Martin at 21:44, 14 September 2021

2021-09-14T21:44:57Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:44, 14 September 2021
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			= Keeping tips =
			* Let the bees get cold in winter - don't over insulate
			** Don't make it too cosy or they keep too many over winter, they eat all their stores, they stave
			** Only for northern bees
			* Feed them honey over winter not sugar
			** The honey is a better food and will keep them healthier
			** Use only local honey - foreign may cause illness
			** Over heated honey (shop) will kill antibiotic properties
			* Use chicken wire to stop wood peckers
			* Bang tray/pans to capture/stop a swarm
			** Sound of thunder makes the swam land
			** Bees can hear - recently discovered
			* Bees nasanov gland is a call to other bees
			** Lemon balm can be used to capture bees - similar scent

			= Making food - sugar syrup =
			Over heading sugar syrup (boiling) creates HMF (HydroxyMethylFurfuraldehyde) toxic to bees
			Also commercial product: Ambrosia syrup


			= Shopping List =
			* Protective clothing
			* Smoker
			* Hive tool
			* Feeder
			* Marker pen
			* Queen cage
			* Bee escapes
			* Tool box
			* Bee brush/feather
			* Queen excluder

Martin: Created page with "=General notes= * oil seed rape - Dark bees can work better than Italian bees ** Summer - crystallises easily ==Recommended reading== * Guide to Bees & Honey by Ted Hooper *..."

2021-09-14T20:53:04Z

Created page with "=General notes= * oil seed rape - Dark bees can work better than Italian bees ** Summer - crystallises easily ==Recommended reading== * Guide to Bees & Honey by Ted Hooper *..."

New page

=General notes=
* oil seed rape - Dark bees can work better than Italian bees
** Summer - crystallises easily

==Recommended reading==
* Guide to Bees & Honey by Ted Hooper
** Read - excellent introduction to bees and their ways
** Feeding etc not necessarily the recommended way today
* Principles of Practical Beekeeping by Robert Couston
** Especially useful for northern beekeepers
** excellent somewhat dated/difficult to get - out of print
* Practical Beekeeping by Clive De Bruyn
* Beekeeping Study Notes by J.D. Yates and B.D. Yates
** for exam

=Beekeeping year=

==Spring==
* Check for normal laying pattern

==Summer==
* Verroa strips impermeate wax don't use during heather honey collection

==Autumn==
* cover hive in chicken wire - protect from woodpeckers

==Winter==
* Don't insulate during winter so bees will properly hibernate - Dark bees in the north
** Otherwise use up all stores and starve
** Insulation can work well for larger colonies

== Essential equipment ==
* Hat
* Smoker
* Hive tool or two
* Queen cage
* Bee escapes
* Tool box
* Bee brush
* Queen excluder

Can expect 30lbs of honey per hive per year

=Community=
==Castes==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Type !! number
|-
| Queen || 1
|-
| Drone || 250 to 2000
|-
| Female foragers || 20,000
|-
| Female house bees || 40,000
|-
| Lave || 9000
|-
| Pupae || 20,000
|-
| Eggs || 6,000
|-
| Total || 90,000 to 100,000
|}

===Identification===
* Queen - size bigger especially abdomen, thorax wider, may be reddish, wings longer
* Drones - Blunt, rounded abdomen, thorax wider bigger rounded eyes, wing shape

Queen excluder relies on size of thorax - also stops drones

=== Bee Space ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|4.3mm||Queen excluder spacing
|-
|4.5 - 5mm|| Single bee space
|-
|5mm|| Pollen stripping space
|-
|7mm|| Good gap for top bars
|-
|9mm|| Back to back bee space
|-
|>9mm|| Brace comb
|-
|}
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/bsp.html

=Anatomy=
* Antennae - Taste, smell, hearing ([http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/johnstons-organ Johnston's organ])
** Antennae cleaner notch on front leg
* Tongue - five parts forms a tube
* Eyes - compound, movement sensitive - more UV biased - no red
* Honey stomach- carrying nectar home
* Bristles on back leg to collect pollen from body
* Pollen basked on hind leg
* Notch in knee to compact pollen
* Breath through spiracles (holes in body) by pulsating
* Nasonov gland - scent to call bees to gather - Lemon balm similar scent
** Use crushed lemon balm leaves on hands to help calm bees when handling
** Used to attract bees to hive - Esp in Africa
* Stings gives off attack scent - scrape out with hive tool asap
Bee's ingeniously built - a flying swish army knife

Tanging - banging pots/pans to make a swarm land - Theory is sound of thunder causes bees to try and find somewhere to settle

= Angry Bees=
==Reasons for angry/aggressive bees==
# Handling at wrong time of day
# Lack of pheromones - weak queen
# Bad handling
# Bad smells (for bees) Alcohol/perfume etc
# Lack of crops - Bees are loyal to a particular crop if this goes out of season while many bees are still loyal to it...
# Noise
# They are an aggressive strain - genetic

Beekeeping - Revision history

Martin at 21:44, 14 September 2021

Martin: Created page with "=General notes= * oil seed rape - Dark bees can work better than Italian bees ** Summer - crystallises easily ==Recommended reading== * Guide to Bees & Honey by Ted Hooper *..."