Lesson Fourteen: Swarm Capture & Prevention

Hi, and welcome to another online beekeeping lesson from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. Please feel free to submit your beekeeping questions and I will answer them in future lessons! Email me at: david@honeybeesonline.com

I thought I'd take a break from the bee lessons today and tell you about how we removed a honeybee hive from a diesel engine yesterday. But then I decided this would make a good lesson on swarms, although the hive in the engine was not a swarm, but an active hive with comb.

I received a call on Wednesday night from a man who noticed bees coming and going out of a small hole in the oil pan of one of his Cummins Diesel engines.

Wanting to sell the engine for scrap metal, he needed the bees removed first. For most bee removals I am assisted by my father-in-law, Bill Henness of Paris, Illinois. Bill makes our bee-vac that we sell and works in our hive production as well. Our bee-vacs are wonderful. It sucks the bees into a screen cage and the air suction can be adjusted so that it does not injure the bee. Then the cage can be pulled out of the vac so that the bees can be transported safely to their new location.

At 8:00 a.m., Bill and I met the man and his father, the owner of the engine and the unwanted bees. He used a sledge hammer to break open the aluminum oil pan, and sure enough, there the bees were, on a cold November morning, clustered together over their comb.

We take a lot of calls like this, almost one per day in the spring and early summer when swarms are more common. You will too, when people learn that you are a beekeeper. Since it was around 40 degrees, the bees were very calm and on the comb. I started sucking them into the cage, peeling back the comb and revealing more bees along the way. Finally after about an hour, I had removed all the comb and captured all the bees. And as part of the course, we spend the next half hour answering honeybee questions.

This was the wrong time to remove a hive. There was only about 2 lbs of bees and they had very little honey in their comb. But the engine had to go for scrap the next day. It is normally best to remove a hive in the Spring, so they can have time to build up their new home with comb and gather enough nectar throughout the year to carry them through winter. This hive could never get ready for winter now. So, I combined them with another hive.



On site, back at the engine, I tested the hive for American Foul Brood, sacbrood and chalk brood and saw no signs. I inspected many bees for mites and found none. No deformed wings, so that's why I decided to add them to one of my other hives.

When combining bees like this, it is best to place a piece of newspaper between the two different sets of bees. Otherwise, they will fight each other because the main hive will view the new bees as robbers. But by placing a newspaper barrier between the bees with a few holes in it, the bees will eat through the paper and by time they meet, they will live happily ever after (or at least for 30 days, the normal lifespan of a worker bee).


Swarms are easier to capture than removing an existing hive. Swarms usually have no comb, and are just a huge pile of bees hanging from a tree, car bumper, fence post, bird house or as in this picture, a porch on a beautiful house. A swarm is the natural way hives multiply. This happens predominately in late April, May and throughout the month of June.

In our bee yards it's RED ALERT during the months of May and June. We try to capture our own swarms. Swarms are not aggressive; they usually don't sting because they are full of honey for their journey and they have no honey or brood in a comb to protect. They are simply out shopping for a new house.

When I experimented with Russian queens, I found that they have a greater propensity to swarm. In fact, I had one hive swarm several times in two days. Sound impossible? A swarm is when the old queen leaves with half the hive. However, after the main swarm, there can be "afterswarms." This is when virgin queens swarm with smaller amounts of bees from the hive.

You might be wondering why a swarm would hang from a tree, and just sit there doing nothing. The main reason is that the scouts are out, looking for a nice place to make their final home. That's the beekeeper's tricky job, to capture the swarm before the scouts return and to make sure the scouts cannot find the newly captured hive.

It is common for a beekeeper to capture a swarm by shaking the swarm into a hive, and then leave the hive below the tree until dark. The problem is, the scouts can find their hive, enter it, convince the swarm there is a better place, and soon they will leave the hive. So, capture and move it once they are all in.

In this picture, notice the swarm hanging just above the deep hive body sitting on a bottom board? Now, all I do is give the branch a hard shake and all the bees and queen drop in the box. If they don't? Just do it again, only harder!

Keeping a swarm in their new hive box is tricky too. Here's what I do. I save drawn comb just for the capture. Drawn comb is another best friend of a beekeeper. Swarms will stay better if there is drawn comb, and a lot better if you can add a frame of brood from another hive. I spray the foundation with sugar water too. What bee would leave a sugar coated comb? I also restrict the opening down to only a small, small opening where only one or two bees can get through at a time. It's hard to swarm again if everyone has to go single file through the door. Keep it this way for at least 24 hours. My son will keep his captured swarm hives completely closed the rest of the day, and through the night.

