Library Categories
* This web page still functions but became too big to open and edit so an updated version is available from the menu bar at the top of the page. In the new version the library is divided into several pages. Enjoy!
- Beekeeping
Books- Beekeeping Video Series
- Online Education
- Regional
- Bee Biology
- Basic Beekeeping Information
- Hive Inspection
- Splits, Nucs and Packages
- Swarms
- Feeding
- Winter Management
- Varroa Mites
- Small Hive Beetle
- Bears
- Skunks
- Wasps
- Diseases
- Queen Rearing
- Commercial Beekeeping
- History
- Eva Crane
- Hygienic Behaviour
- Pesticides and Bees
- Products from Beekeeping
- Honey Recipes
- Native Pollinators
- Planting for Pollinators
- Bee Lining
Education - Teaching programs and lesson plans
- Webinars
Books
- Children's Books
* This web page became too big to open and edit so an updated version is available from the menu bar at the top of the page. In the new version the library is divided into several pages. Enjoy!
* To
search for
a specific
word on
this page
like
Varroa or
Nosema you
can use
crtl +
f
on your
keyboard
to bring
up
word
search
on your
browser.
A very
useful
tool.
Getting Started
Backyard
Beekeeping (James E.
Tew)
This book by
Dr. James
Tew is a
good
overview of
the basic
steps to
acquiring
and
management
of a bee
colony for
the beginner
beekeeper.
Some of the
things that
are covered
are the
cost, races
of honey
bees, bee
life cycle,
hive design,
equipment,
swarms, hive
site,
seasonal
management,
pesticides,
diseases and
harvesting
of honey and
wax.
Most of the
information
in this
library
comes from
beekeeping
organizations,
government
publications
and
publications
from
universites
and science
institutes.
I have found
through many
years of
compiling
this library
that the
best sources
of freely
available
information
on
beekeeping
are the
Australian
government
and U.S.
Universities.
At the
forefront of
the U.S.
source has
been Dr.
James Tew,
through
years of
publications,
webinars,
video series
and power
points all
freely
available to
the
public.
Thank you
Dr. Tew.
Beekeeping
Basics This
Penn State
University
publication
provides a
fairly
comprehensive
and detailed
book for the
backyard
beekeeper.
"This
manual is
all about
beekeeping—understanding
honey bee
biology, getting
started,
managing bee
colonies
for fun
and/or
profit and is designed
to help
you become
a
successful
beekeeper. Welcome
to the
world of
beekeeping."
It
covers
topics
like bee
castes,
beekeeping
equipment,
clothing,
packages
and nucs,
apiary
location,
seasonal
management,
diseases
and pests,
honey
production
and
processing,
rendering
bees wax
and pollen
trapping
... A very good
resource for
the
beginning
beekeeper.
Handbook
on
Beekeeping:
(Europe)
A good,
complete
guide to
sustainable
beekeeping
from the
European
Union Bees
project.
"BEES
is a
Transfer of
Innovation
project
aiming at
further
developing a
module from
the Leonardo
da Vinci
ENSA project
on organic
and
biodynamic
agriculture
education.
The main
objective of
the project
is to create
completely
updated
teaching
materials on
bee
behaviours
and relevant
importance
as
indicators
of
agriculture
sustainability.
Biodiversity
is directly
linked to
this
approach.
The main
targets of
the handbook
are farmers'
associations,
environmental
associations,
agriculture
professional
schools,
agriculture
and
veterinary
medicine
universities,
bee keepers
associations,
policy
makers,
institutions
at European,
national and
local level,
elementary
and
secondary
schools."
Australian
Beekeeping
Guide A
great
beginner's
guide to
beekeeping
from the
Australian
government.
It
covers
everything
from bee
castes and
life-cycle
to seasonal
management,
diseases and
pests.
"This
book
provides
basic
information
to assist
beginner and
sideline
beekeepers.
It draws on
the
knowledge
and
experience
of
apiculture
scientists,
various
state and
territory
apiary
inspectors
and apiary
officers,
and most
importantly,
the many
beekeepers
who enjoy
keeping
bees."
It
covers most
everything
except
treatment of
varroa mites
which are
not present
in
Australia.
Starting
Beekeeping
in
Ireland by
Thomas
Carroll
"This
book is as
much a
guide to
sources of
additional
information
as it is a
how to
beekeeping
guide.
There is a
lot of bee
related
information
available
and I have
compiled
an
impressive
list
of
sources
of
additional
information
from an
Irish
centric
perspective.
Why did I
write this
eBook? The
need for
this book
came to me
when I
searched
for as
simple and
straightforward
text on
how to
start
beekeeping
in
Ireland.
I was
restarting
my
beekeeping
here in
2015.
I wanted a
plain and
straight
to the
point book
which was
up to date
and
appropriate
in the
Irish
context. I
wanted a
book at a
sensible
price
which was
available
in
electronic
format (an
eBook)
which I
could
easily and
quickly
download
and start
reading.
I could
not find
or easily
access a
suitable
publication
to assist
me and
therefore
decided to
write the
book my
self to
assist
others who
may be
trying to
start
beekeeping...
I have
spent over
two years
researching
and
writing
this
eBook. I
hope that
you find
it useful
and
helpful.
I would be
delighted
to hear
from you
and to get
your
feedback."
Tom
Carroll
PHD,
Killenure
Nursery,
Ballybrittas,
Co Laois.
Website
- Apiconsult
Beekeeping
in
California
"This
publication
describes
the
fundamentals
of keeping
bees in
California
(1987) and
discusses
the
differences
between
commercial
and non
commercial
approaches.
Persons
considering
keeping bees
can learn
through self
education
and
experience.
Classes and
short
courses in
beekeeping
are also
helpful, and
many good
books and
other
literature
are
available
(see
References).
However, no
amount of
reading can
substitute
for actual
experience
with
colonies.
Local
beekeeping
clubs often
willingly
share
information,
and many
will show
beginners
how to
manage a
colony and
what to
expect
through the
year."Canadian Best Management Practices for Honey Bee Health (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) - "Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the honey bee industry are developed by different levels and divisions of government, various organizations, institutions and stakeholders. Content ranging from regulations for pest and disease treatment thresholds to management of colonies during pollination services are included. While in many cases these recommendations are readily available, their authors are varied and the publications are provided by diverse sources. Some recommendations will apply to the Canadian nation as a whole, while others will only relate to specific areas of the country. The BMPs discussed in this document refer to those that pertain to honey bee health. Traceability aspects like food safety, beekeeper safety and environmental safety are not included within this BMP document."
4 H
Beekeeping
Manuals
The 4-H
Beekeeping
Project
from
Purdue
University
is
divided
into
three
divisions.
Division
I,
Understanding
the
Honey
Bee,
covers
information
on the
basic
facts of
beekeeping:
the types
of bees,
the honey
and wax
they
produce,
the plants
that
attract
bees, and
the
equipment
a
beekeeper
needs. In
the first
year,
youth are
not
required
to have
any bees,
but
prepare to
take care
of a honey
bee colony
of their
own.
In Division
II, Working
with Honey
Bees,
youth
acquire a
colony of
bees and
learn how
to care
for their
beehive
throughout
the year.
This will
include
basic
beekeeping
operations
that
result in
the
production
of
extracted,
chunk, or
cut comb
honey.
When the
youth are
experienced
and
knowledgeable
in the
basic care
of a
beehive,
they
should
move on
to Division
III,
Advanced
Beekeeping
Methods.
The
advanced
topics
include:
increasing
the number
of your
honey bee
colonies,
increasing
honey
production,
producing
special
kinds of
honey,
learning
more about
the bee
societies,
and how to
manage
honey bee
diseases
and
parasites.
This
is a good
resource
for
beginning
beekeepers
of all
ages.
In
addition
here is a
4H
Basic
Beekeeping
Manual
from
Malcolm
Sanford
(University
of
Florida)
and from
the
Virginia
Cooperative
Extension
4H
Honey
Bee
Youth
Project
Book
1
and
2
.
4 H
Beekeeping
Manual A
good
beginner
beekeeper
manual
written by
Brian Rowe
of the 4 H
organization
that covers
everything
from hive
components,
types of
bees, first
year and
seasonal
management,
honey, wax
and diseases
and
pests.
"Welcome to
beekeeping.
I hope you
enjoy it as
much as I
have.
The bees
have been
good to me,
and I hope
they will do
the same for
you." Brian
Rowe.
The
Basics
of
Beekeeping
(Scotland)
This is a
good
introductory
Beekeeping
guide
written by
M.M.
Peterson
on behalf
of the
Dunblane
and
Stirling
Districts
Beekeepers'
Association
in
Scotland.
The topics
discussed
include
bee
biology,
beekeeping
equipment,
handling
bees,
swarm
control,
diseases
and pests
and
harvesting.
At the
Hive
Entrance This
useful
German
handbook
written by
Prof. Storch
in 1985 (pre
varroa)
explains the
value of
being able
to calculate
a hive
health by
observing
the outside
of the hive.
"All
year round
it is
through this
little
opening that
the life of
a colony
pulses. Here
it breathes
and rejects
all that it
will not
tolerate in
its domain.
Here it
transmits
its
meaningful
message for
the person
who can
understand
it. Here the
colony's
behaviour
informs the
beekeeper of
its problems
and state of
health, and
lets him
know whether
it needs his
help. A
keeper who
can tell the
condition of
his bees by
observing
the hive
entrance
does not
need to open
his hives
and disturb
the bees'
sanctuary,
the brood
nest. This
never
produces
good
results.
A
healthy
colony must
have peace
if it is to
perform its
productive
role. On
principle a
visit should
only be made
once the
keeper has
determined
at the hive
entrance
that
something is
not in
order. It is
not always
easy to know
what is
happening
inside the
hive by
observing
the hive
entrance and
this is only
learnt after
many years,
especially
when the
keeper is
alone and
there is
no-one to
give advice.
The
aquisition
of this
knowledge
can be
facilitated
by
complementing
observations
at the hive
entrance
with those
made at the
rear window
or at the
building
frame. A
look beneath
the frames
is also very
often
instructive.
As
long as the
beekeeper
cannot
understand
the
inter-nal
condition of
the hive by
watching the
outside, he
can only
lose money
and will
have to pay
his
appren-ticeship
dearly.
Therefore
it is in the
best
interest of
every
beekeeper to
learn this
field as
fast and as
thoroughly
as possible.
It is not
only the
ears and
eyes of the
observer
which must
participate,
but also his
senses of
smell and
touch, and
above all
his heart,
spirit and
intelligence."
Beekeeping
in the
United
States This
beekeeping
handbook
from the
U.S.
Department
of
Agriculture
provides
readers with
a better
understanding
of
beekeeping
in the
United
States from
a l980
perspective
(pre
Varroa).
Some topics
discussed
are the life
history of
the honey
bee; bee
behavior;
breeding and
genetics of
honey bees;
queens,
packaged
bees, and
nuclei;
managing
colonies for
high honey
yield and
crop
pollination;
dis- eases
and pests of
honey bees;
and effects
of
pesticides
on honey bee
mortality.
The handbook
also lists
beekeeping
organizations
and some
statistics
on bees and
honey.
Martin, E.
C, E.
Oertel, N.
P. Nye, and
others.
1980.
Beekeeping
in the
United
States. U.S.
Department
of
Agriculture,
Agriculture
Handbook.
L'Abbé Eloi
François Émile
Warré was born
on 9 March
1867 at
Grébault-Mesnil
in the Somme
département.
He was
ordained a
priest on 19
September 1891
-- Amiens
diocese -- and
became the
parish priest
of Mérélessart
(Somme) in
1897 then of
Martainneville
(Somme) in
1904. He
disappeared
from the
records in
1916
subsequently
to reappear at
Saint-Symphorien
(Indre-et-Loire)
to devote
himself
exclusively to
beekeeping. He
died at Tours
on 20 April
1951. Abbé
Warré
developed The
People's Hive
based on his
studies of 350
hives of
different
systems that
existed at his
time as well
as of the
natural habits
of the bee. To
publish his
findings, he
wrote several
books: La
santé ou les
Meilleurs
traitements de
toutes les
maladies
(Health or
better
treatments for
all
illnesses), Le
Miel, ses
propriétés et
ses usages
(Honey its
properties and
applications),
La Santé,
manuel-guide
des malades et
des
bien-portants
(Health, a
manual for the
ill and the
well) --1912
-- and by far
the most
important
L'Apiculture
pour Tous
(Beekeeping
for All) whose
twelfth and
last edition
is dated
1948.
"Before
leaving, I
would like,
dear bees, to
carve my name
on these
leaves,
blessed shrub
that has taken
all its sap
from around
your dwelling
place.
In its shade,
I have rested
from my
weariness,
have healed my
wounds. Its
horizon
satisfies my
desires for
there I can
see the
heavens.
Its solitude
is more gentle
than deep.
Your friends
are visiting
it. You
enliven it
with your
singing.
And because
you do not
die, dear
bees, you will
sing again and
for ever, in
the
surrounding
foliage, where
my spirit will
rest.
Thank
you.
E.Warré"
Basic
Beekeeping
Manual
(Africa)
This is a 2
volume
publication
written by
Pam Gregory
with
assistance
of Gay
Marris of
the U.K.
National Bee
Unit (FERA)
that
concentrates
on top bar
hive
beekeeping,
but many of
the
techniques
and ideas
can also be
used by
traditional
and frame
hive
beekeepers.
"This
field manual
is designed
for use by
field-based
trainers in
sub Saharan
Africa. It
is based on
colour
pictures
with few
words. The
manual
covers basic
techniques
needed to
start a
beekeeping
business. It
also offers
some new
ideas to
help
beekeepers
to become
independent
by making
their own
equipment
from local
materials. I
hope that
this will
help people
to start
beekeeping
at an
affordable
cost, and
maybe to
experiment
with new
materials.
The pictures
show some of
the many
different
ways that
people keep
bees. This
is intended
to promote
discussion
and shared
experiences
to help
people to
solve
problems
locally. The
manual
concentrates
on top bar
hive
beekeeping
but many of
the
techniques
and ideas
can also be
used by
traditional
and frame
hive
beekeepers."
The
Advanced
Beekeeping
Manual
covers more
advanced
management
techniques
and problem
solving and
offers some
ideas about
how to
tackle them.
The
Swahili
language
version
of this
manual.
A
Beginner's
Guide to
Beekeeping
in Kenya
by Thomas
Carroll, Msc.
(Agr.)
"This book
was written
to assist
beekeepers
in
Kenya
and other
African
countries
improve
their
beekeeping.
It is
written in
simple
language and
is intended
to be as
practical as
possible."
Thomas
Carroll.
Reader's
feedback on
the guide. “It is a
wonderful
and easily
understandable
introduction
to
beekeeping
with all
the
important
tips and
advice……….it
is by far
the most
informative
book
(about
Kenyan
beekeeping)”.
From
the
Organic
Farmer
Magazine,
Nairobi,
“Congratulations
for your
Beekeeping
Guide
that is
very
interesting,
complete
and
useful
not only
for the
Scutellata
beekeepers
but for
the
Adansonii
ones in
Central
and West
Africa
where
the
problems
are
similar”.
Tropical
and
Sub-tropical
Apiculture
The
book brings
out the
enormous
untapped
potential
for the
development
of a dynamic
apiculture
industry in
the
developing
countries.
Most
countries in
these
regions are
blessed with
abundant
sunshine,
and a rich
flora which
blooms all
the year
round. An
integrated
consideration
of the
problems and
potential of
the
apiculture
industry in
the
tropics
and sub-
tropics
will
therefore
help in
identifying
the
constraints
responsible
for the gap
between
potential
and actual
honey
production.
At the same
time, it
will help to
monitor and
regulate the
movement
ofbees and
associated
pathogens
from
temperate
into
tropical
areas, where
beekeeping
is
especially
vulnerable
to setbacks
caused by
new
diseases. We
urgently
need a
mechanism
for disease
monitoring,
and for
organizing
an early
warning
system with
reference to
the spread
of new pests
and
pathogens.
Information
on marketing
opportunities
will also be
necessary
for
countries
that are
substantially
increasing
their
apicultural
production.
Much
of this book
has been
written by
scientists
who are
authorities
in their
respective
fields. The
book,
therefore,
serves as an
encyclopedia
of
information
relating to
the various
aspects of
apiculture.
The
National
Beekeeping
Training
Extension
Manual
(Uganda)
This
beekeeping
training
guide
produced by
the Ugandan
Ministry of
Agriculture
is a manual
that others
in tropical
and
subtropical
areas may
find useful.
"Over
the years,
several
stakeholders
including
Government
Ministries,
Departments
and Agencies
have been
carrying out
training of
farmers in
their own
ways without
standard
guide and
uniformity.
Some
of the
guides/manuals
used by the
stakeholders
are
substandard.
This
practice has
for long
undermined
efforts to
increase
production
and enforce
compliance
to
standards.
This
manual has
therefore
been
developed to
provide the
basic
standards
for training
beekeepers
all over
Uganda."
This
practical
guide to
Beekeeping in
Africa is one
volume in the
programme of
publications
on apiculture
in the Third
World
initiated
early in 1986
by the Food
and
Agriculture
Organization
of the United
Nations.
Previous
volumes
include
Tropical and
sub-tropical
apiculture;
Honeybee mites
and their
control: A
selected
annotated
bibliography;
Honey and
beeswax
control;
Beekeeping in
Asia, Honeybee
diseases and
enemies In
Asia: A
practical
guide; and
Beekeeping in
Latin America.
It is hoped
that other
topical works
will
follow.
The present
practical
guide was
written by Mr.
Stephen O.
Adjare,
Research
Fellow in
charge of the
Apiculture
Promotion Unit
of the
Technology
Consultancy
Centre,
University of
Science and
Technology,
Kumasi, Ghana.
While it draws
on a wealth of
information
based on the
experience of
beekeepers
around the
world, and
especially in
the United
States, it
focuses on
those
problems,
opportunities
and resources
which are
peculiar to
Africa. It
stresses the
potential that
beekeeping
offers to
agriculture,
rural
development,
nutrition and
income
generation in
the continent,
and the ways
in which
individual,
small-scale
and commercial
beekeepers can
improve the
productivity
of their
hives. The use
of local
technology and
materials, as
well as the
particular
characteristics
of the African
honeybee, are
treated in
detail.
Both the
experienced
beekeeper and
the novice
will find a
mine of useful
information,
guidance and
suggestions in
this guide,
which FAO
hopes will be
a valuable
contribution
to food
security and
economic
development in
Africa.
Apiculture
in
Sub-Saharan
Africa
(A manual
for
trainers)
This
manual
focuses on
modern
beekeeping
in
Sub-Saharan
Africa. It
attempts to
upgrade and
refine the
knowledge of
trainers/field
workers
within
government
departments
or
organizations/NGOs
on the
correct use
of modern
beekeeping
techniques.
The final
aim is that
competent
services
will be
provided to
farmers/beekeepers
and
appropriate
transfer of
know-how
will be
accomplished
to the same.
It is hoped
that this
will
contribute
to the
creation of
a new
generation
of
beekeepers
in the
Region.
Small
Scale
Beekeeping
(The Peace
Corps) As
part of the
United
States
“whole of
government”
effrt to
address food
security in
the
developing
world, the Peace
Corps has
edited and
revised
several
existing
technical
manuals
designed for
use by
Volunteers.
Most of
these
materials
were created
in the late
1970s and
early 1980s
and were
written by a
number of
diffrent
subject-matter
experts
employed or
contracted
by the Peace
Corps. They
have been
revised with
funding
provided to
the Peace
Corps by the
U.S. Agency
for
International
Development’s
(USAID)
Bureau of
Food
Security
under a food
security
agreement,
known as
“Feed the
Future.”
The
Small-Scale
Beekeeping
manual is
written as a
guide for
Volunteers
who are
getting
started with
small-scale
beekeeping
projects.
The
intention is
to provide
an overview
of
beekeeping
and its
possibilities
as a tool
for
development.
The manual
focuses on
“intermediate
levels” of
beekeeping
that can be
self-sustaining,
using only
local
resources.
A Manual
for
Trainers
of
Small-Scale
Beekeeping
Development
Workers
(The Peace
Corps)
A
Manual for
Trainers of
Small-scale
Beekeeping
Development
Workers
[T0029] is
useful for
Volunteers
and staff
for training
purposes.
The content
is adaptable
to
pre-service
and
inservice
training
events. It
is also
valuable to
Volunteers
interested
in training
community
members. The
training is
designed to
help
participants
develop the
skills they
will need to
work and
live as
beekeeping
extensionists.
The
emphasis of
this
training is
on equipping
future
Volunteers,
counterparts,
and
community
members with
the skills
necessary to
promote
appropriate
beekeeping
development.
This is a
creative
process that
requires
individuals
to take an
active role
in
identifying
their own
needs and
finding
appropriate
and
sustainable
ways to meet
them. The
sessions
outlined in
this manual
cover a
range of
skills
needed to
establish
beekeeping
projects.
The approach
to training
used in this
manual is
based on the
principles
of non
formal
education
and is
designed to
strike a
balance
between
structured
learning and
independent
discovery.
By using the
sessions,
resources,
and methods
outlined
here,
participants
will develop
a working
knowledge of
beekeeping,
as well as
skills for
applying
that
knowledge in
a meaningful
way.
Beekeeping
Training
for
Farmers in
the
Hymalayas This
manual
produced by
the
International
Centre for
Integrated
Mountain
Development
covers the
full range
of basic
topics
related to
beekeeping
development,
including
the
importance
of
beekeeping
in modern
agriculture
and the use
of bees for
crop
pollination;
production
of honey,
wax and
other hive
products;
honey
quality
standards;
and using
value chain
and market
management
to increase
the benefits
accruing to
beekeepers.
