Beekeeping Beginner Basics

Location

Always have everything set up before you get your bees. you don't want to be rushing to set thing up while your bees are waiting in their package/nuc.

When choosing a location for your hives consider

Accessibility
Possible expansion
Bears

Always consider that bears will find your hives. The best thing to do is set up an electric fence around your bees. The hives should be at least 5 feet from the fence, so the bears cannot reach through and grab your hives.

Hives do best when they are located in full sun and the entrance faces south.

Hives should be about 20 feet or more from the plants you want pollinated. Bees tend to not visit flowers that are extremely close to the hive.

Hive Set Up

Painting the outside of your boxes helps them last longer. Most popular are light colors, but they can be darker since our summers are not as hot as southern states.

Place the hive on a stand that keeps it 10 inches or more above the ground. This helps keep skunks, raccoons, and other animals from bothering your bees.

If you have multiple hives they can be directly next to each other, you just need to make sure your covers still fit on.

Beehives are typically two deep boxes or 3 medium (honey super) boxes. This gives the queen enough space to lay eggs and will leave the bees enough honey for the winter.

When you first put your bees in you will only need one deep or one medium box.

Add the next box when 70% of the frames have bees.

When you have bees in the 2 deep boxes or 3 medium boxes you are ready to put on a honey super. This is the box you will harvest honey from.

Before you put on a honey super you can put on a queen excluder. This keeps the queen from laying eggs in the boxes you want to harvest honey from. Queen excluders can cause the bees to take longer to store honey in the honey super.

Releasing Package Bees

Check that your bees are not all dead in the package.

If the temperature is above 50 degrees F in a spray bottle mix 1 part sugar 1 part water. Mist the bees on both sides of the package with this mixture. This will keep them from flying right away when you put them in the hive.

Do not smoke the bees when installing a package. the smoke hides the queens scent and they are less likely to find the hive if they fly

It is best to release the bees towards the end of the day, but if it is cold you can release them anytime.

Set aside the middle 4-5 frames of your hive.
Remove the feeding can in the middle of the package and cover the hole.
Carefully remove the queen cage from the package and put it in your pocket to keep her protected.
Fully uncover the hole where the feeding can was and flip the package upside down over the middle of the hive where you removed the frames.
Shake the package tipping side to side to get the bees out. You can also hit the sides of the package to get the more stubborn bees out.
If a few bees are left place the package by the bottom entrance of the beehive.
Take the queen cage out of your pocket and carefully, without letting the queen escape, remove the cork and place a marshmallow in the hole. The marshmallow takes the bees a few hours to chew through giving them time to settle into the hive before the queen is released.
Using a rubber band if your frames only have foundation secure the queen cage with the screen side facing down onto a frame. If you have drawn out comb wedge the queen cage directly into the comb.
Place the frames you had taken out earlier and the frame the queen is on back into the hive. Do not put the queen directly in the center because when you are feeding syrup may leak through the hole on the inner cover and drown the queen.
Place the inner cover on the hive, place your feeder on top of that, and then the outer cover.

Feeding

Never feed your bees syrup when you have honey supers on unless you do not plan on harvesting the honey.

Spring syrup is 1 part sugar 1 part water

Fall syrup is 2 parts sugar 1 part water

Probiotics can be given to your bees every time you check them during the summer even if you have honey supers on

Pollen patties can be fed in the spring. you do not want to feed them in fall, they will stimulate the queen to start laying when you want her to slow down for the winter.

Winter patties or fondant can be placed on your top frames before winter incase your bees run out of honey during the winter.

Winterization

Winter is the time when a lot of keeper's hives die. If yours do die don't be too down, even experienced beekeepers lose hives in the winter

The best time to start preparing for winter is as soon as possible.

The three main causes for bees dying in winter are

Mites
- As soon as you get your bees you should be monitoring your mite number and treat when necessary. Keeping mites low keeps your bees healthier which helps them have an easier time making it through winter.
Moisture
- Many beekeepers use pillow or quilt boxes, which is typically a wooden box with screen attached to the bottom to allow air through. Pine shavings or other absorbent material are placed in the box on top of the hive. This helps wick moisture away from the bees. Which ever material you decide to use should be checked during the winter. If it is damp it should be replaced.
Lack of feed
- Bees should be fed starting as soon as the honey supers are removed to give them enough honey for the winter. Winter patties or fondant can be placed on the top frames of the top box. This acts as a last resort food source if the bees run out of stored honey. A shim should be placed on the top box to give the bees space to access the emergency food. A upper entrance can be built into the shim to allow bees to fly if their bottom entrance becomes blocked with snow.

Mouse guards should be placed on the entrance of the hive in the fall. a warm hive filled with honey is an appealing place for mice and when it is cold the bees will not drive the mice out.

Beehives can be wrapped in a beecozy or insulation to in order to reduce the amount of energy it takes the bees to keep themselves warm.