Some tips on capturing a swarm:

1) When you get a call, ask good questions. Ask how large the swarm is, by having the caller compare it to a soft ball size, foot ball size, bowling ball size or beach ball size. This will help you know what to take. Also, ask how high the swarm is off the ground.
2) Have equipment ready like a fireman. You'll need a spare hive! Please don't call us and ask us to send you a hive in 2 hours! Have an extra one on hand. It's an extra expense, but you save by not having to buy bees! You'll also need sugar water to spray the new frames. Have the sugar water already mixed and in a spray bottle. You'll also need ropes to possibly tie off limbs, a nice limb saw, gloves because some tree sap is sticky when you cut the limbs and a secure way to tie down the hive box you are transporting home. You don't want the hive bouncing apart in the back of your truck, only to find all the bees are gone when you get home with your captured swarm. I keep my swarm supplies in a big army ammo container so that I can grab it and run. I also keep my ladder in my truck from late April through May. It takes too long to load it and strap it down.
3) Warn Bystanders. The home owner or bystanders will gather to watch. Although swarms are not aggressive and usually do not sting, they are bees with stingers. I always warn bystanders to back away or watch from their car or bedroom window. Your work will most certainly draw a crowd.
4) Be Careful. Don't try to climb the highest tree or put yourself in danger. Some swarms are way up in the tops of trees. The most dangerous aspect of swarm capture is the climb! Be careful!
5) Work fast, but not hurried. The bees are waiting for scouts to take them to a better home. Or the queen may have become too tired on their way to the better home and they may just be taking a break, a quick break!
6) Retrieval. Shake, cut or vac? You'll have to make important decisions once you see how the swarm is positioned. You'll have to decide whether to climb into the tree, or use a ladder or you may be fortunate enough to simply have the swarm at waist level. Then, you'll have to decide if you can shake the branch or cut it. If the swarm will fall directly into the box without having to fall through other branches, then by all means shake! If not, and they are on a small branch, cut the branch and carry it down to the box. This is really dangerous and takes a lot of balance and strength. Some swarms can be very heavy. This is where your ropes come in handy. Before cutting someone else's tree, ask permission. Explain the size of the branch so they will not be surprised when their beautifully shaped tree now looks like the cookie monster took a bite out of it.


When swarms are on buildings, cars and permanent structures, you have to use a bee-vac. You will never scrape them all off or get the queen. I've tried! It's like pushing a chain uphill. But, with a bee-vac, you simply vacuum them safely into a cage. A bee-vac is the second most important tool to the beekeeper, second to the hive tool, in my opinion.
7) Place the captured swarm box in its new location ASAP. Though you must allow adequate time for the swarm to work its way into the box, you must move it to its new location as soon as possible. There is a good chance that the swarm has a plan, a planned place to go. You've got your work cut out to disrupt that and convince them to go where you want them to go and to stay.
8) The white sheet approach. Using a white sheet works! It seems to help the bees notice the dark entrance to the hive box you are using. I rarely use a white sheet. Once I removed a swarm from garden. I placed a hive box on the ground very close to the hive. They began walking in. It took around 30 minutes for the swarm to finally walk into the hive, and at the end of the 30 minutes, I observed the queen walking in.
How to prevent swarms in your own hives
Swarm prevention is vital for a good honey production year. Swarming is a natural instinctive behavior and is how a mature hive multiplies into two hives. Attempting to prevent a swarm is a challenge, and sometimes after doing everything to prevent a swarm, they still swarm. If a hive swarms and 50% of the hive leaves, then it will unlikely be able to produce a good honey crop that same year due to the reduction in bees. If you are fortunate enough to capture the swarm, the good news is that you now have two hives, but the bad news is, neither will provide a honey crop that year. You can usually place the swarm back into the hive it came from, and the swarming instinct will have been satisfied.


So, the best honey crop comes from operating a hive slightly below the swarm congested level, while preventing a swarm.
Congestion vs. Crowded --you need open cells!
Many beekeepers have been taught to provide more space in the hive to prevent swarms but this is only partially true. Placing a super of undrawn foundation on the hive will not help if you've waited too long. Hives swarm because of congestion and overcrowding and more so from congestion. Congestion means that there is incoming nectar and pollen in large quantities, and the queen is laying well, thus there are not enough empty cells to accommodate the need. This is why undrawn foundation (more space) does not always help. They need drawn comb with open cells, not just more space. Sometimes, you can pull out a frame or two of brood from the brood nest area and add two frames of either drawn or undrawn foundation, and this might be a temporary solution. But by this time, you may have waited too long.
Remove swarm queen cells. The obvious swarm sign is the presence of queen swarm cells. These queen cells are called swarm cells because the are usually located on the lower section of a frame in the brood chamber. You can tilt back a deep hive body and look for these swarm queen cells hanging from the bottom of the frames. Another type of queen cell is the superseding queen cell, which is located higher up on the drawn comb. A superseding queen cell means that the old queen is being replaced because she is not productive or injured or dead. Leave these superseding cells alone! The bees know what they are doing, and why they need this replacement. But, if you want to try and prevent swarms, remove the swarm queen cells from the bottom of the frames.
What do queen cells look like? They are shaped like peanuts and hang out either from the foundation, as with superseding cells, or they hang from the bottom of a frame, as with swarm cells. They are about the size of the first joint on your little finger.
I usually save the cells in a mason jar with air holes in the lid, keeping them in a warm spot in the house, just in case I need a queen. I also have several small hives (nucs) that I store these queens in. It's cheaper than buying queens. Sometimes, I'll have two or three jars full of queen cells on the kitchen table. I'll wake up and while eating breakfast, watch a queen emerge, then take her to her nuc box using a queen cage, slow introduction method.
In closing, I've got to tell you about my swarm capture stocking cap! I got the idea from reading what Langstroth did in his bee yards. He would hang dark woolly items from trees, so that a swarm would light where he had placed the item, instead of high up in the tree. I use a black stocking cap, fill it full of cloth, and hand them around my bee yards. It may not work every time, but when it does, it sure makes the capture much easier. To the bee, the dark, swarm shaped stocking cap looks like the place where other bees have landed.
In our next lesson, I'll explain how to split or divide a hive in the Spring to prevent swarming as well.
Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, we enjoy providing these free online beekeeping lessons to all who wish to learn more about keeping bees. We are a family operated business that has a passion to see more people enjoy the art of keeping bees. We also believe that to offset the dwindling honeybee population, that more people need to start keeping bees. Feel free to contact us at: 217-427-2678.

