I love the fact that bee keeping supplies are becoming mainstream in most local feed stores. When we first started beekeeping we’d either have to trek a 2
Blog of Honeydrunk Apiaries (www.honeydrunk.ca) contains beekeeping information for beginners and covers more advanced topics, equipment plans.
Warre Hive Roof Quilt (Sits under Roof) Hive Box Floor or Bottom Board Assembled Warre Hive - Ready to Finish
If your hive has a solid bottom board, tip it slightly forward to allow the water to drain. Making a simple hive shelter will also help keep your bees dry.
Our 1st beehive. A beautiful, always level, hive table made by my husband, Terry. "Brushy Mountain" garden hive which is, hive stand, screen bottom board w/slide out board to check for mites and other pests, 8 frame deep super, 8 frame medium super, queen excluder, medium honey super, hive top feeder, copper roof, finished with exterior polyurethane, outside only. Love it!
There are a lot of pieces when building your own beehive. Learn how to make the covers, bottom board and “one off” components. This is part of a series on how to build a Langstroth Hive.
A screened bottom board is a great addition to any beehive. It not only provides great ventilation for the hive, but can also be used in your IPM (Integrated Pest Management) practices to help determine the number of Varroa mites that are in your colony. The premise of this theory works like this: Count the number of…
From an old beekeeping book (thanks Steve!), How to Keep Bees and Sell Honey:This is probably the finest bee hive in the world. It was built by E. S. Williams, St. Petersburg, Florida, who spent 6 months constructing it. It holds two standard 10 frame hive bodies and a bottom board.
Humble Abodes Double Nuc - Deep - Double Nucs are a great way to house 2 small colonies in one standard size 10 frame hive body. 4 Deep Frames fit on each side of the divider and a separate entrance is located on each end of the divided bottom board. As the colonies grow add the 4
While 10 frame Langstroth hives are seen as more “standard”, I noticed that many beekeepers are opting for 8 frame hives lately. And that’s no surprise. There are many benefits to 8 frame Langstroth hives. Benefits of 8 Frame Langstroth Hives Weight By far, the biggest benefit of using an 8 frame Langstroth hive is the weight. A super full of honey is quite heavy, and don’t forget that you’ll be lifting the super from the top of other boxes. Using an 8 frame hive instead of a 10 frame significantly reduces the weight of the box, making honey harvesting much more manageable. For example, an 8 frame shallow super will weigh about 32 pounds when full of honey. While a 10 frame shallow super will weigh approximately 40 pounds. Considering that you’ll be lifting multiple boxes during harvesting time, that weight difference can really help. Brood boxes are quite heavy as well. A 10 frame deep brood box can weigh up to 90 pounds. However, an 8 frame deep box will weigh 20% less at about 70 pounds. Price 8 frame langstroth beehives cost slightly less than 10 frame hives. On average, each 8 frame box costs about $3 less than a 10 frame box. If you are buying a lot of boxes, that savings can add up. Size An 8 frame langstroth hive is slightly smaller than it’s 10 frame counterpart. It has a more narrow hive body, which is a similar shape that a bee colony would find in nature. In addition to having a more natural size, some beekeepers with limited space may prefer the smaller 8 frame langstroth hive to the larger 10 frame. 8 Frame Langstroth Hive Dimensions In order to set up your apiary it’s good to know the size of your beehive ahead of time. Langstroth beehives have standard dimensions that are used across all brands. That’s a good thing because that means that the boxes are interchangeable. Both 8 frame and 10 frame boxes come in 3 different sizes – shallow, medium, and deep. Shallow and medium boxes are usually used for storing honey. Deep and medium boxes are used as brood chambers. Beehive manufacturers generally use the same measurements when making hive bodies. If there is a difference it is usually within ⅛ of an inch, so not very much. 8 frame langstroth hive dimensions are a little different than the 10 frame. The interior depth and length stays the same, but the width changes. These tables use a measurement for the interior length and width because the exterior measurements can sometimes vary depending on the material used. 8 Frame Langstroth Hive Dimensions Type Depth Interior Length Interior Width 8 Frame Deep body 9 5⁄8 inches (240 mm) 18 3⁄8 inches (470 mm) 12 1⁄4 inches (310 mm) 8 Frame Medium body/super 6 5⁄8 inches (170 mm) 18 3⁄8 inches (470 mm) 12 1⁄4 inches (310 mm) 8 Frame Shallow super 5 11⁄16 inches (144 mm) 18 3⁄8 inches (470 mm) 12 1⁄4 inches (310 mm) 8 Frame vs 10 Frame Hives Now compare that to the dimensions of 10 frame hive boxes. The width is slightly larger to accommodate for 2 more frames. 