A Business Plan for Beekeepers

A Business Plan for Beekeepers A Business Plan for Beekeepers

A Business Plan for Beekeepers


If you plan to open a beekeeping business — whether as a part-time or retirement activity to bring in some extra money or as a full-time operation at which you hope to make a living — you should prepare a business plan. You will need such a plan if you need to borrow money to get your business going — any lending institution will require it. But even if you’re keeping things small-scale and have the cash you need to get started, a business plan will help you focus on what you need to do. A business plan is like a roadmap, a document that lays out your goals and specifies concrete steps you need to take to achieve those goals. You can always refer to this roadmap if you reach an impasse in your business development.

Beekeeping is an agricultural business, and as such is subject to many of the same vagaries that traditional farmers face. Inclement weather will have adverse effects on your beekeeping business. Diseases and predators can ravage your bee colonies; through good management you can often stave off disease, but often events can spin out of control. There is much concern worldwide about colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon that is as yet only partially understood. Because of these factors, a lending institution will examine your qualifications very closely before agreeing to lend you money, and a strong business plan is one of the best ways to project confidence that you know what you’re doing.

A well-thought-out and well-drafted business plan is not a replacement for knowledge about beekeeping, skill in building hives and caring for bees, or entrepreneurial ability. However, a good plan can help you identify possible pitfalls, and also help identify special areas of opportunity. A plan should clearly state your expectations for your business — the profits you hope to make, the number of hives you wish to keep, what activities you intend to develop to make a profit (selling honey? bee byproducts? renting hives for pollination?), how many employees if any you intend to hire, and so on. In your plan, you will project real dollar figures for anticipated expenses and profits, on a seasonal or even month-by-month basis. You can then use your plan in the coming months and years to keep on track, and compare real progress with anticipated progress.

Some questions to ask before drafting your plan include: What is the purpose of your business (in monetary terms as well as personal achievement terms)? How will you market your products? Do you have the necessary skills to operate a beekeeping business? What knowledge do you have about beekeeping in your area, and what competition do you face? How much cash do you need to get started, and where will the funds come from? Do you have the time it will take to achieve your goals? Your plan should set out to answer three basic questions: Where are you now? Where do you want to go? How will you get there?

A Business Plan for Beekeepers Content A Business Plan for Beekeepers

A Business Plan for Beekeepers

A business plan for beekeepers should be organized much like business plans for other kinds of operations. Generally, you would have a table of contents; a business profile and summary; a section detailing the organization of your business; a statement of specific goals; a marketing plan; a management and labor plan; a production plan; a financial plan; and a chart detailing benchmarks and targets. Some of these sections may require very little detail; if you will operate the business by yourself or with a single partner, management and labor will not be a primary concern. You will, however, need to demonstrate that you and your partner have the time and ability to do all the work involved.

The business profile and summary can be short, but should specify a timeline (are you looking ahead five years?) and should state in general terms what you intend to do (operate 500 beehives for honey production, gradually expanding into other hive products). You should also outline the highlights of your marketing plan, production plan, and financial plan. This section needs only a page or two, but should draw in the reader’s attention.

The business organization section should outline the details of your business with information such as name and address; type of business (sole proprietorship?); licenses or permits needed or already obtained; the names and titles of owners, managers, and employees; and business history, if any. The following goals section should be a measurable, time-specific, realistic statement of action. You should develop a mission statement: a statement of purpose that indicates the overarching philosophy of your business. As the owner, what are your personal long-term goals in operating a beekeeping business? Long-term goals may be to pay off personal debt, set aside retirement funds, or contribute to your community’s diversity by offering new products. Short-term goals may be more specific to beekeeping: developing a wax craft sideline, taking a beemaster course, diversifying into breeding, and the like.

The marketing plan gets into the meat of your overall business plan. You should identify your target customers, as well as any competitors. What is the demand for your products (whether honey, wax products, or pollinators-for-hire), and how will you get these products to market (your own stall? through local health food stores? How will you advertise? Will you develop your own brand? You should also discuss pricing information, and any competitive advantages you have over competitors with regard to pricing or quality.

The production plan covers details about your operations. If you plan to maintain 500 hives, how will you purchase these? All at once or over time? What other equipment do you need, and how much will it cost? All capital expenditures should be listed. Also, you should project your production schedule over at least a five-year period; if honey production will be your primary revenue source, how many pounds of honey do you anticipate harvesting, at what income to you? There may be some guesswork involved, but back up your projections with reasonable methodology.

The management and labor plan specifies all the tasks that will need doing, and who will be responsible for completing these tasks. Even if you are operating a one- or two-person business, project the number of hours or days each month that will be required for each specific task. This valuable exercise may indicate whether you are taking on more work than you can manage; you may need to budget in an extra staff person.

Finally, the financial plan puts dollar figures on projected expenditures and income. Draw up a spreadsheet projecting these figures for five years. Again, this will involve some guesswork, but will force you to be realistic about your expectations. Specify where any needed funding will come from. If possible, you should prepare projected financial statements as well: a balance sheet, a profit-and-loss statement, and a cash-flow projecting. If you are unfamiliar with these specific statements, it may be worthwhile to hire an accountant to help you prepare them.

You can conclude your business plan by providing key targets. For instance, how much honey do you aim to produce annually by a certain time in the future — say, five years down the road? If you will have business-related debt, how quickly do you anticipate paying it off? And what level of revenue are you aiming to reach after five years?