The focus is
on
participatory
hands-on
training,
with issues
explained in
simple
language
with many
illustrations.
The manual
was prepared
to meet
formal
training
needs in
Bangladesh,
Bhutan,
India, and
Nepal, but it is
suitable for
use in
ICIMOD's
other member
countries as
well -
Afghanistan,
China,
Myanmar, and
Pakistan.
Beekeeping
in Asia
by Pongthep
Akratanakul
(Food and
Agriculture
Organization
of the
United
Nations) -
"In a
continent as
vast as
Asia,
differences
in climate,
levels of
agricultural
development,
and bee
races are so
variable
that no one
book can
cover all
beekeeping
situations.
The author
of this
study draws
heavily on
his
experiences
with
European
honeybees
introduced
into
northern
Thailand,
but he also
discusses
the
principal
features of
beekeeping
activities
in the other
zonal and
socio-cultural
contexts in
Asia at
different
stages of
development.
Both
the
experienced
beekeeper
and the
novice will
find a mine
of useful
information,
guidance and
suggestions
in the
publication
and it is
for this
reason that
FAO hopes
that it will
be a useful
contribution
to the
economic
development
of the most
populous
continent in
the
world."
Bees and
their Role
in Forest
Livelihoods
by Nicola
Bradbear
(Food and
Agriculture
Organization
of the
United
Nations) -
"The role of
bees in
sustaining
forests and
forest
dependent
livelihoods
remains
poorly known
and
appreciated.
Bees are a
fantastic
world
resource:
they are
essential
for
sustaining
our
environment
because they
pollinate
flowering
plants. Bees
sustain our
agriculture
by
pollinating
crops and
thereby
increasing
yields of
seeds and
fruits.
Today,
apiculture
plays a
valuable
part in
rural
livelihoods
worldwide,
and this
book aims to
provide an
insight into
the many
ways in
which bees
and
beekeeping
contribute
to these
livelihoods,
and how to
strengthen
this
contribution.
While the
rationale
for the
sustainable
use of tree
resources is
widely
appreciated,
by contrast
the
sustainable
use of bee
resources is
poorly
promoted and
appreciated.
Rural people
in every
developing
country are
keeping bees
or
harvesting
from them in
one way or
another.
This
book aims to
help ensure
that these
people gain
the most
from these
activities."
A
Beekeeping
Guide - A
good
beginners
guide
written by
Harlan
Attfield of
VITA
for
beekeeping
in the
tropics and
subtropics.
"This guide
provides an
overview of
beekeeping
in the
tropics
and
subtropics. It
explains
hive
management
techniques
and offers
insight into
the life of
the common
honey bee,
Apis
Mellifera
and the
Asian Honey
Bee, Apis
Cerana.
There are
many races
of these two
honey bees
and they
often
require very
specific
techniques
and
equipment to
hive them
successfully."
Beekeeping
in the
Tropics
- A
beginners
beekeeping
guide
written by
P. Segeren
and
published by
Agrodok.
"You can
keep bees as
an
interesting
hobby, or as
a main or an
extra source
of income.
This booklet
mainly
provides
information
on how to
work with
honey-bees
that nest in
cavities. In
most of the
world
regions this
will be the
European bee
Apis
mellifera,
but in large
parts of
(sub)tropical
Asia the
quite
similar
species
A.cerana is
mainly used.
Although the
composition
of a
honey-bee
colony is
basically
the same all
over the
world, the
management
of bees must
be adapted
to the
species and
race, the
climate and
the
vegetation."
Beekeeping
in
India
Beekeeping
has been
practiced in
Indian since
time
immemorial.
The
earliest
mention of
it is in the
Vedas and
the
Ramayana.
Success
in
beekeeping
is largely a
question of
the proper
understanding
of the
biology and
behaviour of
the honey
bees and
their proper
management
including
knowledge of
their
diseases and
enemies and
the latest
equipment
for handling
them.
This
book is
intended to
serve as a
handy
reference
and guide
for students
of
agriculture,
extension
workers and
all those
who are
interested
in
beekeeping
either as a
hobby or
profession.
Honeybees
and Their
Management
in
India
by R.C.
Mishra
(Indian
Council of
Agricultural
Research) -
"The
beekeeping
practices
for
domesticated
Indian
honeybee,
Apis cerana
indica F.
were adopted
from the
west with
suitable
modifications
suiting to
Indian
honeybee.
There is
need to
undertake
intensive
research for
therefinement
of
management
practices
for improved
honey yield
and
efficient
pollination
of crops.
Production
of other
valuable
hive
products
like royal
jelly,
beeswax and
bee venom
needs
commercialization.
There is a
great
diversity in
regional
agroclimatic
conditions
and flora.
Therefore,
for taking
up
beekeeping,
there is a
need to
carry out
some careful
studies to
explore the
potential of
each area.
This
is an
attempt to
present a
world-wide
picture of
beekeeping,
suitable for
practical
and
class-room
reference.
The book is
mainly
focussed on
Indian
literature,
though the
contents
also draw
from the
knowledge
accumulated
in more
advanced
countries.
It is a
comprehensive
account on
different
aspects of
beekeeping,
and
students,
teachers and
scientists
will profit
by studying
it. I am
sure, the
book will
generate
awareness
and catalyse
action
towards a
more
effective
exploitation
of honeybees
for honey
and other
bee products
as also for
crop
production
through bee
pollination."
This is a
beginners
beekeeping
guide to
beekeeping in
the Central
Western Ghats
part of
India
which includes
the keeping
of Apis
Cerana, Apis
Florea, Apis
Dorsata and
the stingless
Trigona.
"Beekeeping is
a forest and
agro-based
industry,
which is
beyond the
ordinary
realms of
industry,in
the sense that
the humans
derive
benefits from
interaction
between two
living things
like plants
and bees
without
affecting
adversely
both. On the
contrary
plants,
including many
crops,prosper
with the
abundance of
bees (as
pollinating
agents) and
the bees,
sheltered both
by nature and
humans provide
mainly honey
and other
by-products
like beeswax,
bee-pollen,
propolis and
royal jelly.
Bee-keeping,
systematically
adopted as a
supplement to
farming, can
bring
prosperity to
the villages
of Uttara
Kannada, a
district
endowed with
species rich
forests and
cultivation of
a high
diversity
crops. Unlike
intensive
farming or
fishing that
can corrode
the natural
resource base,
abundance of
honey bees in
a natural
environment
benefits both
crops and wild
plants."
Beekeeping
Manual for
Farmers in
Sikkim,
India
by Dr. Peter
Gross
"Beekeeping
has been a
traditional
household
activity in
Sikkim for
centuries.
Rural
communities
throughout the
state have
adopted this
activity as
substantial
part of their
sustainable
livelihoods.
In
addition to
providing
income and
honey,
beekeeping
supports other
products and
services such
as
wax,
pollen,
medicine
and, of
particular
importance,
pollination.
The entire
state of
Sikkim represents
an ideal
situation to
develop
beekeeping
as an
important
component of
integrated
development
and
sustainable
livelihoods.
The various
bio physical
conditions,
such as
varied
natural
heritage of
rural
communities
make it an
ideal
activity for
enterprise
development.
This beekeeping
handbook has
been
compiled
from various
sources to
provides a
tool to
farmers,
governments,
NGOs,
universities,
vocational
training
institutes,
private
sector
organizations
and individual
beekeepers
in the North
Eastern
Region to
initiate and
manage
beekeeping
activities,
as well as
facilitate
the training
of other
farmers. It
includes a
wealth of
information
on a full
range of topics
related to
beekeeping
development.
I am
confident
that the
handbook
will be one
of the important
resource
materials
for
beekeeping
development
in Sikkim."
Dr. Peter
Gross
Beekeeping
in the
Phillipines
(University of
the
Phillipines)
The Ancestral
Domain and
Natural
Resource
Management in
Sagada,
Mountain
Province,
Northern
Philippines
is an action
research
program of the
Cordillera
Studies
Center,
University of
the
Philippines
College
Baguio.
In line with
the Program’s
objective “to
test
sustainable
and equitable
community-based
natural
resource
management
systems,”
beekeeping was
introduced to
thecommunity. Today, there is a cooperative of beekeepers in Sagada that seeks to encourage individuals to take up beekeeping. This Kit covers the following aspects of beekeeping, including discussions
particular to Cordillera conditions, in four sections, as follows:
Section 1: An Introduction to Beekeeping
Section 2: The Bee Farm
Section 3: Operation and Maintenance of the Bee Farm
Section 4: Pests and Diseases of Honeybees
Beekeeper's
Manual (Belize)
- Management
and Caring
of
Africanized
Bees for the
Production
of Honey In
the Vaca
Forest
Reserve in
Belize. The
primary aim
of this
Beekeeper’s
Manual is to
provide
information
to
beekeepers
on the
integrated
management
of
Africanized
Bees. The
manual
describes
the basic
management
of
beekeeping
from the
formation of
a new
nucleus to
the
extraction
and
marketing of
honey.
Beekeepers
in Belize
should not
only think
that the
only product
in
beekeeping
ishoney.
Pollen,
propolis,
wax, royal
jelly and
venom, the
queen, the
beehives and
the
apicultural
materials
are other
products
that capture
a good
market
price.
This
manual takes
into
consideration
climatic
changes
experienced
over the
past 5 years
and the
response of
bees to this
factor.
Beekeeping
(22 page
overview)
written by
Lance Gegner
of
ATTRA-
"This
publication
is intended
as a guide
for anyone
interested
in beginning
or expanding
a beekeeping
enterprise.
Whether the
bees are
kept as
pollinators
for crops or
for the
income from
their
products,
producers
need to be
aware of
their
states’
apiary laws
concerning
inspection,
registration,
and permits,
as well as
labeling and
marketing
standards.
Producers
also need to
be aware of
pesticide
application
laws and
pesticide
notification
laws
relative to
bees.
Both
beginning
and
experienced
beekeepers
need to
consider
li-ability
insurance;
the
possibility
of
Africanized
hybrid bees
taking over
the hives;
and all the
pests and
diseases
that afflict
bees and
their
colonies."
Introductory
Beekeeping
Powerpoint
Presentations This
is an
informative
8 part
introduction
to
beekeeping
developed by
master
beekeeper
Dana
Stahlman
from the
Ohio State
Beekeeping
Association
that
includes
topics like
starting a
colony,
diseases and
pests,
seasonal
management,
queen
production
and
management
of
nucs.
The first
year of
beekeeping
(Powerpoint) - A
fairly good
picture
based
powerpoint
from Dr.
Deborah
Delaney of
the
University
of Delaware
which
provides a
brief but
comprehensive
description
of "Hive
Mangement in
the First
Year of
Beekeeping".
A Web-Based Introductory
Beekeeping Training Program This online beekeeping
program from the Ohio State
Beekeepers' Association consists of
34 videos and 3 powerpoints and is
made to accompany the book "Backyard
Beekeeping" (above). Some of
the video segments include
assembling your hive and frames,
branding, lighting a smoker,
seasonal management, cross combing,
evaluating a queen, package bees,
swarms, laying workers, diseases and
pests, moving hives, feeders and
overwintering your colonies.
This combination of information is a
great starting point for the
beginning beekeeper.
Honey Bees and Beekeeping: A Year
in the Life of an Apiary This is a very useful 7
part, 25 video beekeeper series
presented by Dr. Keith Delaplane of
the University of Georgia and covers
a wide range of topics like assembly
and placement of hives, installing
bees, bee biology, diseases and
pests, seasonal management,
harvesting and overwintering.
It was created in l993 so does not
include treatment for newer issues
like Small Hive Beetle or
Africanized bees.
1.1 Introduction: History,
Langstroth equipment, hive
placement (8:18 mins)
1.2 Hive and frame assembly and
painting (9:29 mins)
1.3 Placement of hive, feeding
and medications (9:29 mins)
2.1 Bee biology and
equipment (7:38 mins)
2.2 Receiving and installing
package bees (7:14 mins)
2.3 Releasing queens (6:43 mins)
2.4 Releasing queens and
stings (7:05 mins)
3.1 Maturing hives and migrating
hives (7:10 mins)
3.2 The brood nest (5 mins)
3.3 Our growing hives (5:49 mins)
3.4 Migrating our hives (9:18 mins)
4.1 Requeening (8 mins)
4.2 Queen Rearing (9:44 mins)
4.3 Package production beekeeping
associations (9:27 mins)
5.1 Diseases and Pests (8:52 mins)
5.2 Chalkbrood, sacbrood, moths,
tracheal mites (9:28 mins)
5.3 Varroa mites and
queenlessness (8:35 mins)
6.1 Harvesting, processing,
packaging and selling (6:45 mins)
6.2 Extracting honey (7:36 mins)
6.3 Packaging and selling
honey (6:11 mins)
6.4 Commercial honey
processing (6:32 mins)
7.1 Overwintering hives (6:06 mins)
7.2 Overwintering and one story
hives (8:20 mins)
7.3 Second season spring
management (5:30 mins)
7.4 Fall Management (4 mins)
The University of Guelph Honey
Bee Research Centre's
online beekeeping series is a great collection of 50
videos that cover beginner topics
like hive location and setup, hive
equipment, protective clothing,
smoke use, stinging, comb
building, inspections, colony
management, pests and diseases to
more advanced topics like making
nucs, queen rearing and indoor
overwintering. The
University of Guelph is in the
city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada so
although much of the information
is universal it is written from a
northern perspective. You
can access all of the videos from
this University of Guelph Honey Bee
Research Centre's video list.
Beekeeping in Northern Climate
Video Series from the University of
Minnesota. This is a very
useful collection of videos
particularly for the northern,
cold weather beekeeper. "The
following videos were produced by
the University of Minnesota’s
Department of Entomology Bee Lab
and UMN Extension. Starring lead
UMN Bee Lab apiculture technician,
Gary Reuter, they are intended to
be instructive and entertaining
vignettes on a variety of
beekeeping topics. Each video
covers a single topic, and you do
not have to watch them in any
special order. In their entirety,
they are a lesson on how to keep
bees in cold climates such as
Minnesota. Videos produced by
Deacon Warner:
dwarner@myfilmnorth.org"
Stewart Spinks of the Norfolk
Honey Company in the UK has produced and
is continuing to produce an
exhaustive series of over 200
videos that cover pretty much
every topic you may encounter from
your initial setup (hive
construction, painting, installing
bees, inspecting, diseases and
parasites.....) to catching
swarms, shook swarms, queen
rearing, overwintering, poly hives
etc... "Here you will find
resources to help you get started
in beekeeping, learn the basic
essentials for a successful first
year. Gain help and advice to take
you through into your second year
and beyond." You can access
all of the videos from the Norfolk Honey Company youtube
channel.
Hiveworld
out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
offers a large library of
instructive videos based on
season. "We've arranged our video gallery by
seasons because we think that's the
most logical way to do it! But note
that our most recent Meet the
Beekeeper sessions get their own
section because they're so
popular. Pretty well all of
the YouTube videos we've produced
can be viewed here. Tip: Once
you've started running a video you
can make it go full-screen by either
clicking the four square corners
icon in the bottom right corner of
the video box, or pressing 'F' on
your keyboard. Use the same controls
to shrink it back down when
done. We always get asked by
new beekeepers, "Why do I need to
split my hive?" Here Barry talks
about why you need to do a split and
few other options for those who
don't want to make a split..."
Beekeeping Video Resources
B.C. Honey Producers Education
Day Videos and Slides This is a large library of
videos and slides covering every
subject from overwintering 4 frame
nucs to evaluating honey flavour.
Brushy Mt Bee Farm
has a very large collection of
educational videos on pretty much
every topic of beekeeping.
Honey Bee Honey
has a good selection of videos on a
wide variety of topics like spring
management, hive inspection and fall
preparation for winter.
The folks at GardenFork have
produced a series entitled
Beekeeping 101
which covers a wide variety of
subjects any new beekeepers should
know.
A good collection of videos from
David Burns at
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms.
A selection of videos from the
legendary
Don the Fat Bee Man.
Free Online Beekeeping Course "Honey Bees and Colony Strength
Evaluation" (You can log in as a
guest) Recommended for
beekeepers, inspectors and farmers
hiring bee pollinators. This
online course from the University
of California is useful for all
beekeepers from the beginner to
the professional. "The
objective in developing this
course was to provide easily
accessible information to improve
the understanding of basic honey
bee biology, recommended colony
strength evaluation practices, and
recognition of important diseases,
pests, and parasites that impact
honey bees. The course consists of
individual modules that provide
background information on honey
bees as well as clear, consistent
recommendations for apiary
inspection. Individuals can take
advantage of the training at their
convenience. The modular approach
requires short blocks of time for
each section and the viewer can
proceed at their own pace viewing
modules in any order they wish.
Modules covering basic information
may not be necessary for more
experienced beekeepers or apiary
inspectors. However, for those
less familiar with the process,
training modules can be re-visited
as necessary. The existing
information will be updated when
appropriate and additional topics
may be added in the future. Within
each module, there are short
quizzes to test for understanding.
A series of skills practice sets
is also included in this online
training to improve your
understanding of brood, frame, and
cluster count evaluation. Nothing
can replace actual hands-on
experience, so this course should
be considered as an overview of
the colony strength evaluation
process with the aim to improve
consistency of inspections."
This course comes with a
workbook that you can view or
download, Honey Bee Colony Assessment
Workbook .
10. Bee Frames
First Year Beekeeping is presented by biologist, Randy Oliver on his website Scientific Beekeeping which is one of the best sources of beekeeping information available. "I’ve attempted to distill 50 year’s of beekeeping experience into a short set of instructions for starting out with bees in the Sierra Foothills. This page provides some quick step-by-step notes for your first year of beekeeping, written specifically for those starting with a nucleus hive or package bees purchased from me, but generally applicable. Since the vast majority of colony failures are due to lack of varroa management, I’ve covered this subject more extensively. For a summary of treatment options, scroll to the end (Randy Johnson)." As mentioned this website contains a wealth of regularly updated information on most beekeeping subjects.
Ohio State University has created a free honey bee
biology and beekeeping course based
on Dr. Reed Johnson's for-credit OSU
Beekeeping Course. The free
course consists of video lectures,
handouts and readings presented on
iTunes which is a free
download. Unfortunately it's
only available to those with apple
devices which means most people can
not access it. The course is in the
testing phase, is extensive and
consists of 138 segments covering
every aspect of bees and beekeeping
including: Packages and Nucs;
Package Installation; Pheremones;
Mites; Swarming; Vitellogenin; Queen
rearing and development; Foraging;
Planting; Pesticides; Phenology;
Nest Architecture; Honey Extraction;
IPM; Honey Flow; Honey Laundering;
Commercial Pollination; Drone
Congregation; Dance Language;
Feeding and Wintering; Honey
Crystalization; Apiary Sites;
Nutrition; Pests and Diseases;
Broodmapper; Bee Races; and Bee
Biology. O.S.U. is asking for
volunteer beekeepers to review the
course and offer suggestions.
The only suggestions I would
give of this great course are that a
few of the videos are repeated and
that they be presented in order of
learning. To access this
course and assist in it's
development go to "Beekeeping and Honey Bee Biology on
iTunes. 
The University of California
Cooperative Extension-San Diego
County has developed this self-paced
online training course for beginning
beekeepers and as a refresher annual
training for experienced beekeepers
with hives located in unincorporated
areas of San Diego County. The
course consists of three modules and
a 10-question quiz survey, which may
be taken separately. The entire
course is approximately 30 minutes
long. To begin the course,
click the button below and wait a
moment for the course to load in
your Internet browser. If you are
using Internet Explorer®, use the
'Direct Links,' below. Once started,
you will be able to move through the
training using the forward or back
arrows located at the bottom left
and right of your screen. You may
also move back and forth through the
course using the slide navigation
panel on the left. Note, module 2
includes videos. Depending on your
Internet connection, you may need to
wait a few moments for each video to
load on-screen.
At the end of the training, you will
be provided a link to the quiz
survey. You may also access the
quiz, directly, by clicking the
button or direct link below. To
begin the survey, you will be
required to enter your first and
last names and email address. Your
information and quiz results will be
recorded.1 A summary of your quiz
results will be provided at the end.
To keep a copy of your quiz results
for your own records, you may print
using your computer's print-screen
function.
The BeeMD
is a diagnostic tool to help
beekeepers identify honey bee health
issues. The BeeMD will be used in
multiple modalities including
computers and handheld devices such as
tablets and smart phones. The
information on The BeeMD will be
continually evolving and updated as
science and technology add new
information to the ability to diagnose
and understand hive health. The
BeeMD originated as a project of the
North American Pollinator Protection
Campaign (NAPPC) with funding from the
USDA APHIS, the Rust Foundation, the
Pollinator Partnership and the
University of Delaware. The founding
team included the University of
Maryland, Jamie Ellis from The
University of Florida, the American
Beekeeping Federation, and the
Pollinator Partnership. The
BeeMD welcomes comments and
photographs to expand the
effectiveness of this free service.Begin at the Beeginning:
Certificate in Beekeeping:
Beginner Beekeeping Course:
This is a beginner beekeeping course from Amazing Bees in Australia which includes bee biology, rules, regulations and registration, hive inspection, honey extraction, swarming, queen replacement, winter prep and feeding. It covers most everything a new beekeeper in Australia needs to know.
Beginner Beekeeping Short Course from the Virginia Cooperative Extension.
Beekeeping Tests
The legendary master beekeeper Dana Stahlman has an online course which is being worked on at present but he has a test for the beginner, advanced and master beekeeper which are useful tools. Check it out at Gobeekeeping.
Beekeeping in West Virginia Beekeeping in West
Virginia began with individuals
keeping bees in log hives often
called gums. Some bees were
managed in hives made out of rough
sawed lumber and they were called
box hives. Records show that these
honeybee colonies produced from 14
to 24 pounds of honey on average
each year.
