beekeeping final

top to bottom hive set-up (7)

outer hive cover, inner cover, honey super, queen excluder, deep/brood boxes, bottom board, hive stand

outer hive cover

goes over sides of super to protect from wind and rain

inner cover

creates air space for insulation, can have a bee escape

honey supers

aka shallow supers, holds surplus honey that beekeepers extract honey from

queen excluder

prevents queen from laying in honey super, but allows workers through

deep/brood boxes

where the brood is reared and colony’s honey is stored

bottom board

acts as the floor of the hive, where the entrance reducer would be placed

stand

keeps hive off of the ground and dry, includes a landing area for bees

comb foundation

pure beeswax/plastic inserted as a base in the frame for bees to build off of. encourages straight comb, makes honey extraction easy, and takes some work off of the bees.

uncapping knife

heated/electric blade that removes the wax cappings off of honey comb

honey extractor

uses centrifugal force to spin honey out of frames, honey collects at the bottom and comb can be reused

bee smoker

produces light, cool smoke to mask alarm pheromone and calm bees

hive tool

crowbar like tool with a sharp edge to pry hives open and a curved edge

bee blower

produces wind to keep bees away from supers

feeders

provides sugar syrup to supplement colony’s diet, often goes on the top of the honey supers

when do you want the adult bee population to peak

during the nectar flow

what does healthy brood comb look like

uniform capped cells, one egg per cell,

ideal requeening procedure

removing dead/failing queen, place new, caged queen in hive to let colony get used to her, release queen when aggressive behavior stops or in 4 days

how do you know when a colony accepts a queen?

feeding queen through the cage, bees are able to be brushed away

how do you know when a colony rejects a queen?

aggressive, trying to bite queen, can’t be brushed away

order of colors for International Queen Marking

white, yellow, red, green, blue

What is drifting and why is it bad

when bees return to the wrong hive, can spread diseases

how to prevent drifting

paint hives different colors, use landmarks,

why do you want to avoid open feeding

promotes robbing behavior

recipe for sugar syrup

beet/cane sugar and water

what do you feed bees in spring vs fall

1 water:1 sugar to stimulate foraging in spring, 1 water:2 sugar in fall to gain weight

signs of a honey flow

white wax on edges of frames, bees quickly leaving and entering hive, nectar dripping from the frame, yellow sweet clover and alfalfa in bloom, usually mid-June to August

what contributes most to honey flows in the great plains

alfalfa, yellow/white sweet clover,

types of feeders

nipple feeders, entrance feeders, top feeders, division boards

signs to add honey supers

more cells are filled with honey than brood

when to remove supers

mid-august or September, before applying treatments

how and when to move bees

secure hives with staples/straps parallel to vehicle, use screen wire to close entrance, move at least 3 miles in early morning or when cool

ideal apiary location

direct sunlight, windbreak, abundant flowering plants, reliable standing water source,

what should you see after 3 weeks after installing a package colony

several frames of sealed brood comb

American Foulbrood

bacteria kills larvae after capping, ropey dead brood, rotten smell, larvae in milk turns it clear, highly infectious

How to treat/prevent AFB

legally have to burn colony and equipment, practice sanitation

European Foulbrood

bacteria kills larva before capping, stress disease, larvae turn yellow then brown, dies in coiled state,

viral diseases

often asymptomatic, spread by varroa, control mites to control spread, keeping colonies healthy helps bees fight them off

signs of pesticide exposure

lots of dead bees in a short time

Chalkbrood

fungus invades larva’s gut during cool and damp conditions and outcompetes them for food, mummies are chalky; sign there isn’t enough adults to keep brood warm

stone brood

fungus enters larva orally and turns dead larvae into white, hard to crush mummies, increase ventilation to manage and disinfect equipment

Nosema

invades intestinal tract of adult bees, reduce lifespan and brood food production, dysentery-like symptoms, don’t treat bc it comes and goes

tracheal mites

lives in breathing tubes of young adult bees, impairs flight, causes real problems at 25% colony infection, reduce longevity and more likely to die in winter

Varroa destructor mites

parasitizes worker and drone brood, feeds on hemolymph and fat bodies of all life stages, spreads diseases