10 Frame Langstroth Hive Dimensions Type Depth Interior length Interior Width 10 Frame Deep body 9 5⁄8 inches (240 mm) 18 3⁄8 inches (470 mm) 14 3⁄4 inches (370 mm) 10 Frame Medium body/super 6 5⁄8 inches (170 mm) 18 3⁄8 inches (470 mm) 14 3⁄4 inches (370 mm) 10 Frame Shallow super 5 11⁄16 inches (144 mm) 18 3⁄8 inches (470 mm) 14 3⁄4 inches (370 mm) Recommended 8 Frame Langstroth Hives Disclosure: As an affiliate I may earn from qualifying purchases. This is at no cost to you and helps to keep this website running. BeeCastle 8 Frame Complete Beehive Kit Features 1 Heavy Wax Coated Deep Brood Box (14″ x 19-7/8″ x 9-5/8″) 1 Heavy Wax Coated Medium Super Box (14″ x 19-7/8″ x 6-5/8″) Wax Coated Solid Bottom Board and Telescoping Top Cover (Metal Capped) Premium Dovetail Pine Frames and Beeswax Coated Foundation Sheet Includes Inner Cover, Plastic Queen Excluder, Entrance Reducer, & Nails for Assembly No Need to use toxic paint as hives are wax coated, a natural way to protect your hive from the elements. This is a really great 8 frame hive for beginners. It includes 1 deep box, 1 medium box, frames, foundation, a bottom board, metal capped top cover, and more. You just need a bee suit and a few more supplies and you are ready for bees. What I like about this hive is that the wood is wax coated. If you’ve read my review on Hoover Hives, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of wax coated wood because it offers great protection from the elements. Wax coated wood looks great, and no toxic paint is necessary. NuBee Complete 8 Frame Beehive Features 2 Dovetail Brood Box – Includes 16 High Quality Pine Frames (9-9/16″ x 19″) 1 Dovetail Super Box – Includes 8 High Quality Pine Frames (6-5/8″ x 19″) 24 Pine Frames and Food Grade Plastic Foundations Coated with Real Beeswax Includes Metal Capped Telescoping Top Cover & Inner Cover, also Solid Wood Bottom Board (platform) Includes Plastic Queen Excluder, essential for Honey Production For something a little larger, I like the NuBee 8 Frame Langstroth Hive. This complete hive includes 2 deep boxes and 1 medium super, which is a common setup. All frames and foundation are included, and the foundation is already coated in wax. Use the black foundation for the brood boxes so you can see the eggs better. The yellow foundation is for the super. This hive is quite durable, as it is constructed of quality pine. The wood is not painted, so you’ll have to do that yourself. Assembly is simple, and if you want, you can even pre drill holes to make assembly even faster. Summary 8 frame Langstroth hive dimensions are slightly smaller than the 10 frame. The benefit of using an 8 frame hive is that the boxes are much lighter and therefore, easier to handle. Related posts: What is the Advantage of 8 Frame Hives?
The Sweet Valley Hives Bottom board with reversible entrance.
The beehive box is the most important part of the beehive. Langstroth hives and Warre Hives have components called a beehive box. It is the part of the hive that contains the frames for comb, brood, and honey. If a beekeeper is looking for beehive boxes for sale, they are typically looking for extra boxes for their beehive. Both of these types of hives are customizable in that you are able to add more beehive boxes to them in order to accommodate a larger colony. In the Langstroth hive extra beehive boxes are added to the top of the hive, while they are added to the bottom in the Warre hive. The extra boxes are called supers, and this is where the bees store honey. The other boxes are called brood boxes, and this is where to brood is. Bee Space In a Langstroth hive, the box is usually 19 ⅞ inches long, 16 ¼ inches wide, and 9 ⅝ inches in height. If you are building your own bee box it is important to follow the measurements exactly, as they take into account optimal bee space. Bee Space is the ideal space (⅜ inch) needed for bees to pass freely around the hive. If your hive contains more than ⅜ inch bee space, the bees will create sticky propolis and extra comb. This will make the hive difficult to inspect. Box measurements for a Warre Hive are smaller than that of a Langstroth, but the bee space theory still applies. And even though the Top Bar hive does not use frames like the Langstroth and Warre, it still uses bee space for it’s bars to ensure that the bees do not create comb glued to the inside of the box. Beehive Boxes for Sale While some beekeepers enjoy building beehive boxes, many lack the carpentry skills to build their own. In that case, you can find beehive boxes for sale. If you are lucky enough to have a beehive supply store in your area that would be a great place to start, but most people buy beehive boxes online. Websites like Amazon and Galena Farms have beehive boxes for sale both assembled and unassembled. While an unassembled box will take some carpentry know how to get together, it comes already measured and cut, so the hardest part is done for you. I personally like to buy my boxes from Galena Farms. Their beehive boxes are always very good quality with great craftsmanship. I also like that the Hoover Hives boxes are wax coated, so I don’t have to paint them. Plus, if you purchase directly from their website galenafarms.com, you can get 5% off your order by using code COMPLETEBEEHIVES. More on Galena Farms here. Parts of a Beehive In this article, we will focus on the brood box, also called the brood chamber, and the super, also called the honey super. Brood Box In a Langstroth beehive, the brood boxes are the boxes on the bottom of the hive. They are usually deep boxes and sit directly on top of the bottom board. As the name implies, the brood box is where the brood, or the eggs and larvae live. A deep box is used so the queen has lots of space to move around and lay eggs. Beehives typically have 1-2 brood boxes on them, depending on where the beekeeper lives and how often they inspect their hives. If you are not able to do frequent inspections, 2 brood boxes will give the bees lots of space to grow without swarming. Hoover Hives Brood Box This deep brood box comes with either 8 frames or 10 frames. Or, you