We manufacture all hive parts, and we also carry a complete line of everything you need in keeping bees.
Our website is: www.honeybeesoneline.com
Share this with your friends and maybe you can get others to become beekeepers too!
See you next time!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

Lesson Thirteen: Different Types of Frame Foundation

Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, we are committed to help you be a successful beekeeper. David is a certified master beekeeper. We are offering 2 days of Queen Rearing classes June 27-28, and two Basic Beekeeping courses Oct 4 and Oct 25. Click here for more information.

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Remember that you can click on each image to enlarge them.

To refresh your memory, the frames hold the foundation within the deep hive body or honey super.

When starting out keeping bees, the beekeeper must decide what type of foundation is best to use. In the past, there was only one kind, plain beeswax formed into thin layers of foundation with embedded wire to hold them in the frame. This type of foundation is still widely used. An additional wire has to be added horizontally to give the foundation strength. Otherwise, the heat of the hive will cause the thin layer of wax to fall out of the frame.



A small strip of wood is nailed to the top of the frame, catching little hooks on the wax to help it hang. These are commonly referred to as split bottom and top wedge bar frames. This means that there is a top wedge bar of wood that must be nailed to hold the wax, and that the bottom of the frame has a split piece of wood in which the thin layer of wax fits into and then is nailed.



Additional side pins are used as well. Sound complex? It is.

For the hobbyist who has one or two hives, it can be fun, spending time putting together all the little frame pieces and embedding wire into your wax. But for many, this has become too time consuming.

In addition to the pure wax foundation, we now have various types of plastic foundations:

Duragilt, Plasticell, Pierco, Ritecell, Permacomb and the option of an empty frame with no foundation at all.

Duragilt is a sheet of very thin clear plastic that is coated with beeswax and has the hexagonal worker cells embedded in the wax. Some beekeepers enjoy using Duragilt and others do not like it. What's new :) I have tried Durgilt and it proved unsuccessful for me. The bees drew it out unevenly or in small pockets. Rarely can I get an even frame of comb off of Duragilt foundation.

I like pure wax foundation, but I don't like the complexity of the assembly and how venerable it is to mice and wax moths. So I've stopped using it. To reuse the frame means a lot of disassembly and cleaning, pulling out nails, and removing the wires.

Permacomb is fully drawn plastic foundation, not wax comb. In other words, it is a plastic version of a fully drawn wax comb. It sound great as it would allow a fresh package of bees the ability to immediately start storing honey. I've never tried it due to the fact that it is expensive.

Then, there is plastic foundation by various names: Ritecell, Pierco and Plasticell. This is my preference! This is a very thick piece of plastic, probably 1/8 inch think and has the hexagonal worker cells embedded in the plastic. I use only the beeswax coated sheets of plastic. I love plastic foundation in wooden frames. I'm not as impressed with the one piece plastic frame and foundation. But my bees like it just the same. In fact, my queens love deep frames that are solid one piece plastic.

Here are the reasons I have gone totally to plastic:


1) Bees love it and pull it fast. I often entice them by spraying each sheet with sugar water


2) It is VERY durable. You can scrap the comb off with a hive tool and never damage the cell.

3) Wax moths cannot destroy it.

4) Mice cannot destroy it.


5) It is very easy to spot eggs against the black brood sheets.

6) You can spin it in an extractor at any speed and never blow it out.

7) It doesn't droop in a hive or bow out.

8) It snaps into frames rather than having to use wire and nail in a wedge.

9) You can store it in any temperature.

10) It is much more cost effective than constantly replacing damaged foundation.

11) It can be shipped without damage in any temperature.

There can be challenges with plastic. When there is not a strong nectar flow, bees can be slow in drawing out the comb on plastic. However, this is true with all foundation. Bees need nectar to produce wax to draw comb. One side of a frame can be drawn out into the empty side of the frame next to it. However, I have also seen this with wax foundation and especially with Duragilt.


The plastic foundation that we sell is coated with real beeswax, helping the bees to take to it better.