With a well-prepared business plan, lenders will look seriously at your proposal, and you will be more likely to secure a loan on good terms. Even if you don’t need a loan, a business plan is an important document in helping you maintain control over the development of your beekeeping business. With careful forethought and preparation, you can develop an effective business plan.

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Stonebrood and Honey Bees

StonebroodandHoneyBees Stonebrood and Honey Bees

Stonebrood and Honey Bees


Among the many diseases that can affect honey bees, stonebrood is one of the most difficult to treat. This fungal disease can be caused by any of three fungi: Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, or Aspergillus niger. All three are common soil inhabitants, and can also be pathogenic to other insects, birds, and mammals. Humans, too, can suffer from respiratory damage through contact with these viruses.

Aspergillus fumigatus is widespread and is typically found in decaying organic matter and self-heating environments such as compost heaps. In fact, the fungus plays an essential role in carbon and nitrogen recycling. Colonies of this fungus produce minuscule gray-green spores, 2-3 microns in length, that can readily become airborne and enter hives. Because the spores are ubiquitous, most humans around the world may inhale hundreds of them every day. Healthy individuals are able to eliminate the spores via their immune systems, but people with an immunodeficiency condition, such as organ transplant recipients or people with AIDS or leukemia, are at risk of falling ill as a result of the spores.

Aspergillus flavus is a common mold that can cause damage to stored grains, particularly corn and peanuts. Studies on pistachio trees have shown that treating the trees with a certain yeast can inhibit the growth of Aspergillus flavus — the yeast successfully competes with A. flavus for space and nutrients. A. flavus is allergenic and can cause various infections in humans; many strains also produce aflatoxin, a carcinogenic that is acutely toxic. The mold also flourishes in water-damaged carpets.

Aspergillus niger is also extremely common; it attacks certain fruits and vegetables such as onions, grapes, and peanuts, causing a disease called “black mold.” It is ubiquitous in the soil and is also found in indoor environments; it has even been found on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs. A. niger spores are less dangerous to humans than related fungi, but can still cause serious respiratory ailments if inhaled in large amounts. Peat dust is often rich with A. niger spores, and horticultural workers who handle peat on a daily basis can be particularly susceptible. The spores can also enter the ear canal, causing fungal ear infections.

In bees, the spores are difficult to detect in the early stages of infection, and the three primary varieties of fungus that can cause stonebrood have spores of different colors. A. fumigus spores are gray-green; A. flavus, the most common, yellow-green; and A. niger, black. The spores attack bee larvae and pupae, penetrating to a larva’s gut and hatching. The fungus then grows rapidly, forming a collar-like ring near the larva’s head. This powdery growth, a greenish color (with A. flavus), can be readily seen with the naked eye. At this stage, little can be done to save a larva; once a larva has died, it turns black in color and becomes solid in texture; the name of the disease, “stonebrood,” derives from this mummification.

Worker bees themselves clean out the infected brood; if the hive is strong, it may well be able to contain the infection and recover. But the best way to avoid stonebrood is to effectively manage your hive, and maintain a strong hive.

Fungal spores that cause stonebrood are most readily spread by beekeepers themselves, in transferring contaminated equipment and materials between hives and colonies. If a colony is weakened by stonebrood, it becomes subject to robbing by other bees, who then transfer the fungus to other colonies as well. And swarming bees can carry the spores to new sites, where the disease may be perpetuated within their own colony and spread to other colonies.

There are no known medical treatments for stonebrood, but vigilant inspection of your hives can help you detect the disease early and help contain it. Examine brood frames regularly; stonebrood mummies are easily detected and may simply drop out of their cells on inspection. If a colony has died out because of stonebrood, be sure to seal it to prevent entry by bees from a healthy colony. The spring and autumn are the most vulnerable times of year for the proliferation of these fungal spores, so pay particular attention during these times. Whenever you transfer combs between colonies, inspect them very closely; systematically replace old brood combs, melting down the old combs. Always verify the origin and condition of any new bees or equipment you introduce into a hive; sterilize any secondhand equipment beforehand. And report any evidence of stonebrood to your local beekeeping association; other members may have additional information.

Stonebrood is not a particularly serious honey bee disease, but it can kill off a weakened hive. If you take the proper procedures to maintain healthy hives, you can in all likelihood avoid serious problems with stonebrood.

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Chalkbrood and Honey Bees

ChalkbroodandHoneyBees Chalkbrood and Honey Bees

Chalkbrood and Honey Bees


Chalkbrood is a fungal disease that affects honey bees, attacking honey bee larvae. The condition is not dire, and healthy honey bee colonies can usually stave off a chalkbrood infection. Prevention is therefore the best method of control; maintaining a healthy hive and taking precautions not to spread fungal spores are important in controlling chalkbrood.

The disease is caused by the fungus Ascosphaera apis, which is primarily associated with both social and solitary species of bees. Bee larvae ingest the A. apis spores during feeding; the spores then germinate in the intestines of the larvae, developing into fungi. The fungi will initially compete with the larvae for food, gradually starving the larvae. As the fungi then go on to consume the larvae themselves, they eventually engulf the larvae in a cottony, white mycelia (a mass of branching filaments) that harden in the cell. These larvae eventually become shrunken, chalklike mummies that are whitish or grayish in appearance; coloration is irregular. If a hive is otherwise relatively healthy, worker bees themselves will dispose of mummified larvae, effectively containing the infection. However, if a hive is weakened by other factors, such as mites or other predators, it is more difficult for the workers to cope with an outbreak of chalkbrood, and the infection can destroy the colony.