can even choose to get it without frames if you prefer. Another option you have is to order it assembled or unassembled. This box is made out of fir wood and features dovetail joints to keep the boxes perfectly square. Fir was chosen for it’s durability, tight knit grain flow, and because it is less likely to warp in the rain. The hive parts are dipped into 100% natural beeswax, allowing the wax to soak into the wood. This protects the wood and gives it a beautiful, golden sheen. Honey Super A honey super is a box used to collect honey. Like in a regular hive box, the super also contains 8 or 10 frames. Basically, bees need a certain amount of wax and honey for their colony to survive winter. Luckily for us, extra honey will be stored in the super, for the beekeeper to extract and keep. Supers are the boxes that are placed near the top of the beehive, below the covers. Throughout the season, extra supers can be added to the hive as needed. The rule of thumb is to add another super once the previous one is at least 60% full. Most beehives will have 2-3 supers on them. The width and depth of the super is the same as standard Langstroth hive boxes. The difference is the height. While beehive come in 3 sizes (shallow, medium,and deep), the most common size for a super is medium. A deep super that is full of honey would be quite heavy for the average beekeeper to lift, while shallow supers do not yield as much honey. You can expect a medium honey super to weigh about 50 pounds, so much more manageable than a deep honey super, which would weigh 70 pounds. Hoover Hives Honey Super Hoover Hives makes a good quality honey super. This particular one is medium sized. Like all of Galena Farms beehives, it is made of quality fir in the USA. The wood of this box is coated with 100% beeswax, so no painting is necessary. The measurements of this super are consistent with industry standard dimensions. That means that you can us it interchangeably with most other Langstroth hives. Just keep in mind that you must use 10 frame parts with a 10 frame hive and vice versa for 8 frame. You can choose from either 8 or 10 frames and CellTech foundations made from food grade plastic, dipped in 100% beeswax. Beekeepers who have purchased this super have reported it being high quality and well made. Summary If you are looking for beehive boxes for sale you have several options. First, you must determine what type of beehive box you need. Do you need a box for your brood? Or do you need a super for honey? Then, you must choose what size beehive box to get – shallow, medium, or deep and 8 frame or 10 frame. Lastly, you must decided if you prefer an assembled or unassembled beehive box. Be sure to choose a beehive box for sale according to your own skill set. The good thing about Langstroth (and even Warre) hives is that they are customizable when it comes to beehive boxes, so you can experiment with size and configuration to find what works best for you. Related posts: Beehive Super Dimensions
DIY Bottom-Board using 2x4 scrap! This is one of those projects that is easy and rewarding. Using a single 2x4 you can make 2 and 1/2 bottom boards that look good and are very functional. It takes minimal skill and time to make and can save you some serious cash over making the purchase. Items…
Wil's Project
Bees on a hot roof in NYC can be a problem in the middle of summer. I built a DIY hive top vent board to keep the hives a bit cooler. This also helps cure the honey in the supers, by the way. On the flip side, if you want to learn how to insulate...Read More
Help the pollinators and harvest your own honey: Become a beekeeper! Learn the basics, from where to locate your aviary to how to keep your bees healthy, in this beginning beekeeping guide from University of Missouri Extension. | Moneen M. Jones Research Entomologist, Division of Plant Sciences College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources For a beginning beekeeper, between two and five hives is ideal. This size apiary is small enough for a beginner to manage but still provides enough bees to allow for winter losses. Expand in a couple of years, after you have gained experience and confidence. Once a hive has become established, it can produce 50 to 100 pounds of surplus honey each year. Take a beginning beekeeping class before you invest in bees and equipment. Between varroa mites and colony collapse disorder, knowledge of beekeeping management practices is essential. Check with your local MU Extension center about upcoming classes. Join local and state beekeeping associations for additional information and guidance. Attend any seminars or meetings that are offered to expand your education and to meet other beekeepers, who can provide valuable help. For additional information, check out some of the many good reference books on apiculture. When you are ready to buy supplies, you will have many beekeeping supply companies to choose from; a few are listed near the end of this guide. You can buy prebuilt hive kits that include all necessary hive components, or you can build your hive boxes from scratch. You can also order all the parts ready to be assembled, in which case all else you will need are a hammer, some nails and any color of exterior latex-based paint. Order your bees early for the next year. Suppliers of bees commonly take orders for nucleus colonies, called nucs for short, or package bees in November and December, for delivery in April or May. If you wait too long to order, you will pay a premium or they may not