Beekeeping in Northern Climates

[Music] welcome to this training session on Bee management my research assistant Gary Reuter and I will show you a management system for northern climates the system was developed by dr. basil fer gala while he was tenured at the University of Minnesota it's a system that's worked well for beginning beekeepers over the years please refer to the manual that comes with this tape for detailed instructions and diagrams I'd also recommend that you read a book on the biology of bees the art of beekeeping hasn't changed over the years but the science has parasitic mites have become a major problem for beekeepers I urge you to keep current on the latest approved treatments for these mites I also encourage you to read the trade journals attend your local and national bee meetings and register your bees with the Department of Agriculture in this video we'll take you through two years in the establishment of productive colonies whenever you see a transition marked by a flower or scenery feel free to stop the video and refer to your manual our system depends on four basic principles you should select good equipment and a good location your Queens should be young and prolific they'll need nectar and pollen stores at all times and your colony should have no diseases and as few mites as possible to begin keeping bees you'll need a suitable nest or hive for your colony purchase beekeeping equipment from a beekeeping supply store in your area or mail-order equipment from a distributor some of the components of the hive will need to be assembled and painted a hive stand keeps the hive off the ground so your bees stay dry the dead air space helps insulate the colony in the winter it should be made of treated wood or be well painted cement blocks or bricks also make a good hive stand the bottom board is the floor of the hive and provides space for bees to enter and exit an entrance reducer will be used when installing your new colony of bees and during winter and early spring follow assembly instructions in the manual deep hive bodies are used as brood chambers this is where the Queen will lay eggs and the young adult bees will feed and incubate her brood we recommend drilling a one-inch hole centered three inches above the bottom edge in each deep hive body and using metal rabbits wear frames hang to begin you will need 10 frames for each deep hive body we recommend self spacing frames with groove top and bottom bars you'll also need foundation for each frame in the hive to provide support for the wax combs there are several kinds of foundation we prefer dairy guilt but you may come to have your own preference an inner cover provides a be space above the frames and a hole for feeding these sugar syrup a telescoping cover is the final cover for the colony it telescopes over the top so it doesn't slide off it has a metal top to keep out the rain sugar syrup will be needed for feeding and medicating colonies see your manual for instructions on mixing heavy and light syrup mixtures a feed pail is needed to feed sugar syrup many kinds of feeders are available in the north we recommend using a gravity feeder it is simply a plastic airtight pail with holes in the lid and a lip around the edge other items you will need include feeding supplements and medications as you learn to be your B's caretaker and veterinarian pollen substitute provides supplemental protein to your colonies mix pollen substitute according to the directions on the package we believe that beekeepers should use as few medications as possible we strongly promote the use of lines of bees bred to be resistant we've developed separate resources on honeybee diseases and pests which we update regularly to provide you with the most current information on registered treatments resistant lines of bees and alternative control measures please refer to our separate manual for proper use of medications we strongly recommend that you keep current on which medications and treatments are registered and approved for use in bee colonies and which are the most effective in your area avoid using treatments which are not registered for use you risk contaminating the honey with chemical residues and your bees and their mite parasites may develop resistance to the treatments if the treatments are improperly applied invest in personal gear to make colony inspections easier and to protect you against stings wear light-colored clothing or coveralls light colors irritate bees less than dark textured clothing tie straps around your ankles to keep the bees from crawling up your pant legs we're a veil and a helmet to protect your head from stings pick a veil that is be tight has good visibility and is comfortable when you begin keeping bees you may want to our gloves but many beekeepers find them clumsy and prefer to work without them use a hive tool an essential piece of equipment to pry apart boxes lift out frames and scrape equipment a smoker is also essential blow cool smoke over the bees to disorient them while you inspect your colony smoker fuel can be anything that will produce a non-toxic smoke that won't blow flames at the bees for example wood chips or shavings corn cobs burlap and dried cow or horse chips to light the smoker place a small amount of smoker fuel into the bottom pump air into the pot using the bellows make sure the fuel is well lit before adding more add some green grass over the top of the fuel to cool the smoke be sure to select a good apiary site for your colonies a good site includes the following features abundant nectar and pollen plants within one mile continuous source of water within a half a mile sparse population good air circulation not in a depression or flood plain windbreak on the north side vehicle accessibility electric fence for bears assemble and paint your equipment and set up on location before your package of bees is scheduled to arrive you'll need one deep brood chamber set up on a bottom board and a hive stand