Also, be aware that different foundation types require matching frames. You cannot use wax foundation in a frame built to hold plastic. A frame that holds plastic foundation is known as a 'top and bottom groove frame' with a solid bottom.

During heavy nectar flow, we take several strips of plastic foundation, usually about 2" wide and place two or three in a frame. The bees will use this as a guide, modeling the worker cell grid and quickly adding their own wax in the gaps. Last summer, my son cut plastic foundation in the shape of his girlfriend's name and placed it into a frame in the hive. The bees pulled out the entire sheet. When you hold that frame up to the sun, you can see the name because the plastic shades the sun. But if you look directly at it, it just looks like drawn comb.

Can you put empty frames in a hive? Yes, and during a heavy nectar flow, the bees will make their own comb in the frame. However, this is a bit risky, as they could make it into drone comb. In fact, they usually do this if you place it on the outside edges of the frames, next to the hive walls. Foundation already has the worker size cell embossed in the plastic, so they simply pull out that same size cell. You can experiment and see what you find. Also, it might take a few days longer, as they do have to engineer the perfect architectural design of the cells.

Drawing comb is so dependent upon the specific hive, the weather, and the nectar flow. So it is difficult to do a side by side test. But some claim that an empty frame is drawn out faster than a frame with foundation. I've never attempted a speed test.

A word or warning about intermixing frames. Don't mix plastic frames with wood frames within the same super. Keep all 10 frames the same.

Finally, regarding different types of foundation, we must consider the actual size of the individual cell. I like Plasticell because it has a 4.9mm cell size, which I believe gives me better mite control. It has been suggested that due to the smaller size, the brood cell is capped before the mite can get inside.

Natural cell size is between 4.6mm and 5.0mm. Pierco is 5.2mm. Ritecell is 5.4mm. PermaComb is 5.05. Bees from larger cells are larger bees and will keep building large cells. 'Regression' is a term referring to taking larger bees and regressing back to 4.9mm cell size. Below are three pictures each showing the different success I have with the different types of foundation. See you soon at the next lesson!

Lesson Twelve: The Moisture Level Of Honey

When processing honey, the moisture level is important to consider. For most beekeepers, we simply let the bees tell us when the moisture level is around 17-18%. This is when the bees cap off the comb to prevent the honey from absorbing any moisture.

Some beekeepers get in too big of a hurry and take off the honey supers before the comb is completely sealed off. This means the honey can have a higher amount of moisture than 18%. Moisture above this level can cause some problems in the future, namely, allowing the honey to ferment. Of course, if you eat lots of honey, you'll consume it before it has a chance to ferment even when the moisture level is higher than it should be. But if customers buy it and keep it around for a while, then honey with a high moisture content can ferment.

If you pull off your honey after it has been capped then you know the moisture level is good to go. However, if you pull off the honey supers that are partially capped, the uncapped cells will begin to absorb any moisture in the air.

To safeguard my honey from drawing moisture while it is being processed, I monitor the humidity in my honey room. I keep it very dry by the use of a dehumidifier. I usually keep it around 45% in the room. If I cannot process my supers the same day I pull them off the hives, I will stack them in the honey room so that they are staggered. I leave the dehumidifier on maximum dry, and use a fan to circulate air in the room.

Honey from different nectar sources can have different moisture contents. Clover honey is around 23% and is perfectly good honey with this level of moisture. However, other honey will ferment at 23%. In fact, moisture levels higher than 21%, other than the honey where this is permissible, is not fit for sale. Honey is hygroscopic which means it can easily absorb moisture from the air around it. But, if the air is dry, then honey will lose moisture, thus improving its quality.

Some beekeepers use a refractormeter to check the moisture level in honey. We sell the Atago refractometer for $289.

The easiest way to ensure your honey is at the optimal moisture level is to wait until the bees seal off the comb. Then, try to process your honey in a dry room and bottle it as soon as possible.

Thanks for joining me today for another lesson in keeping bees.

David Burns

Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

www.honeybeesoneline

Lesson Eleven: Honey Production

We are David and Sheri Burns, sharing various aspects of our beekeeping business with you, like these online beekeeping lessons. So many people just drive out to our farm and visit, and many others call and ask questions. Many more email us. We are always happy to visit and to help others start keeping honeybees!

You can click on some of these pictures for a large size image.

Honey! Honey! Honey! This is why many people keep bees, to enjoy the honey. Winnie the Pooh said, "That buzzing-noise means something. If there's a buzzing noise, somebody's making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you're a bee. .... And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey....."

I'm asked all the time about honey! People ask me how the bees make it, how much honey can a hive produce and why honey can be a different color and have different tastes.

Here's the deal. Winnie was right...the only reason for being a bee is to make honey! Oh they do other things, but a beehive in general makes honey. It makes honey for its own existence. A hive stores honey for the present and for the future. Since bees are workers, they will store more honey than they need...lots more. This is the honey that we as beekeepers remove from the hive--the excess honey that they can spare.