have any bees to sell you. Several months before your colonies arrive, buy your hive components and other equipment. Have the hives assembled and placed on your selected site 30 days before your bees are scheduled to arrive. Characteristics of a good colony A strong population is crucial to a good bee colony. The queen lays a full brood pattern, skipping only a few cells, covering eight to 10 frames. You should see more worker brood than drone brood. The colony population reaches 75,000 bees during the summer, which includes 30,000 or more field bees. The bees cover all the frames in two hive bodies and the frames in one or more supers. Drones appear in the spring but are forced out of the hive in the fall. About 1,000 of these male bees will live in the hive during the summer. A good colony is docile when managed and shows little tendency to swarm, yet has workers that are good foragers. Each of the many strains of honey bees has different characteristics. The Italians are the most docile and are a good "starter" strain for a beginner. Depending on the available nectar, each colony should produce between 40 and 80 pounds for itself to overwinter and 50 to 100 pounds of surplus honey each season that you can harvest. Harvest excess honey from the honey supers, leaving the honey in the brood boxes for the bees' winter food. The most common cause of colony demise in Missouri is winter starvation. Going into winter, a strong hive with five full frames of bees per brood box that contains a healthy queen and a minimal number of varroa mites will give the bees an excellent chance of survival. Leave a minimum of 40 to 80 pounds of honey per brood box for winter food and provide supplemental food (sugar water of 1 part water to 2 parts sugar) if necessary to bring the boxes up to weight. Apiary location Place the apiary near an abundant source of nectar and pollen. Trees and shrubs provide an excellent source of pollen, and plants in the daisy, legume and mint families provide excellent sources of nectar. In town, ornamental trees and plants usually provide ample sources of both. Ornamental plants in cities provide for an extended honey flow. A good supply of water within a quarter mile of the hives is essential. Birdbaths, swimming pools, dog bowls and even lagoons are good sources of water for the bees. Bees actually prefer muddy water because of the extra minerals from the soil. A backyard apiary may need to offer a water source if none of the above are available. A shallow pan filled with water and some type of substrate, such as small rocks or floating pieces of wood, is an excellent addition to an apiary. Be sure to include a substrate for the bees to perch on as they are not good swimmers. The apiary should face east or south with a northern windbreak. The location should be well-drained, away from any human or livestock paths, and hidden from unwanted visitors. Cattle and humans are naturally curious and might destroy or vandalize the hives, if tempted. The south face of a hillside is ideal, but bees will adapt to less-than-ideal locations. Deciduous trees that partially shade the colony in summer afternoons and allow the sun to penetrate in winter are desirable. Place the apiary near an all-weather road because you will need to work the bees in all kinds of weather. When placing an apiary in town, face the hive entrance about a foot from a tall fence or shrub row so the bees will set their foraging flight pattern as high overhead as possible. When placing your hives, provide a weed barrier — such as tin, gravel or recycled materials — for stability and ease of maintenance. Place the hives 18 inches above the ground on a stand, blocks or a pallet to minimize colony damage from skunks or rodents and, if you are using a screened bottom board, for dead pests to drop through. Hives should be level from side to side but should be tilted slightly forward to prevent water from accumulating inside. Ventilate the hive through the top by propping open the telescoping lid with a stick to reduce humidity inside the hive. Moist conditions inside promote diseases. Equipment Due to bee health issues, buying new equipment is advisable. Much of the used bee equipment available has been inherited by nonbeekeeping family members, who may unknowingly be selling infected hives. Plus, frames and foundation need to be replaced every three to five years. Over time, the wax absorbs chemicals and contaminants that could be hazardous to larvae and young bees. An eight- or 10-frame Langstroth hive is ideal for a beginning beekeeper (Figure 1). After you are comfortable keeping bees in this industry standard, you can experiment with other styles, such as top bar or horizontal deep hives. With the Langstroth, you can interchange and add standard hive equipment as needed. Note: Once you have chosen a frame supplier, you will need to get future frames from the same supplier because there is not an industry standard for frame construction and frames are not interchangeable between manufacturers. A basic hive consists of the following parts: Two brood boxes, called "deeps," for the brood Two super boxes, called "mediums" or "supers," for excess honey stores Bottom board, either screened or solid reversible Entrance reducer Queen excluder (optional) Inner cover Telescoping lid Depending on the amount of honey your hive produces, have additional medium supers ready to add to the hive as needed. The standard brood box, or deep, is 95/8 inches deep, 16-1/4 inches wide and 19-7/8 inches long. Deeps