowly until the mixture cools to 100 degrees F. Pour the cream into small, wide-mouth jars.

Beeswax Hand Cream 

Heat the beeswax and sweet almond oil until the wax melts. In another container, heat water until warm. Both mixtures should be warm, but not so hot as to be uncomfortable to the touch. Place warm water in a blender. Cover the blender, leaving open the small opening in the cover.

With the blender running on high speed, slowly pour in the beeswax-oil mixture in a thin stream. When most of the oil has been added, the mixture should begin to thicken. At this point, add the essential oil. Continue to add oil and blend until the mixture is sufficiently thickened. Turn off the blender. You should have a thick cream. Spoon into salve jars or metal tins.

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP: Beeswax melts at 143-148 degrees. It is pliable at 100 degrees. All waxes will ignite explosively when they reach their flash point temperature. To melt beeswax safely, place it in the top of a double boiler, or place the container of wax in a larger container of hot water.

Do not melt beeswax in a microwave, as it could become hot enough to ignite. Do not cover the beeswax while melting in a container of water, as steam may condense on the inside of the cover resulting in water in the wax.

MEASURING TIP : To measure a small amount of beeswax, grate it before melting.

You can of course buy a honey extractor, although there are quite expensive – depending on the model, from about $250 up. And because you will only use it for a few days a year at most, it is difficult to justify. Alternatively, if you have a good local beekeeping association, you can usually rent or borrow their honey extractor. This is a much better option, but one drawback is that you may have to wait your turn, particularly if there are a lot of hobby beekeepers in your area.

So, if you are a hands on type of person, there is another solution – build your own honey extractor.

What materials will you need?

• 1 large steel drum
• 2 bicycle wheel rims (of smaller diameter than the drum)
• 1 thick threaded metal rod (at least a meter long)
• 10 nuts for the metal rod
• 2 pieces of wood (length equal to diameter of the drum)
• 1 meter of 2-3mm fencing wire
• 4 40cm lengths of 8mm threaded rod
• 16 8mm nuts
• 8 coach screws
• 1 self centering bearing
• 1 pillow block bearing

Note: Make sure that the metal drum was never used to store potentially toxic materials.

What tools will you need?

• an electric drill
• a welder (and preferably some welding experience)
• a socket set
• a hack saw

Instructions

Bottom of the honey extractor drum

Remove the end of the drum that does not have two pouring holes. The newly opened end will be the top of your honey extractor. Use the coach screws to attach one of the pieces of wood across the bottom of the inside of the drum (making sure you do not cover the pouring holes). The wood length should be the full diameter of the drum. Then screw the pillow block onto the centre of this piece of wood.

Insert the threaded rod through the center of the first bicycle rim, holding it in place approximately 10 centimeters from the end of the rod with a nut on each side. Screw another 2 nuts on together about 15mm from the end of the rod (this is the end which will sit in the bearing). From the opposite end of the rod, screw on a nut for the other wheel - the second wheel will rest on this nut, and is again secured with another nut on top. The distance between the 2 wheels should be about 35 cm.

Completed extractor basket

When both of the wheel rims are in place, drill holes in four spots around each wheel at the 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock positions, and use the 8mm rods to lock the wheel rims together, using 4 nuts on each rod. Make sure that 2 cm of rod protrudes.

Thread another nut down the central rod until it is about 15cm from the top wheel. Put the self centering bearing above this, and secure with another nut above.

Cut a slit 10mm deep and 3mm wide into the end of the rod using the hacksaw (in other words, make it into a screw head – this is where you’ll use the drill to spin the extractor). Then screw on another 2 nuts at this end of the rod. Now put a spot of weld on all the nuts to permanently lock them into place.

Extractor basket with wire in place

Next, fasten the wire to the the spokes of the bottom wheel rim, approximately 5-8cm in from the rim. This will stop the frames falling out of the basket. You have now successfully made the basket of your honey extractor.

Place the extractor basket into the drum, with the rod in the pillow bearing. Now position the second piece of wood diagonally across the mouth of the drum and in line with the self centering bearing. Attach it to both the drum sides and to the bearing with coach screws.

Your honey extractor is now complete!

Honey extractor, complete with frames

Honey extraction in action!

To use it, place you uncapped honey frames in the extractor basket (between the spokes of the top wheel, and resting on the wire on the bottom wheel) and turn it using a drill with a screwdriver bit in the chuck. Gradually build up speed (although not too fast, or you will damage the honeycomb).

When you are finished, the honey can be drained out of the outlets at the bottom of the drum, and strained as usual.

Building your own honey extractor is obviously for the more adventurous beekeeper, but it is a real money saver, and equally as effective as a bought extractor.

Photo credits Garth Chambray www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2005/september/honeyextractor.htm

Your own delicious honey!

Harvesting honey is one of the most exciting jobs of a beekeeper (click here to see a video showing how to harvest honey). It is the time when all your hard work pays off, and it is such a thrill to taste the first honey from your own hive. But, as with everything to do with beekeeping, there are a few pitfalls you need to watch out for! Here are 5 tips to help ensure that your first honey harvest runs smoothly.

1. Honey is very sticky

Obvious, but still worth remembering. You will get honey on your hands, and everything you touch will get sticky. A bucket of warm water is essential to keep rinsing your hands.  Be well prepared, with all your extraction equipment at hand before you start. If possible, do your extraction in a garage or basement rather than in the kitchen (provided you can keep the honey clean and the bees out).

2.  Beware of robbers

Your extraction room must be bee proof. Bees will be attracted to the honey, and if they can get in, they will. Not only will they take back their honey – it is also very difficult to extract honey with bees buzzing around your head.

If possible, do not leave full supers sitting around for long before extraction. Bees are not the only insects who like honey – ants, earwigs and wasps will all steal it if given the chance.

3. Warm honey flows better

Extracting honey is much easier if it is warm – ideally 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 c) or more. In the summer time this is not usually a problem, but if it is cooler try warming the frames before beginning the extraction. The easiest way to do this is by putting the supers under a light bulb overnight.

4. You don’t need to buy all the extraction equipment.

Many household items will be good enough substitutes for extraction tools, rather than spending a fortune on beekeeping supplies. Rather than an uncapping knife, you can use a serrated bread knife. Kitchen Strainers (or nylon stockings) can be used as honey filters. Tupperware containers are good for honey and the wax cappings.

One thing that you will need is a centrifugal honey extractor, but you can often borrow or hire this from your local beekeeping association – or even build your own honey extractor.

5. Make use of the wax cappings

About 10% of the honey will be in the wax cappings, so be sure to strain these to get all the honey you can. The cappings themselves can then be melted down and are ideal for candle making. Do not use everyday pots to melt your wax – anything in contact with melted wax will remain forever waxy and cannot be used for anything else.

6. Bees are great cleaners

Once you have extracted your honey, put the ‘wet’ super with the empty frames back on the hive. The bees will do a great job of cleaning off any remaining honey, usually within 1 day, and the dry super can then be put into storage.

Enjoy your delicious honey!