Although chalkbrood can occur at any time, lower temperatures increase the chance of outbreaks. The springtime is a common season for chalkbrood, when the brood nest is expanding rapidly and the smaller size of the adult workforce makes it difficult to maintain a constant temperature in the hive. Low-lying, cool apiaries are more prone to catching the disease. High humidity, too, can aggravate outbreaks of chalkbrood. If you maintain good ventilation in your hives and periodically tip the hives forward so that rainwater can drain out, humidity levels in the hive can be better kept under control.

Chalkbrood Chalkbrood and Honey Bees

Chalkbrood

Chalkbrood occurs worldwide and is spread by pollen, drifting bees, and contaminated equipment. Beekeepers themselves are often cited as the primary carriers of disease, through insufficient hive hygiene. There are no chemicals or other substances known to currently counteract the chalkbrood fungus, so the best measures against the disease are preventative. Old brood combs can act as depositories for chalkbrood spores, so replacing combs on a regular basis can help keep a hive clean. Providing new foundations for combs regularly also helps prevent incidences of Nosema virus and other pathogen-driven diseases. Also, keep all your equipment sterilized and clean, and remove any chalkwood mummies from the hive immediately. The mummies themselves are highly infectious, and spores from the mummies can reinfect colonies via stored food supplies or direct transport to larvae by bees working within the nest. You should completely destroy any frames that are heavily infected. Don’t transfer frames that may be infected to other hives.

Some stocks of bees may be more resistant to chalkbrood than others. If your colony is susceptible, replacing the queen and thus adding new gene pools to the colony may help make the colony more resistant. If you have a regular supplier of bees and queens, discuss the issue with your dealer and get the best advice you can.

Although chalkbrood has been considered a relatively minor honey bee disease, it appears to be on the rise in the United States, particularly in subtropical climates such as Florida. Some specific areas have reported considerable infestations, reporting 30 percent or more of hives infected. Studies have suggested that the importation of pollen from abroad correlates with increased incidences of chalkbrood. Chalkbrood rarely kills off a colony, but the disease can considerably weaken a colony, thus reducing the honey surplus available for harvest by commercial beekeepers. However, proper hive maintenance and cleanliness should stave off most occurrences of the disease.

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Honey Badgers and Bees

Honey Badgers and Bees Honey Badgers and Bees

Honey Badgers and Bees


Honey Badger Top Honey Badgers and Bees

Among the many wild predators that threaten honey bee colonies, perhaps none are as voracious as the honey badger. These omnivores are mustelids — members of what is commonly referred to as the weasel family. They do not occur in Europe, east Asia, Australia, or the Americas; honey badgers are mostly found in sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and the Indian subcontinent. And, in these areas, honey badgers can pose major problems for beekeepers.

Honey badgers have a fairly long body length but are thick-set and broad across the back. Their loose skin allows them to twist and turn freely. Their heads are small and flat, with short muzzles and ears little more than ridges on the skin; their eyes are also quite small for their bodies. These diminished facial features are perhaps an adaptation to the honey badger�s tendency to fight — there is less to grab onto!

These fast-moving animals have short, sturdy legs, with five toes on each paw. The two forepaws have remarkably long claws, for both defensive and offensive purposes. They can run quickly and have extensive ranges in the wild, sometimes covering 30 or 40 kilometers in a day. Honey badgers are not quite 12 inches high at the shoulder and about 30 inches in length; males can weigh up to 35 pounds, females somewhat less. They are solitary animals and live in holes in the ground that they dig themselves, but during mating season they can pair up as mates. They are intelligent and capable of using primitive tools, such as moving logs into positions allowing them to climb and reach high objects.

bee001 Honey Badgers and Bees Honey Badgers and Bees
Honey Badger Middle Honey Badgers and Bees

But honey badgers are mostly known for their aggressive behavior. They hunt and eat throughout the day, and become nocturnal in areas inhabited by humans. Although they eat anything, they are primarily carnivores, devouring carrion, small and large rodents, birds, lizards, and even venomous snakes. (A snake bite can subdue and sometimes kill a honey badger, but the badgers can often take down a snake without getting bitten.) And, in areas of human settlement, honey badgers will relentlessly go after domestic poultry, and the various consumables that can be found in domesticated beehives.

Throughout Africa, honey badgers, apart from humans, are the most destructive mammalian predators of honey bees. With so many food sources, the badgers do not necessarily require the nutrition from a hive, but they target the bee brood and will gladly devour the honey as well. Traditional as well as commercial beekeepers in Africa lose substantially to honey badgers, sometimes more than 10 percent of their hives. In Western Cape Province, Cape Town�s hinterland in South Africa, honey badgers have been causing losses of more than $60,000 annually. Commercial beekeepers, whether in Africa or anywhere else in the world, are rarely able to sustain these kinds of losses over an extended period of time.

A honey badger will tear at a hive until he can get inside; the bees will swarm and sting the badger, but with his loose skin, he is able to absorb the stings.

