How to Rear Bees

Beekeeping provides honey, a hobby and a healthy garden.

Keeping bees can be a cheap and easy way to ensure you have a supply of fresh, local honey. Your garden will also benefit from the proximity of so many pollinators. The 21st century has seen a decline in the honey bee population and many suburbanites and farmers are taking the matter into their own hands by keeping their own hives.

Instructions

1. Prepare the hive by making or buying a square box hive or rounded bee skep for the colony to live in. These should be placed away from common areas and areas where pets and animals will be spending time. Skeps must be destroyed to get at the honey stored inside. A square bee hive contains bar frames, a brooding chamber, the honey comb and supers to help support the colony and achieve greater access to the honeycombs for the beekeeper.

2. Ensure proper food supplies by observing the honey flow. If the honey is light, consider supplementing the surrounding pollen with previously stored high quality pollen or sugar syrup. These can be fed through in-hive feeders or outside bottle type feeders. Sugar syrup should be made with equal parts sugar and water and fed at a rate of liter every four to seven days.

3. Attempt to replace the queen if the honey is inadequate for your needs, or to create more colonies. A queen will be replaced when the hive's current queen has been lost, if the queen is failing in her duties, or if the hive is getting ready to swarm. These instances can be artificially created by a beekeeper to force the hive to rear a new queen. Contact your local beekeeper's chapter to learn more about these methods.

4. Feeding and medicating your bee hive might be necessary during the winter. This should be done in January or February for the best possibilities of a healthy honey output come spring. You will be able to check the bee colonies regularly during winter without too much hazard to ensure proper growth and health.

5. Keep pots of water about 20 feet away from the hive so the bees do not go searching in neighbor's yards for water. Honey production takes much hydration.

6. Prevent swarming by keeping bait hives or attractive unoccupied hives, close to the strong colonies so if they do swarm, they find a new home close by. Requeening once a year can also prevent much swarming.

Tips & Warnings

• Collect the honeycombs in mid-April for the first rewards of your bee colony.

• Consider constructing a 6-foot high fence around where you will keep the bees to force them to fly over neighbor's heads.

• Wear protective gear when approaching the bee colony, particularly during the warmer months as they do sting.

References

• New South Wales Department of Primary Industries; Prime Facts - Rearing Queen Bees; Mark Johnstone; 2008
• The Federation of Irish Beekeepers' Associations; Bee Basics; 2008
• Honey Bees and Beekeeping;
• Outdoor Place; Backyard Beekeeping; John Caldeira