BC2 management of the commercial apiary

1. Siting of colonies2. Hives, equipment and

internal arrangement of hives

3. Control of swarming4. Feeding and overwintering5. Managing the honey flow6. Harvesting the honey crop7. Sources of expert help,

advice and courses

Siting of colonies - Out apiary

• Easy access for the bee keeper

• Protective cover from the elements– Wind & cold cause

winter losses– Shelter belts– Avoid wind eddies– Avoid frost pockets

• Good air drainage– Damp air

Siting of colonies

• Away from heavy tree canopy– Damp, cool, drumming

of rain drops

• Avoid flight lines crossing public areas

• Avoid horses, goats & machinery

Siting of colonies

Siting of colonies

Consider • Others• Danger of damage

from – Wind– Vandalism– Theft– Machinery

Hives

http://www.dave-cushman.net/

HivesNational

• Small • Brood chamber

– 8 7/8” deep– 11 frame

• Super – 10 frame

HivesCommercial

• Large • brood chamber • 16” x 10” • Super• 16”x6

HivesWBC

• William Braughton Carr• Large

– brood chamber

• Standard super– Super

• Double walled– Good thermal protection

• Traditional

Hives Materials

Soft wood cheaper and lighter than hard wood

¾” to 1” • Pine• Cedar

– Does not need preservatives

• Plywood

Plastic

Internal Arrangement

• Frame number• Surface area• Top space v bottom

space

Equipment

• Veil

• Overall

• Gloves

• Smoker

• Hive tool

Equipment

Equipment

Control of swarming

picture from wikipedia.org

Swarm being hived

Swarm Queen Cells

Control of swarming

Cause 1 Overcrowding• No place to put nectar so the brood nest is congested

– Add supers

• Honey or pollen congesting the brood box– Remove combs of honey and add undrawn frames to occupy

bees drawing wax

• No place to cluster– More supers

• Not enough ventilation– Screened Bottom Boards– Top entrances

Control of swarming

Cause 2 Reproductive

• This is the goal of a successful hive

• Preparation started the autumn before

• Intent is well set by early spring

Reproductive swarming sequence

• Put away excess stores to build up in late winter and hit a high enough population to be able to swarm before the main flow

• Start rearing brood in late winter• All resources focused on building up

population while storing enough honey to ensure getting through the winter

• When population peaks, backfill the brood nest

Reproductive swarming sequence

Once there are enough bees and enough stores the brood nest is backfilled starting this sequence:

• Since the brood nest is filled with nectar, this frees the emerging bees who would have been nurses so they are unemployed

• And frees the queen from laying so she can slim down to fly with the swarm

• And the hive won’t need nurse bees (no open brood) so they can swarm

• Queen cells are built

Reproductive swarming sequence

• Usually sometime right around or shortly after they are capped the hive swarms. Depending on the weather this can be as long as when the queen cells are about to emerge.

• The old queen and the unemployed nurse bees leave and cluster on a nearby branch – prime swarm– Can be up to 2/3 of the

population– Will have in excess of 10lb of

honey stored in the honey stomach

Reproductive swarming sequence

• Scout bees find a new location and they swarm flies off to their new home

• If the hive is still overcrowded one of the virgin queens will leave with more of the bees in an afterswarm (cast)

Control of swarming

• Ensure there is enough space for the hive in spring

• Inspect the hive every 7 days

• Remove queen cells if day old eggs are seen in worker cells

“Destroying swarm cells usually results in a queenless colony as they have often already swarmed

when you destroy them”

Control of swarming

• If queen cells are present and no young eggs the hive has already swarmed and new queen cells should be left to develop

Control of swarming

Signs that’s a hive has swarmed

• Aggressive bees• Low number of bees • Many queen cells• High pitched sound

from hive

Feeding and over wintering

• Syrup• Fondant• Candy

• Feeders– Miller– Contact/Bucket– Frame feeder

Feeding and over wintering

• Syrup• White sugar only• 2lb to 1 pint water• Heat will help sugar

dissolve• Feed when there are

bees to take down the syrup

• Watch out for drowning bees

• Feed in the evening to help reduce robbing

Managing the honey flow

• Ensure there are enough dawn out supers

• Enough workers• They are “queen right”• To collect from a single

source ensure there are no stored in the super as the flow begins

• Hives can be moved to the source before the follow begins– 2 weeks min

Harvesting the honey

Harvesting the honey crop

• Only carried out when the honey is capped– Prevents fermentation in

the jar

• Need to remove bees from supers– Clearer board

• Harvest honey quickly so as to prevent crystallising in the comb as it cools

Harvesting the honey crop

• Centrifuge– Radial– Tangential

• Electric or hand operated• Start slowly to prevent full

frames collapsing

• Comb needs to be unapped– Knife– Fork

• Cappings are harvested– Clean wax

• Wet frames can be stored or cleaned off by bees

Harvesting the honey crop

Harvesting the honey crop

• Sections/Comb honey

Comb Honey & Chunk Honey• Meant to be consumed still in the wax comb• Collected by using standard wooden frames

in honey supers• The frames are collected and the comb is

cut out in chunks before packaging• Chunk honey is honey packed in wide

mouth containers consisting of one or more pieces of comb honey immersed in extracted liquid

Crystallized Honey• Also called granulated honey

• Some part of the glucose content has spontaneously crystallized from solution as a monohydrate

• Can be “seeded”

Pasteurized Honey• Reduces moisture levels, destroys yeast

cells, liquefies crystals

• Sterilizes the honey and improves shelf life

• Downfalls– Excessive heat exposure results in product

deterioration– Heat also affects appearance, taste and

fragrance– Can darken the natural honey colour

Raw Honey• Honey as it exists in the beehive or as

obtained by extraction, settling or straining without adding heat above 48oC

• Contains some pollen • May also contain some small wax particles• Local raw honey is often sought by allergy

sufferers as the pollen impurities are thought to lessen the sensitivity to hay fever

• Quality is based on – Soluble solids– Water content– Flavour– Aroma– Clarity– Absence of defects– colour

• Ripe, freshly collected high quality honey at 18oC should flow from a knife in a straight stream with out breaking into separate drops. After falling it should form a bead

• When poured it should form small, temporary layers that disappear quickly, indicating high viscosity.

• If not it indicates excessive water content – over 20%

Indicators of Quality

• In the jar fresh honey should appear pure, consistent fluid and not settle in layers

• Transparent or honey that is reluctant to thicken may indicate the bees were fed sugar syrup or sugar which is bad for the bees and the honey they produce

• Fluffy film on the surface of the honey (like white foam) or marble colour or white-spotted crystallization on a containers sides is formed by air bubbles—this is an indication of high quality honey which was filled without pasteurization

Indicators of Quality

Sources of expert help, advice & courses

Expert help• FIBKA• TeagascAdvice• FIBKA• Other bee keepers• The web• Suppliers of equipmentCourses• FIBKA