Because honey badgers typically roll hives over and rip off bottom boards — which may be weakened by moisture — it�s important to maintain a strong hive, with sections fastened together. Simply rolling the hive may disturb the bee colony, but if the badger can�t get inside, the colony will remain safe. Using screws as pegs and securing the hive with taut wire connecting the pegs is a stronger solution than simply wrapping baling wire around a hive. Even stronger, the hive boxes can be secured with industrial steel straps wrapped around, which requires additional tools for crimping and tensioning.

In addition to such strengthening, hives in Africa are frequently raised off the ground, at least a meter. The stands or trestles obviously must be fully secure such that the badgers can�t knock them over, and secured to the ground with metal strap, pallets, or wires. Stands can be made of a variety of found materials: welded scrap metal, steel, discarded fence posts, even stacks of old tires. Barbed wire can be positioned around the perimeter of a hive area, but honey badgers are resourceful creatures and can often find a workaround for barbed wire.

In many parts of Africa, traditional beekeepers continue to use methods that have been in use for centuries and longer. According to such practice, beehives are suspended from the upper branches of tall trees. Such hives may be basket hives, or simply hollowed logs that bees can adapt to. Obviously, it�s much harder to maintain such hives and harvest honey from them; for starters, it involves having to climb the tree! But bees raised in such fashion are generally safe from honey badgers.

Keeping dogs to fend off honey badger attacks is not effective; in most duels, a honey badger will get the best of a dog. Some beekeepers attempt to trap and kill the badgers; if they are perceived as a threat to one�s livelihood, this is not an unreasonable response. However, because honey badgers generally have only two cubs at a time and they are already threatened by beekeepers, poultry farmers, and other humans, some concerned activists have waged campaigns in favor of protecting these animals. If you keep your hives safe by making them strong and tight and then positioning them above the ground, honey badgers will simply leave them alone; there�s plenty of other food they can eat!

Although honey badgers are not found in North America or Europe, some of these same techniques can be used to protect hives from native small mammals such as raccoons and skunks.

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The Drone Bee

The Drone Bee The Drone Bee

The Drone Bee


Honey bee colonies are complex social structures; different types of bees in each colony play different roles, all with the purpose of sustaining the overall hive. Most bees are worker bees, sterile females who do nearly all the work of the hive. Hives also have a queen bee who can live up to five years and is responsible for laying eggs; a healthy queen can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day.

Then there are drones — male bees, whose only purpose is to mate with the queen. A colony of 50,000 bees may have only a few thousand drones, even as few as 300. The word “drone” comes from the Old English and has always meant “male bee”; eventually, the word came to have the figurative sense of a “lazy worker” or “idler.” This second meaning of the word is appropriate, given that drone bees perform such a limited function in the hive. And these days, the word “drone” is most often used to refer to a pilotless aircraft, usually with military applications. In this case, the borrowing of the word probably refers to the deep, continuous humming sound of the drone bee rather than the bee’s lack of work to do. Drone aircraft, particularly in the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan, are busy indeed.

Drone bees are larger than workers, with stouter abdomens, though they are not as large as the queen, who has an extended abdomen. A drone’s eyes are also twice as large as a worker’s or queen’s. Because mating occurs in flight, the drone needs good vision to ensure successful performance, and he also must be able to fly relatively rapidly.

The queen lays fertilized eggs, most of which develop into female larvae and eventually worker bees but some of which develop into male larvae. Among some species of honey bee (and among many kinds of bumblebees), however, it is the sterile worker bees who lay unfertilized eggs that develop into drones. This process is called parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction in which the laying of eggs, and the growth and development of subsequent embryos, occurs without requiring fertilization by a male. This form of reproduction, in one variation or another, is common among various invertebrates.

bee001 The Drone Bee The Drone Bee
Drone Bee The Drone Bee

Eggs destined to become male drone larvae — whether fertilized eggs laid by the queen or unfertilized eggs laid by worker bees — are laid in what are called drone cells in the hive; these cells are slightly wider than normal brood cells. Worker bees fill the cells with a mixture of worker jelly, pollen, and honey, as food for the young drone larvae; the drone cells are then capped with beeswax as the larvae develop. It’s easy to distinguish a capped drone cell from a capped worker cell, as the caps of the former bulge out. Once a young drone emerges from his cell, he will live in the hive for about a week, feeding on food stores available within the hive, and then, depending on the time of year, he will begin leaving the hive and finding food sources on his own.

Whether he is inside the hive or finding his own meals outside the hive, the drone does no work whatsoever. He does not help the workers nurture larvae, build combs, or cure honey; when finding food in plant life outside, he does not bring any nectar or pollen back to the hive for storage. In fact, he does little more than eat. His ‘stinger’ does not function and he carries no venom; a drone is unable to defend the hive. If he is handled by a human, a drone may make a pathetic attempt to frighten his tormentor by swinging his tail around. And if the hive is disturbed, drones may join workers in buzzing around the intruder in an attempt to disorient and frighten the intruder off, but he cannot inflict stings as the workers can.

Drones exist exclusively for the purpose of fertilizing a receptive queen. As young drones begin leaving the hive in search of food, they tend to congregate in areas near the hive, in an almost human behavioral pattern. Meanwhile, virgin queens from various hives in the vicinity will make mating flights in the vicinity; the drones pursue them and mate in mid-flight. Usually, a drone will end up mating with a virgin queen from a different colony, and each virgin queen will mate with several drones; this mating pattern ensures good genetic mixing among honey bee populations.