are for brood and for hive honey stores for the winter; this honey is not excess for harvesting but is winter food for the bees. Shallow supers, used mainly for comb honey production, are the same width and length but are only 5-11/16 inches deep. The medium super is 65/8 inches deep (Figure 2). Hive boxes are built to contain 10 frames, but using nine frames is more convenient when working with bees, so remove one after the bees have completely pulled out all of the wax. Frames need to be in the center of the hive box, equally spaced with no more than 3/8 inch between their pulled wax foundations. Brood frames have small communication holes at the bottom that allow bee movement between sides. Move frames individually using the hive tool when you are working with your bees. Foundation is available in a variety of options: wax, plastic, a combination of wax and plastic, and one-piece foundation-and-frame combinations. Bees prefer foundations of pure wax or of thin, wax-coated plastic to plastic foundations. Bees need to be fed or in a strong nectar flow before they will "draw out," or build their comb on, any foundation. Do not combine different types of foundation in a single brood box until the wax is completely pulled. A strong colony will require at least two medium supers for honey storage. Add them when the brood boxes are 70 percent full of bees and there is a strong nectar flow in the spring. Special foundations and tools are made for the production of cut comb honey. This unwired wax foundation is thinner than a regular wax foundation and is made mostly of wax cappings. Plastic rings are pressed to the foundation, and bees fill and cap the areas within and around the rings. Management practices for raising comb honey differ from simple honey production practices, and comb honey production is recommended for experienced beekeepers. If you have 40 or more colonies, consider buying a motorized, or radial, extractor (Figure 3). Many beekeepers find that using a less expensive manual, or tangential, extractor works very well and serves their needs for years (Figure 4). Cut comb honey requires no investment in an extractor. With comb honey, only woodenware is stored, whereas comb storage requires fumigation. Figure 1 Wooden frames for holding the comb hang inside the body of a hive. Frames are sized for shallow, medium or deep hive bodies. Figure 2 Parts of a beehive. Bees are reared in a brood chamber in the lowest level of the hive. Honey is stored in upper levels. Figure 3 Radial extractor with frames placed in the reel like spokes of a wheel for removing honey from the comb (extractor shown here with cover removed). [E.H. Thorne (Beehives) Ltd.; used with permission]. Figure 4 Three-frame tangential extractor for extracting honey from the frames. (Maxant Industries; used with permission). Installing bees When installing bees from a package, gently shake the bees from the package into the desired hive. Place any bees remaining in the package on the ground in front of the hive; they should find their way into the hive eventually. The queen will be in a cage that is corked on both ends. Remove the cork that is on the end with candy. Place this cage candy-side-up between two center frames of the hive. The bees will eat the candy within a couple of days, releasing the queen into the hive. Installing a nuc is much easier. Nucs are typically provided on five frames. Carefully insert the frames into the center of your hive. Insert empty frames to fill out the hive. Honey plants Spring honey plants in Missouri include (in approximate order of importance) clovers, sweet clovers, other legumes, tulip poplar trees, dandelions, maple trees, locust trees, willow trees, basswood trees, fruit trees and berry plants. Trees, sorghum and other grasses are important pollen sources. In summer and fall, bees find nectar and pollen in soybeans, cotton, garden plants, various ornamentals, asters, goldenrod, milkweed, morningglory, smartweed, sumac and sunflowers. Bees will use thousands of species. Those listed here may not be the most important in your area. Plants bloom at different times in different places. According to Hopkins' Bioclimatic Law, in North America east of the Rockies, a 400-foot increase in elevation, a 4-degree change in latitude north or a 10-degree change in longitude east will cause any given biological event to occur four days later in the spring or four days earlier in the fall. If tulip poplars begin to bloom in the Bootheel region around May 15, they should bloom five days later in Columbia and 10 days later in Lancaster on the Iowa border (Figure 5). Moving bees to new nectar sources can be beneficial. About July 1, you might wish to move the bees from town to a soybean field, with the owner's permission. Always move the bees at least three miles from their previous site and during the dark. The bees will orient themselves to the new location when the hive is opened. Figure 5 Missouri planting regions. Disease prevention To prevent disease, always buy new equipment, and replace frames and foundations every three to five years. Have enough hive tools available that you can use one per bee yard to avoid cross-contamination. Foulbrood European and American foulbrood (EFB and AFB) are bacterial diseases of bees. AFB spreads to larva through spores and can quickly kill a colony. Treatment for American foulbrood is usually total hive destruction because the disease is difficult to control with medicine and the spores will live in brood boxes for decades