Biosecurity Manual for the Honey Bee Industry (Australian Government)
Best Management Practices for Beekeeping (Australian Government)
Asian Honey Bee Manual (Australian Government)
Easy Beekeeping for Hobbyists in New Zealand by Tudor Caradoc-Davies
This is the first of a 9 part
video series,
Understanding Bee Anatomy
by Dr. Ian Stell
The multifunctional glands of the honey bees's head
The honey bees's eyes and vision
The remarkable brain of the bee
The honey bees's eyes and vision
Anatomy of the bee antennae
Bee metamorphosis: Remarkable internal changes
How do bees bite and suck?
The mandibles of the honey bee
The multifunctional glands of the honey bees's head
The honey bees's eyes and vision
The remarkable brain of the bee
The honey bees's eyes and vision
Anatomy of the bee antennae
Bee metamorphosis: Remarkable internal changes
How do bees bite and suck?
The mandibles of the honey bee
Internal Anatomy of the Honey Bee
(Texas A and M University)
1. Digestive and excretory systems.
2. Circulatory, respiratory, and
nervous systems.
3. Endocrine system.
4. Reproductive organs.
A Microscope Atlas of the Honey Bee (U.S.D.A.)
Basic Bee Biology and Identification (The Xerces Society)
Basic Bee Biology for Beekeepers (MAAREC)
Honey Bee Biology by Dr. Debbie Delaney (University of Delaware)
Honey Bee Biology by Rick Fell (Virginia Tech)
Biology and Anatomy of the Honey Bee by D. Lesco and T. Lulec
Biology of Bees - Hymenoptera Apoidea (Russian Academy of Sciences)
Biology of the Honey Bee (CIHEAM)
This video, "Biology of the Honey
Bee" is presented by Dr. Jamie
Ellis, Professor of Entomology
from the University of
Florida.
Videos
Bee Biology
with Larrry Connor from Wicas
Press
The Biology of Wintering Bees
by Medhat Nasr, Provincial Apiarist,
Alberta, Canada
Western Honey Bee Subspecies The European Honey
bee or Western Honey Bee (Apis
Mellifera) is a species of honey
bee. The genus Apis is Latin
for "Bee" and mellifera comes from
the Latin meli meaning "honey" and
ferre meaning "to bear".
Hence the scientific name
means "honey-bearing bee".
The name was coined in 1758
by Carolus Linnaeus who, realizing
that bees do not bear honey, but
nectar, tried later to correct it
to Apis Mellifica (honey-making
bee) in a subsequent publication.
However, according to the
rules of synonymy in zoological
nomenclature the older name has
precedence.
Useful Beekeeping Websites
Beekeeping Glossary
Glossary of terms use in Beekeeping
Flow Frame Instructional Manual
Keeping a hive at someone's home written agreement
Honey and Infant Botulism by John Durkacz (S.B.A.)
Honey Bee Sting Pain Study by Michael Smith (Cornell University)
Normal and allergic reactions to insect stings
Odds of death by stings
Informative Beekeeping Websites:
Dave Cushman's website
Scientific Beekeeping (Randy Oliver)
Michael Bush's website
Bee Informed
Ohio State Beekeepers
Cooperative Extension
Virginia Cooperative Extension
Beesource
Pollinator Partnership
Xerces Society
Project Apis m.
MAAREC
Bee Culture
American Bee Journal
The BeeMD
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
It's important to have a purpose/s
when inspecting a hive. Why
are you inspecting and what are you
looking for? An argument can
be made that new beekeepers can only
improve their skills by regular
weekly inspections but the
disruption to the colony is real and
should be minimized. A
beekeeper can learn a great deal by
observing the entrance to the
hive. The book "At the Hive Entrance" explains the value of being
able to calculate a hive health by
observing the outside of the
hive. In this video Paul
Kelly, research and apiary manager
(University of Guelph, Canada),
shows how to open a bee hive and in
the following video he will describe
what you are looking for.
A
list of frequently asked
questions
on the University of Guelph Honey
Bee Research Centre website.
These videos are from University of
Guelph's video series which can be
found in the
video series section
of our Library.
The Hive Inspection
- What are you looking for
and what do you see?
"OUTSIDE OF THE HIVE • What
is the level of activity of the
colony at the entrance of the
hive? • How does the activity
compare to that of other colonies in
the bee yard? • Are the bees
“bearding” (festooning) and what
does that behavior mean? • Is
there any indication of robbing
behavior? • Are the bees
bringing in pollen? What does that
mean? FESTOONING Hanging out
on the front of a hive. Just cooling
off on the front porch on a hot
summer day. Don’t confuse this with
swarming or robbing behavior.
ROBBING BEHAVIOR Bees are all over a
hive and can be on all sides. Flight
patterns are erratic and frenzied.
Installing entrance reducers may
help to mitigate robbing
behavior.... " INSIDE THE HIVE
Checking for adequate stores,
queenright, pests, parasites and
diseases.
Prepared and presented by Bill
Evans, Master Beekeeper, Rose Hill
Farm, LLC, Jemison, Alabama.
Hive Inspection Guide and
Checklist "To have healthy,
strong, honey producing hives,
beekeepers must make inspections to
know the conditions inside the hive.
Hive inspection is simply a term to
describe: Taking the hive
apart and making observations, then
deciding what needs to be done,
based upon those observations.
There are a number of things we need
to look for when we inspect a bee
hive. An inspection sheet helps keep
things organized and allows easy
comparison from one inspection to
the next. Experienced
beekeepers may find this check list
too detailed, but that’s really the
point. It helps keep beginners and
forgetful old folks like me from
overlooking something important.
of flight. The rule of thumb is to
smoke the bees a little and smoke
them often. Give them 2 or 3
puffs of smoke in the entrance and
under the lid before opening the
hive. After that, giving them
1 or 2 puffs of smoke across the
frames before you remove each frame
will usually keep them
calm. Smoke under each box before
removing it. If the bees get
aggressive, put a LOT of smoke
in the air. This will mask the alarm
scent and some of the bees will seek
shelter inside the hive..."
Jerry Freeman, Ashley County
Beekeepers Association, Arkansas.
September Inspection, Menifee County, Kentucky.
An inspection sheet helps keep
things organized and allows easy
comparison from one inspection to
the next. It helps keep new
beginners from overlooking something
important. I encourage you to
use one of these or one of the many
available apps. As you become
more experienced you will make up
your own checklist that suits your
needs. There are many apps and
software programs for tracking your
hives like Hive Tracks, BeeCloud and Beetight.
The BeeMD
is a useful tool to help identify
issues a beekeeper may find during
an inspection. "The BeeMD is a
diagnostic tool to help beekeepers
identify honey bee health issues.
The BeeMD will be used in multiple
modalities including computers and
handheld devices such as tablets and
smart phones. The information on The
BeeMD will be continually evolving
and updated as science and
technology add new information to
the ability to diagnose and
understand hive
health." The BeeMD
originated as a project of the North
American Pollinator Protection
Campaign (NAPPC) with funding from
the USDA APHIS, the Rust Foundation,
the Pollinator Partnership and the
University of Delaware. The founding
team included the University of
Maryland, Jamie Ellis from The
University of Florida, the American
Beekeeping Federation, and the
Pollinator Partnership.
The advantages of using Nucs
(University of Florida) Nucleus colonies,
commonly called “nucs”, are smaller
versions of full-size Langstroth
colonies. They usu-ally have the
same length and depth dimensions as
full-size colonies, but nucs are not
as wide. As such, nucs may hold 3-5
frames compared to the 8-10 frames
typically held by a full size
colony. A second type of nuc,
commonly called a “baby nuc” or
“queen mating nuc”, exists but is
smaller than full-size colonies in
every dimension and is used
primarily for queen bee production.
Queen mating nucs will not be
discussed in this document. Rather,
we will focus on five-frame nucs
exclusively, although three- and
four-frame nucs can be used and
managed almost identically.
Swarm Control
Swarm Intelligence with Tom
Seeley
Swarm Control:
University of Guelph Honey Bee
Research Centre
The main thrust of Checkerboarding
is to break up the overhead band of
capped honey maintained by the
colony through the swarm preparation
season. (The literature refers to
the band of honey or nectar as
causing a “honey bound” condition.)
In the undisturbed colony, it is
capped honey. In the colony reversed
in the early season, the band is
rebuilt with nectar. Maintenance of
the band is deliberate addition of
empty comb above the band is often
ignored, and swarm preparations
continue below the band – which Walt
calls the “reserve”. He says that
the reserve is maintained through
the swarm prep period to offset
forage drop – outs or bad weather
during swarm preps.
Swarm Catching
Swarm Traps: What you need to know
to be successful (Brown's Beef and
Bees)
(Beaverlodge Research Farm,
Alberta, Canada) In nature bees have
two general methods for maintaining
colony temperatures in winter: 1)
selecting a protected and
well-suited cavity (Tab. 1) and 2)
clustering. Clusters have a
two-part structure (Fig. 1): 1) a
dense outer mantle in which bees jam
together, orienting their heads
towards the center of the cluster
and 2) a loose inner core where bees
are free to move. The mantle
insulates and, at its tightest,
approaches the insulation of bird
feathers or mammal fur (0.1
W/kg/ºC). Clusters move slowly from
empty combs to ones full of honey.
This movement is typically upwards
and sideways, never downwards.
Before we go on, here are four
critical temperatures you should
know: 1) brood nest = 32-36ºC, 2)
minimum thorax temperature needed
for flight = 27ºC, 3) minimum
temperature needed to pump flight
muscles and warm up (analogous to
mammal “shivering”) = 18ºCand 4)
below which bees go into a “chill
coma” = 6ºC.
The "Biology of Wintering Bees" by
Medhat Nasr, Provincial Apiarist,
Alberta, Canada.
Winter Management Webinars
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Hives
Beehive construction
(B.C. Government) - Most
beekeepers will assemble pre-cut
beehive equipment at some
time. Others go farther by
manufacturing their own
equipment. In either case,
it is important to use standard
dimensions and assembly methods to
ensure that the equipment will be
interchangeable, strong and
durable. This publication
offers dimensions and designs of
individual hive parts, and a few
assembly hints. In Canada, the
Langstroth movable-frame hive has
been adopted as the hive
standard. This hive design
provides simplicity of
construction and ease of
manipulation, permitting rapid
inspection and interchange of
frames. Well-constructed
equipment pays off in ease of
management, and retains its resale
value.
Observation Hives
Parts
Hive bodies take a lot of abuse
and need to be con-structed accordingly. Not
only do they have to bear a lot
of weight (up to 70 pounds, or
more) for a super, but the
bee-keeper will use their hive tool
to twist and pry apart hive
bodies after the bees glue everything
together with propolis. Of all the hive components,
hive bodies have the most differences in size.
There are four standard
heights (referred to as “depth”) for hive bodes:
deep, medium, shallow and
comb honey. In addition
there are three common widths:
10-frame, 8-frame and
5-frame. We typically recommend to
beekeepers just starting out
to decide on one size hive body
and then stick with it.
That way, all equipment is
interchangeable. Because
a 10-frame deep super can be very heavy (70+
pounds), we suggest using
10-frame mediums (which usually
top out around 35 pounds when full of honey). The
plans presented in this
article are for 10-frame medium hive bodies,
though tables on the cut list
page provide dimensions for the
other sizes.
All Season
Ventilation/Insulation Box (in
place of inner cover) by Tim
Arheit (Honeyrunapiaries.com)
Nucs
1. #8 Hardware cloth should be
placed over the middle section of
the bottom of the hive for
ventilation. It is easiest to
install if it is stapled on after
the front, back and sides are
assembled but before the bottom is
attached. 2. A 9 3/4 x 9''
piece of corrugated plastic can be
slid in the dados in the bottom
pieces to block off the ventilation
in cold weather. 3. The feet
may be made of treated wood or other
wood that resists rot to extend
life. 4. To enable feeding the
nuc a hole may be cut in the top to
fit a quart jar or other suitable
feeder. Screen may be placed on the
inner side of the hole to prevent
the bees from coming out when the
feeder is replaced and a square of
heavy plastic may be placed over the
hole and attached by one screw or
nail. This piece of plastic can be
moved aside when feeding and moved
over the hole when not feeding.
5. When moving the nuc you need only
close off the entrance with duct
tape. The bees will have plenty of
ventilation from the bottom screen.
Frames
Bottom Boards and Racks
Feeders
Give entire inside of
feeder two coats of
polyurethane or marine
varnish. Pour molten
wax onto all inside
seams. Attach hardware
cloth to top of boards "A"
with staples
(Beesource.com).
Pollen Traps
Queens
Vacuum
Parts for Pests
Insulated Moisture Quilt
Ventilation/Insulation Box
Transporting
English translation: The
large bicycle tires (57-406, 20 x
2, 125) give the sack barrow a
particularly good ride suitability in uneven terrain. The
wide wheelbase provides a good grip
against slip of the Hives. The Prey truck for hives to max. 46
cm width. If your hives be wider than 46
cm, is only an adaptation of Pos. 1 and
2 (see Plan A) to the desired width make. The construction of the prey
truck based on both a
comfortable posture and on
the great usability with secure stand
against overturning.
Ventilation/Insulation Box
English translation: The
large bicycle tires (57-406, 20 x
2, 125) give the sack barrow a
particularly good ride suitability in uneven terrain. The
wide wheelbase provides a good grip
against slip of the Hives. The Prey truck for hives to max. 46
cm width. If your hives be wider than 46
cm, is only an adaptation of Pos. 1 and
2 (see Plan A) to the desired width make. The construction of the prey
truck based on both a
comfortable posture and on
the great usability with secure stand
against overturning.
Heating and Ventilating
Elephants
Bears
A Starter's Guide for using
Electric Fencing to Deter Bears by
K. Annis (M.F.W.P Bear
Specialist)
A properly constructed electric
fence is safe for people and pets
and has proven to be effective
at deterring bears from apiaries
(beehives), fruit trees, gardens,
livestock pens, rabbit hutches,
garbage containers, dog kennels, chicken
coups, compost piles, storage sheds,
along with numerous other uses. There is an abundant variety of
applications and effective fencing
designs for deterring bears. Design, construction and proper maintenance
will determine the effectiveness of
your electric fence. Safety is always a concern when
using electrified equipment.
Modern electric fence energizers
have been shown to be safe for humans,
animals and vegetation. The pulse
rate of a modern energizer is so quick that they cannot generate
enough heat to start vegetation on
fire. While touching an
electrified fence is unpleasant, modern
energizers are safe to use around
pets and children.
Honey Extraction
The bicycle wheel extractor
begins with a bike. The
frame cage is made of the bicycle
rims, with the spokes serving to
hold the frames in place.
Which bike you want is based on
your drum and your frames.
Not all bike wheels are created
equal, primarily because of the
spoke design. For the
western supers I use, I discovered
that the front wheels of some
sixteen inch bicycles would fit
nicely, while the rear wheel and
some other spoke patterns wouldn’t
allow western frames (but did
allow true shallow frames).
The way that I discovered this
involved my daughter’s bike.
“You don’t need a wrench to put on
streamers,” she said. Her
bike wasn’t right anyway. I
didn’t want to buy two bikes just
to sacrifice the front wheel, so
tape measure in hand I descended
on yard sales and thrift shops,
carrying a western frame along for
a “test fit”...
Hive Care
Beehive Construction Resource
Websites
- A great collection of plans and
videos from Steve Tilmann and the
Michigan Beekeepers Association.
Michigan Beekeepers Association
Beekeepers Workshop Videos
- Dave Cushman's drawings of
National Bee Hive Component
Parts. (UK)
- DIY Hive Construction Plans and
Tools
from UK Beekeeping Forum.
- Plans for bee hive components from
FreeWoodworkingPlan.com.
Diseases and Pests
A Field Guide to Honey Bees and
their Maladies (Penn State
University) - The key to protecting honey bee
colonies from diseases, parasites, and
other harm-ful conditions is the
ability to identify and deal with
problems early. This publication is
designed to assist beekeepers in
recog-nizing the symptoms of common
honey bee maladies. Some simple
cultural controls are included here;
however, for a complete list and
discussion of manage-ment tactics and
currently registered chemicals
approved for the control of honey bee
maladies, see the MAAREC Web site,
maarec.psu.edu.
Pests
Introduction to Varroa Mites and Integrated Pest Management from the Honey Bee Health Coalition
Varroa Population Dynamics from the UoG Honey Bee Research Centre
Tools for Varroa Management: A guide to effective varroa sampling and control
Every honey bee colony in the continental United States and Canada either has Varroa mites today or will have them within several months. Varroa mite infestation represents one of the greatest threats to honey bee health, honey production, and pollination services. When honey bee colonies are untreated
or treated ineffectively colonies can
fail and beekeepers can incur major
economic losses, and, ultimately,
agricultural food production may be
impacted. In addition, colonies with
Varroa are a source of mites that can
spread to other colonies, even in other
apiaries, through drifting, robbing, and
absconding activity of bees. All
beekeepers should remain vigilant to
detect high Varroa mite levels and be
prepared to take timely action in order
to reduce mite loads. Effective mite
control will reduce colony losses and
avoid potential spread of infectious
disease among colonies. This Guide
will explain practical, effective
methods that beekeepers can use to
measure Varroa mite infestations in
their hives and select appropriate
control methods. This guide is produced
by the
Honey Bee Health Coalition.Scientific Beekeeping (Randy Oliver) Varroa Management
Biology and Control of Varroa Destructor (University of Hohenheim)
Sampling Colonies for Varroa Destructor by G. Reuter and M. Spivak (U. of Minnesota)
Alternative Strategies for Control of Varroa Mites in Europe (Apimondia)
Aspects of Varroa Reproduction as possible new control method by D. Anderson (Australian Government)
Varroa Management Decision
Tool. This tool will walk you
through the decisions you need to make
to determine how best to manage varroa
mites. The guide is produced by
the
Honey Bee Health Coalition. "We’ve formed the Honey Bee
Health Coalition to bring together
beekeepers, growers, researchers,
government agencies, agribusinesses,
conservation groups, manufacturers,
and consumer brands to improve the
health of honey bees in general and
specifically around production
agriculture. We’re taking
collaborative action to improve honey
bee health by addressing multiple
factors influencing bee health,
including hive pests and disease,
forage and nutrition, and exposure to
crop pesticides." Click
here
to access the tool.
Mite-A-Thon "Mite-A-Thon is a
tri-national effort to collect mite
infestation data and to visualize
Varroa infestations in honey bee
colonies across North America within a
two week window. All beekeepers can
participate, creating a rich
distribution of sampling sites in
Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Their Varroa monitoring data will be
uploaded to
www.mitecheck.com." (from the
Pollinator Partnership)
Varroa Mite Management Videos
Testing
Powdered Sugar Shake and Alcohol
Wash (Honey Bee Health Coalition)
Varroa Sticky Boards (UoG Honey Bee Research Centre)
4 minute alcohol wash mite test by Randy Oliver
Randy Oliver's Varroa Model for determining mite population dynamics to help in creating a mite management strategy.
Treatment
How to use Apivar (HBHC)
How to use Formic Acid (HBHC)
How to use HopGuard (HBHC)
How to use Oxalic Acid (HBHC)
Drone Brood Removal (HBHC)
Honey Bee Health Coalition bee club
presentation (powerpoint)
*HBHC = Honey Bee Health Coalition
James Ellis at the
National Honey Show
The beetle is indigenous to Africa,
where it is considered a minor pest of
honey bees, and until recently was
thought to be restricted to that
continent. However, in 1998 it was
detected in Florida and it is now
widespread in the USA. It is called
the small hive beetle to distinguish
it from other minor pests of bee hives
in Africa, known as large hive
beetles. At the time of writing, the
SHB is not thought to be present in
the UK. The beetle can multiply to
huge numbers within infested colonies
where it eats brood, destroys combs
and if uncontrolled ultimately
destroys them. The resulting economic
impact on the beekeeping industry in
the USA has been severe. Within two
years of its discovery, at least
20,000 colonies were destroyed by the
beetle, costing many millions of
dollars. It has also been found in
Manitoba, Canada where it arrived with
beeswax imported from the USA. In
October 2002, it was found in New
South Wales and Queensland, Australia.
The economic consequences to the
beekeeping industry in Australia are
likely to be extremely serious,
jeopardising bee exports, pollination
services and honey production.
Normally they move down into the hive
to get away from the light It is not
known how the beetle reached either
the USA or Australia, although in the
USA shipping is considered the most
likely route. By the time the beetle
was detected in both countries it was
already well established. The
potential implications for European
apiculture are enormous, as we must
now assume that the SHB could spread
to Europe and that it is likely to
prove as harmful here as in Australia
and the USA. Package bees and honey
bee colonies are the principal means
of spread, but it could also be
transmitted inadvertently and
unnoticed through swarms in shipping
or air cargo, or in consignments of
fruit, unrefined wax and used
beekeeping equipment. Beekeeper
vigilance must be heightened following
the discovery of the SHB in Australia.
In the future, keeping an eye out for
the beetle needs to become a routine
part of colony management in the UK.
Small Hive Beetle Videos
Tracheal Mites
Wax Moth
Wax Moth and it's Control
(Australian Government)Protection of Honey Combs from Moth Damage (Swiss Bee Research Centre)
Florid Fly
Mosquitoes
The heavy-duty straps and the heavy
rocks were no match for the bear. This
time he got the queen too and so many
bees that there's nothing left. The
bees did give a good fight as seen in
the video and the bear had to retreat
a few times, but it is all done.