a package containing two pounds of bees should be hived about a month before the fruit trees in dandelions bloom around mid-april in the twin cities this will allow the colony population to increase in time to take advantage of the flowers when they bloom in May position the entrance reducer using the smallest opening if it is sunny stuff some grass in the entrance to delay them from flying out remove four frames from the center of the hive body pry the cardboard lid off the top of the package sharply wrap the B's so the cluster drops to the bottom of the package and spray the B's with sugar syrup remove the feeder tan from the package and set it aside remove the Queen cage from the package and check to make sure she's alive put the Queen cage in a safe warm place like your pocket spray the bees in the package with more sugar syrup shake the bees into the hive and carefully spread them out on the bottom board as dr. basil for gala says like spreading sauce on pizza Spray the queen lightly with sugar syrup direct release the queen by lowering the Queen cage into the hive removing the staple and gently pulling back the screen allow her to crawl out onto the frame carefully replace the four frames feed your new colony pollen substitute until natural pollen is available place a patty on top of the frames but don't block the opening for the feeder provide the hive bees with two gallons of light sugar syrup make sure the pail is level and doesn't leak place a medium depth shell over the pails and cover with the outer cover the next day after hiving your package check the feeder pail to make certain bees are obtaining sugar syrup no need to open the colony at this time inspect your colony to determine if the queen is laying eggs use smoke during each inspection move slowly but surely avoid quick movements work the colony from behind or to one side to avoid blocking the flight path of the bees into the entrance of the colony puff some smoke into the entrance and gently remove the outer and inner covers use your hive tool to remove the frames from the box always remove an outside frame first to avoid disturbing the brood nest and inadvertently crushing the Queen remove all frames slowly and smoothly to avoid disturbing or damaging the bees when looking for eggs make sure to have the Sun to your back so it shines down into the cells there should be one egg per cell centered in the bottom of the cell we recommend you purchase a marked queen however as you become more experienced you may want to learn to mark the Queen yourself by carefully placing a dot of enamel paint on her thorax [Music] make sure the frames are properly spaced in the box so that a B space is left between the frames this is particularly important when the bees are hived on new foundation continue feeding unmedicated sugar syrup until dandelions and fruit trees are in bloom [Music] every 7 to 10 days after hiving your package to check the progress of your colony bee populations will dwindle for the first 21 days after hiding your package until new workers emerge use slow and careful movements around your bees notice that the bees are drawing out new wax comb on the foundation check for the presence of the queen by noting if there are eggs note larvae shaped like the letter c in the cells and sealed brood or pupae under a wax capping also notes stored pollen which may be very colorful depending on the types of pollen the bees are collecting note the Queen's brood pattern the brood area should be compact with few empty cells to ensure rapid and even comb construction move undrawn combs in from the edges don't place frames containing brood at the edge of the box keep all brood frames together continue feeding sugar syrup as long as the bees consume it as your colony grows the bees will need room for expansion add the second deep hive body to each colony when most of the comb surface in the first box has been drawn out when the second hive body is added remove one frame containing nectar but not brood from the original hive body leaving nine frames most beekeepers maintain nine frames in each box to facilitate colony inspections placing a drawn comb in the center of the second box will encourage the bees to move up into the second box be sure to evenly spaced the combs after each inspection leave ten frames in the second box until they too are all drawn out with wax remove the cork from the bottom box but leave the second box plugged until the foundation is drawn out adjust the entrance reducer to the next largest opening at this time add the third deep hive body later in June when the bees cover all the frames in the second hive body remove the tenth frame from the third hive body when all frames of foundation have been completely drawn to ensure that the Queen has adequate comb space to lay eggs reverse the hive bodies in your new colony of bees at least once before winter when the top brood box is filled with bees and brood move it to the bottom of the stack and place the brood box that was resting on the bottom board on the top in this way the Queen will be moved to the bottom of the stack and will eventually work her way up again filling the boxes with brood your goal this first year is to build a strong three-story colony for wintering your new colony may not produce surplus honey for you to harvest the first year however in some years you may need to add honey supers in July instructions for producing and harvesting honey will be given later in this video at the end of summer begin preparing your colony for winter to winter your colonies effectively your colony should have a young queen no mites no diseases adequate honey stores to determine if your colony is infested with mites shake about a hundred to two hundred bees into a container filled with isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol you can easily determine if the sample of these has varroa mites back at home as we will demonstrate shortly to check your bees for varroa