The bacteria that causes EFB does not produce spores, but multiplies in the larva's gut after ingested. EFB is less likely to spread in colonies with strong nectar flow. Treatment with antibiotics might clear up an infected colony, and all equipment will need to be cleaned to prevent reinfection. Signs of foulbrood include a foul smell and a spotty brood pattern. Diagnostic kits that test for foulbrood and give immediate results can be purchased from beekeeping suppliers. Nosema disease Two types of nosema fungi are now known to cause disease in bees. Nosema apis is primarily a problem in winter and early spring, and Nosema ceranae in summer and fall. Both fungi cause disease in adult bees and spread by spores. Nosema is difficult to identify and diagnose because there are no symptoms that are specific to it. Only a microsopic exam can provide a reliable diagnosis. The best control measures for nosema are a healthy diet of pollen and nectar, and moisture control in the hives. Antibiotics can be purchased from beekeeping supply companies, but use them only when necessary, because bees can develop resistance to them. Do not use antibiotics during the honey production season. Keep a good supply of food for the colony at all times. Most colonies that do not survive the winter die in March of starvation or of nosema, due to moisture issues inside the hive during the cold winter months. Mite control Acarapis woodi (Rennie) The honey bee tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi (Rennie), was found in Jackson County, Missouri, on April 17, 1986. These mites are now present in every Missouri county. First discovered in 1921, tracheal mites were a probable cause of Isle of Wight disease. Most honey bees on that island were killed by this mite. All surviving bees were tracheal mite–resistant. It is best to use honey bee queens and package bees that are resistant to tracheal mites. The Italian bee strain, Apis mellifera ligustica, is susceptible to tracheal mites. Resistance is documented in carniolan bees, Apis mellifera carnica. Currently, resistance is developing or being developed in other races of honey bee. There are two fumigant treatments for tracheal mites, Mite-a-Thol and Mite-Away II, and a grease paddy method. Treating colonies continuously with oil-sugar patties has been proven to depress mite populations. These patties are made of 3 parts sugar to 1 part vegetable shortening, with 1/2 pound of honey and 1 ounce of peppermint flavoring mixed in as bee attractants. The residual grease on the bees smothers mites. The use of resistant bees and oil-sugar patties will give sufficient control of tracheal mites. Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans The Varroa mite is the most severe problem in beekeeping. Varroa mites were detected in West Plains and Hayti, Missouri, in 1989. These mites have since spread throughout the state. Without treatment, a colony of bees will die from varroa parasitism within 36 months. Use of resistant bees, such as the Russian strain, is the only long-term solution to varroosis in honey bees. In the interim, monitoring and treatment are the best management practices. Monitor mite populations by counting mites using a jar or sticky board method. For the jar method, about 300 bees are captured in a mason jar with 1/3 cup of powdered sugar. Rolling the bees in the sugar causes the mites to drop off. The sticky board method uses a screened bottom board with a rear-access removable tray that catches any mites that are brushed off, let go, or slip off hive components and fall to the bottom board. Treatments include dusting the hive components with powdered sugar, drone trapping, or chemical treatments. With drone trapping, two frames are used to trap out mites by using drones as bait. As the drone comb is replaced, the mite population is reduced. The chemical treatments come in the form of fumigants, such as Mite-Away Quick Strips; essential oils; and miticides, such as Apistan, Apiguard and CheckMite. The miticides require contact with the honey bee and then the hitchhiking mite. These chemicals should be used as a last resort because they can decrease egg laying and drone reproductive health, and can be absorbed into the beeswax. If required, colonies can be treated with fluvalinate (Apistan), organophosphate (CheckMite), or formic acid–impregnated plastic strips (Mite-Away Quick Strips) twice each year, before and after honey season. Quick Strips have a treatment period of just seven days, reducing the opportunity for future resistance. Alternating Apistan with Apiguard will also reduce the incidence of resistance. As always, follow manufacturer's instructions for each chemical treatment selected. Monitor for mites every other month. If you are not sure if you have an infestation, ask a beekeeping friend or go to your local MU Extension center for identification of mites. If you find one mite, you can assume 500 are present. Note The University of Missouri intends no endorsement of products named in this guide nor criticism of similar products that are not mentioned. Wax moth control Wax moths are a destructive beehive pest. A strong colony with a large population of young housekeeping bees is the best defense against them. Another control measure is to fumigate small amounts of equipment in large plastic garbage bags. Wax moth colonies do not thrive in light and fresh air, so a rack that exposes hive components to ventilation and protects them from rain is ideal. You can also kill a small population of eggs, larvae