(Avner Skolnik)
A properly constructed electric
fence is safe for people and pets
and has proven to be effective
at deterring bears from apiaries
(beehives), fruit trees, gardens,
livestock pens, rabbit hutches,
garbage containers, dog kennels, chicken
coups, compost piles, storage sheds,
along with numerous other uses. There is an abundant variety of
applications and effective fencing
designs for deterring bears. Design, construction and proper maintenance
will determine the effectiveness of
your electric fence. Safety is always a concern when
using electrified equipment.
Modern electric fence energizers
have been shown to be safe for humans,
animals and vegetation. The pulse
rate of a modern energizer is so quick that they cannot generate
enough heat to start vegetation on
fire. While touching an
electrified fence is unpleasant, modern
energizers are safe to use around
pets and children.
How to install an electric fence (Defenders of Wildlife)
Bear Fence Test (NOLS)
*For us in North America the best
control of Wasps is to catch the
overwintered Queens in spring.
The newly mated queens are the only
members of the wasp colony to survive
the winter. You can also,
dressed in your beekeeping protective
gear, drown an in-ground nest or bag a
hanging nest early in the morning
(when most of the wasps are in the
nest) and submerge it in water.
No toxins are required in these means
of disposing of the nests or in traps
described below. When using
traps our wasps tend to be more
attracted to protein early in the
season (they are feeding their brood)
and sugar from late summer to
fall. Add vinegar to the sugar
solution in your traps to deter the
bees. To help protect our hives we
reduce our entrances in late summer
when the wasps leave their nests to
forage so that the hive is easier to
defend. If the wasps gain
entrance to the hive a
robber screen
is a useful defense.
"Yellowjackets are usually considered
beneficial insects because they kill
many pest insects and feed them to
their larvae. However, some
species, such as the western
yellowjacket (Paravespula
pensylvanica), the common yellowjacket
(P. vulgaris), and the German
yellowjacket (P. germanica), can
attack honeybee adults and
larvae. A typical yellowjacket
worker is about 1 / 2 -inch
long. Coloration is yellow and
black or white and black.
Yellowjackets have annual colonies.
Inseminated queens overwinter in
protected locations. They emerge from
late March through May, select a nest
site, and build a small paper nest in
which they lay their eggs.
Yellowjacket species build nests below
the soil in mouse burrows or in
similar sites, also between walls or
in the attics of houses. Worker
yellowjackets rear and feed the brood
and also forage for food. The queen
remains inside the nest laying eggs.
Colonies expand rapidly and may total
up to 5,000 workers when maximum size
is attained in August or September. In
the fall, inseminated queens seek
sheltered spots for
overwintering. Yellowjackets eat
bee brood, rob honey, and sometimes
kill the queen or the colony. Weak
colonies are especially susceptible.
In general, yellowjackets become pests
of honeybees in late summer through
fall and are more serious pests in dry
years."
The easiest DIY wasp trap to make
is to cut the top off of a plastic
bottle or jug and place the inverted
top into the bottom (A picture of
the trap to the right). You
can secure the union with tape and
hang away from the hives. You should
clean and replace the bait at least
once per week. The bait
receptacle is not necessary.
This DIY project is described in
detail in the video below.
Skunks
Skunks can be a problem for
beekeepers though they are
usually not a major threat
and fairly easy to
deter (like most issues a bigger threat
to weaker colonies). They are nocturnal
visitors and evidence of their
presence can be detected in ground
scraping in front of the entrance,
scraping on the bottom board or
lower super, agitated bees,
shrinking population, holes (they
like to dig for grubs) and scat
containing bee carcasses (Evidence of skunks in the
beeyard
- Ian Steppler) . The skunks may be a
benefit to you and your bees by
digging up and preying on wasp
nests and rodents (that may winter
in the hive). Their M.O.
(modus operandi) is to scratch on
the hive to bring bees out to
investigate which they eat as they
exit the hive. A small
percentage of skunks will scratch
on the hive and eat the bees as
they settle on the ground unable
to navigate in the dark (lower bee
fatality - Skunk feeding on ground bees
(Frederick Dunn)).
There are
several methods of skunk
defense. Raising the hive
(12 inches or more) forces the
skunk to stand leaving their
belly exposed to stinging.
This method is effective.
In the video above Ian Steppler
found placing the hives on
pallets effective. If
possible raising it high enough
makes the hive
inaccessible. Raising a
hive that high is not a
practical solution for
most. Another method is
placing a 2-4 inch wide board
over the hive entrance.
This method prevents the skunk
eating all the bees exiting the
hive. The bees not caught
will commence stinging.
Chicken wire (rolled or
surrounding) around the entrance
prevents the skunk eating them
as they exit. A carpet
tack board or bear board under
the hive entrance makes for an
uncomfortable stance. If
you have an electric fence
lowering the bottom wire (or
adding) is effective and if you
have few hives a fence buried at
least a foot deep can be
effective (they love to
dig).
Solar powered motion
detectors
may work if you have the money,
the sun and are not annoyed by
the sound or flashing
light. I have found store
bought
animal repellent
works on squirrels and rats for
me. It is supposed to work
on skunks. The concept is
that it replicates the smell of
a predator (i.e. coyote
urine). There are several
d.i.y recipes for deterrent
sprays using pepper, urine,
vinegar and ammonia and citrus
(D.I.Y Recipes). While they can be a
nuisance and washing a skunked
dog is a pain a mother skunk
followed by a string of baby
skunks is pretty
cute.
|
| Connecticut Wildlife Rehabilitators Association |
Skunk Behavior in the Bee Yard
(Mark Headings, Ohio State
University)
Prevention of Deformed Wing Virus by dsRNA ingestion (University of Manitoba)
Nosema
Foulbroods
Chalkbrood
Deformed Wing Virus
Dysentery
CCD
Pathogen Webs in Collapsing Honey
Bee Colonies (N.C. State, U. of
Maryland, U.S.D.A)
"On-site" Replication of CCD
(Harvard, Worcester County
B.A.)
"Hygienic honeybee colonies are those
in which dead and diseased brood is
rapidly removed from the colony,
thereby reducing the amount of
inoculum present. Hygienic behaviour
is a trait present in about 20% of
Australian honeybee colonies. Some
researchers claim that highly hygienic
colonies are strongly resistant to the
major diseases of honeybees including
American and European foul brood,
Chalk brood and Sac brood. Hygienic
bees are also claimed to be resistant
to the parasitic mite Varroa. Hygienic
behaviour is usually measured by using
liquid nitrogen to freeze-kill a small
patch of brood. Hygienic colonies
uncap and remove the dead brood within
24 hours whereas this process takes
several days with non-hygienic
colonies. The first studies of
hygienic behaviour were conducted in
the 1960s. Walter Rothenbuhler crossed
a strongly hygienic line with a
strongly non-hygienic line. The
resulting F1 colonies were not
hygienic. Rothenbuhler then raised
daughters off an F1 queen backcrossed
these to drones of the hygienic
parent. He then evaluated these
colonies for hygienic behaviour. The
pattern of expression of hygienic
behaviour among these backcross
colonies suggested that the trait was
controlled by two separate genes, one
that controlled uncapping behaviour,
the other which controlled removal
behaviour."
Medications and
Stress
Essential Oils
Brief Beekeeping guide to
Essential Oils (Wikibooks)
The Use of Essential Oils to Control Varroa Jacobsoni (Swiss Apiculture Institute)
Essential Oils and the Beekeeping Industry's Survival by Ross Conrad
Feeding Essential Oils in Syrup and Liquid Protein to Control Varroa (IBRA)
The Use of Essential Oils to Control Varroa Jacobsoni (Swiss Apiculture Institute)
Essential Oils and the Beekeeping Industry's Survival by Ross Conrad
Feeding Essential Oils in Syrup and Liquid Protein to Control Varroa (IBRA)
General
Why should parasite
resistance be costly? (U.C.
Santa Barbara and U. of
Vermont)
|
| Hygienic bees removing infested larvae |
Comparative study of the hygienic
behavior of Carniolan and
Africanized honey bees (U. of Sao
Paulo)
Honey Bee Nutrition by Eric Mussen (UC Davis)
Honey Bee Nutrition by Zachery Huang (Michigan State U.)
Honey Bee Nutrition - Review of Research and Practices by J. Black (Australian Government)
Honey (not sugar) constituents up-regulate immunity and detoxification genes in Honey Bees (University of Illinois)
The Benefits of Pollen to Honey Bees (University of Florida)
Considerations in Selecting Sugars for feeding to Honey Bees by R. Barker (U.S.D.A)
Feeding Bees Pollen Substitute by Dr. E. Mussen (UC Davis)
Honey Substitution Chart for Feeding Bees (National Honey Board)
Nutrition Section
of Scientific Beekeeping (Randy
Oliver) which includes studies on a
variety of topics like light or heavy
syrup?; probiotics; beebread; pollen
substitutes and more.
Bee Feeding Recipes by Cass Cohenour
Recipe for a Pollen Substitute (Scottish Beekeepers Association)
Pollen Substitute Patties by DC
Honeybees
Adding Sugar Bricks to Beehives from
Mud Songs.
Feeders
Feeder Types from
Brushy Mt Bee Farm.
Give entire inside of feeder
two coats of polyurethane or
marine varnish. Pour
molten wax onto all inside
seams. Attach hardware
cloth to top of boards "A"
with staples
(Beesource.com).
Pollinators
An Introduction to Native Bees
(U.S.D.A and Pollinator
Partnership)
Native bees are a hidden treasure.
From alpine meadows in the
national forests of the Rocky
Mountains to the Sonoran Desert in the
Coronado National Forest in Arizona
and from the boreal forests of the
Tongass National Forest in Alaska to
the Ocala National Forest in Florida,
bees can be found anywhere in North
America, where flowers bloom.
From forests to farms, from
cities to wildlands, there are 4,000
native bee species in the United
States, from the tiny Perdita minima
to large carpenter bees.
Most people do not realize that
there were no honey bees in America
before European settlers brought hives from Europe.
These resourceful animals promptly managed to escape from
domestication. As they had done for millennia in Europe and Asia, honey
bees formed swarms and set up nests
in hollow trees. Native pollinators,
especially bees other than honey
bees, have been pollinating the continent’s
flowering plants since long before
the arrival of honey bees. Even in today’s
vastly altered landscapes, they
continue to do the yeomen’s share of pollination,
especially when it comes to native
plants.
Native Bee Identification
Humble (Bumble) Bees
Conserving Bumble Bees:
Guidelines for creating and
managing habitat (The Xerces
Society)
Mason Bees
Stingless Bees
The Stingless Bees of the Yucatan: Preserving Mayan Meliponiculture by Diana Cohn
Making Native Bee Homes
Farming with Native
Bees
Quality of commercially reared bees in Eastern Australia by J. W. Rhodes
Managing Honey Bee Populations for Greater Honey Yield by Morris Ostrofsky
The Release of ARS Russian Honey Bees in the U.S.
The
age
of
grafted
larvae
plays
a
major
part
in
the
quality
of
resulting
queens.
The
younger
the
larvae
the
better
the
queens.
Select
the
smallest
larvae
possible,
preferably
larvae
just
hatched
from
the
egg.
A
larvae
0
to
24
hrs
old
is
the
same
length
as
an
egg.
Grafting
of
eggs
themselves
is
extremely
difficult
and
not
recommended.
Introducing
plastic
queen
cell
cups
into
strong
colonies
about
one
day
before
grafting
allows
the
bees
to
clean,
polish
and
warm
the
cells.
Place
the
frame
containing
the
larva
onto
a
support
board
at
an
angle
of
about
30
degrees,
with
a
cool
light
shining
into
the
cells
so
that
each
larva
can
be
seen.
Place
the
nib
or
needle
of
the
grafting
tool
under
the
royal
jelly
under
the
middle
of
the
larva....
Queens for Pennies by Randy Oliver (scientificbeekeeping.com)
This video is from Ian Steppler of
Steppler Farms
in Miami (the colder version),
Manitoba. Check out "A Canadian Beekeeper's Blog" for more videos on commercial
beekeeping.
Tom Repas of
Canyon Rim Honey Bees
demonstrates Queen Bee Raising from
grafting to mating.
Basic Microscopy for Beekeepers by
Christina Wahl (Cornell College)
Crop Pollination Exposure to Pesticides increases Nosema Ceranae (U.S.D.A)
Crop Pollination Exposure to Pesticides increases Nosema Ceranae (U.S.D.A)
Economics
Pollination
and
Cut-Out
Contracts
Websites
Contacts:
Morphometrics
- A system of measuring
morphological characteristics to
determine honey bee type. The
CHBRC laboratory analyzes samples
nationwide in an effort to provide
vital information on the migration of
Africanized honey bees.
Software:
BK-Economics
- BK-Economics is a software package
that was developed by a team of
scientists at the Carl Hayden Bee
Research Center in Tucson, Arizona
to assist commercial beekeepers in
streamling their business
practices. This software
allows beekeepers to simulate years
of business, taking into
account factors like equipment
purchases, labor force,
transportation, marketing
strategies, loans, honey flow, and
other hive products without taking
the usual risks. This
software, when used in combination
with the marketing strategy
information in publication, can help
beekeepers formulate a successful
business plan when making financial
decisions, expanding an operation or
just starting out.
Varroa Pop
- Varroa Pop simulates the growth of
Varroa mite population in honey bee
colonies. The program
demonstratres how Varroa mites
influence colony population growth
throughout the year. You can
change many factors through the menus
in the model such as the initial
population size, queen egg laying
potential, and mite reproduction
rates, so you can see how these
factors influence both colony and mite
population growth. We hope that
the model will help you understand the
interactions between the honey bee and
mite populations and provide insights
on how best to control Varroa in
colonies.
Redapol
- Developed by Gloria
DeGrandi-Hoffman et al. A
computer-based model simulating the
interactions of weather, bloom and
honey bee foraging activity that
culminate in 'Delicious' apple
fruit-set. The model predicts
the percentage of blossoms setting
fruit based upon weather conditions,
orchard design, tree characteistics,
and honey bee colonies per
hectare. Now available in a
complete archive (.ZIP file).
Almopol
- ALMOPOL is a web-based model that
is used to investigate the
relationship between the many
variables encountered in pollinating
almonds by using Honeybees or
Osmia. This program gives you full control
over your model of your orchards,
your scenarios, your weather, and
your model parameters. When you
first get started, you will define
your orchards and then you can start
running scenarios.
WebBeePop
- A honey bee population
dynamics simulation model.
Honey Money
- Honey cost of production
calculator produced by the
Australian Government to assist
beekeepers to assess the cost of production and
profitability in a honeybee
enterprise.
Mini Honey Money
- Produced by the Australian
Government to monitor cost of
production and
profitability.
Bees in Decline: Factors that put European Pollinators and Agriculture at risk (Greenpeace)
Bees in the Green Movement by Dr. James Tew (Auburn University)
The Honey Bee - Interesting Facts
Honey Bees in House Walls (Ohio State University)
|
| Beekeeping shown in the tomb of Pabasa (Egypt c. 650 BC) |
The value of bees in ancient
Egypt
The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting by Eva Crane
"This book is the first book to
explore in detail the world history of
man’s use of bees from prehistoric
times to the present day. It gathers
together a vast amount of information
in an eminently readable text. From
archaelogical evidence about bee hives
in Ancient Egypt to the Maya people of
Mesoamerica who kept stingless bees,
Dr Crane recognieses the variations in
methods and yet there are some uncanny
similarities. It wasn't until the 1600
that beekeeping techniques started to
change in Europe, which culminated in
1851 with L L Langstroth's moveable
frame hives being produced in the USA.
The subsequent changes in beekeeping,
based on scientific knowledge, brings
the history up to date. There are over
500 illustrations and extensive
bibliographies and
appendices." IBRA Here is a preview of this
amazing book. The World History of Beekeeping and
Honey Hunting.
Historical Beekeeping Videos
Beekeeping and Honey Production 1920's (5 mins)
Magical Beehive Story (Dance) from the early 1900's (2:30 mins)
1925 - Bijenmarkt (Bee Market) Veenendaal, Netherlands Hand slapping and dogs (3 mins)
1927 - New York - Girl tends to her Langstroth Bee Hive (2 mins)
1931 - Bee Market, Tilburg, Netherlands Pipe smokers (1 min)
1930's - Dutch Bee Market Skeps (10 mins)
1933 - The Keeper of the Bees Commercial (2 mins)
Thirties Beekeeping Part
1 Oldies but goodies (6:27 mins)
Thirties Beekeeping Part
2 Oldies but goodies (5:52 mins)
Thirties Beekeeping Part
3 Oldies but goodies (6:59 mins)
Thirties Beekeeping Part
4 Oldies but goodies (4:28 mins)
Thirties Beekeeping Part
5 Oldies but goodies (7:43 mins)
Het Bijenvolk The Bee Community (Dutch) (25 mins)
Beekeeping on the Move 1947 Australia (10 mins)
1948- British Transparent Bee Hive Observation (1 min)
1956 - Lassie - The Bee Hive (24 mins)
1961 Bee Research Foraging (3 mins)
1965 - Bees for Export British (1 min)
Origins and Evolutionary History of the Honey Bee (58 mins)
Women in Beekeeping History (5 mins)
Bee Smokers Smokers (36:49 mins)
Het Bijenvolk The Bee Community (Dutch) (25 mins)
Beekeeping on the Move 1947 Australia (10 mins)
1948- British Transparent Bee Hive Observation (1 min)
1956 - Lassie - The Bee Hive (24 mins)
1961 Bee Research Foraging (3 mins)
1965 - Bees for Export British (1 min)
Origins and Evolutionary History of the Honey Bee (58 mins)
Women in Beekeeping History (5 mins)
Bee Smokers Smokers (36:49 mins)
Africanized Honey Bees
Bees of the World
The Pollinator Elements of the
Sikkim Himalayan Region by K.
Singh, K. Gaira and L. Rai
Bee Science
Predator Effects Shape Honey Bee
Dancing (University of
Calilfornia)
Organic Bee Pollen: Origin,
Value, Compounds, Activity and
Quality (Scientific study)
The Main Driver in Aging in Long-Lived Winter Honey Bees
Altered Physiology of Honey Bees Infested with Varroa
Alternative Strategies in Central Europe for Control of Varroa
Methods for Characterising subspecies of Apis Mellifera (IBRA)
Ecological Adaptations of Diverse Honey Bee populations (U.B.C. and Agr-Food Canada)
Mating between Apis Cerana and Apis Mellifera in Australia (Australian Government)
Polyandry (multiple mates) in Honey Bees (H. Laidlaw and R. Page)
The Impact of Polyandry and Drifting on Honey Bee Genetics (P. Neumann)
Drifting Behavior of Honey Bees and the effect of AFB
Factors influencing Honey Bee Queen Drifting (Apidologie.org)
Honey Bee Ability to Identify Colors White and Blue (Alexander Komissar)
Bee Science Websites
USDA Research Centre
Phys Org bee related studies
USDA Research Centre
A Thomas Seeley lecture on Bee Hunting
"In his new book, Following the Wild Bees (Princeton University Press), biologist Thomas Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, vividly describes the history and science behind a lost pastime: bee hunting. Once practiced widely but little known today, the tradition involves capturing and feeding honey bees, then releasing and following them back to their secret residences in hollow trees, old buildings or abandoned hives. Providing both practical tips and new insights into the remarkable behavior of bees living in the wild, Dr. Seeley’s book also offers a unique meditation on the pleasures of the natural world. As more people become aware of the essential role that honeybees play in our global agroecosystem, in Following the Wild Bees readers will find an excellent guide for learning an old craft and experiencing the rich insights gleaned from close observation of the teeming activity found in our everyday environment outdoors." From the Albert R. Mann Library
Thomas Seeley is the Horace White Professor in Biology in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell and the author of three previous books: Honeybee Ecology (1985, Princeton), The Wisdom of the Hive (1995, Harvard), and Honeybee Democracy (2010, Princeton).
Bee Hunting by John Lockard (1908)
Beehunting - A selection of 4 bee hunting videos that accompany the book "Follow the Wild Bees" by Thomas Seeley (1. Finding wild honey bees 2. Capturing bees 3. Marking 4. Following).
An Introduction to Bee Lining by D. Banks and D. Waterhouse
Bee-Lining as a Research Technique in Ecological Study of Honey Bees by Thomas Seeley
Bees in the Forest, Still by Tom Seeley
The Bee Hunter by George Edgell (l949)
Bee lining - from the University of Arkansas
A series of 8 videos on Bee Lining (including building a bee box)
The Main Driver in Aging in Long-Lived Winter Honey Bees
Altered Physiology of Honey Bees Infested with Varroa
Alternative Strategies in Central Europe for Control of Varroa
Methods for Characterising subspecies of Apis Mellifera (IBRA)
Ecological Adaptations of Diverse Honey Bee populations (U.B.C. and Agr-Food Canada)
Mating between Apis Cerana and Apis Mellifera in Australia (Australian Government)
Polyandry (multiple mates) in Honey Bees (H. Laidlaw and R. Page)
The Impact of Polyandry and Drifting on Honey Bee Genetics (P. Neumann)
Drifting Behavior of Honey Bees and the effect of AFB
Factors influencing Honey Bee Queen Drifting (Apidologie.org)
Honey Bee Ability to Identify Colors White and Blue (Alexander Komissar)
Bee Science Websites
USDA Research Centre
Phys Org bee related studies
USDA Research Centre
Bats (a bees friend)
A Thomas Seeley lecture on Bee Hunting
"In his new book, Following the Wild Bees (Princeton University Press), biologist Thomas Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, vividly describes the history and science behind a lost pastime: bee hunting. Once practiced widely but little known today, the tradition involves capturing and feeding honey bees, then releasing and following them back to their secret residences in hollow trees, old buildings or abandoned hives. Providing both practical tips and new insights into the remarkable behavior of bees living in the wild, Dr. Seeley’s book also offers a unique meditation on the pleasures of the natural world. As more people become aware of the essential role that honeybees play in our global agroecosystem, in Following the Wild Bees readers will find an excellent guide for learning an old craft and experiencing the rich insights gleaned from close observation of the teeming activity found in our everyday environment outdoors." From the Albert R. Mann Library
Thomas Seeley is the Horace White Professor in Biology in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell and the author of three previous books: Honeybee Ecology (1985, Princeton), The Wisdom of the Hive (1995, Harvard), and Honeybee Democracy (2010, Princeton).