After a couple of weeks of duties inside the hive, the female worker bee is recruited to begin foraging for nectar. We call her a forager. She waits until the first sign of daylight, then off she goes making many trips back and forth from the hive to the flower until it gets dark.

The nectar that she is gathering from flowers is high in water content. Nectar becomes honey once the bees bring it back to the hive and reduce the water content. When the foraging bee arrives at the hive, she often transfers her nectar load to another bee, called a house bee. A house bee is just a regular bee with household duties, but she too will one day earn her wings to gather nectar. The house bee will then transport the nectar to a cell where it will be placed so it can ripen.

Once the moisture level of nectar is reduced to 17% then it is called honey, and the bees will seal off each cell with a cap of wax. This is how we know the honey is complete and ready for harvest...the bees seal it off.

How do they reduce the moisture of the nectar? They fan their wings over the comb to dry out the moisture from the nectar. How do they know when it reaches 17%? I have no clue. I suppose they have a quality control bee that has the sole job of taste sampling the honey.

What makes honey different colors and gives it a different taste? The nectar source. My favorite honey is orange blossom honey. When I was in Israel in 2006, I bought some orange blossom honey and fell in love with it. I grew up on clover honey and I thought all honey tasted pretty much the same. But there is a big difference.

Here in Illinois, we have Spring honey and Fall honey. Spring honey is light in color and taste because our nectar source in the Spring is from flowers that produce light nectar, such as clover and locust trees. However, in the summer and early fall, our nectar source is darker and more robust in flavor as it comes from aster, golden rod and other summer and fall flowers.

An expensive and more difficult honey to produce is Tupelo honey, from the Tupelo tree, mainly found in Florida. There are many types of honey, from every nectar source you can image. This provides many different types of honey with different tastes and a different color.

Not only is there liquid honey, but there is also comb honey-honey that is sold still sealed in the beeswax comb. We have lots of customers who love comb honey. They love it so much we always sell out of comb honey early in the year.

Okay, so how does a beekeeper get honey from the hive into the bottle? Good question. Here's the simple way we do it. First, when the honey is ready, we head out to our bee yards to essentially steal all the extra honey the bees have made. We are able to drive our truck near the hives, and in the back of the truck are two important items. A generator and a 15 gallon air compressor. The air compressor is powered by the gas generator. We then stand a honey super on edge and with the air compressor we gently spray off all the bees. Then, we place the honey supers in the truck and drive them back to our honey room.

Once in the room, the individual frames are loaded into our automatic cowen uncapper which uncaps the sealed combs. Then, it is placed into our 33 frame extractor which spins at a high rate of speed, slinging the honey out of the comb. The honey then flows into a settling tank so that wax and other objects float to the top. A honey pump carries the honey from the bottom of the settling tank up to our 500 gallon holding tank.

To fill jars, we open up a value on the holding tank and the honey runs through micron filters. Normally we only run it through one 400 micron filter. Sometimes we use 200 micron filters.

Then, the honey is bottled after being filtered.

We never heat our honey. Honey never spoils and is the only food that has an indefinite shelf life. Most honey will become hard, known as crystallizing. This is normal and does not mean the honey is bad. It means it simply crystallized. This can be remedied simply by leaving a jar in warm water for a while.

If you are new to beekeeping, I recommend you start off processing your honey with one of our new hot knifes, that cuts the cappings off, opening up the comb so the honey can be drawn out. Then, it is best to use an extractor. You don't have to. You can let it drain out or press it out, but if you can afford to invest in a new hand crank extractor, it will make the job much easier.

We also sell micron filters that fit over a regular 5 gallon jug so that you can easily filter your honey, making a very nice product!

Then, it's off to the stand to sell your honey! I love getting out, selling the honey and meeting great people. Everyone always has great questions and are intrigued by bees. You'll love selling your honey too!

Well it has been good to be with you again, and I look forward to sharing the next lesson with you in the next few days.

Be sure to visit our website at: honeybeesonline.com
Or give us a call and help us set you up in keeping bees! 217-427-2678

David & Sheri

Lesson 10: Inspecting The Hive Part 2 (www.honeybeesonline.com) Call Us: 217-427-2678

Hi! I'm David Burns with Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and it has been so fun putting together these lessons! And, wow! So many people have called, emailed, visited our shop and purchased hives and have told us they love these online lessons. Great! I welcome your questions, as it helps me know how to incorporate the answers in future lessons. So, feel free to email me your beekeeping questions.
Also, by all means, tell your friends and buddies about these lessons. Invite them to read them or subscribe to them, so that each time a new lesson is released you'll receive it in your Inbox in your mail program. Thanks so much!

In our last lesson, we approached the hive from the back, smoked it, and lifted off the outer cover and inner cover. Now, we are ready to inspect what is inside. Since this is a beginning lesson, we will assume that you have installed your bees, and now you are ready to inspect you hive.