A drone can mate only one time, and once he successfully mates, he dies. His sexual organ is barbed, and after mating is ripped from his abdomen. He then plummets to the ground in a death spiral, while the mating queen goes off in search of other partners. Drones who fail to mate fare no better; because they are useless to the hive and a drain on the hive’s stored-up resources, worker bees expel all remaining drones at the beginning of the cold season, when mating is over for the year. Because there is no food to be found from flowers or other plant life in the late autumn and winter, these expelled drones will starve to death. The life expectancy of a drone bee is about 90 days.

Drones face other perils as well. Varroa mites are a common parasite in hives, and an infestation of these mites, which carry deadly viruses, can destroy a hive. These mites propagate within brood cells, infecting bee larvae with viruses, and they prefer drone cells because drones undergo a longer development period than worker bee larvae. The mites, therefore, have a longer time period to ensure their own propagation.

Honey bee drones perform an extremely limited role in the overall life of the hive, but obviously a critical one.

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Honey Bees and Bears

Honey Bees and Bears Honey Bees and Bears

Honey Bees and Bears


One of the most widespread clich’s regarding animal behavior is that bears like to eat honey. A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh with his snout buried in a pot of honey is an indelible image that millions of children around the world carry from their childhood. But the fact is, bears are indeed attracted by honey, and if you live in a bear habitat and keep bees, your hives are at risk of destruction.

Bears of all sorts have the equivalent of a sweet tooth; they like foods rich in sugar. Sugar packs a lot of energy in small quantities, and bears need energy in spades to forage for other foods throughout the day. Also, bears hibernate for three months during the winter; they need to fatten themselves up so they don’t starve during their hibernation period. So bears that develop a particular taste for honey, and who are able to find honey, have an advantage: they are more likely to survive during the winters, and to raise young cubs.

Bears will raid both wild beehives as well as domestic hives. They are not mannerly eaters; they will tear a hive to pieces and consume all the honey they can get their paws on, regardless of the needs of the bees themselves. Bees will of course try to defend their hive, but their stings cannot penetrate a bear’s thick coat. Bears, of course, need other food too — berries, roots, bark, and fish all make up a rounded ursine diet. But an unprotected bee farm can keep a bear occupied for a long time.

Bears are active both day and night, especially in the months and weeks approaching their hibernation period (in the fall); in areas populated by humans, however, bears tend to operate mostly at night, knowing that people can pose a danger to them. In any event, bears are cautious and you are unlikely to catch one in the act of consuming your hives. If you do, there’s not much you can do about it. Depending on your jurisdiction and the exact circumstances, it may be legal to shoot the bear; if the bear poses a mortal threat to you, your family, or your pets, you could probably shoot the bear without legal consequences. However, if you keep bees and are prepared to shoot a hungry bear who might stray among your hives, you should be aware of local ordinances.

bee001 Honey Bees and Bears Bear eating Bee Hive at Laural Falls
Honey Bees and Bears Content Honey Bees and Bears

Don’t try to chase the bear away. Bears are indeed shy and afraid of people, but a hungry bear intent on eating her fill may not be so shy. And if a bear cub is in the vicinity, don’t even think about going anywhere near the bear; a bear will do anything protect her young, and even the most innocent of moves on your part will be perceived as a threat.

You should prepare beforehand by installing electric fencing around your beehives. A solar-charged electric fence, with alternating hot and ground wires placed 6 inches apart up to 3 feet in height, should do the trick. The solar unit can be positioned among your hives, deep within the fenced-in area. The energizer and battery can be placed inside a ‘dummy’ hive, to protect against theft. The hives themselves should be at least 3 feet inside the perimeter of the fence. To ‘train’ bears in your area to respect the fence, you can lure them by hanging strips of bacon on the hot wires. They’ll get shocked when they try to grab the bacon, and will soon learn to stay back.

There are various ways to lay out, install, and charge an electric fence. Check with your local Fish and Game office about any ordinances regarding electric fences. If you are a commercial beekeeper or an advanced hobbyist, your Fish and Game office may be authorized to offer assistance in fence installation, but will rely on you to maintain the fence once installed.

And your apiary should not be positioned in an area that might be potentially attractive to bears. Avoid major bear travel corridors such as riverbeds, and keep your hives away from trash dumps, animal carcass disposal sites, berry fields or other food sources, or streams running with fish. If possible, keep your hives in open areas, at least 100 meters from a forest grove or ravine. When you install your fence, don’t position any fencing under branches, as these may fall onto your fence during a heavy rain.

Many U.S. states and municipalities, and jurisdictions in other countries, list honey as a crop, and therefore eligible for damage protection and reimbursement. However, to qualify for assistance or reimbursement, the beekeeper must take all reasonable precautions against bear predation and the resultant damage.

If there’s a specific bear that’s causing problems for many local beekeepers and other farmers and residents, your Fish and Game office or some other municipal agency may decide to trap the bear and remove it. Relocating bears in this manner is expensive for the community and sometimes doesn’t work; the bear might find his way back to his original area and cause further damage. As a last resort, the bear might be destroyed.

If you take proper precautions, you can profitably raise bees in a bear habitat. You just have to teach the bears to stay away from your hives; they’ll have to look elsewhere for their food.

