backyard bees
Donald Vincent was a copywriter and content creator at The Best Bees Company from 2020 to 2021, writing blogs and helping to lay the foundations of our content strategy. Donald has a background in Communications and Public Relations, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College.
This is the first guest blog in our DIY (do-it-yourself) series on urban and backyard beekeeping tips. This one focuses on all you’ll need to know to get your own beehives up and running successfully. While we at Best Bees have our own beekeeping best practices, there are many different ways of responsible backyard beekeeping. We’re going to get to the bottom of it below.
Bees are wondrous little critters, environmental warriors tasked with pollinating the plants that give us avocados, cherries, melons, broccoli, squash — and thousands of other foods we depend on. But these important pollinators are quickly becoming endangered . Honeybees are suffering from habitat loss, infestations of tracheal and varroa mites that kill them in large numbers, and electromagnetic radiation from cell phones that can damage their ability to find their way home.
Your Aquatic Ecosystem And Our Buzzy Bee Friends
Backyard beekeeping is an interesting hobby that goes a long way toward promoting healthy honeybee populations. More and more people are being drawn to beekeeping as they strive to live and eat more sustainably . A beehive at home brings your garden to life as the bees pollinate your plants for optimum yield. And, of course, your efforts are well-rewarded with a bounty of pure, golden honey straight from the comb. This raw, unpasteurized honey is far tastier and healthier than grocery store honey, which is pasteurized — a process that kills many of the beneficial nutrients in honey.
If you’re considering becoming an amateur apiarist to save the bees and enjoy home-raised honey, this guide will give you an overview of what’s involved in starting a bee colony and how to get the most out of it.
Beekeeping is enjoyable, but it isn’t a simple hobby. Getting started requires a certain amount of knowledge, and you’ll need to invest some time and money to get your colony going. Before you dive headlong into beekeeping, make sure you do the following.
The Importance Of Backyard Bees
Learn all you can about the intricacies and details involved in backyard beekeeping: Choosing hives and bees, managing the colony, harvesting honey, and keeping your bees healthy. Different parts of the country have different ideal timing for starting a hive, depending on the climate and geography. There’s a lot to know upfront, so seek out information from dependable sources. Are there any beekeepers or beekeeping organizations in your community? Does your university’s extension have information and resources on beekeeping in your region? Reach out and ask for advice. Having seasoned beekeepers in your contacts list could come in handy.
Before you invest a dime, check with your city’s laws on the subject of backyard beekeeping. Most cities have specific ordinances regarding keeping an apiary and sometimes require a permit to practice beekeeping.
Some states require you to get your neighbors’ blessing before moving forward with beekeeping. Take into consideration that they or their family members might have an allergic reaction to bee stings, which can be deadly. Ask your neighbors if they’d mind, and if they seem a little hesitant, try persuading them with the promise of organic honey straight from the hive. It’s also a great opportunity to educate your community about the docile nature of bees.
Backyard Beekeeping: What You Need To Know About Raising Bees And Creating A Profitable Honey Business By Dion Rosser
The amount of backyard space you’ll need depends on what type of beehive you choose. A general rule of thumb is to have six to eight feet of space around your hive. This gives your bees enough room to fly around the hive without getting in anyone’s way, but if your yard is on the smaller side, putting a tall fence in front of your hive will encourage the bees to fly upward.
A two-hive setup is ideal for a new beekeeper. For the first year of beekeeping, expect to spend upwards of $1, 000 , including the hives, bees, protective gear, and tools. You’ll probably need to spend an hour a week tending bees.
Keeping bees is a complex hobby, and many beekeepers admit that the more experienced they become, the deeper they fall down the beekeeping rabbit hole and end up spending an inordinate amount of time reading, researching, and taking classes about all aspects of this hobby.
Backyard Bees: A Guide For The Beginner Beekeeper By Doug Purdie
All bee colonies start with woodenware, which creates the bottom, body of the hive, and the top cover. With proper care, these bee boxes should last 10 to 20 years.