Bee Hunting by John Lockard (1908)
Beehunting - A selection of 4 bee hunting videos that accompany the book "Follow the Wild Bees" by Thomas Seeley (1. Finding wild honey bees 2. Capturing bees 3. Marking 4. Following).
An Introduction to Bee Lining by D. Banks and D. Waterhouse
Bee-Lining as a Research Technique in Ecological Study of Honey Bees by Thomas Seeley
Bees in the Forest, Still by Tom Seeley
The Bee Hunter by George Edgell (l949)
Bee lining - from the University of Arkansas
A series of 8 videos on Bee Lining (including building a bee box)
Thomas
Seeley demonstrating bee hunting in
the field.
Bee Hunting: Finding a Wild Colony of Honey Bees (from Charles Walcott)
"One method of locating a colony of wild bees is called bee lining. In this video, we will join Prof. Tom Seeley as he tries to locate a wild colony of bees. He catches bees foraging on goldenrod and aster, feeds them concentrated sugar solution and determines the direction that they fly as they return to their colony. By painting identifying marks on some bees, he is able to measure their round trip time to get an estimate of the distance to the colony. With direction and distance established, he moves closer. Then, watching the bees, sees that they are living in a dead tree."
Eva Crane (12 June 1912
– 6 September 2007) was a researcher
and author on the subjects of bees
and beekeeping. Trained as a quantum
mathematician, she changed her field
of interest to bees, and spent
decades researching bees, traveling
to more than 60 countries, often
under primitive conditions.
Her interest in bees began when she
and her husband received a beehive
as a wedding present; the giver had
hoped that it would help supplement
their wartime sugar ration.
Crane wrote over 300 papers,
articles, and books, many when she
was in her 70s and 80s. Honey:
A Comprehensive Survey (1975), in
which she contributed several
important chapters, and edited, came
about because she told the publisher
(Heinemann Press) that a book on the
subject was sorely needed. Although
now out of print, it remains the
most significant review on the
subject ever written. A Book of
Honey (1980) and The Archaeology of
Beekeeping (1983) reflected her
strong interests in nutrition and
the ancient past of beekeeping.
Her writing
culminated in two mighty,
encyclopedic tomes, Bees and
Beekeeping: science, practice and
world resources (1990; at 614
pages) and The World History of
Beekeeping and Honey Hunting
(1999; 682 pages). These distilled
a lifetime's knowledge and
experience and are regarded as
seminal textbooks throughout the
beekeeping world."Along with
writing many books and articles,
Crane also helped create a
beekeeping library, which held
many books on bees and beekeeping,
and turned the small journal Bee
World into a well-known scientific
magazine. Without doubt
she became one of the greatest
writers on bees and beekeeping in
the 20th century. In January
1949 she established the Bee
Research Association (BRA). From
the beginning this organization
was international in its aims
and outlook but only
became IBRA in 1976. "IBRA is
internationally recognised as the
world’s primary source and
foremost provider of information
on bees. Its database and
information services, including
journals, teaching aids and other
publications, embrace all bee
species whether managed by man for
pollination or their products, or
truly wild. IBRA has one of
the largest databases of
scientific information on bees and
bee related interests in the
world." For more information
on Eva Crane go to the Eva Crane Trust.
Amerindian honey hunting and hive beekeeping by Eva Crane
Amerindian uses of honey, wax and brood from stingless bees by Eva Crane
Ancient Apiculture by Eva Crane
Pesticides and Their
Involvement in Colony Collapse
Disorder (Penn State University) -
For honey bees low levels of
pesticides have been shown to
reduce associative learning of
individual bees in laboratory
studies using the proboscis
extension response (Decourtye et
al, 2004), altering maze learning
performance in free-flying bees
(Decourtye, et al. 2010) and the
loss of foraging efficiency in
radio tagged bees, (Decourtye, et
al. 2011). The precocious foraging
of nurse bees from IGR
insecticides is also documented
(Thompson et al. 2007). These
changes in learning and behavior
can potentially alter normal
colony level functions, yet
colony-level impacts remain to be
verified. Honey bee larvae
reared in cells contaminated with
the miticides fluvalenate or
coumaphos show a reduced
developmental rate and delayed
adult emergence along with reduced
adult longevity (Wu et al, 2011).
These effects can have multiple
consequences for the colony
including increased developmental
time for Varroa mites, reduced
colony population dynamics and
build up, as well as potential
shifts in worker division of
labor. Whether or not the
pesticides associated with wax in
the CART study (aboce) have
similar impacts on larvae remains
to be determined. Fungicides have
long been known to synergize with
some pesticides in laboratory
toxicity bioassays (Iwasi et al,
2004). More recently, we have
determined that combinations of
formulated pesticides and
fungicides fed to either adult
worker bees or to larvae can have
synergistic effects on mortality.
What happens when 3 or 4 or 5
different pesticide mixtures are
ingested by honey bee larvae or
adults for substantial periods of
time?
The Bees Burden (University of Exeter
(England)) - This study reports
concentrations of pesticides found
in pollen brought back to hives by
foraging bees, and sampled using
pollen traps (trapped pollen) or
direct from the comb (comb pollen,
beebread). Twenty-five samples of
comb pollen stored over winter
from the 2012 foraging season were
obtained from locations in seven
European countries, and
subsequently 107 samples of
trapped pollen from the 2013
foraging season were obtained from
locations in 12 European countries
and analysed at an accredited
laboratory. In terms of the
geographical areas covered, and
the numbers of samples taken
simultaneously, this is one of the
most extensive studies of
pesticides in bee-collected pollen
carried out to date.
Residues of at least one of
53 pesticides (including 22
insecticides/acaricides, 29
fungicides and two herbicides) were identified in 72 of the 107 trapped pollen samples, while residues of at least one of 17 pesticides (including nine insecticides / acaricides and eight fungicides) were identified in 17 of the 25 samples of comb pollen (beebread).
Implications of High Levels of Miticides and Pesticides in North American Apiaries (Penn State University and the U.S.D.A.) - "Honey bees across North America are extensively exposed to multiple pesticides. Brood nest wax and foundations, beebread and trapped pollen, and adult bees and brood comprising 749 samples contained 118 different pesticides and metabolites, 4894 total residues of which 748 were systemics, and averaged 6.5 detections per sample. In the 259 wax samples (Table 1) 87 pesticides and metabolites were found with up to 39 different detections in a single sample, averaging 8 different pesticide residues each. In the 350 pollen samples analyzed (Table 2), 98 pesticides and degradates were identified, with up to 31 different pesticides found in a single sample, and samples averaged 7.1 different pesticide residues each. The analysis of bees resulted in fewer detections (Table 3), and
averaged 2.5 residues per each of the 140 samples, with a maximum of 25 in one sample. Only one of the wax, three pollen and 12 bee samples had no detectable pesticides."
In this study, we used a
multi-residue method based on
LC-MS/MS to analyze samples of
puddle water taken in the field
during the planting of treated
corn and one month later. If honey
bees were to collect and drink
water from these puddles, our
results showed that they would be
exposed to various agricultural
pesticides. All water samples
collected from corn fields were
contaminated with at least one
neonicotinoid compound, although
most contained more than one
systemic insecticide.
Concentrations of neonicotinoids
were higher in early spring,
indicating that emission and
drifting of contaminated dust
during sowing raises contamination
levels of puddles. Although the
overall average acute risk of
drinking water from puddles was
relatively low, concentrations of
neonicotinoids ranged from 0.01 to
63 mg/L and were sufficient to
potentially elicit a wide array of
sublethal effects in individuals
and colony alike. Our results also
suggest that risk assessment of
honey bee water resources
underestimates the foragers’
exposure and consequently
miscalculates the risk. In fact,
our data shows that honey bees and
native pollinators are facing
unprecedented cumulative exposure
to these insecticides from
combined residues in pollen,
nectar and water.
Worldwide assessment of
systemic pesticides - The Task Force on
Systemic Pesticides is an
independent group of scientists
from all over the globe, who came
together to work on the Worldwide
Integrated Assessment of the
Impact of Systemic Pesticides on
Biodiversity and Ecosystems.
The mandate of the Task
Force on Systemic Pesticides
(TFSP) has been “to carry out a
comprehensive, objective,
scientific review and assessment
of the impact of systemic
pesticides on biodiversity, and on
the basis of the results of this
review to make any recommendations
that might be needed with regard
to risk management procedures,
governmental approval of new
pesticides, and any other relevant
issues that should be brought to
the attention of decision makers,
policy developers and society in
general.” To this end a
highly multidisciplinary team of
30 scientists from all over the
globe jointly made a synthesis of
1,121 published peer-reviewed
studies spanning the last five
years, including
industry-sponsored ones.
"The present scale of use,
combined with the properties of
these compounds, has resulted in
widespread contamination of
ag-ricultural soils, freshwater
resources, wetlands, non-target
vegetation and estuarine and
coastal marine systems, which
means that many organisms
inhabiting these habitats are
being repeatedly and chronically
exposed to effective
concentrations of these
insecticides." (175 pages)
This is the first investigation
of neonicotinoid insecticide
concentrations in “bee-friendly”
nursery plants sold to consumers
at garden centers in cities across
America. The findings indicate
that bee-friendly nursery plants
sold at U.S. retailers may contain
systemic pesticides at levels that
are high enough to cause adverse
effects on bees and other
pollinators — with no warning to
consumers. Neonicotinoid residues
were detected in seven out of
thirteen samples (54 percent) of
commercial nursery plants. In the
samples with detections,
concentrations ranged from 11 to
1,500 micrograms per kilogram
(µg/kg or parts per billion) of
plant material.
The 2008 food crisis was an
important catalyst for realizing
the need for a fundamental
transformation and questioning
some of the assumptions that had
driven food, agricultural and
trade policy in recent decades.
The world currently produces
sufficient calories per head to
feed a global population of 12-14
billion. Around 1 billion
people chronically suffer from
starvation and another billion are
mal-nurished. Therefore
hunger and malnutrition are not a
product of insufficient supply but
results of prevailing poverty and
above all access to food.
The world needs a paradigm
shift in agricultural development:
from a “green revolution” to an
“ecological intensification”
approach. This implies a
rapid and significant shift from
conventional, monoculture-based
industrial production towards
mosaics of sustainable,
regenerative production systems
that also considerably improve the
productivity of small-scale
farmers.
Bee Friendly Planting Guide - This planting guide
from the Australian Government is
particularly timely as there is
increasing public concern for the
well being and survival of global
honeybee populations following the
reported colony collapse disorder
in the United States and Europe,
and the threat to the Australian
industry of the destructive varroa
mite. This guide to planting
choices from the backyard to the
bush, right across the nation,
will assist with increasing the
available bee food. Although
this planting guide is written
from an Australian perspective
most of the plants are grown
around the world.
Bee Protective Habitat Guide - This guide from
"Beyond Pesticides" is designed to
provide information on pollinators
with resources on
pollinator-friendly habitat, as
well as pesticide use that
contributes to declines in
pollinator health. To that end,
the wildflower section contains
perennial species that are known
to nurture bee populations in the
U.S. The guide is divided into
several sections and is arranged
by season to encourage gardeners
and land managers to plant
flowers that will bloom all year
round. Within each season, plants
are arranged in alphabetical order
by common name. Bloom months have
been provided and are rated based
on when they commonly begin to
bloom in the Midwest. Some species
may continue blooming later into
the season depending on the
location. Note that plant
hardiness should be referenced
with the Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
United Nations Report on Small
Scale, Organic Farming - The 2008 food crisis
was an important catalyst for
realizing the need for a
fundamental transformation and
questioning some of the
assumptions that had driven food,
agricultural and trade policy in
recent decades. The
fundamental transformation of
agriculture may well turn out to
be one of the biggest challenges,
including for international
security, of the 21st century.
The world needs a paradigm
shift in agricultural development:
from a “green revolution” to an
“ecological intensification”
approach. The required
transformation is much more
profound than simply tweaking the
existing industrial agricultural
system.
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Wildflowers of Texas: Part 1
(Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower
Center) - The annual
sunflower is very useful and
Native Americans greatly valued
it. They used for it medicines,
fiber, cordage, and as a highly
nutritious food for both humans
and cattle. The seeds could be
ground up and used to make bread.
The shells were used to brew a
pseudo-coffee. The Incas believed
that the sunflower was the
physical manifestation of the Sun
God on Earth. The plant is an
important part of the Iroquois
creation myth. Iroquois Creation
Myth (from:
http://www.cs.williams.edu/~lindsey/myths/myths_12.html)
Long before the world was created
there was an island, floating in
the sky, upon which the Sky People
lived. They lived quietly and
happily. No one ever died, or was
born, or experienced sadness.
However, one day one of the Sky
Women realized she was going to
give birth to twins. She told her
husband, who flew into a rage. In
the center of the island there was
a tree that gave light to the
entire island, since the sun
hadn't been created yet. He tore
up this tree, creating a huge hole
in the middle of the island.
Curiously, the woman peered into
the hole. Far below she could see
the waters that covered the Earth.
At that moment her husband pushed
her. She fell through the hole,
tumbling towards the waters
below...
Gardening with native plants on
Vancouver Island - The three essentials:
food, shelter and water. Seed and
berry producing shrubs feed and
shelter birds. Provide a variety
of food sources through the
seasons by leaving seed heads on
plants. A water feature (protected
from cats and hawks) will attract
many types of birds and animals.
Butterflies boycott
pesticides. Feeding adults prefer
certain plant species, but missing
plants for caterpillars often
restricts butterfly abundance.
Plant poplar and willow, maintain
areas of natural meadow, create a
mud puddle, and tolerate some
chewed leaves. Swallowtail
caterpillars eat herbs with
umbrella-like flowers including
Spring Gold, Lomatiums, & Cow
Parsnip. Some butterflies
overwinter in the leaf litter that
renews the soil. Plant tall
sticks in sunny quiet spots for
butterflies and dragonflies to
rest.
Planting Guide for Honey and
Australian Native Bees - The Australian honeybee
industry provides essential
benefits to the agricultural and
horticultural sector through
managed and incidental pollination
services. Urban environments also
benefit from the activities of
honeybees. Planting bee forage for
honeybee nutrition can offer major
benefits to the industry and to
society. However, listed
weeds should not be planted. Local
nurseries will provide advice
about which plants are listed as
weeds in your area. This
planting guide for bee forage is
particularly timely as there is
increasing public concern for the
well being and survival of global
honeybee populations following the
reported colony collapse disorder
in the United States and Europe,
and the threat to the Australian
industry of the destructive varroa
mite. This guide to planting
choices from the backyard to the
bush, right across the nation,
will assist with increasing the
available bee food.
We have to acknowledge the
difficulty inherent in the phrase
'natural beekeeping': as soon as
you consider 'keeping' bees, you
begin to stray from what is truely
'natural'. In nature, only
bees keep bees. So what do
we mean by 'natural' beekeeping,
and what is 'unnatural' about
conventional beekeeping. To
be considered 'natural' our
beekeeping must take into account:
1. the natural impulses and
behaviour or bees, inlcuding -
foraging, swarming, storing food
and defending their
nest 2. how hive
design effects bees 3.
the suitability of hive materials
used, including considerations of
sustainability
4. the nature and frequency of our
interventions 5. the
local impact of a big increase in
honey bee population on other
species of pollinators 6.
the balance between honey
harvesting and the bees' own
needs 7. the nature of
added inputs - medications and
feeding.
Sustainability Our overall goal in natural
beekeeping is to achieve a state
of sustainability: balancing
inputs and outputs such that our
activities enhance rather than
damage the health of our bees,
other species and the planet.
Collapse and Recovery the gateway
to natural treatment free
beekeeping by Kirk Webster
Healthy Beekeeping by Kirk Webster
The best kept secret revisited by Kirk Webster
Natural Beekeeping Videos
Michael Bush Treatment-free Beekeeping (8 mins)
Dee Lusby Organic Beekeeping (27 mins)
Thomas Seeley Following Wild Bees (50 mins)
The Warre Hive David Heaf (27 mins)
Natural Beekeeping (Preventing CCD) Jacqueline Freeman (10:20 mins)
Revealing the inside of the Sun Hive Heidi Herrmann (11 mins)
The Sun Hive (Haengekorb) Sun Hive (10:01 mins)
Perone Hive Natural Beekeeping (12 mins)
Natural Beekeeping Websites:
Michael Bush's website
has a wealth of information on
natural beekeeping including a
page of
powerpoint presentations on topics like the history
of beekeeping, beginning
beekeeping, foundationless
beekeeping, natural cell size,
queen rearing, races of bees,
spring management, wintering bees
and more.
Mike Palmer of
French Hill Apiaries
has a lot of good videos on
natural beekeeping including
natural, commercial
beekeeping. Here is his
video web page
and a
Michael Palmer video web
page
by the
Two Little Ladies Apiary.
Backyardhive.com
has a wealth of information on top
bar beekeeping on their education
page, "Managing Your Top Bar Hive". They also have a youtube
channel,
Bee Guardian that covers topics from
installing and seasonal management
to harvesting.
Kirk Webster
Natural Beekeeping Trust
Ed and Dee Lusby
Resistant Bees
David Heaf's Warre Beekeeping Pages and a list of published papers on the science behind natural beekeeping provided by David Heaf in the Natural Beekeeping Trust.
Natural Beekeeping Forum
Organic Beekeepers Forum
"Before leaving, I would like,
dear bees, to carve my name on
these leaves, blessed shrub that
has taken all its sap from around
your dwelling place. In its
shade, I have rested from my
weariness, have healed my wounds.
Its horizon satisfies my desires
for there I can see the
heavens. Its solitude is
more gentle than deep. Your
friends are visiting it. You
enliven it with your
singing. And because you do
not die, dear bees, you will sing
again and for ever, in the
surrounding foliage, where my
spirit will rest. Thank
you.
E.Warré" "... At a convenient time we raised queens and supplied swarms. But one evening, an order for 12 swarms was cancelled. I had empty hives to put them in, but I had only enough foundation for two hives. I settled for putting starters in the others as raw wax at the top of the frames, helped greatly by my knife in putting these starters in order. And I noticed that on these starters the bees constructed their combs as quickly as those on foundation and that these combs were more regular. I thus decided to continue to use only starters of raw wax and I have never come to regret it. The People's Hive was thus designed. And if small hives with frames economise on winter stores and facilitate the development of brood in spring, a hive with fixed comb will do it better because its volume is smaller: 36 litres instead of 44. We therefore designed the People's Hive with fixed comb. Now we noticed that the People's Hive with fixed combs saved an extra 3 kg of stores compared with the People's Hive with frames. We thus had two hives: the People's Hive with fixed comb, a perfect hive, but not convenient on a commercial scale because it does not allow the extractor to be used, and the People's Hive with frames, very superior to modern hives, inferior however to the People's Hive with fixed combs, but convenient for commercial use.... "
Honey Reference Guide (National
Honey Board) - Honey has the
capacity to serve as a natural
food preservative. Research has
demonstrated the potential for
honey to reduce enzymatic browning
in fruits and vegetables and
prevent lipid oxidation in meats.
Most of the antibacterial activity
of the honeys occurs due to
hydrogen peroxide generation.
Other researchers have identified
the flavonoids in honey,
particularly caffeic acid and
ferulic acid, as the most likely
contributors. Honey is composed
primarily of the sugars glucose
and fructose; its third greatest
component is water. Honey
also contains numerous other types
of sugars, as well as acids,
proteins and minerals.4,5
Carbohydrates are described by the
number of sub-units they contain.
Fructose and glucose are
monosac-charides, that is, simple
sugars. Sucrose, which is
composed of fructose and glucose
linked together, is a
disaccharide; it comprises a
little over 1 percent of the
composition of honey.
Act For Bees - This is a great
curriculum brought to you by the
good folks at "Act for Bees" and
"Cool Australia". "We have
partnered with ‘Cool
Australia- Learn for Life’ to
create an exciting ‘Love Food?Love
Bees!‘ curriculum for years 5/6
that can be downloaded from
the
Cool Australia website
and taken straight into the
classroom & also practically
outside in the garden!" Cool
Australia has a wide range of good
curriculum topics connected to
sustainability such as
"Biodiversity", "Climate Change",
"Nature of Mindfulness", "Outdoor
Learning", "Sustainability" and
"Indigenous Education". I
highly recommend this as an
amazing curriculum resource for
educators and students of all
ages.
Beekeeping Projects K-3 (Stephen Bambara, N.C.
State University) - This
beekeeping project for K-3rd grade
youth offers learning activities
that encourage and strengthen
positive interactions between
parents (mentors or teachers) and
children. It uses the 1993
Experiential Learning Model by
Deen and Newman and Iowa State
Univ. Extension Targeting Life
Skills models as a foundation.
This project book is divided into
two levels. Step I is for
children 5 and 6 years in age
(with little required reading).
Step II is for children 7 and 8
years in age and uses more reading
skills and is for children who may
have completed Step I and seek
more activities. They are best
performed as a joint activity
between adult and children.
The benefit of this subject
is to introduce honey bees and
beekeeping to our youngest in a
responsible way that will help
them realize the importance of
honey bees and reduce potential
fear of the insect.