How soon should you inspect your hive after installing your packaged bees? It is hard to wait, but you should wait 5 days. This will help the bees accept the queen. After 5 days, you'll want to open the hive and check to see if the queen has been released from her cage. To do this, the first thing you'll look for is the queen cage you installed between the frames. It is common for bees to be on the queen cage, and it is very common for the bees to build comb on the bottom of the cage too. When pulling up the queen cage be gentle as it is possible that your queen may be on the comb attached to the cage. Look to see if you see the queen, and if you do, brush her off onto a frame. Once there is no queen present on the cage or comb, shake off the bees and discard the queen cage and the comb. I save the comb that is attached to the queen cage and use it in my school talks. Kids love to hold bee comb and look at it up close.

Now, start by pulling out the frame that is closest to one of the sides. It is usually less populated with bees and has less honey, pollen and brood. Just set that frame temporarily on the ground, or you can purchase one of our frame holders that attaches to the side of your hive box where you can place your frames as you work. Once you pull out this frame, you now have more space to slide each frame back into that space. This helps you have the room you need to separate the frames that the bees have glued together with propolis. Using your hive tool, separate the frames and slide them apart.

Once the frames are free, you can choose which one to lift out and examine. It is best to start next to the wall of the hive body. If you start in the middle, you could risk injuring the queen or never finding her. Remember, GENTLE MOVEMENTS! No clanging and banging. Bees are alarmed by sudden vibration. Also, work with confidence. It is easy to lift out a frame with your hands, by loosening it first with your hive tool, then use your fingers to get a good grip on each end of the frame. DO NOT DROP A FRAME full of bees. Get a good grip. Then, slowly lift out the frame.

It might seem that you are smashing the bees or hurting them but they are used to being crowded together. You may also see them "holding hands," hanging on to each other and as you separate frames, it may appear that they will not let go of each other's legs. You might think you are going to hurt them, but they will finally let go. As you pull up the frame slowly, the bees will have time to move out of the way.

If you are uncomfortable using your hands to pull out a frame, you can also purchase frame pullers like the one in the picture. It is a spring loaded hand grip frame puller and does work well. The difference between a frame puller and using your bare hands is that with your bare hands you can feel the bees, so as not to smash any. With the frame puller, it is hard not to kill several. If I am not rushed, I use my bare hands. If I am in a hurry, I use frame pullers. These frame pullers that we sell are very durable and handy. You probably want to have a pair handy when you inspect your hives. Now here you are, holding a frame full of comb and bees! Good for you. If only your friends could see you now!

What do you do now. LOOK! Rely on what you see. You are actually looking to observe any abnormalities. Abnormalities are rare. Yet, most new beekeepers are a little suspicious of any and everything! Don't be. You're going to observe everything that is suppose to happen in a hive. It may look and appear unusual to you, but it will probably be a normal thing. Believe me, I answer beekeepers' questions everyday, and most of their concerns are no big deal. But, when I first started, I thought everything I saw was a problem.

On this frame, you are looking at sealed brood. This is what beekeepers call a "good brood pattern". It's pretty complete. We see a few dotted spots sprinkled throughout the frame, which could be caused from the queen not laying an egg in that spot or the bees have a strong hygienic trait, which caused them to pull out a larvae that has a mite inside the cell or maybe these bees recently hatched.

Some beekeepers ask how to tell the difference between brood and sealed honey comb. Color, texture and content. Color: Sealed brood is usually a tan brown color whereas sealed honey comb is light, sometimes very white or slightly yellow. The texture of sealed brood is more velvety while honey comb is more smooth. Finally, if you still can't tell the difference, you can open up a cell, and you immediately either see a developing bee and you'll know it is brood, or you will see honey, and you'll know it's honey comb.

Look for the queen. If you do not see her, do not panic. Many beekeepers have trouble finding the queen. She is much easier to find in a small hive, say within a week of installing your package. But, in two months, when there are 40,000 bees on 20 drawn comb, it is hard. You should have your queens marked with a dot of paint. Not only does this help you find her, but it also confirms the queen you are looking at is your original queen. Sometimes they replace her by raising their own.

If you cannot find your queen, look for eggs! Here's a picture of some larvae and a recently laid egg. When you find eggs, you know your queen is okay and was at least in your hive a couple of days ago. If you cannot find your queen, and see no eggs, then you must begin to see what is wrong. Either the queen is dead or she has stopped laying or is a defective queen and cannot lay.

When you are holding a frame for inspection, be sure to hold it over the hive. This is so that in case the queen should fall off, she would fall back into the hive rather than in your yard. If she falls into the grass away from her hive, she may not find her way back in. Also, when you have finished looking at a hive, place it back in the hive the same way you took it out.

In summary, here's what you are looking for when you inspect your hive:

*The presence of the queen, either seeing her or seeing evidence of her by observing freshly

laid eggs

*Sealed brood and honey

*Increase in bee population

*Ample supply of frames for the growing colony

*Any abnormalities

It is typical for a frame to have a rainbow shape of stored nectar, pollen and brood. Usually the brood will be toward the lower part of the rainbow, and next to the brood will be pollen, then the nectar will be stored on the outer or upper part of the rainbow shape. You can see this somewhat being started on this frame in the picture.