and pupae by placing the entire super in a large freezer for two days. As a last resort, you can fumigate with paradichlorobenzene moth crystals (not naphthalene or moth balls) before placing them back on. To fumigate, stack equipment as on a hive, seal up all air holes, and put the stack on a flat surface. Put a piece of notebook paper over the top frames to hold the fumigant on the stack. Put a sheet of plastic over the fumigant, and cover the entire stack with a flat board or telescoping cover. Seal side cracks between the supers with tape. Two tablespoons of paradichlorobenzene will fumigate eight supers or four hive bodies. Before using the supers next season, set the frames outside one full week to air out. Hive beetle control Small hive beetles can be destructive to a bee colony. The larvae tunnel through the comb and leave excrement that causes the honey to ferment and become runny. Clusters of eggs laid in areas where bees cannot tunnel lead to thousands of aggressive larvae seeking pollen, bee larvae and pupae to eat. Maintaining a large, strong colony is the best defense for this pest. Monitoring for and trapping beetles can reduce large numbers in a hive. Insecticide drift You are responsible for protecting your colonies. Confine the colonies with ventilated cloth for three days during heavy insecticide spraying, but bees must be allowed to fly on the fourth day. Familiarize yourself with spray practices and chemicals used around your apiary. Whenever possible, locate colonies away from frequently sprayed fields. If this is impossible, an upwind location is better than a downwind location. Glossary Apiary Group of bee colonies in one location; bee yard. Apiculture The science and art of studying and using honey bees for the benefit of humans. Beeswax Wax secreted from glands on the underside of bee abdomens and then molded to form honeycomb. Brood Immature or developing stages of bees; includes eggs, larvae (unsealed brood) and pupae (sealed brood). Brood chamber The area of the hive where the brood is reared; usually the lowermost hive bodies; contains brood comb. Brood nest The area of hive where bees are densely clustered and brood is reared. Colony An entire honey bee family or social unit living together in a hive or other shelter. Colony collapse disorder A pathological condition affecting a large number of honey bee colonies, in which various stresses may lead to the abrupt disappearance of worker bees from the hive, leaving only the queen and newly hatched bees behind and thus causing the colony to stop functioning. Comb A beeswax structure composed of two layers of horizontal cells sharing their bases, usually within a wooden frame in a hive. The words "comb" and "frame" are often used interchangeably; for example, a frame of brood, a comb of brood. Comb honey Honey in the sealed comb in which it was produced. It is also called section comb honey when produced in thin wooden frames (sections) and comb honey when produced in shallow frames. Draw To shape and build, as to draw comb from a sheet of foundation. Dysentery A malady of adult bees marked by an accumulation of excess feces or waste products, and by their release in and near the hive. Field bee, or forager Worker bee that travels outside the hive to collect nectar, pollen, water and propolis, a waxy substance that bees use in the hive as cement. Foundation, or comb foundation A thin sheet of beeswax embossed on each side with the cell pattern, on which the bees build a honeycomb. Foulbrood A general name for infectious diseases of immature bees that cause them to die and their remains to smell bad. The term most often refers to American foulbrood. Frame A wooden rectangle that surrounds the comb and hangs in the hive. It may be called Hoffman, Langstroth or self-spacing because of differences in size and widened end-bars that provide a bee space between the combs. Hive body A single wooden rim or shell that holds a set of frames. When used for the brood nest, it is called a brood chamber; when used above the brood nest for honey storage, it is called a super. It may be of various sizes and adapted for comb honey sections. Honey flow Period when bees are collecting nectar in plentiful amounts from plants and storing a surplus of honey. House bee A young worker bee, 1 day to 2 weeks old, that works only in the hive. Langstroth hive A hive with movable frames. The bee space around the frames allows you to move the frames. It was invented by L.L. Langstroth. Nectar flow Period when nectar is available. Nosema disease An infectious disease of adult bees caused by the fungus Nosema apis or Nosema ceranae Nuc Short for nucleus colon. A small bee colony, complete with a queen or the means to make one, bees, brood and food. Package bees Two to 4 pounds of worker bees, usually with a queen, in a screen-sided wooden cage with a can of sugar syrup for food. Paradichlorobenzene (PDB) A white crystalline substance used to fumigate combs and repel wax moths. Pollen Male reproductive cells of flowers collected and used by bees as food for rearing their young. It is the protein part of the diet. Frequently called bee bread when stored in cells in the colony. Pollen substitute Mixture of water, sugar and other material, such as soy flour or brewer's yeast, used for bee feed. Propolis A mixture of tree resins and enzymes used by bees as a cement and to fill in small spaces in the hive. Queen Sexually developed female bee. The mother of all bees in the colony. Queen right A colony with a queen that