When installing your hives, we recommended facing the entrance of the hive away from high-traffic areas. Place the hives so the openings face the south, east, or southeast. In the morning, the warm sunshine gets the bees moving, and in the evening, cooler shade brings relief when it’s time to rest.
Every beekeeper has a responsibility to not only beekeep safely, but to also keep themselves safe. Below is a list of beekeeping equipment that is recommended by all beekeepers.
Bev's Backyard Bees
Once you have the hive and the equipment, you’ll need bees! All honeybees fall under the genus apis, of which there are 44 subspecies. The most commonly kept species in America is apis mellifera, or the European honeybee, which also happens to be one of the most docile species.
A starter colony, also called a nucleus —or nuc — colony, is the easiest way to populate your hives. A nucleus colony is a very small hive containing several frames of honey and brood, plus one queen and enough workers to expand the hive. You can transfer the small frames to your larger hive boxes, and the colony will build up fairly quickly since the eggs, larvae, and honey stores are included. Another option is to go with a package of honeybees, which contains 10, 000 worker bees and one caged queen.
You’ve got your bees and your beehive, so when do you get to start harvesting honey? Traditionally, you should wait until around 90 percent of the frame cells of the honeycomb are capped. For modern beekeepers, a refractometer can be used to test the moisture content of the honey — harvest it when it reaches 18.6 percent.
The Contented Bee
You’ll want to thoroughly read up on harvesting honey before you extract your first batch. In a nutshell, you’ll put on your protective gear, calm the bees, remove the comb from your hive and take it to your work station. Using the uncapping scratcher, you’ll remove the wax cap from the comb, which can be used to make candles or added to homemade cosmetics. With your honey extractor, you’ll separate the honey from the comb, leaving the comb intact and ready to be put back in the hive. The liquid honey will settle in a container for a few days, then it’s ready to bottle and enjoy!
Organic honey is truly the nectar of the gods and has been used as a folk remedy for thousands of years. Honey is packed with phytonutrients , which boost the immune system and fight against a few diseases.
These powerful phytonutrients are responsible for honey’s antioxidant properties, which help protect your body from cell damage due to free radicals. As a prebiotic, honey promotes the growth of good bacteria in the gut for better digestive health, and its antifungal and antibacterial properties make it an excellent emergency salve for wounds. Organic honey may also help improve cholesterol and boost immunity.
Why Read The Bees In Your Backyard?
Honey does more than just sweeten your tea. Some of the awesome benefits of honey included but are not limited to it being:
Backyard beekeeping is a beautiful way for humans and nature to support each other. Bring bees into your backyard , and help boost a declining population while enjoying the sweet, fresh honey they leave behind for your toast and tea. The more bees, the better the environment. You’ll need to find out if beekeeping is permitted in your area. Here is a helpful walkthrough for navigating the legalities of beekeeping.
Find out if there are any serious allergies in your household (and if you have neighbors nearby - ask them, too). Bees aren’t aggressive, but keeping a hive in close proximity will increase your chances of getting stung on occasion.
Backyard Bees: A Complete Guide For The Beginner Beekeeper Or Bee Enthusiast
Bees will forage up to three miles around their hives. While it is helpful to have pollinator plants in your yard, they will be visiting neighboring gardens, trees, and wildflowers for miles around your property. Urban environments are usually not lacking for good pollinator forage, but you’ll want to be sure there are flowers blooming in your area year round.
Proper management is essential to keep your bees from becoming a nuisance in urban environments. You’ll need to ensure the hive is expanding with the colony to limit swarming, and requeen aggressive hives.
Honeybees are generally not aggressive, but it’s still smart to have them in a sunny, quiet area that’s removed from parts of the yard that are frequently inhabited by humans and pets. Placing the hive near a fence, wall or hedgerow can act as a visual barrier from jumpy neighbors and,
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