Pollen in a cell is usually orange or yellow in color but can be many different colors depending on the flower source. It can sometimes look like dry powder in a cell, but sometimes it seems moist.

Now that you've seen all that you need to see, place the hive back together and remember to place the inner cover and outer cover securely on the hive. Also, please place a heavy rock on top of the outer cover to help hold down the hive on windy and stormy days. Don't let your hive be blown over.

Thanks again for joining me for today's lesson. I've had a blast, and I hope you have learned a few things too!

Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, we pride ourselves in making a high quality beehive and beekeeping equipment. Give us a call if you are ready to start keeping bees. We even supply the bees! Call us at 217-427-2678

See you next time!
David

Lesson Nine In Beekeeping: Inspecting The Hive: Part 1

Having your own beehive is a blast. You'll find yourself being entertained as the bees fly in and out for nectar. But what's even more amazing is to look inside and observe the bees in their own home. Your hive should be inspected approximately every two weeks. This allows proper timing to monitor the ongoing health of your queen. If she should die or become unproductive, then a two week interval inspection will give you enough time to order or raise a new queen. (The hives in the photo are in pollination field, and I had to place them in the shade to keep them out of the fields)

Let's talk about making an inspection and what to look for once inside the hive.

First, let's pick the right day to do the inspection. We are looking for a nice, sunny day between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. We choose this time so that during our inspection, a large amount of the foragers will be out gathering water, pollen and nector, thus reducing the amount of bees in the hive. Level to rising barometric pressure seems to help the bees have a less aggressive temperament. NEVER work bees on cloudy days, and especially if there is an approaching storm. And never work bees when it is cold outside. Wait for temperatures well into the 60s before working your hives.

Bees cannot hear, but they can sense vibrations extremely well. And they can smell extremely well too, so be sure you don't stink, but don't over perfume yourelf either. Always wear bright colored clothing, preferably white. Bees become more aggressive toward dark clothing, but will rarely land on white. Never eat bananas prior to working your hives. Some suggest the odor of a banana can mimic the smell of another queen and cause the hive to become alarmed.

You'll want to approach the hive with your appropriate gear which includes your hive tool, your lit smoker, your hat and veil and any other protective clothing which you feel necessary. As you approach your hive, remember never to stand directly in front of the hive. This is their flight zone. I've watched beekeepers work their hive from the front, never being taught otherwise and I am amazed that they do not see the thousands of bees that want to land, but are blocked and are gathered behind the beekeeper's back wondering what to do. Always work your hives from behind the hive.

Consideration must be given when placing you hive so that you can have enough room to stand and work behind your hives. STAY OUT OF THEIR FLIGHT PATH! Here's a video of the entrance during a heavy nectar flow...

SMOKE YOUR HIVE

Blow two or three gentle puffs of smoke into the front of the hive. This smoke will cover the guards at the door and allow the smoke to drift up into the hive thus calming the bees as they begin to eat honey. Wait 2-3 minutes so that the smoke can become effective within the hive.

Next, begin to remove the top cover. As soon as you pry it up just a little, smoke inside the top cover and set it back down and wait a minute or so. Then, remove the top cover and blow a couple of gentle puffs of smoke across the inner cover. Sometimes bees like to hang out between the inner cover and outer cover in crowded hives.

Next, gently pry up your inner cover using your hive tool and blow a few puffs of smoke inside the hive.

Set it back down for a minute then lift it off, gently puffing smoke once or twice as you remove the inner cover. Now, you are in the hive! And in our next lesson, we'll begin to get familiar with identifying the inside of the hive.

*Special Hint* Be sure and secure all your beekeeping equipment during the winter, so that you'll have all you need in the Spring!!

We are swamped from Jan.-Jul. trying to send hives out to desperate beekeepers that need it yesterday. ORDER EARLY!!!

See you next time! Please encourage others to join these lessons!

Lesson Eight: Equipment Needed To Keep Bees

As you prepare to keep bees, several tools will make it much easier. Of course, you could do without the tools and probably get by, but these tools have become the best friend to the beekeeper.

Let me start by sharing what I feel is ABSOLUTELY essential, and then I'll talk about extras that just make the job easier.

ESSENTIAL TOOLS & EQUIPMENT:

1) Hive Tool
2) Smoker
3) Hat & Veil

THE HIVE TOOL

When I first started keeping bees I really didn't understand what the big deal was regarding the hive tool. Beekeepers talked about it like a carpenter talks about a hammer or tape measure. Now, nearly a decade and a half later, my hive tool is my best friend in the apiary.

By the way, APIARY is a fancy word for where you keep your bees. It is pronounced like: a-pea-airy. Our actual business is called Long Lane Apiary, but since many people aren't familiar with what an apiary is, we go by Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. Back to the hive tool.

A hive tool is between 9-10 inches long. I prefer the 9" hive tool. The 10" tool just seems too long and clumsy for me. It looks at first like a small carpenter's pry bar. But, it is a hive tool. You will not find them at the local hardware store or at the local home supply center. You may think you don't need one or that another shop tool will work, but take my advice, get a hive tool! One of my workers preferred to use a screw driver until I realized he was tearing up the hives. You'd better get two or three hive tools if you are like me, and lose them so quickly.