Varroa Life Cycle

1. pregnant female crawls into larval cell before capping
2. lays eggs after capping and feeds on larva
3. male eggs hatch first, then the females
4. males mate with sisters, sisters leave cell for phoresy state

wax moths

larvae eat old comb and unused equipment, clean equipment before storage

difference between greater and lesser wax moth

greater: larvae congregate

lesser: each larvae has segregated silken tunnels

small hive beetle

larvae eat honey, pollen, and brood; can destroy weak colonies, feces contaminate honey, having strong colonies prevent this

what moisture content is ideal for honey

less than 18%

true/false: capped honey is usually at the right moisture content for processing

true

how many times should you filter honey after extracting

1-3

what happens if you heat honey too much

loses flavor, burns easily

creamed honey

17\.5-18% moisture content, finely granulated honey

when to check/treat for varroa mites

spring before honey supers go on and treat in late summer/early fall with enough time for a potential second treatment

mite treatment threshold

less than 6 mites per 100 bees

powered sugar treatment

1/2 cup of workers (300 bees) are placed in a 1 pt jar with a mesh lid. 1 tbsp of sugar added through the mesh and bees are rolled. Let sit ten minutes then shake bees over water so mites can be counted. divide # of mites by 3

how much honey do 2 brood boxes need for winter

80-100lbs

robbing behavior and when is it common

fighting/balling bees, swaying in front of the hive, common during periods of low resources

what promotes robbing

overcrowding, open feeding, exposed comb and honey

should you leave queen excluders and entrances open before winter

no

pollination

pollen grain lands on a stigma of a flower, and pollen tube grows down into the ovary to fertilize an ovule, which becomes a seed

self-fertile

can set fruit when pollen from itself goes into the stigma of the same flower

self-sterile

require pollen from pollinizing variety to set fruit

parthenocarpy

develops seedless fruit without pollination

do most pollinator-reliant crops have perfect or imperfect flowers

imperfect flowers

bumble bees

buzz pollination, has floral consistency but doesn’t recruit nestmates, small colonies with an annual lifespan

entrance reducer

has a small and large opening, controls what/how many bees can enter

alkali bees

nest in the ground, used for alfalfa and onion, like salty and muddy soil

alfalfa leaf-cutting bee

nests in stems, moveable and efficient, emerges same time as alfalfa blooms and live for 2 weeks

blue orchard mason bee

emerge early, active for 6-8 weeks, fly in cooler weather and pollinate apples, cherries, and pears

frame

usually 10 per box, holds comb

nectar flow

period of heaviest nectar production

how many honey supers should you add at a time

2

what makes up a package of bees

2-3 lbs of workers, a mated caged queen, and sugar syrup

steps of installing packages

1. remove syrup feeder
2. remove cage with queen, DO NOT OPEN
3. Smack box on the ground and pour bees into empty brood box
4. release queen onto frame and close colony

signs of failing queen/queenlessness

irregular brood pattern, too much drone brood, multiple eggs per cell (laying worker)

laying worker

sign of lost queen, multiple eggs per cell, eggs not in bottom of the cell

4 steps to fall/wintering management

1. check varroa mite levels
2. combine hives; cull unhealthy ones
3. Prevent robbing
4. Fall feeding

basic honey extraction steps

1. remove supers at end of nectar flow
2. uncap frames into an uncapping tank
3. extract honey
4. filter both honey and wax cappings around 3 times
5. bottle honey

basic wax melting steps

1. collect excess beeswax
2. drain any good honey out
3. rise beeswax in cool water
4. melt wax
5. pour wax through filters
6. let wax cool in molds

uncapping tank

catches dripping honey and “cappings” then separates \n via mesh filter(s)

what plants are used for fall forage

goldenrod, sunflower

what to look for in basic health checks

Queenright, pests, diseases, brood, food

fall feeding procedures

feed heavy syrup early enough so that it can turn into honey, feeding pollen to supplement brood rearing

January hive check

listen for buzzing, heft hives to check weight, can open hive on a warm day to check cluster; if cluster is at the top of their frames=feed with candy board

cross pollination

when pollen from one plant is brought to a different plant/variety

self-pollinating

pollen transfer within one flower

plant-pollinator mutualism

plant: produces costly nectar to get most successful reproduction

pollinator: spends lots of energy foraging to get nutrient nectar and bringing pollen around

benefits of bee pollination

\
setting fruit & achieving \n complete fertilization, Increase fruit size, Increase yield, Increase revenue

pollinator dependent crops

includes apples, most almonds, most cherries, pears; most have imperfect flowers

migratory pollinator circuit

starts with almonds, apples, berries, onion, cucumber, clover, squash, sunflower

crop attraction

sweeter nectar attracts more pollinators, sunny weather makes more nectar

manage hives for pollination

find minimum density to achieve max yield, about 1 hive per acre, sunny area, south facing, windbreak and water source

colony collapse disorder

rapid depopulation, absence of older workers, presence of queen and some young bees and brood

pyramid of IMP (bottom to top)

cultural control, mechanical, biological, chemical

cultural control

suppresses pests by minimizing the conditions they need to live

mechanical control

prevents access and/or physically removing/trapping pests

biological control

use of predators, parasites, and diseases of pests in a targeted way to suppress pests

chemical control

synthetic chemical treatments

factors that impact bee health

environmental stressors, improper managment, virus/bacteria/fungi, mites/moths/beetles