Honey Bee Education Program
(K-5) The following four lessons
are designed to help you teach
students in grades K-5 many
interesting facts about honey bees
including Lesson A - What are
honey bees and why are they so
important? Students will
learn what a honey bee is, the
social structure of honey bees and
their role in the hive, and about
the behavior of insects that are
similar to honey bees. Lesson B -
How do honey bees make honey?
What’s inside a honey bee, a hive,
and a flower? Students will learn
what pollination is, how bees
behave, how beehives are
constructed, what products are
found inside the hive, the parts
of a honey bee, and the parts of a
flower. Lesson C - What
keeps a beekeeper busy? Students
will learn the difference between
feral and managed bee colonies,
the basic structure of a beehive,
what beekeepers do and the
equipment they use, and how
beehives are moved around to help
pollinate crops. Lesson D -
what are Africanized honey bees,
and why should You, “Bee Aware,
Look, Listen, and Run”? Students
will learn the importance of
managed honey bees, how to
describe the differences between
Africanized and European honey
bees, how to prevent Africanized
bees from establishing nests in
and around their homes and
schools, how to prevent potential
stinging incidents, and what to do
if they are attacked by bees or
other stinging insects.
An Adventure with Bees created
by Behany Swartz, Oakland
University (8 lesson Grades
4-5) "Being in an elementary
self-contained classroom setting,
I chose to integrate this
curriculum by using the common
theme of honeybees and pulling the
identified GLCEs and applying them
to this unit. By using the
KNOW/DO/BE framework (Drake &
Burns, 2004) as my main model, the
major goals of this unit are
listed below.KNOW: “Bees are a
life lesson. We have much
to learn about and from them”
(Caron, 1999, p. I.9).
Students should broaden
their knowledge of honey bees.
They will move from basic
facts up through larger concepts
and make generalizations about the
impacts of honeybees on our
environment. DO: Eight focused
lessons provide visual, auditory,
and kinesthetic (hands-on)
learning with extensions to
provide students exposure to
several aspects of honey bees.
Thisintergrated unit
incorporates the subjects of
science, math, language arts, and
technology.BE: Bees and wasps have
gotten a “bad rap” and negative
image because of their ability to
sting and cause fear in many
children. Caron remarks
that, “…a lot of people know
something about honey bees.
Bees have been admired,
studied, cultured, feared and
valued, but not always understood”
(p. I.3). At the conclusion of
this unit, I hope that students
will view the honey bee not as an
enemy, but instead as a friend and
advocate.I also kept in mind the
aspects of backwards design when
creating my pre/post test and what
I wanted the students to achieve.
After that, I designed my
lessons to help me reach my
goal."
A Bee's Life Teaching Guide
(National Honey Board Grades
4-6) A fairly extensive
teaching guide which includes the
subjects, honey bee biology,
society, the hive, pollination,
honey and beekeeping.
The Buzz About Bees Book 1 (4H
Project - Virginia Cooperative
Extension) The beekeeping
project (Books 1 - 4) will teach
you the basic biology and behavior
of honey bees and give you
hands-on management skills. The
honey bee project books begin with
basic honey bee and insect
information (junior level) and
advance to instruction on how to
rear honey bee colonies and
extract honey (senior level).
These project books are intended
to provide in-depth information
related to honey bee management,
yet they are written for the
amateur beekeeper, whether or not
you have previous experience in
rearing honey bees.
Pollinator Gardens Habitat
Program Curriculum and
Activities Pre K - Gr. 12
(Pollinator Partnership -
pollinator.org) Pollinator
Partnership is pleased to provide
this supplemental curriculum
packet as one way to enrich
classroom education through a
butterfly and pollinator garden.
It includes exercises to expand on
and enforce what students have
learned about butterfly and
pollinator gardens, pollinators,
other insects, their relatives and
biodiversity. Included are: •
Lesson plans for activities
relating to insects, ready to
integrate into subject areas
across the elementary and middle
school curriculum, including
language arts, math and science •
Extension ideas for home •
Background information for the
teacher • California State Content
Standards correlation.
Bee World Project Education
Pack (IBRA) The Beeworld Project aims
to promote the value of bees in
schools and communities.
This education pack has been
produced to help teachers and
other educators introduce bees,
their activities and their
relationship with humans. It
provides basic information for the
study and understanding of bees,
and offers ideas for bee-related
activities across the curriculum
and in support of Education for
Sustainable Development and Global
Citizenship (ESDGC). Using
this resource is an effective way
to get children interested in bees
and pollination, and help them
discover how important these are
to our daily lives. More detailed
information about bees and
additional educational resources
are available on the IBRA Beeworld Project
website.
Honey (B.C. Agriculture) This unit on Honey has
been designed for use in a Grade
11 or 12 Foods and Nutrition class
but could also be modified for
junior grades. The teaching
activities explore a range of
topics including fun facts about
honey, how honey is gathered and
processed, the types of and uses
for honey, cooking with honey, and
finally, the problems currently
faced by beekeepers across the
world. Lessons also explore honey
as a sustainable food source and
encourage the student to compare
and evaluate the product with
sugar in terms of its health
benefits and ecological impact.
The topic of Colony Collapse
Disorder is important especially
as bees are so essential to
fertilization of food crops, and
it is necessary that they feel
empowered to affect change. Each
activity is self-contained and
suggestions for extending the
lesson are given at the end of
each.
The Honey Bee: A Teacher's
Companion - (L.Johnson, Antioch
University) This is an extensive
exploration of honey bees for the
benefit of the class teacher.
The text and appendices
provide material - poetry, music,
fables, biographics, class
projects and further resources -
to draw Apis Mellifera into the
life of a teacher and a class.
Environmental Education Story
Book (Centre for Eco-Cultural
Studies, Sri Lanka - Ages
4-9) Stories are a perfect way
to reach a young child’s attention
as they mix real issues and a
fantasy world where everything is
possible and imagination is the
only limit. They are a different
way to create a genuine interest
in learning while also allowing
children to become aware of the
different threats to the
environment they live in. A
mixture of these three
ingredients, school, English
learning and storytelling has
proven effective in other places
around the world, where entire
conservationist movements have
been created around characters
like the Easter Bilby in
Australia. This and other
successes inspired the creation of
this book. I hope it can of use to
facilitate English learning in Sri
Lanka and in other regions where
these stories fit the biodiversity
conservation context.
The Travelling Beehive by Elena Garcia and Manuel
Angel Rosado, Illustrated by
Juan Hernez
from
APOLO
- "The Travelling Beehive" is
an amazing book for children of
all ages. I highly recommend
it for every beekeeper, their
children and grandchildren. This
book is wonderfully written by
Elena Garcia and Manuel Angel
Rosado and beautifully illustrated
by Juan Hernaz. It is
published by Apolo which is an
organization dedicated to the
preservation of pollinators and
their habitat. You can
follow Polli the honey bee and her
friend Dipter the hover fly as
they face the challenges of a
disappearing green space.
They are joined in their
struggle by Bazumba the wild bee,
Missus Bombus the bumblebee, Lepi
the butterfly, her majesty the
queen, Dorian the farmer and Ramon
the beekeeper. Sit back and enjoy
the The Travelling Beehive .
There is a vast library of
instructional webinars available
from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm , Ohio State University , Michigan State University , North Carolina State Apiculture
Program
and the Pollinator Partnership. Here is just a few of
those.
Brushy Mtn Farm Youtube channel has webinars and videos of virtually every topic related to beekeeping.
Classic Beekeeping Books
Bee Hunting: Finding a Wild Colony of Honey Bees (from Charles Walcott)
"One method of locating a colony of wild bees is called bee lining. In this video, we will join Prof. Tom Seeley as he tries to locate a wild colony of bees. He catches bees foraging on goldenrod and aster, feeds them concentrated sugar solution and determines the direction that they fly as they return to their colony. By painting identifying marks on some bees, he is able to measure their round trip time to get an estimate of the distance to the colony. With direction and distance established, he moves closer. Then, watching the bees, sees that they are living in a dead tree."
Her writing
culminated in two mighty,
encyclopedic tomes, Bees and
Beekeeping: science, practice and
world resources (1990; at 614
pages) and The World History of
Beekeeping and Honey Hunting
(1999; 682 pages). These distilled
a lifetime's knowledge and
experience and are regarded as
seminal textbooks throughout the
beekeeping world."Along with
writing many books and articles,
Crane also helped create a
beekeeping library, which held
many books on bees and beekeeping,
and turned the small journal Bee
World into a well-known scientific
magazine. Without doubt
she became one of the greatest
writers on bees and beekeeping in
the 20th century. In January
1949 she established the Bee
Research Association (BRA). From
the beginning this organization
was international in its aims
and outlook but only
became IBRA in 1976. "IBRA is
internationally recognised as the
world’s primary source and
foremost provider of information
on bees. Its database and
information services, including
journals, teaching aids and other
publications, embrace all bee
species whether managed by man for
pollination or their products, or
truly wild. IBRA has one of
the largest databases of
scientific information on bees and
bee related interests in the
world." For more information
on Eva Crane go to the Eva Crane Trust.
Amerindian honey hunting and hive beekeeping by Eva Crane
Amerindian uses of honey, wax and brood from stingless bees by Eva Crane
Ancient Apiculture by Eva Crane
Bee Hives of the Ancient World
Part 1 by Eva Crane
Bee Hives of the Ancient World Part 2 by Eva Crane
Bee shelters and bee boles in Cumbria by Eva Crane
Charles Darwin and bees by Eva Crane
Early English Beekeeping up to the end of the Norman period 1135 AD by Eva Crane
English beekeeping 1200-1850 by Eva Crane
A Survey of English beekeeping in 1086 by Eva Crane
History of beekeeping in English gardens Part 1 by Eva Crane
History of beekeeping in English gardens Part 2 by Eva Crane
Honey past, present and future by Eva Crane
Honeydew sources and their honeys by Eva Crane
Owen Thomas beekeeper and skep maker in the eighteenth century by Eva Crane
Physical properties, flavour and aroma of some honeys by Eva Crane and Penelope Walker
The shape, construction and identification of traditional hives by Eva Crane
The world's beekeeping past and present by Eva Crane
Traditional Bee Management as a basis for beekeeping development in the Tropics by Eva Crane et al
Traditional beekeeping in Vietnam by Eva Crane
Winter bee houses and cellars (history) by Eva Crane and Penelope Walker
The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting by Eva Crane
"This book is the first book to
explore in detail the world
history of man’s use of bees from
prehistoric times to the present
day. It gathers together a vast
amount of information in an
eminently readable text. From
archaelogical evidence about bee
hives in Ancient Egypt to the Maya
people of Mesoamerica who kept
stingless bees, Dr Crane
recognieses the variations in
methods and yet there are some
uncanny similarities. It wasn't
until the 1600 that beekeeping
techniques started to change in
Europe, which culminated in 1851
with L L Langstroth's moveable
frame hives being produced in the
USA. The subsequent changes in
beekeeping, based on scientific
knowledge, brings the history up
to date. There are over 500
illustrations and extensive
bibliographies and
appendices." IBRA Here is a preview of this
amazing book. The World History of Beekeeping
and Honey Hunting.
Bee Hives of the Ancient World Part 2 by Eva Crane
Bee shelters and bee boles in Cumbria by Eva Crane
Charles Darwin and bees by Eva Crane
Early English Beekeeping up to the end of the Norman period 1135 AD by Eva Crane
English beekeeping 1200-1850 by Eva Crane
A Survey of English beekeeping in 1086 by Eva Crane
History of beekeeping in English gardens Part 1 by Eva Crane
History of beekeeping in English gardens Part 2 by Eva Crane
Honey past, present and future by Eva Crane
Honeydew sources and their honeys by Eva Crane
Owen Thomas beekeeper and skep maker in the eighteenth century by Eva Crane
Physical properties, flavour and aroma of some honeys by Eva Crane and Penelope Walker
The shape, construction and identification of traditional hives by Eva Crane
The world's beekeeping past and present by Eva Crane
Traditional Bee Management as a basis for beekeeping development in the Tropics by Eva Crane et al
Traditional beekeeping in Vietnam by Eva Crane
Winter bee houses and cellars (history) by Eva Crane and Penelope Walker
The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting by Eva Crane
"This book is the first book to
explore in detail the world
history of man’s use of bees from
prehistoric times to the present
day. It gathers together a vast
amount of information in an
eminently readable text. From
archaelogical evidence about bee
hives in Ancient Egypt to the Maya
people of Mesoamerica who kept
stingless bees, Dr Crane
recognieses the variations in
methods and yet there are some
uncanny similarities. It wasn't
until the 1600 that beekeeping
techniques started to change in
Europe, which culminated in 1851
with L L Langstroth's moveable
frame hives being produced in the
USA. The subsequent changes in
beekeeping, based on scientific
knowledge, brings the history up
to date. There are over 500
illustrations and extensive
bibliographies and
appendices." IBRA Here is a preview of this
amazing book. The World History of Beekeeping
and Honey Hunting.
"Apart from her authoritative and
well-researched books, Eva Crane
wrote many articles and texts for
lectures. She kept a numbered list
of all her publications, in
chronological order, adding a
letter for late additions, e.g.
004a, but the list does not
include her many signed/unsigned
editorials and short features in
Bee World. She also filed a paper
copy of each published article and
unpublished typescript (many
amended by hand).
The list
below, which is based on this
collection, contains 375 entries.
Many of these have been scanned
and wherever possible they will be
uploaded and accessible via this
web site. The following (marked *
in the list) were not scanned:
non-beekeeping articles (pre-1945,
labelled A-O); books; very long
chapters in books; and a few
articles missing from the
collection. All pre-1989
publications are believed to be
out of copyright, but we have
attempted to contact publishers
for permission to upload the scans
available to view, whatever the
date."
Individual Studies
Pesticides and Their
Involvement in Colony Collapse
Disorder (Penn State University) -
For honey bees low levels of
pesticides have been shown to
reduce associative learning of
individual bees in laboratory
studies using the proboscis
extension response (Decourtye et
al, 2004), altering maze learning
performance in free-flying bees
(Decourtye, et al. 2010) and the
loss of foraging efficiency in
radio tagged bees, (Decourtye, et
al. 2011). The precocious foraging
of nurse bees from IGR
insecticides is also documented
(Thompson et al. 2007). These
changes in learning and behavior
can potentially alter normal
colony level functions, yet
colony-level impacts remain to be
verified. Honey bee larvae
reared in cells contaminated with
the miticides fluvalenate or
coumaphos show a reduced
developmental rate and delayed
adult emergence along with reduced
adult longevity (Wu et al, 2011).
These effects can have multiple
consequences for the colony
including increased developmental
time for Varroa mites, reduced
colony population dynamics and
build up, as well as potential
shifts in worker division of
labor. Whether or not the
pesticides associated with wax in
the CART study (aboce) have
similar impacts on larvae remains
to be determined. Fungicides have
long been known to synergize with
some pesticides in laboratory
toxicity bioassays (Iwasi et al,
2004). More recently, we have
determined that combinations of
formulated pesticides and
fungicides fed to either adult
worker bees or to larvae can have
synergistic effects on mortality.
What happens when 3 or 4 or 5
different pesticide mixtures are
ingested by honey bee larvae or
adults for substantial periods of
time?The Bees Burden (University of Exeter
(England)) - This study reports
concentrations of pesticides found
in pollen brought back to hives by
foraging bees, and sampled using
pollen traps (trapped pollen) or
direct from the comb (comb pollen,
beebread). Twenty-five samples of
comb pollen stored over winter
from the 2012 foraging season were
obtained from locations in seven
European countries, and
subsequently 107 samples of
trapped pollen from the 2013
foraging season were obtained from
locations in 12 European countries
and analysed at an accredited
laboratory. In terms of the
geographical areas covered, and
the numbers of samples taken
simultaneously, this is one of the
most extensive studies of
pesticides in bee-collected pollen
carried out to date.
Residues of at least one of
53 pesticides (including 22
insecticides/acaricides, 29fungicides and two herbicides) were identified in 72 of the 107 trapped pollen samples, while residues of at least one of 17 pesticides (including nine insecticides / acaricides and eight fungicides) were identified in 17 of the 25 samples of comb pollen (beebread).
Implications of High Levels of Miticides and Pesticides in North American Apiaries (Penn State University and the U.S.D.A.) - "Honey bees across North America are extensively exposed to multiple pesticides. Brood nest wax and foundations, beebread and trapped pollen, and adult bees and brood comprising 749 samples contained 118 different pesticides and metabolites, 4894 total residues of which 748 were systemics, and averaged 6.5 detections per sample. In the 259 wax samples (Table 1) 87 pesticides and metabolites were found with up to 39 different detections in a single sample, averaging 8 different pesticide residues each. In the 350 pollen samples analyzed (Table 2), 98 pesticides and degradates were identified, with up to 31 different pesticides found in a single sample, and samples averaged 7.1 different pesticide residues each. The analysis of bees resulted in fewer detections (Table 3), and
averaged 2.5 residues per each of the 140 samples, with a maximum of 25 in one sample. Only one of the wax, three pollen and 12 bee samples had no detectable pesticides."
4 Common Pesticides
highly toxic to Honey Bee
Larvae (Penn State
University and University of
Florida) - Four Common
Pesticides, Their Mixtures
and a Formulation Solvent in
the Hive Environment Have
High Oral Toxicity to Honey
Bee Larvae. "The current
study demonstrates the
chronic oral and mixture
toxicity of common
pesticides at hive levels to
honey bees at the larval
stage. Most notable are the
chronic larval toxicities of
the fungicide chlorothalonil
and its synergistic
combinations with frequently
used in-hive miticides, and
the unexpected high toxicity
of the formulation
ingredient
N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone."
Impact of Neonicotinoid
exposure on colony performance
and Queen Supersedure (University of Zurich,
Swiss Bee Research Centre,
University of Berne and the
University of Reading)
- Impact of Chronic
Neonicotinoid Exposure on
Honeybee Colony Performance and
Queen Supersedure. "In
line with a recent meta-analysis
[44], our results clearly
indicate that neonicotinoids
negatively impact on honeybee
colony performance after chronic
sublethal exposure throughout
two brood cycles."
Pesticide Exposure Increases
susceptibility to Nosema (U.S.D.A., University of
Maryland and the University of
California) - Crop
Pollination Exposes Honey Bees
to Pesticides Which Alters Their
Susceptibility to the Gut
Pathogen Nosema ceranae.
"Our results combined with
several recent studies of
specific pesticides’ effects on
Nosema infection dynamics
[13–15] indicate that a
detrimental interaction occurs
when honey bees are exposed to
both pesticides and
Nosema."
Interactions between Nosema
and neonicotinoids weakens
honey bees (INRA - Europe's top
agricultural research institute)
- "We demonstrated that the
interaction between the
microsporidia Nosema and a
neonicotinoid (imidacloprid)
significantly weak-ened
honeybees."
Exposure to Neonicotinoids
effects learning and memory in
Honey Bees (Newcastle University,
UK) - "The experiments reported
here show that prolonged
exposure to field-realistic
concentrations of the
neonicotinoid imidacloprid and
the organophosphate
acetylcholinesterase inhibitor
coumaphos and their combination
impairs olfactory learning and
memory formation in the
honeybee."
Parasite-Insecticide
interaction (Clermont University and
CNRS)
In this study, we used a
multi-residue method based on
LC-MS/MS to analyze samples of
puddle water taken in the field
during the planting of treated
corn and one month later. If honey
bees were to collect and drink
water from these puddles, our
results showed that they would be
exposed to various agricultural
pesticides. All water samples
collected from corn fields were
contaminated with at least one
neonicotinoid compound, although
most contained more than one
systemic insecticide.
Concentrations of neonicotinoids
were higher in early spring,
indicating that emission and
drifting of contaminated dust
during sowing raises contamination
levels of puddles. Although the
overall average acute risk of
drinking water from puddles was
relatively low, concentrations of
neonicotinoids ranged from 0.01 to
63 mg/L and were sufficient to
potentially elicit a wide array of
sublethal effects in individuals
and colony alike. Our results also
suggest that risk assessment of
honey bee water resources
underestimates the foragers’
exposure and consequently
miscalculates the risk. In fact,
our data shows that honey bees and
native pollinators are facing
unprecedented cumulative exposure
to these insecticides from
combined residues in pollen,
nectar and water.
Videos
Third generation Ontario
beekeeper's story
Conclusions drawn from
multiple studies
Worldwide assessment of
systemic pesticides - The Task Force on
Systemic Pesticides is an
independent group of scientists
from all over the globe, who came
together to work on the Worldwide
Integrated Assessment of the
Impact of Systemic Pesticides on
Biodiversity and Ecosystems.
The mandate of the Task
Force on Systemic Pesticides
(TFSP) has been “to carry out a
comprehensive, objective,
scientific review and assessment
of the impact of systemic
pesticides on biodiversity, and on
the basis of the results of this
review to make any recommendations
that might be needed with regard
to risk management procedures,
governmental approval of new
pesticides, and any other relevant
issues that should be brought to
the attention of decision makers,
policy developers and society in
general.” To this end a
highly multidisciplinary team of
30 scientists from all over the
globe jointly made a synthesis of
1,121 published peer-reviewed
studies spanning the last five
years, including
industry-sponsored ones.
"The present scale of use,
combined with the properties of
these compounds, has resulted in
widespread contamination of
ag-ricultural soils, freshwater
resources, wetlands, non-target
vegetation and estuarine and
coastal marine systems, which
means that many organisms
inhabiting these habitats are
being repeatedly and chronically
exposed to effective
concentrations of these
insecticides." (175 pages)
Clothianidin adversely effects
insect immunity - Neonicotinoid
clothianidin adversely affects
insect immunity and promotes
replication of a viral pathogen in
honey bees.