mites place the sample of bees in a 1/8 inch hardware cloth basket over a white bowl pour extra alcohol to cover the bees and shake them for about a minute to dislodge any mites the mites will fall through the basket to the bottom of the bowl you can easily distinguish the mites from other debris by their reddish-brown color in their oval shape to determine if your colony has tracheal mites send the sample and alcohol to a laboratory or learn how to dissect the bees yourself under a microscope if your colony has varroa mites you may use various methods to control them please consult our resources on diseases and pests for recommended and safe options the for mid-october feed two gallons of heavy sugar syrup containing few middle to prevent no Zima disease a total of 75 to a hundred pounds of stored honey will be needed by the bees for the winter the gross hive weight should be around 180 to 200 pounds you may need to supply more unmedicated syrup if your colony is light [Music] determine whether the seventy-five to a hundred pounds of winter honey reserves are properly located in the hive the top hive body should have approximately forty to fifty pounds of honey there should be 30 to 40 pounds of honey in the middle hive body and ten to twenty pounds in the bottom hive body you may need to move some of the frames in the colony to fit this arrangement position the entrance reducer using the largest opening facing up plug the two entrance holes in the bottom boxes with corks but leave the hole open in the top box for ventilation and as an upper winter entrance the bottom entrance may be covered by snow later in the winter place fiber board over the inner cover to wick moisture out of the hive during the winter place a commercial winter carton over the hive or wrap the hive in tar paper fold under one of the flaps of the carton or cut it off to allow air to flow over the moisture board replace the telescoping outer cover and secure it with a rock the outer cover should sit loosely on top to allow moisture to escape cut a hole in the winter carton that is aligned with the upper entrance your colony is now ready for winter this method of wrapping is sufficient to ensure colony survival in most northern regions some beekeepers prefer to wrap their colonies in styrofoam insulation covered with black plastic as you gain experience you may want to experiment with different methods the first thing to do in early spring is provide pollen substitute in mid-april when the temperature is above 50 degrees clean the dead bees from the bottom board of the wintered colony if your colony has over six frames of brood conduct a partial reversal rotate the position of the top two boxes to provide room for colony expansion later in the month conduct a full reversal the manual will illustrate how to arrange the boxes replenish the pollen paddy if necessary [Music] divide strong colonies about six to eight weeks before the main honey flow in our area we make divides during the dandelion bloom dividing your colony will help prevent swarming and will aid in mic control you will introduce a new queen into the new divide which will help the colony winter successfully the colony that is to be divided should have a brood chamber consisting of three deep hive bodies a large adult bee population and a minimum of 10 good frames of brood a full reversal was performed on this colony earlier in the month order a new queen in advance from a reputable queen breeder at least four days prior to the expected arrival of your queen arrange half of the frames containing brood into the top hive body and the other half in the middle hive body place any remaining brood frames in the bottom box place a queen excluder between the top and middle hive bodies the excluder will confine the Queen within either the top box or within the bottom two boxes four days later inspect the hive bodies to locate eggs the box or boxes that contain eggs will also contain the Queen if you see eggs it is not necessary to see the Queen if eggs are found in the top hive body remove the middle brood box which is queenless for the divide if eggs are found in one of the bottom two hive bodies remove the top hive body for the divide place the hive body that contains about half of the brood but no eggs on the bottom board at a new location in the apiary this newly established colony is the divide the unit that contains the other half of the brood and the queen is left at the original site this is now the parent colony the parent colony will be the honey producing colony for this season the new divide will be the colony that winters and will become the honey producing parent colony the next season the bottom hive body of the parent colony is moved to the top so the colony has room for expansion to honey supers should be provided to the parent at this time to provide space to store nectar remove the entrance reducer and corks let the divide sit from 12 to 24 hours before introducing your new queen during this time older bees will return to the parent colony leaving younger bees in the divide who will more readily accept a new queen introduce the new queen using the slow release method remove the cork from the candy end of the Queen cage and make a hole in the candy with a small nail be careful not to skewer the Queen slightly separate two frames containing brood in the middle of the hive body suspend the Queen cage in this space with the screen down Center the cage on one of the frames just below the top part these two frames will have to be pushed together to hold the Queen cage in place close up the hive refill the pail of sugar syrup if necessary do not disturb the divide for five to seven days during this time the bees will chew through the plug of candy in the Queen cage releasing the Queen into the colony after five to seven days gently open the divide and look for eggs and larvae to be sure the new queen was accepted a deep hive body preferably with drawn combs should be added