is capable of laying fertile eggs. Rendering wax Melting old combs and wax cappings and removing refuse to partially refine the beeswax. May be put through a wax press. Super A hive body used for honey storage above the brood chambers of a hive. Swarm A group of worker bees and a queen (usually the old one) that leave the hive to establish a new colony; a word formerly used to describe a hive or colony of bees. Telescoping cover A hive cover, used with an inner cover, that extends downward several inches on all four sides of a hive. Uniting Combining one honey bee colony with another. Wax moth An insect whose larvae feed on and destroy honey bee combs. Wired foundation Comb foundation with vertical wires embedded in it for added strength. Wiring Installing tinned wire in frames as support for combs. Beekeeping suppliers, organizations and resources Suppliers Betterbee 8 Meader Road, Greenwich, NY 12834 800-632-3379 http://betterbee.com Dadant and Sons 51 S. Second St., Hamilton, IL 62341 888-922-1293 http://dadant.com GloryBee P.O. Box 2744, Eugene, OR 97402 800-456-7923 http://glorybee.com Honey Bee Ware N1829 Municipal Drive, Greenville, WI 54942 920-779-3019 http://honeybeeware.com Mann Lake Ltd. 501 S. First St., Hackensack, MN 56452 800-880-7694 http://mannlakeltd.com Kelley Beekeeping Co. P.O. Box 240, Clarkson, KY 42726 800-233-2899 https://kelleybees.com Organizations Local As of March 2016, Missouri had 35 local beekeeping associations. See the Missouri State Beekeepers Association website for a list of the local associations and information on when and where they meet: http://mostatebeekeepers.org/local-clubs. Regional Each of the regional beekeeping societies listed below holds an annual meeting or conference. EAS also publishes a quarterly newsletter. Eastern Apicultural Society of North America (EAS) http://easternapiculture.org Heartland Apicultural Society http://heartlandbees.org State The Missouri State Beekeeping Association holds an annual conference, publishes a bimonthly newsletter and offers robust member-exclusive content on its website: http://mostatebeekeepers.org National American Beekeeping Federation http://abfnet.org American Honey Producers Association https://www.ahpanet.com/ National Honey Board http://honey.com Pollinator Partnership http://pollinator.org Partnership associations FieldWatch, a nonprofit organization that operates DriftWatch, a mapping tool for communication among beekeepers, farmers and pesticide applicators on the presence of apiaries and pesticide-sensitive crops http://fieldwatch.com Honey Bee Health Coalition, a group of almost 40 food, agriculture, government and conservation organizations and agencies focused on achieving and supporting a healthy population of honey bees and other pollinators http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org Master Pollinator Steward Program, an MU Extension program developed to educate the general public about the plight of pollinators and teach them steps they can take to benefit pollinators https://extension.missouri.edu/programs/master-pollinator-steward Pollinator Stewardship Council, a nonprofit group that strives to protect pollinators vital to a sustainable and affordable food supply from the adverse effects of pesticides http://pollinatorstewardship.org Periodicals American Bee Journal 217-847-3324 [email protected] http://americanbeejournal.com Bee World 011-44-29-2037-2409, [email protected] https://ibra.org.uk/bee-world American Beekeeping Federation Newsletter and ABF E-Buzz 404-760-2875 [email protected] http://abfnet.org References The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture: An Encyclopedia of Beekeeping (40th edition). Roger Morse, A.I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio (1990). Anatomy of the Honey Bee. R.E. Snodgrass, Comstock Books, Ithaca, N.Y. (1956). The Archaeology of Beekeeping. Eva Crane, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y. (1983). Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey. Brother Adam, available from Wicwas Press, Cheshire, Conn. Beekeeping in the United States. USDA Agricultural Handbook #335, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. The Biology of the Honey Bee. Mark L. Winston, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. (1987). The Dancing Bees: An Account of the Life and Senses of the Honey Bee. Karl von Frisch, translated from the German by Dora Isle and Norman Walker, second edition, Methuen, London (1966). The Hive and the Honey Bee. Edited by Dadant and Sons Inc., Hamilton, Ill. (1991). Honey Bees and Beekeeping. Keith Deleplane, University of Georgia, available from Dadant and Sons Inc. Hamilton, Ill. (1995). Honey Bee Pests, Predators, and Diseases. Roger A. Morse and Richard Nowagrodzki, editors, Wicwas Press, Cheshire, Conn. (1990). Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding. Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. and Robert E. Page, Wicwas Press, Cheshire, Conn. (1997). Queen Rearing Simplified. Vince Cook, available from Dadant and Sons Inc., Hamilton, Ill. Original author: Raymond A. Nabors, with contributions from Flernoy Jones
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CC Miller, an accomplished beekeeper and author, invented the slatted rack in the early 1900's after he noticed that the bee's general well being seemed to improve when given extra space under the brood chamber. Originally, he built 2 inch deep bottom boards to create this space but quickly found that the bees would build