Pesticide Exposure reduces
foraging success and survival in
Honey Bees - "As Henry et al.’s
experiments so elegantly
demonstrate, there is no question
that dietary thiamethoxam harms
honey bee colonies by ele-vating
the mortality of adult foragers
through navigation failure, at
least when the entire daily intake
of a forager is consumed in a
single dose."
Sublethal doses of a
neonicotinoid pesticide and
pathogens interact to elevate
honey bee mortality - "Through fully crossed
experiments in which treatments
were administered singly or in
combination, we found an additive
interaction between BQCV and
thiacloprid on host larval
survival, likely because the
pesticide significantly elevated
viral loads."
Combined Pesticide Exposure
severely effects Bees - "Here we show that
chronic exposure of bumblebees to
two pesticides (neonicotinoid and
pyrethroid) at concentrations that
could approximate field-level
exposure impairs natural fora-ging
behaviour and increases worker
mortality leading to signi-ficant
reductions in brood development
and colony success."
Low dose pesticides effects on
Bees - "At the end of the
experiment, the hives with the
bees that had eaten the
imidacloprid in the lab weighed 8%
to 12% less than the 25 untreated
hives—an indication that the bees
had gathered less food and
produced fewer workers."
Neonicotinoids - Our Toxic
Countryside - "How was all of this
allowed to happen? How did the
pesticide companies manage to
poison most of the world’s arable
landscapes and kill close to 10
million bee colonies as well as
countless myriads of other insects
and birds? The answer is
their profits buy ‘influence’.
More than $1 billion a year
from Imidacloprid alone – and
possibly $20 billion since 1992 –
has enabled them, it is believed,
to bully, bribe, coerce,
co-opt and persuade the
governments, regulators and
universities of the developed
world as well as national
beekeeping associations including
our own BBKA."
Neonic effect on Honey bees - "So the disruption to the
neurological signalling of honey
bees by Neonicotinoids means that
they become disorientated. The
chemicals impair their
communication, homing and foraging
ability, flight activity,
olfactory discrimination (smell is
also vital to bees communication
systems), and learning, and a
weakened immune system."
Pesticides and honey bees
(State of the Science 2012
PAN) - “The weight of evidence
demonstrates that pesticides are
indeed key in explaining honey bee
declines, both directly and in
tandem with the other two leading
factors, pathogens and poor
nutrition.”
Are Neonicotinoids killing
Bees? (Xerces) - A Review of Research
into the Effects of Neonicotinoid
Insecticides on Bees, with
Recommendations for Action.
Bee Health The Role of
Pesticides (Congress) - "The
U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) reports that overwinter
colony losses from 2006 to 2011
averaged more than 32% annually.
This report provides a
listing of the range of possible
factors thought to be negatively
affecting managed and wild bee
populations. In addition to
pesticides, other identified
factors include bee pests and
diseases, diet and nutrition,
genetics, habitat loss and other
environmental stressors, and
beekeeping management issues, as
well as the possibility that bees
are being negatively affected by
cumulative, multiple exposures
and/or the interactive effects of
each of these factors.
Briefly summarizes readily
available scientific research and
analysis regarding the potential
role of pesticides among the
factors affecting the health and
well-being of bees, as well as the
statutory authority and related
regulatory activities of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) related to pesticide
use."
This is the first investigation
of neonicotinoid insecticide
concentrations in “bee-friendly”
nursery plants sold to consumers
at garden centers in cities across
America. The findings indicate
that bee-friendly nursery plants
sold at U.S. retailers may contain
systemic pesticides at levels that
are high enough to cause adverse
effects on bees and other
pollinators — with no warning to
consumers. Neonicotinoid residues
were detected in seven out of
thirteen samples (54 percent) of
commercial nursery plants. In the
samples with detections,
concentrations ranged from 11 to
1,500 micrograms per kilogram
(µg/kg or parts per billion) of
plant material.
The 2008 food crisis was an
important catalyst for realizing
the need for a fundamental
transformation and questioning
some of the assumptions that had
driven food, agricultural and
trade policy in recent decades.
The world currently produces
sufficient calories per head to
feed a global population of 12-14
billion. Around 1 billion
people chronically suffer from
starvation and another billion are
mal-nurished. Therefore
hunger and malnutrition are not a
product of insufficient supply but
results of prevailing poverty and
above all access to food.
The world needs a paradigm
shift in agricultural development:
from a “green revolution” to an
“ecological intensification”
approach. This implies a
rapid and significant shift from
conventional, monoculture-based
industrial production towards
mosaics of sustainable,
regenerative production systems
that also considerably improve the
productivity of small-scale
farmers.
Roundup (Glyphosate)
GMO's
The reason GMO studies are
included is the increased useage
of gm seeds has resulted in a
significant increase in
pesticide application.
General Planting Guides
Bee Friendly Planting Guide - This planting guide
from the Australian Government is
particularly timely as there is
increasing public concern for the
well being and survival of global
honeybee populations following the
reported colony collapse disorder
in the United States and Europe,
and the threat to the Australian
industry of the destructive varroa
mite. This guide to planting
choices from the backyard to the
bush, right across the nation,
will assist with increasing the
available bee food. Although
this planting guide is written
from an Australian perspective
most of the plants are grown
around the world.
Bee Protective Habitat Guide - This guide from
"Beyond Pesticides" is designed to
provide information on pollinators
with resources on
pollinator-friendly habitat, as
well as pesticide use that
contributes to declines in
pollinator health. To that end,
the wildflower section contains
perennial species that are known
to nurture bee populations in the
U.S. The guide is divided into
several sections and is arranged
by season to encourage gardeners
and land managers to plant
flowers that will bloom all year
round. Within each season, plants
are arranged in alphabetical order
by common name. Bloom months have
been provided and are rated based
on when they commonly begin to
bloom in the Midwest. Some species
may continue blooming later into
the season depending on the
location. Note that plant
hardiness should be referenced
with the Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
*Your ability to grow a specific
plant is not based on the country
you live in but on the plant
hardiness. The world is divided
into plant hardiness zones which
can be seen on the maps below.
Though you should be able to grow
any plants from your hardiness
zone you are encouraged to grow
native plants.
Pollinator Planting for
Farms
United Nations Report on Small
Scale, Organic Farming - The 2008 food crisis
was an important catalyst for
realizing the need for a
fundamental transformation and
questioning some of the
assumptions that had driven food,
agricultural and trade policy in
recent decades. The
fundamental transformation of
agriculture may well turn out to
be one of the biggest challenges,
including for international
security, of the 21st century.
The world needs a paradigm
shift in agricultural development:
from a “green revolution” to an
“ecological intensification”
approach. The required
transformation is much more
profound than simply tweaking the
existing industrial agricultural
system.
Planting for Pollinators in
the U.S.
Wildflowers of Texas: Part 1
(Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower
Center) - The annual
sunflower is very useful and
Native Americans greatly valued
it. They used for it medicines,
fiber, cordage, and as a highly
nutritious food for both humans
and cattle. The seeds could be
ground up and used to make bread.
The shells were used to brew a
pseudo-coffee. The Incas believed
that the sunflower was the
physical manifestation of the Sun
God on Earth. The plant is an
important part of the Iroquois
creation myth. Iroquois Creation
Myth (from:
http://www.cs.williams.edu/~lindsey/myths/myths_12.html)
Long before the world was created
there was an island, floating in
the sky, upon which the Sky People
lived. They lived quietly and
happily. No one ever died, or was
born, or experienced sadness.
However, one day one of the Sky
Women realized she was going to
give birth to twins. She told her
husband, who flew into a rage. In
the center of the island there was
a tree that gave light to the
entire island, since the sun
hadn't been created yet. He tore
up this tree, creating a huge hole
in the middle of the island.
Curiously, the woman peered into
the hole. Far below she could see
the waters that covered the Earth.
At that moment her husband pushed
her. She fell through the hole,
tumbling towards the waters
below...
Planting for Pollinators in
Canada
Gardening with native plants on
Vancouver Island - The three essentials:
food, shelter and water. Seed and
berry producing shrubs feed and
shelter birds. Provide a variety
of food sources through the
seasons by leaving seed heads on
plants. A water feature (protected
from cats and hawks) will attract
many types of birds and animals.
Butterflies boycott
pesticides. Feeding adults prefer
certain plant species, but missing
plants for caterpillars often
restricts butterfly abundance.
Plant poplar and willow, maintain
areas of natural meadow, create a
mud puddle, and tolerate some
chewed leaves. Swallowtail
caterpillars eat herbs with
umbrella-like flowers including
Spring Gold, Lomatiums, & Cow
Parsnip. Some butterflies
overwinter in the leaf litter that
renews the soil. Plant tall
sticks in sunny quiet spots for
butterflies and dragonflies to
rest.
Planting for Pollinators
throughout the World
Planting Guide for Honey and
Australian Native Bees - The Australian honeybee
industry provides essential
benefits to the agricultural and
horticultural sector through
managed and incidental pollination
services. Urban environments also
benefit from the activities of
honeybees. Planting bee forage for
honeybee nutrition can offer major
benefits to the industry and to
society. However, listed
weeds should not be planted. Local
nurseries will provide advice
about which plants are listed as
weeds in your area. This
planting guide for bee forage is
particularly timely as there is
increasing public concern for the
well being and survival of global
honeybee populations following the
reported colony collapse disorder
in the United States and Europe,
and the threat to the Australian
industry of the destructive varroa
mite. This guide to planting
choices from the backyard to the
bush, right across the nation,
will assist with increasing the
available bee food.
We have to acknowledge the
difficulty inherent in the phrase
'natural beekeeping': as soon as
you consider 'keeping' bees, you
begin to stray from what is truely
'natural'. In nature, only
bees keep bees. So what do
we mean by 'natural' beekeeping,
and what is 'unnatural' about
conventional beekeeping. To
be considered 'natural' our
beekeeping must take into account:
1. the natural impulses and
behaviour or bees, inlcuding -
foraging, swarming, storing food
and defending their
nest 2. how hive
design effects bees 3.
the suitability of hive materials
used, including considerations of
sustainability
4. the nature and frequency of our
interventions 5. the
local impact of a big increase in
honey bee population on other
species of pollinators 6.
the balance between honey
harvesting and the bees' own
needs 7. the nature of
added inputs - medications and
feeding.
Sustainability Our overall goal in natural
beekeeping is to achieve a state
of sustainability: balancing
inputs and outputs such that our
activities enhance rather than
damage the health of our bees,
other species and the planet.
Healthy Beekeeping by Kirk Webster
The best kept secret revisited by Kirk Webster
A list of publications by
Professor Thomas Seeley since the l970's.
Natural Beekeeping Videos
Michael Bush Treatment-free Beekeeping (8 mins)
Dee Lusby Organic Beekeeping (27 mins)
Thomas Seeley Following Wild Bees (50 mins)
The Warre Hive David Heaf (27 mins)
Natural Beekeeping (Preventing CCD) Jacqueline Freeman (10:20 mins)
Revealing the inside of the Sun Hive Heidi Herrmann (11 mins)
The Sun Hive (Haengekorb) Sun Hive (10:01 mins)
Perone Hive Natural Beekeeping (12 mins)
Natural Beekeeping Websites:
Michael Bush's website
has a wealth of information on
natural beekeeping including a
page of
powerpoint presentations on topics like the history
of beekeeping, beginning
beekeeping, foundationless
beekeeping, natural cell size,
queen rearing, races of bees,
spring management, wintering bees
and more.
Here is a list of
writings on natural beekeeping
by Kirk Webster
over the last 20 years and a
number of the
videos he has created on
natural beekeeping.
Philip Chandler's Top Bar website,
Biobees and
Warre Biobees is a good source of
information including his
youtube channel which includes topics like
top bar hive setup, spring check,
converting frames to topbars, top
bar feeders, ecofloors and more.
Mike Palmer of
French Hill Apiaries
has a lot of good videos on
natural beekeeping including
natural, commercial
beekeeping. Here is his
video web page
and a
Michael Palmer video web
page
by the
Two Little Ladies Apiary.
Backyardhive.com
has a wealth of information on top
bar beekeeping on their education
page, "Managing Your Top Bar Hive". They also have a youtube
channel,
Bee Guardian that covers topics from
installing and seasonal management
to harvesting.
The Warre Store has a lot of information
relating to Warre
beekeeping. There is a
new beekeeper
page, a
Warre beekeeping information
page and a
Warre hive video tutorial page.
Kirk Webster
Natural Beekeeping Trust
Ed and Dee Lusby
Resistant Bees
David Heaf's Warre Beekeeping Pages and a list of published papers on the science behind natural beekeeping provided by David Heaf in the Natural Beekeeping Trust.
Natural Beekeeping Forum
Organic Beekeepers Forum
Top Bar Beekeeping
Top Bar Hives
Standard Top Bars for the Beekeeper (TJ Carr and John Bradford)
Keeping Bees in Top Bar Hives (Les Crowder and Heather Harrell)
An analysis of the KTB Hive in Calgary, Alberta (Calgary Beekeepers Association)
The Top Bar Hive in Commercial Beekeeping and Research (Dr. W.A. Mangum)
Comparison of TBH vs Langstroth Hives (Chantal Forster)
Beekeeping with Top Bar Hives (Wikibooks)
Top Bar Hives Questions and Answers
The Kenyan Top Bar Hive Explained
Comparison- Vertical to Horizontal Top Bar Hive
The Vertical Top Bar Hive (Warre Hive)
Building a Better Beehive with Les Crowder by Robert Gerard
Sustainable Beekeeping with Top Bar Hives (Robin Morris)
Top Bar Hive in East Senegal (B.F.D.)
Using local style and Top Bar Hives in Uganda (BFD)
17th Century Ceramic Top Bar Hives (H. Harissis and G. Mavrofridis)
Kenyan Top Bar Hive Management
The Appropriate Beehive: An Introduction to Top Bar Beekeeping by Marty Hardison
This hive is called by a
number of names: the David
hive, the Kenya hive, or
simply the frameless movable
comb topbar hive. These
hives were designed for use
in Third World development
projects. The David hive was
developed by an Israeli
apiculturalist, 1. Linder,
for use in Senegal, Africa.
The Kenya hive was developed
by two English beekeepers,
E. J. Tredwell and P.
Paterson. It was designed
for use in Kenya, Africa.
(Sperling:1980, p. 285.)
Both of these situations
lack the kind of material
and monetary resources that
facilitate Langstroth
beekeeping. But I believe that their necessity has been mother to a great invention. The topbar hive is an appropriate technology tool for beekeeping. It's not an inefficient primitive instrument nor is it a high cost convenience. It lies somewhere in the middle. It operates by the same discovery that enabled the Langstroth hive - the bee space. In this hive independent movable combs are suspended from carefully sized topbars. The topbars are the precise width that once a comb is build on one· the bee space between that comb and the next is preserved. The combs are built entirely by the bees.
Basic Beekeeping Manual by Pam Gregory - Top Bar Hives (Africa)
This is a 2 volume
publication written by Pam
Gregory with assistance of
Gay Marris of the U.K.
National Bee Unit (FERA)
that concentrates on top
bar hive beekeeping, but
many of the techniques and
ideas can also be used by
traditional and frame hive
beekeepers. "This
field manual is designed
for use by field-based
trainers in sub Saharan
Africa. It is based on
colour pictures with few
words. The manual covers
basic techniques needed to
start a beekeeping
business. It also offers
some new ideas to help
beekeepers to become
independent by making
their own equipment from
local materials. I hope
that this will help people
to start beekeeping at an
affordable cost, and maybe
to experiment with new
materials. The pictures
show some of the many
different ways that people
keep bees. This is
intended to promote
discussion and shared
experiences to help people
to solve problems locally.
The manual concentrates on
top bar hive beekeeping
but many of the techniques
and ideas can also be used
by traditional and frame
hive beekeepers."
The
Advanced Beekeeping
Manual
covers more advanced
management techniques and
problem solving and offers
some ideas about how to
tackle them. The
Swahili language
version
of this manual.
Top Bar Beekeeping in New
Zealand - When talking to
professional bee keepers about
Top Bar hive's don't be put off
if they look at you blankly.
Most bee keepers have not heard
of this way of keeping bees and
indeed Top Bar hives are not an
option for a professional bee
keeper as the honey production
is not as high as with a
conventional hive. These hives
are becoming more and more
popular in the UK and America,
where people are looking for a
more natural and cheaper way of
keeping bees. A great website to
start your research is Phillip
Chandlers Biobees
(www.biobees.com). You can also
buy his book The Barefoot
Beekeeper which describes the
management and care of a Top Bar
hive based on his U.K.
Experience.
Top Bar Hive Management (Tanya Philips - beefriendlyaustin.com)
Top Bar Beekeeping in Alaska (Stephen Petersen, toklatapiaries.weebly.com)
Beekeeping with Top Bar Hives (Nicola Bradbear and Gladstone Solomon BFD)
Top Bar Hive - Essential Management (sparkybeegirl.com)
Beekeeping Training Manual (Top Bar, Zambia, W.C.S.)
Better Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives by Pam Gregory (B.F.D.)
Things that can go wrong with Top Bar Hives by Pam Gregory (B.F.D.)
Top Bar entrances and roofs by Pam Gregory (B.F.D.)
Sample simple 32 bar Top Bar Hive Inspection Form (beepods.com)
Simple 32 bar Top Bar Inspection Form (beepods.com)
Top Bar Hive Inspection Diagram (Christy Hemenway)
How to introduce bees to a Top Bar Hive by Phil, Norm and Gary at biobees.com
How to install a package of bees into a Top Bar Hive (goldstarhoneybees.com)
Video - Installing a Package of Bees in a KTBH (Wyatt Mangum)
Video - Inspecting the installed package of bees on the third day (Wyatt Mangum)
Moving Bees from a frame to a Top Bar Hive (Philip Chandler)
Installing a Langstroth Nuc into a Top Bar Hive
Choosing a site, making a hive stand and attracting bees (BFD)
Video - Top Bar Hive Inspection (honeybeesonline.com)
Video - Comb Management Part 1 (learningbeekeeping.com)
Video - Comb Management Part 2 (learningbeekeeping.com)
Top Bar Hive Ventilation (T.J Carr and John Bradford)
Video - How to Make a KTBH Feeder (Philip Chandler biobees.com)
Mite Management of Top Bar Hives by Randy Oliver (scientificbeekeeping.com)
Harvesting honey from a Top Bar Hive (Howland Blackiston)
How to Harvest Honey from a Top Bar Hive (Pam Gregory)
A trapezoidal frame adapted for centrifugal extraction (B.F.D.)
Winterizing your Top Bar Hive (backyardhive.com)
Winter in a Top Bar Hive (Christy Hemenway)
Video - Winterize your Top Bar Hive (goldstarhoneybees.com)
Video - Minnesota Cold Winterizing your KTBH (Pine City Apiary)
Dividing Top Bar Hives in Ethiopia (BFD)
Facts about a frame for the Kenyan Top Bar Hive (Stanley Mboboa, Kenya)
*BFD = Bees For Development (beesfordevelopment.org)
Top Bar Hive Construction
The Calgary Top Bar Hive: For Northern Climates (Calgary Beekeepers Association)
The CTBH features an IPM
screened bottom, and is
partitionable for the purpose of
running a 2 queen colony, queen
rearing or hiving a swarm. It is
also interoperable with
Langstroth equipment and can be
expanded using Langstroth honey
supers. This hive is an indirect
result of my
analysis of using Top Bar
Hives in Calgary. This hive improves upon
current offerings by being
specifically designed for a
northern climate, while still
acknowledging the simplicity of
design fundamental to the
original Kenyan Top Bar Hive.
How to Build a Top Bar Hive (Philip Chandler - biobees.com)
Building a Top Bar Hive (beekeepingnaturally.com)
Crowder Top Bar Hive Plans (Les Crowder)
Crowder style Top Bar Mating Nuc
Drawings for a Top Bar Hive with Window (T.J Carr and John Bradford)
How to Make a Movable Comb Top Bar Hive (Pam Gregory, Kenya)
Video - How to Build a Top Bar Beehive NMBKA
Making a Top Bar Hive (BFD - Bees for Development)
The importance of Top Bar Hive dimensions by Pam Gregory (B.F.D.)
Colorado Top Bar Hive (osbeehives.net)
Kenyan Top Bar Hive Plans (Peace Corps)
Standard Top Bars for the Beekeeper (TJ Carr and John Bradford)
Keeping Bees in Top Bar Hives (Les Crowder and Heather Harrell)
An analysis of the KTB Hive in Calgary, Alberta (Calgary Beekeepers Association)
The Top Bar Hive in Commercial Beekeeping and Research (Dr. W.A. Mangum)
Comparison of TBH vs Langstroth Hives (Chantal Forster)
Beekeeping with Top Bar Hives (Wikibooks)
Top Bar Hives Questions and Answers
The Kenyan Top Bar Hive Explained
Comparison- Vertical to Horizontal Top Bar Hive
The Vertical Top Bar Hive (Warre Hive)
Building a Better Beehive with Les Crowder by Robert Gerard
Sustainable Beekeeping with Top Bar Hives (Robin Morris)
Top Bar Hive in East Senegal (B.F.D.)
Using local style and Top Bar Hives in Uganda (BFD)
17th Century Ceramic Top Bar Hives (H. Harissis and G. Mavrofridis)
Kenyan Top Bar Hive Management
The Appropriate Beehive: An Introduction to Top Bar Beekeeping by Marty Hardison
This hive is called by a
number of names: the David
hive, the Kenya hive, or
simply the frameless movable
comb topbar hive. These
hives were designed for use
in Third World development
projects. The David hive was
developed by an Israeli
apiculturalist, 1. Linder,
for use in Senegal, Africa.
The Kenya hive was developed
by two English beekeepers,
E. J. Tredwell and P.
Paterson. It was designed
for use in Kenya, Africa.