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Nosema and Honey Bees

Nosema and Honey Bees Nosema and Honey Bees

Nosema and Honey Bees


Among the diseases that strike adult honey bees, nosema is one of the most widespread. The disease is caused by Nosema apis, which is a microspordian: a small, unicellular parasite. During its dormant stage, Nosema apis is in the form of a spore, which is resistant to extremes of temperature and to dehydration. The spores cannot be killed by freezing a contaminated comb.

Worker bees are affected more than drones; the queen is rarely afflicted, since worker bees who are ill with the disease do not generally participate in feeding the queen or otherwise coming into close contact with her. Because the symptoms of nosema are nonspecific, it is easy to confuse the disease with other diseases that affect honey bees. One notable symptom is dysentery; the presence of dysentery in a hive may manifest itself with the appearance of yellow stripes outside the hive and sometimes inside the hive. Bees with dysentery may develop disjointed wings and lose the ability to fly; they may be seen crawling. Other symptoms may include increased girth of the abdomen and missing sting reflex.

If the queen is affected, there will likely be an early supersedure — the process within a hive of replacing the queen. A diseased queen will suffer degeneration of her ovaries and a drop in egg production. Worker bees will of course take note of this drop in production, condemn the malfunctioning queen, and begin developing a new queen.

Worker bees who fall ill with nosema may die in the hive, particularly if they lose the ability to fly; or they may leave the hive and die elsewhere. In either case, there is a drop-off in food collection, which may eventually lead to the collapse of the colony. To become infected, a bee must swallow a nosema spore; spores enter the epithelial cells of the ventriculus and germinate quickly, increasing in size and rapidly regenerating. The cells soon become filled with spores; they will then burst, releasing digestive enzymes as well as large numbers of spores.

bee001 Nosema and Honey Bees Nosema
Nosema and Honey Bees Nosema and Honey Bees

In this way, the disease affects the ability of bees to digest; affected bees are particularly unable to digest pollen. And because the disease can spread so quickly among bees, it is more prevalent in the winter months, when bees are cooped up in their hives. Infections can also rise rapidly in the early springtime, as brood rearing gets under way but before bees begin spending more time outside the hive foraging for nectar and pollen. Bees in northern climates, where winters are longer, are more susceptible to infection.

Diagnosis can be made by microscopic examination of a bee�s ventriculus — the midgut area — or fecal matter. There may be no outward signs, but the ventriculus may appear whitish and swollen. The spores themselves are rice-grain shaped, 4 to 6 microns long. The disease can be treated to some extent with the antibiotic Fumidil B, which prevents the spores from replicating in the ventriculus but does not kill them. If there is an extensive outbreak, a complete disinfection of the honeycombs and all beekeeper utensils is recommended. The spores are sensitive to certain chemicals, such as acetic acid and Formalin, and also to ultrasonic and gamma radiation. Various natural treatments are possible as well; such products, with the brand names Protofil, ApiHerb, Vitafeed Green, and others, contain blends of plant extractions, vitamins, and microelements; some may be more effective than others. Beekeeping equipment can be disinfected by heat treatment — at least 120 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours.

A variant of Nosema apis, called Nosema ceranae, was originally described in 1996 in Taiwan and has since been observed affecting honey bees elsewhere in Asia. The two spores are very similar in appearance under routine microscopy; several more advanced detection methods have been developed to distinguish between the two pathogens. Nosema apis has been a known hazard to honey bee colonies for decades, but Nosema cerenae has only become known in the past 10-15 years, and it has since spread from Asia to Europe and North America. Some believe that Nosema cerenae, which is more difficult to eradicate than Nosema apis, has played a significant role in colony collapse disorder — a broad-based, global phenomenon that has seen drastic reductions in honey bee and bumblebee populations, both domestic and wild. Most researchers of colony collapse disorder, however, conclude that the phenomenon is the result of a combination of factors.

Either of these spores can be deadly to your bee colonies. Pay careful attention to the behavior of your bees, and look for other symptoms, so you can catch this disease early.

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Honey Bees for Hire

HoneyBeesforHire Honey Bees for Hire

Honey Bees for Hire


Beekeeping is a profession, and most beekeepers, whether full-time or part-time, hope to make a profit from the undertaking. Traditionally, beekeepers have made money by harvesting and selling honey and other bee byproducts such as pollen and royal jelly. Beeswax can also be harvested and sold for a variety of purposes. But more and more beekeepers are now renting out their bees to farmers, who need bees on a seasonal basis for crop pollination. If done properly, beekeepers can earn considerably more money renting out their bees than they can selling honey, but before you can see these profits you need to establish a reputation, with a track record of strong performance.

First of all, educate yourself. Learn about commercial crops in your area that rely on bees for pollination. Many beekeepers who rent out their hives are capable of transporting them over long distance, trucking fifty hives hundreds of miles, but start out smaller scale. Once you�ve identified your target clients, learn about the growing seasons of the crops and about their pollination requirements; how many hives are needed per acre? Learn about how these crops are farmed and what pesticides are used if any (which may be harmful to your bees). The farmers will not expect you to be an expert about their business, but you should know enough to project confidence that you can do the job.

There are hundreds of commercial crops that are pollinated by honey bees, from nuts and berries, to other fruits and vegetables, to feed crops. Some of these crops are more heavily reliant on the hiring of bees than others; California almonds are one crop that has been cited often as a strong market for beekeepers. See what�s grown in your area and learn about the needs of the farmers. In the process, you will get to know these farmers personally.

