Bee Pollen Health

Beekeepers, or apiarists, raise honey bees for commercial and agricultural purposes, for instance the production of honey or the pollination of crops. Most beekeepers maintain small-scale operations; duties include assembling and maintaining beehives, buying and selling bees, acquiring wild beehives and transporting them to central locations, raising queen bees, harvesting and selling honey, and harvesting and selling various bee by-products such as bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly. Both honey bees and bumblebees play a primary role in the pollination of crops; by some estimates, one-third of food production in the United States depends on bees.

Most beekeepers work in small groups or alone; it can be a full-time profession, a part-time or retirement job, or a hobby. The vast majority of beekeepers are, in fact, part-timers or hobbyists. The best way to get started is to work with a successful beekeeper in your area, either as a paid employee or volunteer intern. At the same time, read all you can about the behavior of bees. Most of us have learned something about bee societies: for instance, the different roles of worker bees, drones, and the queen bee. However, bee colonies are amazingly complex, and you will need to learn as much as you can about them.

Additionally, explore possibilities at your local university or community college. They may offer courses in beekeeping, or at least in bee behavior, that will give you more knowledge. Local 4-H organizations often have beekeeping programs for young people. And there may be a beekeeper organization near you that can offer practical advice on getting started. The Internet is full of information about beekeeping, but learn to scan websites carefully, and, if you’re not sure whether you can trust information from a particular website, corroborate that information with matching information from elsewhere. And don’t forget your local library or bookstore.

If you are just starting out, you will first need to acquire some bees. You can purchase bees from various apiaries; find a supplier with a strong reputation and track record, and ensure that the bees you are purchasing are mite-resistant. Varroa mites are very destructive and can destroy entire bee colonies, but mites can be controlled using miticides.

If you don’t purchase your bees locally, they can be shipped by the post office, in wooden crates open at two ends, with screening solidly affixed to the open ends. There will be a feeder inside the crate; you can also supplement your bees’ diet, while they are still crated, by spraying some sugar syrup on the screen several times a day. This syrup is a simple one-to-one ratio of water to sugar, stirred together on low heat on the stove. (Make sure the syrup is no hotter than lukewarm when you spray it on the screen.) This sugar treat will also keep your bees quiet.

In the meantime, you will need to build a hive, which will become your bees’ permanent home. Beehives kits are easy to find from various suppliers on the Internet; again, deal only with reliable suppliers, and if you’re unsure, call the supplier and ask questions about their products. You can usually assemble a beehive kit in a day. However, leave enough time to apply two coats of exterior latex paint. Since most beehive kits are wooden, a few coats of paint are necessary to protect the structure of the hive from the elements. Consult with your dealer about what specific kind of paint to use, and whether there are any parts of the hive that should not be painted.

Try to locate your hive in a semi-shady location, and make sure it’s off the ground: you can rest the hive on cinder blocks, for instance. Some beekeepers suggest positioning the hive entrance facing in a southerly direction, as the sun will hit the entrance earlier, encouraging the bees to begin working earlier in the day. Whether this is accurate or not, a southern entrance will prevent colder northern winds from blowing into your hive during the winter months.

Follow the instructions that came with your kit hive for installing the hive properly in its permanent location, and also in moving in your bees. During this process, you can spray the bees thoroughly with sugar syrup; this will keep them from flying, and they will eventually lick the syrup off each other. Your package should include a queen bee, who is kept in her own cage apart from the other bees; if she’s dead, you can get a replacement from your supplier, and hive the remaining bees in the meantime. The bee colony should not have immediate access to the queen; usually there is an edible barrier blocking the entrance to the queen’s chamber, and as the worker bees eat through this barrier, they will have a few days to accept the queen as their own. (It is likely that the queen has come from a different colony.)

During your first season of beekeeping, it is not likely that you will be able to harvest any honey. Since the bees need honey for their own nourishment, the first honey they produce will all be needed for their own sustenance. However, after the winter passes, you should have a strong honey flow the following spring, which you can harvest.