The Guide to Beekeeping for Adults and Kids

Beekeeping is the term used to describe human maintenance of a colony of

honeybees. A beekeeper usually keeps his bees in hives contained in a bee yard.
The beekeeper maintains the beehives so that he can collect beeswax, honey, pollen
and propolis. A beekeeper may also maintain the hives so that the bees will pollinate
his crops. Finally, beekeepers may use the hives to produce new generations of bees
for sale to other beekeepers.
General Beekeeping Information
More Information

History
More than 20,000 species of bees exist in the wild today, but many of these species
live solitary. Most beekeepers raise honeybees, which are extremely social and live in
large colonies. In Europe and America, the most common species of domesticated bee
is the Western honeybee. There are three subspecies of Western honeybees including
the Italian bee, European dark bee, and Camiolan honeybee.
History of Beekeeping
History of the Honeybee
Wild Honey Harvesting
The earliest evidence of honey gathering appears in rock paintings from the year
13,000 BCE. In ancient times, people collected honey from wild bees by using smoke
to subdue the bees and then breaking the hive open. Unfortunately, this method
usually ended in the destruction of the bees home. Today, more humane methods are
used for collecting honey.
Hunting for Wild Honey
History of Honey Hunting
Domestication of Wild Bees
Humans eventually began to domesticate bees using artificial hives that they
constructed out of straw baskets, pottery, wooden boxes, or hollow logs.

Domesticated bees were present in Egypt by 2422 BCE. Domesticated honeybees

were also kept in ancient Greece and in Israel during the Bronze and Iron Age.
Additionally, beekeeping was practiced in ancient China.
Beekeeping in Egypt
Beekeeping in Ancient Israel
Study of Honey Bees
In the 18th century, European philosophers began studying bee colonies to better
understand their behaviors and biology. They discovered that the queen bee lays eggs
in open cells, but they did not understand how the queens eggs were fertilized.
Eventually, scientists discovered that the queen bee was inseminated by a drone far
from the hive. They also learned that a colony of bees has only one queen who is
mother to all of the other bees in the colony.
Honeybee Research
Invention of Comb Hive
In the earliest methods of honey collection, the beehive was usually destroyed.
However, the invention of a hive with removable combs allowed beekeepers to collect
honey while still preserving the bees and their home. This hive was first developed in
the 18th century and was perfected over the years. Its development is largely
responsible for the growth of honey production in the United States and Europe.
History of Hives
Hive Designs
Throughout the years, inventors have designed domestic beehives in a variety of
dimensions. However, all hives are rectangular or square and use a wooden frame. In
the past, hives were made from cypress wood, pine, or cedar. More recently, hives
constructed from polystyrene have become popular among beekeepers.
Hive Designs
Building Beehives

Traditional Beekeeping

Traditional Beekeeping involves the use of a fixed comb hive. This type of hive has
combs that beekeepers cant harvest from without causing damage. Fixed comb hives
are rarely used in modern beekeeping. In fact, these hives are illegal in some
locations.
Traditional Practices in Africa

Modern Beekeeping
Movable Frame Hives
Movable frame hives are the most commonly used hives in the United States and the
United Kingdom. Most US beekeepers use the Langstroth movable frame hive, which
was the first successful hive of its kind. In the United Kingdom, the British National
Hive is most common. Several other types of hives, such as unframed box hives, are
now illegal in the United States.
Professional Beekeeping Tips
Movable Comb Hives
Top-Bar Hives
Some amateur beekeepers use top-bar hives, which have no frames. In a top-bar hive,
the honeycombs arent replaced after harvesting. For this reason, honey production is
typically lower with a top-bar hive than with other designs. However, this type of hive
is less expensive to purchase and maintain.
Hobby Beekeeping
Beekeeping for Beginners
Protective Clothing
Understanding the bees is the best way to protect oneself from stings. Nonetheless,
most beekeepers wear protective garments when interacting with the hive. A
beekeeper may wear a hooded suit and gloves. He may also wear a hat and veil. Bees
are more likely to sting the face, so most beekeepers wear at least a veil. Protective
garments are usually light colored. Venom left on the suit from previous stings may
cause the bees to become defensive, so suits should be washed regularly.
Becoming a Beekeeper