HoneyBeesforHireMiddle Honey Bees for Hire

Next, ensure that your hives are strong. If some of your colonies are suffering from a bee malady, perhaps parasites or pathogens of some sort, then take measures to bring those colonies back to full health. Farmers will pay you per hive, and they will know if a hive is not performing. If you have a total of thirty hives but ten of them are unable to perform at full strength for whatever reason, then you have only twenty hives suitable for hiring.

If you�re just starting out, you will probably have more opportunities with small-scale growers who only need a few hives. Many commercial beekeepers who rent out dozens of hives already have established relationships with large growers, and growers will not switch to a new beekeeper on a whim; too much is at stake. Smaller growers are more flexible; many have perhaps relied on natural pollination and are looking to hire bees for the first time. This is your best chance to establish a reputation.

If you have a few contracts to provide bees for pollination in the spring, be sure to take good care of your bees through the winter. Most bee colonies suffer losses during the winter months, when bees live off the honey and pollen they�ve stored in their hives. Some colonies may suffer drop-offs of 30 percent or more; if you have only twenty hives and have contracted them all out, but find that six of these hives are well under strength in the spring, you won�t be able to fulfill your contract. You can help these colonies build up to full strength again by feeding them, beginning in February and continuing until the bees can begin gathering nectar again in the early spring.

There are various other measures that you can take to bring your hives up to full strength by the springtime. You may need to replace a queen, or purchase package bees. Learn your own business.

You�ll also need to determine how much to charge. This will take market research; depending on the season, location, and need, the cost of renting bees can range from $10 to $180 per hive, for a period of a few weeks, which includes the cost of transportation and setup. California almond growers have recently paid the highest prices (up to $180 for a colony for a short period of time); the global phenomenon referred to as colony collapse disorder has resulted in widespread shortages of bees for pollination purposes, adversely affecting the almond growing business (and other commercial crops as well). If you�re a Florida beekeeper, you may not be prepared to truck your bees across the country (although some commercial Florida beekeepers do just that), but keep abreast of local conditions and establish a fair price.

Start slow and don�t take on a job you may not be able to handle. Word gets around among farmers, and you don�t want damaging information circulating about you. Take on easy jobs first, requiring fewer hives and shorter distances, until you can establish your reputation. You can then see where opportunities lead you.

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Different Kinds of Beehives

DifferentKindsofBeehives Different Kinds of Beehives

Different Kinds of Beehives


A beehive, as any beekeeper knows, is a house for a bee colony. The interior of a beehive is a dense matrix of honeycombs — racks of hexagonal cells made of wax, usually on removable trays — that the bees use both to store honey and pollen (for their food) and to house their brood (eggs and then larvae).

Wild bees make natural hives in rock cavities, hollow trees, and caves. These natural hives contain multiple honeycombs that the bees make themselves, parallel to each other in patterns that fit the available space. Honey bees prefer to make their hives well above the ground — from 1 to 5 meters — and will occupy a hive for several years.

However, beekeepers provide manmade hives, acquiring a bee colony separately and then moving the colony into the hive. The most commonly used beehive today is the Langstroth hive, named after its inventor, the Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth. Langstroth, a native of Philadelphia, patented his design in 1860; today, 75 percent of beekeepers around the world use his hive.

Langstroth discovered that if bees are given space of 1 centimeter in width to move around in — called “bee space” — bees will neither build honeycomb in that space nor cement it shut. Langstroth then used this discovery to develop a hive with removable frames. If the frames were spaced apart in a certain manner, the bees would build honeycombs into the frames without cementing the frames to the walls of the hive with propolis, a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from sap flows and use to seal their hives. Frames can thus be removed and replaced, not only to harvest honey and pollen but also to inspect the health of the hive and the queen.

BeesHireMiddle Different Kinds of Beehives

A Langstroth hive, therefore, is basically a box with a removable lid; the honeycomb frames can be accessed from the top, and can be removed and replaced easily. The boxes can be various sizes; in some, the queen is sequestered to a certain area of the hive, so that she is unable to lay eggs in honeycomb cells containing honey, and can only access cells meant to serve as brood cells.

Another common beehive, found primarily in England, is the WBC hive, named after its inventor, William Broughton Carr. This is a double-walled box — basically, one hive box inside another. The double-walled design is meant to provide insulation for the bees, but critics point out that bees are perfectly capable of keeping themselves warm in the winter months. The honeycomb frames are inserted in the inner boxes. These days, WBC hives are considered more ornamental than practical; they are difficult to maintain and manage.

A very simple beehive, originally developed for beekeepers in Kenya, is the Kenya Top Bar Hive, or KTBH. These hives do not contain frames, but have a lid consisting of slats of wood; bees then build their beeswax honeycombs from the top bars down, into the body of the hive. The top bars provide the only support for the honeycombs, and the top bars can be removed, providing access to the honey and pollen stored there. Almost any container can be used for the hive body itself, whether old crates, oil drums, even nonfunctioning refrigerators. There are many advantages to this design, and bees seem to adapt to KTBH hives readily. However, honey is generally harvestable a little at a time rather than all at once, so commercial beekeepers tend not to use these hives.

beehives Different Kinds of Beehives

A very traditional form of beehive, no longer in practical use by beekeepers, is the skep hive, made from a hollow log or clay pot or woven from reeds or vines. Skep hives, which are conical structures, resemble a coiled rope; the recurrently fashionable beehive hairdo is named for its resemblance to a skep hive. Bees seem to like these hives, but the only way to harvest the honey is to destroy the hive, usually killing the bees in the process. In these days of colony collapse disorder and other broad perils to bee populations, most beekeepers focus on preserving their hives, allowing successive generations of bees to keep their colonies going from season to season. Some country villagers in Europe still keep skep hives, but more for ornamental than commercial purposes.