on top of the divide inspect to divide every seven to ten days until the major honey flow begins [Music] add the third deep hi body when the second one is mostly filled as you did for the package when the third box on the divide is full conduct a full reversal moving the top box to the bottom and the bottom box to the top honey supers can be added to the divide over the third brood box after the honey supers are added it will not be necessary to inspect the brood nest until fall the brood nest of the parent colony will remain in too deep hive bodies for the remainder of the season this is the colony that will produce surplus honey for you to harvest it is not expected to survive the winter inspect the parent colony every seven to ten days after making the divide reverse the two hive bodies on each inspection so the Queen will always have room to lay eggs and to give you an opportunity to check for swarm cells bees swarm in early summer when they are congested before swarming the bees begin to rear Queens from a number of larvae present in the colony they enlarge the cell around the larvae so that the cell hangs vertically and they feed the larvae large quantities of royal jelly you can discourage them from swarming by destroying the cells with your hive tool continue to perform reversals to expand the brood nest and relieve congestion when the first two honey supers are mostly filled with nectar add two more continue to add supers to the parent colony throughout the summer as needed in late summer you will have honey to harvest remember leave colonies to be wintered with about 75 to 100 pounds of honey the honey you will harvest will come from the honey supers not from the hive bodies containing brood remove all the bees from the supers using one of several methods keep the supers covered as you work with a sharp motion shake the bees in front of the hive entrance or brush the bees off the frames in front of the hive entrance using a bee brush vigo or honey robber can be applied to a fume board on top of the super the vapors will drive the bees out this works best on warmer days the super should be aired out before extracting a bee blower will force the beast from the supers use a high-volume low-pressure blower a leaf blower heavy-duty shop vacuum set to blow will work for this you need at least one of the following capping scratcher uncapping knife uncapping plain or automatic on capper you will also need a nun capping tray to catch the wax cappings an extractor either power or hand crank will be needed to extract the honey this is a centrifugal device that spins out the honey a strainer is used to strain the honey as it comes from the extractor this can be a coarse screen to get the large pieces of wax a nylon cloth to strain all of the wax or a double screen a container will be needed to store the honey until it is bottled depending on your honey harvest this may be quart jars gallon jugs five-gallon pails 55-gallon barrels or a tanker extract the honey the same day it is removed from the hive whenever possible any honey held for extraction should be kept in a warm dry room remove the cappings from the combs if the knife does not remove all of the cappings use the capping scratcher to remove them place the uncapped frames into the extractor in a tangential extractor turn the basket slowly at first then pick up speed as the frames empty partially extract one side of the frames turn them around and extract the other side turn them around once more and finish the first side the frames will have to be spun from 5 to 20 minutes per side if you spend full combs too fast you may damage the combs an electric radial extractor will pick up speed slowly the frames do not need to be rotated in this type of extractor open the honey gate and strain the honey into a settling tank or bucket with a gate let the honey settle to allow any wax to migrate to the top of the tank bottle the warm strained honey in clean attractive jars or plastic containers let the honey run down the inside of the bottle to prevent bubbles from forming after the honey harvest select those colonies that are strong enough to be wintered with the management scheme we have outlined you will only winter colonies in three deep hive bodies with young Queens these colonies will include new package bees and divides remember to winter your colonies effectively your colony should have a young queen no mites or as few as possible no diseases adequate honey stores prepare your colonies for winter as you did the previous year if your colony has a young queen is diseased and might free and has adequate honey stores your bees will survive even the harshest winter bees cluster within the hive during the winter they shiver their flight muscles to generate heat and feed on honey wormed within the cluster this colony will be strong in the spring it was the divide the previous spring next spring it will become the honey producing colony if a colony is wintered without adequate stores or if it is not treated for mites it may succumb in the middle of winter as did this parent colony it is best to take colony losses in late fall a quick summary remember our system depends on four basic principles you should select good equipment and a good location your Queens should be young and prolific they'll need nectar and pollen stores at all times and your hive should be diseased and might free there are as many ways of keeping bees as there are beekeepers the management system shown here is based on the natural life cycle of the colony in northern climates beginning and experienced beekeepers have had consistent success with this system over many years consult the manual for more details take time to observe and enjoy your bees treat them well and they will return the favor [Music]

Channel: Bee Lab

Views: 114,339

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Id: AtqSHaruFBQ

Length: 36min 58sec (2218 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 25 2017