Bee Smoker
Many beekeepers use a smoker, which is a device that generates smoke to calm the
bees. The smoke causes the bees to feed on honey, which inhibits their ability to sting.
It also disguises the guard bees alarm pheromones, which in turn prevents the other
bees from panicking. Smoke is not always useful for swarms of bees because they
have no honey to feed on.
Beginning Beekeeping
Natural Beekeeping
Some beekeepers believe that the use of chemicals is too harmful to the bees and
should be discontinued. They also believe that human interventions such as sugar
water feeding, artificial insemination, and crop spraying are weakening the species of
honeybees. Beekeepers who subscribe to this philosophy practice natural beekeeping,
which utilizes a top-bar hive with movable combs. Natural beekeepers interfere with
the bees lives as little as possible and collect honey only after meeting the needs of
the bees.
About Natural Beekeeping

Urban Beekeeping
Similar to natural beekeepers, urban beekeepers try to simulate natural conditions for
their bees. Urban beekeepers usually have small colonies that pollinate a garden.
Currently, urban beekeeping is practiced in Tokyo, London, Paris, Washington, D.C.,
and Berlin. This type of beekeeping is common in areas where pesticides arent legal.
Backyard Beekeeping

Beekeeping for Kids

Children can begin beekeeping as early as age five. Children should always wear
protective clothing when handling bees, and adults should keep liquid antihistamines
on hand in case of emergency. With proper instruction, children can learn to be calm
around the bees. After learning all of the parts and functions of the beehive, kids can
help harvest honey and care for the bees. They can also recognize the queen bee,
determine when the bees may swarm, and decide whether or not the bees need more
combs.
Beekeeping and Children

Honeybees for Kids

Everything Honey Bee
Helpful Answers about Beekeeping

Bee Colonies
Bee colonies are composed of one queen bee, 30,000 to 50,000 worker bees, and any
number of drones. The queen bee is the only female that breeds in the colony. She
lives for three or more years and may lay more than 500,000 eggs during her life.
Queens begin as worker bees, but they receive more royal jelly, which causes them to
become sexually mature. The colonys queen produces a pheromone that suppresses
sexual maturity in all other females living in the hive.
Beekeeping Tips
Worker Bees
Most of the bees living in a hive are worker bees. A worker bee can live from 6 weeks
to 16 weeks, depending on how much she works. Worker bees perform different
functions based on their age. Typical jobs for worker bees include cleaning cells,
feeding larvae, receiving pollen and honey from other bees, looking for pollen,
making cells and wax, and guarding the entrance to the hive.
About Worker Bees
Male Bees
Drones are larger than worker bees, but smaller than the queen. Their only job is to
mate with new queens. When drones are no longer needed, other bees may drive them
outside of the hive to die. However, this practice is more common in cold climates.
The Drone Bee
Colony Structure
Domesticated bee colonies reside in rectangular hive bodies with parallel frames that
contain honeycombs. The honeycombs hold food for the colony, pupae, larvae, and
eggs. Nurse bees feed the larvae royal jelly. The amount of royal jelly a larva receives
determines whether it will become a queen or a worker. Bee colonies typically store
extra honey in combs located above the main part of the hive.

Beekeeping Basics
Annual Cycle
In the spring, breeding accelerates as new pollen becomes available to feed the larvae.
Beekeepers must learn to predict when the bees will be producing the most honey in
order to obtain the maximum harvest. If the bees swarm unexpectedly and the
beekeeper doesnt capture the bees involved, his harvest will decrease significantly.
As beekeepers gain more experience, they will be able to better predict the bees
behaviors.
Predicting Swarms with Soil Moisture

New Colonies
Colonies rely on their queen. Each time she encounters an empty cell in the hive, she
can choose to lay an unfertilized egg, which becomes a drone, or she can lay a
fertilized worker bee egg. However, when the queen runs out of sperm, the colony
will replace her with a bee from a worker egg. They may also replace her if she is
physically damaged. When a hive decides to replace the queen, a new queen may take
over the hive or the bees may divide and swarm. Beekeepers prefer that a new queen
replace the existing one because swarming can result in lost bees.
Bees and Beekeeping
Causes of Swarming
Most colonies dont swarm until they use all of their available space for eggs and
larvae, and hives with young queens are unlikely to swarm. Beekeepers watch for
swarming carefully by looking for queen cells in the hive. If the bees do swarm, the
beekeeper may attempt to capture them. If he is able to capture them, he can introduce
them into a new hive.
When Honeybees Swarm