Here's what the hive tool looks like:


The shinny end is mostly used for separating the hive bodies and supers. Bees gather propolis and use it as glue to keep their boxes tightly together. When inspecting your hive, you will need to use this hive tool to separate stuck-together pieces.

The hooked end of the hive tool is used mostly for scraping off the propolis. It is important to scrap off as much excess propolis as you can to prevent build up and to keep a cleaner hive.
Notice the small hole in the hive tool. This is for pulling out nails if needed. Of course, you'll find many more helpful uses for your hive tool, but these are everyday uses.

Next, THE SMOKER


I would not want to keep bees without a smoker. Some brag that they don't smoke their bees, but, to me, this is not practical. Okay, first, why blow smoke in a hive? We do it to calm the bees. The idea is that smoke causes the bees to gorge themselves on honey, which makes them less likely and almost unable to sting. For one, they are busy eating, and they become so full, they are unable to bend and sting. It really does work! Trust me, this is not a tool you'll want to be without.

We'll cover how to enter a hive in a future lesson, but for now, let me give a brief explanation on how to smoke your hive. Use pine needles, burlap or corn cobs as fuel for your smoker. Of course, you can use other items such as wood pellets, large saw dust, dried grass or mulch too. Make sure that whatever you burn has not been treated with chemicals as this could kill your bees. When approaching your hive to open it, blow a couple of puffs of smoke into the front opening and wait at least 3 minutes. Then, remove the top cover and gently blow a few puffs of smoke into the entrance hole on the inner cover. As you begin removing the inner cover, blow a few puffs of smoke under the inner cover and between the frames as you lift off the inner cover. It is a good idea to wait a few minutes after blowing smoke into the hive as this gives the bees time to eat and relax.

Smokers are hot! They are metal, and lots of beekeepers have a perfect impression of a smoker bottom melted into their truck bed liners. I have one! I use an army ammo can now to put my smoker in when I am finished using it. It prevents fires, and prevents me from burning up something like my truck.

When lighting your smoker, do not pack it full, then try to light it. Load it lightly, and add fuel as it starts burning good. Be careful that the flame coming out of the opened smoker does not burn your hand or burn a nice size hole in your protective gear (experience speaking here)!!

Also, do not squeeze the smoker billow hard when smoking your hive. Gentle!! If you squeeze too hard, you may send fire into your hive. This is not good for the bees, and could set your entire hive on fire. Smoke only please!

Smoke does not hurt the bees. And you'll get good enough to know how much to use after a few tries. The smoker is good too, in case you get stung, you should blow smoke around the area of the sting. Bees are attracted to the scent of a stinger as a target, so by smoking the sting area, you neutralize this scent. Don't waste your money on expensive smokers! You're only blowing smoke!! A $30 smoker is all you need and works well.

HAT & VEIL
Okay, I admit, I have worked my bees without a hat or veil. And I also admit I have been stung on the face too. That's one place I don't like to get stung. And you could lose your sight if stung in the eye ball. And, if you get stung on the lip, you will look like Donald Duck for 2 days! Wear a hat and veil at all times.

Hats are usually plastic and are modeled after the popular pith hat. I like real pith hats from Vietnam, so I use real ones. They are a few bucks more than a cheap plastic one, but it is just my preference. Here at LONG LANE HONEY BEE FARMS we offer both plastic and real pith hats. Here's a picture of what we sell in our start up kits.





I wear my pith hat all day. When I'm not working bees, I remove the veil. The pith hat is a great sun blocker. Here I am after working my hives, cooling off in the front swing with my pith hat on.

Both the plastic and real pith hats provide total protection from the bees, not to mention they keep ticks out of your hair if your hives are beneath some trees. (Hives should be placed in direct sunlight at all times!)

An occasional stray bee can sneak in beneath your veil. I wear my veil without tying it off, so I do find a bee inside with me maybe twice a year. What do you do then? First, you do not panic. She is not in there to kill you. She wandered in by accident. I advise those who help me to never take off their veil in the field. The first instinct is to rip off the hat and veil to get the bee out. However, that sudden movement with a now exposed face and head in the middle of an apiary is not a good combination. Here's what I do. I face the sun, tilt my head back. She will move toward the sun on my inside veil, and I simply squeeze her between my fingers. The veil is flexible enough that I usually squeeze from the outside, but you can always slip your hand under your veil inside and squeeze her.

OTHER NONE ESSENTIAL TOOLS

Spray bottle, frame puller, frame holders, gloves, boots, etc. I don't like to wear gloves. I get stung more with gloves than without, because a bee will innocently climb up into my glove and I'll not know it and pinch her enough to get stung. Without gloves, I can better feel the bee and know where they are so as not to pinch one. If I do wear gloves, I use a very thin leather glove. I prefer pig skin gloves. A stinger can get through, but it does provide a lot of protection.

Again, the plan is to work your bees in such a way as to never get stung. I'll cover that in a future lesson too.

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