One of the most interesting types of hives is the observation hive. These are not real bee hives, but temporary viewing platforms; the walls are made of glass or plexiglass and the side walls are grooved, so you can remove one or two frames from a Langstroth hive, insert them in the observation hive (complete with bees), and take the hive to school for show-and-tell. These indoor hives can become semi-permanent homes for smaller colonies, as long as you provide access to the outdoors through a tube. They can be of almost any design — there are plenty of suggestions on the Internet — as long as you provide adequate “bee space” between components in the hive as well as good ventilation.

There are literally hundreds of styles of beehives, adapted from local conditions around the world. Traditional materials include mud, hollowed-out logs, baked clay, straw, and dung; most of these hives, like skep hives, are “fixed-frame,” and the hives usually must be destroyed to harvest the honey. And the Langstroth hive is not the last word in beehive design; Dartington Long Deep hives can hold up to 17 frames and two colonies in a single construction. A 2009 design called a Beehaus is based on the Dartington hive and is intended primarily for urban beekeepers. Humans must continue to adapt beekeeping methods to suit changing conditions, and honey bees in turn will adapt to new surroundings.

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Small Hive Beetles and Honey Bees

SmallHiveBeetlesandHoneyBees Small Hive Beetles and Honey Bees

Small Hive Beetles and Honey Bees


Honey bees face many hazards, from pathogens and parasites to chemical pesticides. The small hive beetle is a pernicious pest that invades hives, destroys honeycombs and honey supplies, and ultimately causes bees to abandon a hive. Beekeepers need to be aware of this pest and take whatever measures are necessary to eradicate it.

Endemic to sub-Saharan African, hive beetles (Aethina tumida) were first discovered in the United States in 1996; they have since spread through many southern, midwestern, and eastern states. They have also spread to Hawaii and Australia. Beetle larvae inside the hive can tunnel through honeycombs, feeding on honey and defecating in the same honey, causing discoloration and fermentation and ruining the honey crop for beekeepers.

Adult beetles are dark brown or black, and about half a centimeter in length. Adults can live up to six months; females will lay their eggs, in irregular masses, in cracks in a hive. After a few days, the eggs hatch into white larvae that grow to a centimeter in length; these larvae are voracious, feeding on honey and pollen as they burrow through honeycombs and contaminating stored honey in the process. After two or three weeks, the larvae will mature and leave the hive, burrowing into nearby soil to pupate. This process lasts three to four weeks. New adult beetles will then emerge, mate, and find a new hive to lay their eggs in. In warmer climates, the beetles can cycle through this process four or five times in a year, utterly destroying a bee farm.

SmallHiveBeetles Small Hive Beetles and Honey Bees

Hive beetles do not pass any deadly pathogens on to bees, as do varroa mites. The danger they pose is through the feeding activities of their larvae. The hives become uninhabitable. As the larvae tunnel their way through honeycombs, they destroy the structure of the combs and wax cappings. Their activity causes honey to ferment; this fermenting honey takes on a strong, unpleasant odor, not unlike that of rotting oranges. The honey becomes frothy and begins seeping out of the combs and onto the floor of the hive, discolored by the larvae’s feces. At this point, bees will abandon a hive, and the beekeeper must disinfect or destroy the hive.

In South Africa and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, small hive beetles only infest hives that are already weakened, and as such they have not prompted major control efforts. However, evidence from infested hives in South Carolina and Florida indicate that these beetles may be more destructive in the United States than they are in Africa.

The most effective strategy for combating these beetles is to maintain colony strength. A strong, active colony will be able to combat the beetle larvae on its own, or will discourage adult beetles from invading the hive and laying eggs there. Various compounds can be introduced into a hive that are harmless to bees but deadly to small hive beetles. Paradichlorobenzene is a common pesticide and deodorant, most commonly used in mothballs. It is also effective as a disinfectant and control for mold and mildew; “urinal cakes” in public restrooms commonly contain this compound. The compound can be applied to empty honeycombs in a hive to prevent infestations of beetle larvae. And coumaphos bee strips, manufactured by the Bayer Corporation, have been approved for use in many jurisdictions. These strips, which contain 10 percent coumaphos (a chemical compound), are effective against varroa mites and can also be effective against small hive beetles.

HoneyBees2222 Small Hive Beetles and Honey Bees

Also, there are many beetle traps on the market that use nontoxic oils to suffocate the beetles. Use of these traps can prevent having to introduce toxic chemicals into a hive. Some brand names of effective traps include the Hood Trap, the Freeman Beetle Trap, the West Trap, and AJ’s Beetle Eater. If you capture a few of the beetles and wish to preserve them for identification purposes, submerse them in a container of vinegar or methylated spirits. If the beetles are still alive when you capture them, the vinegar or spirits will kill them.

You can also treat the soil around your hives with a soil insecticide such as GardStar; this will kill the larvae as they attempt to burrow and pupate.

Small hive beetles can be extremely destructive, but if you take the proper measures, you can control beetle infestations and ensure the health of your bee colonies.

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