(Sperling:1980, p. 285.)
Both of these situations
lack the kind of material
and monetary resources that
facilitate Langstrothbeekeeping. But I believe that their necessity has been mother to a great invention. The topbar hive is an appropriate technology tool for beekeeping. It's not an inefficient primitive instrument nor is it a high cost convenience. It lies somewhere in the middle. It operates by the same discovery that enabled the Langstroth hive - the bee space. In this hive independent movable combs are suspended from carefully sized topbars. The topbars are the precise width that once a comb is build on one· the bee space between that comb and the next is preserved. The combs are built entirely by the bees.
Basic Beekeeping Manual by Pam Gregory - Top Bar Hives (Africa)
This is a 2 volume
publication written by Pam
Gregory with assistance of
Gay Marris of the U.K.
National Bee Unit (FERA)
that concentrates on top
bar hive beekeeping, but
many of the techniques and
ideas can also be used by
traditional and frame hive
beekeepers. "This
field manual is designed
for use by field-based
trainers in sub Saharan
Africa. It is based on
colour pictures with few
words. The manual covers
basic techniques needed to
start a beekeeping
business. It also offers
some new ideas to help
beekeepers to become
independent by making
their own equipment from
local materials. I hope
that this will help people
to start beekeeping at an
affordable cost, and maybe
to experiment with new
materials. The pictures
show some of the many
different ways that people
keep bees. This is
intended to promote
discussion and shared
experiences to help people
to solve problems locally.
The manual concentrates on
top bar hive beekeeping
but many of the techniques
and ideas can also be used
by traditional and frame
hive beekeepers."
The
Advanced Beekeeping
Manual
covers more advanced
management techniques and
problem solving and offers
some ideas about how to
tackle them. The
Swahili language
version
of this manual.
Top Bar Beekeeping in New
Zealand - When talking to
professional bee keepers about
Top Bar hive's don't be put off
if they look at you blankly.
Most bee keepers have not heard
of this way of keeping bees and
indeed Top Bar hives are not an
option for a professional bee
keeper as the honey production
is not as high as with a
conventional hive. These hives
are becoming more and more
popular in the UK and America,
where people are looking for a
more natural and cheaper way of
keeping bees. A great website to
start your research is Phillip
Chandlers Biobees
(www.biobees.com). You can also
buy his book The Barefoot
Beekeeper which describes the
management and care of a Top Bar
hive based on his U.K.
Experience.Top Bar Hive Management (Tanya Philips - beefriendlyaustin.com)
Top Bar Beekeeping in Alaska (Stephen Petersen, toklatapiaries.weebly.com)
Beekeeping with Top Bar Hives (Nicola Bradbear and Gladstone Solomon BFD)
Top Bar Hive - Essential Management (sparkybeegirl.com)
Beekeeping Training Manual (Top Bar, Zambia, W.C.S.)
Better Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives by Pam Gregory (B.F.D.)
Things that can go wrong with Top Bar Hives by Pam Gregory (B.F.D.)
Top Bar entrances and roofs by Pam Gregory (B.F.D.)
Sample simple 32 bar Top Bar Hive Inspection Form (beepods.com)
Simple 32 bar Top Bar Inspection Form (beepods.com)
Top Bar Hive Inspection Diagram (Christy Hemenway)
How to introduce bees to a Top Bar Hive by Phil, Norm and Gary at biobees.com
How to install a package of bees into a Top Bar Hive (goldstarhoneybees.com)
Video - Installing a Package of Bees in a KTBH (Wyatt Mangum)
Video - Inspecting the installed package of bees on the third day (Wyatt Mangum)
Moving Bees from a frame to a Top Bar Hive (Philip Chandler)
Installing a Langstroth Nuc into a Top Bar Hive
Choosing a site, making a hive stand and attracting bees (BFD)
Video - Top Bar Hive Inspection (honeybeesonline.com)
Video - Comb Management Part 1 (learningbeekeeping.com)
Video - Comb Management Part 2 (learningbeekeeping.com)
Top Bar Hive Ventilation (T.J Carr and John Bradford)
Video - How to Make a KTBH Feeder (Philip Chandler biobees.com)
Mite Management of Top Bar Hives by Randy Oliver (scientificbeekeeping.com)
Harvesting honey from a Top Bar Hive (Howland Blackiston)
How to Harvest Honey from a Top Bar Hive (Pam Gregory)
A trapezoidal frame adapted for centrifugal extraction (B.F.D.)
Winterizing your Top Bar Hive (backyardhive.com)
Winter in a Top Bar Hive (Christy Hemenway)
Video - Winterize your Top Bar Hive (goldstarhoneybees.com)
Video - Minnesota Cold Winterizing your KTBH (Pine City Apiary)
Dividing Top Bar Hives in Ethiopia (BFD)
Facts about a frame for the Kenyan Top Bar Hive (Stanley Mboboa, Kenya)
*BFD = Bees For Development (beesfordevelopment.org)
Top Bar Hive Construction
The Calgary Top Bar Hive: For Northern Climates (Calgary Beekeepers Association)
The CTBH features an IPM
screened bottom, and is
partitionable for the purpose of
running a 2 queen colony, queen
rearing or hiving a swarm. It is
also interoperable with
Langstroth equipment and can be
expanded using Langstroth honey
supers. This hive is an indirect
result of my
analysis of using Top Bar
Hives in Calgary. This hive improves upon
current offerings by being
specifically designed for a
northern climate, while still
acknowledging the simplicity of
design fundamental to the
original Kenyan Top Bar Hive.How to Build a Top Bar Hive (Philip Chandler - biobees.com)
Building a Top Bar Hive (beekeepingnaturally.com)
Crowder Top Bar Hive Plans (Les Crowder)
Crowder style Top Bar Mating Nuc
Drawings for a Top Bar Hive with Window (T.J Carr and John Bradford)
How to Make a Movable Comb Top Bar Hive (Pam Gregory, Kenya)
Video - How to Build a Top Bar Beehive NMBKA
Making a Top Bar Hive (BFD - Bees for Development)
The importance of Top Bar Hive dimensions by Pam Gregory (B.F.D.)
Colorado Top Bar Hive (osbeehives.net)
Kenyan Top Bar Hive Plans (Peace Corps)
Top Bar Hives Videos
Top Bar Hive Inspection (Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
-12 mins)
Build a Top Bar Hive for under
$50 (from
Wranglestar
- 24 mins)
Top Bar Hive Glass Window (from
Wranglestar
- 9 mins)
Top Bar Hive Lead Roof (from
Wranglestar
- 6 mins)
Swarm Catching 101
(Top bar hive) (from Phil
Chandler and
Biobees
- 10:39 mins)
Moving bees from frames to a
top bar hive (from Phil Chandler
and
Biobees
- 12:19 mins)
Kenyan Top Bar Hives (from Phil Chandler
and
Biobees
- 27 mins)
The Warre Hive
"Before leaving, I would like,
dear bees, to carve my name on
these leaves, blessed shrub that
has taken all its sap from around
your dwelling place. In its
shade, I have rested from my
weariness, have healed my wounds.
Its horizon satisfies my desires
for there I can see the
heavens. Its solitude is
more gentle than deep. Your
friends are visiting it. You
enliven it with your
singing. And because you do
not die, dear bees, you will sing
again and for ever, in the
surrounding foliage, where my
spirit will rest. Thank
you.E.Warré" "... At a convenient time we raised queens and supplied swarms. But one evening, an order for 12 swarms was cancelled. I had empty hives to put them in, but I had only enough foundation for two hives. I settled for putting starters in the others as raw wax at the top of the frames, helped greatly by my knife in putting these starters in order. And I noticed that on these starters the bees constructed their combs as quickly as those on foundation and that these combs were more regular. I thus decided to continue to use only starters of raw wax and I have never come to regret it. The People's Hive was thus designed. And if small hives with frames economise on winter stores and facilitate the development of brood in spring, a hive with fixed comb will do it better because its volume is smaller: 36 litres instead of 44. We therefore designed the People's Hive with fixed comb. Now we noticed that the People's Hive with fixed combs saved an extra 3 kg of stores compared with the People's Hive with frames. We thus had two hives: the People's Hive with fixed comb, a perfect hive, but not convenient on a commercial scale because it does not allow the extractor to be used, and the People's Hive with frames, very superior to modern hives, inferior however to the People's Hive with fixed combs, but convenient for commercial use.... "
Top Bar Hive Websites:
Products from Beekeeping
accessible market or the lack
of knowledge about production
and further use are of major
importance. While
production methods of other
primary products can be adapted
from common beekeeping texts,
the further elaboration and use
of the same products can rarely
be found. If so, descriptions
range from highly specific
scientific results to
self-proclaimed experts
fraudulently exploiting consumer
ignorance. In order to present a
comprehensive and practical
review this bulletin tries to
synthesize available information
from scientific literature and
practical, technical literature
including the few in-depth
reviews available on some of the
primary bee products such as
honey, Wax and propolis.
Worldwide the usage of such
primary products as propolis,
royal jelly and bee venom have
increased mostly due to
inclusion in cosmetic
preparations. Medicinal use will
increase once better and more
detailed studies are completed,
which however may not yet be in
the very near future. The use of
honey and other products has
also increased in many countries
because of the increasing health
awareness and the high esteem of
bee products in various
processed and unprocessed
forms..."
"Keeping bees requires
knowledge and experience if it
is to be done well. This
knowledge and experience can be
obtained by observing and
learning from an experienced
beekeeper or through study and
practice. Once this has been
achieved, a well-qualified
beekeeper can produce bee
products.Even if someone knows
exactly how to keep bees, the
products he or she produces may
not meet market demands and thus
may not be able to provide a
sufficient income. It is
important to realise that the
products have to be bought by
others, who determine what
demands must be met in order for
the products to be worth a
certain selling price. One
of the most important market
demands is quality. A product
has to be consistently good. It
also has to be free of
impurities and additives.
It also has to look good.
The authors of this booklet are
all experts in their areas of
beekeeping and are members of
NECTAR. But this booklet is not
a scientific publication. Its
aim is only to show how it is
possible to make good products
with limited resources."
"While there are many ways to
assess the quality of fresh
produce—aroma, firmness,
texture—your customers can
detect only the color of the
honey. Therefore your
packaging—jar and label—is
important. It should convey the
honey within is special and high
quality. The section below
outlines
Value-Added Products from
Beekeeping
(United Nations, l996)
"Many of the beekeeping
activities in developing
countries in the past have been
oriented towards
honey production. Wax usually
was a by-product and other
possible products have rarely
found
consideration. Such neglect of
other products has a variety of
reasons among which an easily
accessible market or the lack
of knowledge about production
and further use are of major
importance. While
production methods of other
primary products can be adapted
from common beekeeping texts,
the further elaboration and use
of the same products can rarely
be found. If so, descriptions
range from highly specific
scientific results to
self-proclaimed experts
fraudulently exploiting consumer
ignorance. In order to present a
comprehensive and practical
review this bulletin tries to
synthesize available information
from scientific literature and
practical, technical literature
including the few in-depth
reviews available on some of the
primary bee products such as
honey, Wax and propolis.
Worldwide the usage of such
primary products as propolis,
royal jelly and bee venom have
increased mostly due to
inclusion in cosmetic
preparations. Medicinal use will
increase once better and more
detailed studies are completed,
which however may not yet be in
the very near future. The use of
honey and other products has
also increased in many countries
because of the increasing health
awareness and the high esteem of
bee products in various
processed and unprocessed
forms..."
Bee Products
- Properties, Processing and
Marketing (N.E.C.T.A.R)
"Keeping bees requires
knowledge and experience if it
is to be done well. This
knowledge and experience can be
obtained by observing and
learning from an experienced
beekeeper or through study and
practice. Once this has been
achieved, a well-qualified
beekeeper can produce bee
products.Even if someone knows
exactly how to keep bees, the
products he or she produces may
not meet market demands and thus
may not be able to provide a
sufficient income. It is
important to realise that the
products have to be bought by
others, who determine what
demands must be met in order for
the products to be worth a
certain selling price. One
of the most important market
demands is quality. A product
has to be consistently good. It
also has to be free of
impurities and additives.
It also has to look good.
The authors of this booklet are
all experts in their areas of
beekeeping and are members of
NECTAR. But this booklet is not
a scientific publication. Its
aim is only to show how it is
possible to make good products
with limited resources."
Help the Honey Speak
(Certified Naturally Grown)
- A Marketing Guide for
Beekeepers with
Naturally-Managed Apiaries
"While there are many ways to
assess the quality of fresh
produce—aroma, firmness,
texture—your customers can
detect only the color of the
honey. Therefore your
packaging—jar and label—is
important. It should convey the
honey within is special and high
quality. The section below
outlines
your packaging options.
Similarly you (or your
representatives) have an
important role to play educating
customers. Many people think
“honey is honey” and see no
reason to pay a beekeeper $8 for
something that costs $5 in the
supermarket. Yet once they
encounter an enthusiastic
natural beekeeper, many
customers are delighted to
connect the taste of a varietal
to its floral source, learn
about how natural beekeeping
helps the bees, and do their
part by purchasing honey from
natural beekeepers. You’ll
need to decide whether to use
glass or plastic, or some
combination. Plastic
containers include various
squeeze containers and the new,
inverted jar. They are
lightweight and unbreakable, but
generally do not communicate the
high-quality image you may favor
for
your honey. Glass jars
come in a variety of shapes and
convey the “artisanal” nature of
your honey. And glass jars
are preferred by customers who
avoid storing food in plastic.
They are, however, heavy, so in
settings where customers will
need to carry the honey some
distance, a plastic option or
smaller jars might be
desirable. By offering a
variety of sizes you accommodate
the different needs of your
customers. Smaller sizes,
including small sample-sizes,
are very popular, make great
gifts, and tempt new customers
to try your honey. Larger sizes
offer your regular customers a
more economical and convenient
option..."
Honey
Honey (Reference Guide -
NHB) - "Honey has the capacity
to serve as a natural food
preservative. Research has
demonstrated the potential for
honey to reduce enzymatic
browning in fruits and
vegetables and prevent lipid
oxidation in meats. Most of the
antibacterial activity of the
honeys occurs due to hydrogen
peroxide generation. Other
researchers have identified the
flavonoids in honey,
particularly caffeic acid and
ferulic acid, as the most likely
contributors. Honey is composed
primarily of the sugars glucose
and fructose; its third greatest
component is water. Honey
also contains numerous other
types of sugars, as well as
acids, proteins and minerals.4,5
Carbohydrates are described by
the number of sub-units they
contain. Fructose and
glucose are monosac-charides,
that is, simple sugars.
Sucrose, which is composed
of fructose and glucose linked
together, is a disaccharide; it
comprises a little over 1
percent of the composition of
honey."
How do bees make honey? (Khalil Hamdan)
How do bees make honey? It's not just bee barf. (Matt Shipman)
Honey and It's Uses (Malcolm T. Sanford)
Infant Botulism and Honey (University of Florida)
Honey (Reference Guide -
NHB) - "Honey has the capacity
to serve as a natural food
preservative. Research has
demonstrated the potential for
honey to reduce enzymatic
browning in fruits and
vegetables and prevent lipid
oxidation in meats. Most of the
antibacterial activity of the
honeys occurs due to hydrogen
peroxide generation. Other
researchers have identified the
flavonoids in honey,
particularly caffeic acid and
ferulic acid, as the most likely
contributors. Honey is composed
primarily of the sugars glucose
and fructose; its third greatest
component is water. Honey
also contains numerous other
types of sugars, as well as
acids, proteins and minerals.4,5
Carbohydrates are described by
the number of sub-units they
contain. Fructose and
glucose are monosac-charides,
that is, simple sugars.
Sucrose, which is composed
of fructose and glucose linked
together, is a disaccharide; it
comprises a little over 1
percent of the composition of
honey."How do bees make honey? (Khalil Hamdan)
How do bees make honey? It's not just bee barf. (Matt Shipman)
Honey and It's Uses (Malcolm T. Sanford)
Infant Botulism and Honey (University of Florida)
Determination of Botannical
Origin of Honey
(Inframiel.ch)
Honey Floral Source Guide (NHB)
Judging Liquid Honey (J. Ambrose)
Honey Floral Source Guide (NHB)
Judging Liquid Honey (J. Ambrose)
Apitherapy
Wax
Propolis
Propolis - Composition,
Health, Medicine (Stefan
Bogdanov)
The Benefits of Propolis (Dr. Marla Spivak)
The Benefits of Propolis (Dr. Marla Spivak)
Honey Reference Guide (National
Honey Board) - Honey has the
capacity to serve as a natural
food preservative. Research has
demonstrated the potential for
honey to reduce enzymatic browning
in fruits and vegetables and
prevent lipid oxidation in meats.
Most of the antibacterial activity
of the honeys occurs due to
hydrogen peroxide generation.
Other researchers have identified
the flavonoids in honey,
particularly caffeic acid and
ferulic acid, as the most likely
contributors. Honey is composed
primarily of the sugars glucose
and fructose; its third greatest
component is water. Honey
also contains numerous other types
of sugars, as well as acids,
proteins and minerals.4,5
Carbohydrates are described by the
number of sub-units they contain.
Fructose and glucose are
monosac-charides, that is, simple
sugars. Sucrose, which is
composed of fructose and glucose
linked together, is a
disaccharide; it comprises a
little over 1 percent of the
composition of honey.
Education
(for parents and
teachers)
*The epub book format can be read
using the free ebook
reader Calibre.
*Some of the instructional
material is appropriate for
children and adults (All)
Teaching (Lesson Plans and
aids)
Bees
Act For Bees - This is a great
curriculum brought to you by the
good folks at "Act for Bees" and
"Cool Australia". "We have
partnered with ‘Cool
Australia- Learn for Life’ to
create an exciting ‘Love Food?Love
Bees!‘ curriculum for years 5/6
that can be downloaded from
the
Cool Australia website
and taken straight into the
classroom & also practically
outside in the garden!" Cool
Australia has a wide range of good
curriculum topics connected to
sustainability such as
"Biodiversity", "Climate Change",
"Nature of Mindfulness", "Outdoor
Learning", "Sustainability" and
"Indigenous Education". I
highly recommend this as an
amazing curriculum resource for
educators and students of all
ages.
Beekeeping Projects K-3 (Stephen Bambara, N.C.
State University) - This
beekeeping project for K-3rd grade
youth offers learning activities
that encourage and strengthen
positive interactions between
parents (mentors or teachers) and
children. It uses the 1993
Experiential Learning Model by
Deen and Newman and Iowa State
Univ. Extension Targeting Life
Skills models as a foundation.
This project book is divided into
two levels. Step I is for
children 5 and 6 years in age
(with little required reading).
Step II is for children 7 and 8
years in age and uses more reading
skills and is for children who may
have completed Step I and seek
more activities. They are best
performed as a joint activity
between adult and children.
The benefit of this subject
is to introduce honey bees and
beekeeping to our youngest in a
responsible way that will help
them realize the importance of
honey bees and reduce potential
fear of the insect.
Honey Bee Education Program
(K-5) The following four lessons
are designed to help you teach
students in grades K-5 many
interesting facts about honey bees
including Lesson A - What are
honey bees and why are they so
important? Students will
learn what a honey bee is, the
social structure of honey bees and
their role in the hive, and about
the behavior of insects that are
similar to honey bees. Lesson B -
How do honey bees make honey?
What’s inside a honey bee, a hive,
and a flower? Students will learn
what pollination is, how bees
behave, how beehives are
constructed, what products are
found inside the hive, the parts
of a honey bee, and the parts of a
flower. Lesson C - What
keeps a beekeeper busy? Students
will learn the difference between
feral and managed bee colonies,
the basic structure of a beehive,
what beekeepers do and the
equipment they use, and how
beehives are moved around to help
pollinate crops. Lesson D -
what are Africanized honey bees,
and why should You, “Bee Aware,
Look, Listen, and Run”? Students
will learn the importance of
managed honey bees, how to
describe the differences between
Africanized and European honey
bees, how to prevent Africanized
bees from establishing nests in
and around their homes and
schools, how to prevent potential
stinging incidents, and what to do
if they are attacked by bees or
other stinging insects.
An Adventure with Bees created
by Behany Swartz, Oakland
University (8 lesson Grades
4-5) "Being in an elementary
self-contained classroom setting,
I chose to integrate this
curriculum by using the common
theme of honeybees and pulling the
identified GLCEs and applying them
to this unit. By using the
KNOW/DO/BE framework (Drake &
Burns, 2004) as my main model, the
major goals of this unit are
listed below.KNOW: “Bees are a
life lesson. We have much
to learn about and from them”
(Caron, 1999, p. I.9).
Students should broaden
their knowledge of honey bees.
They will move from basic
facts up through larger concepts
and make generalizations about the
impacts of honeybees on our
environment. DO: Eight focused
lessons provide visual, auditory,
and kinesthetic (hands-on)
learning with extensions to
provide students exposure to
several aspects of honey bees.
Thisintergrated unit
incorporates the subjects of
science, math, language arts, and
technology.BE: Bees and wasps have
gotten a “bad rap” and negative
image because of their ability to
sting and cause fear in many
children. Caron remarks
that, “…a lot of people know
something about honey bees.
Bees have been admired,
studied, cultured, feared and
valued, but not always understood”
(p. I.3). At the conclusion of
this unit, I hope that students
will view the honey bee not as an
enemy, but instead as a friend and
advocate.I also kept in mind the
aspects of backwards design when
creating my pre/post test and what
I wanted the students to achieve.
After that, I designed my
lessons to help me reach my
goal."
A Bee's Life Teaching Guide
(National Honey Board Grades
4-6) A fairly extensive
teaching guide which includes the
subjects, honey bee biology,
society, the hive, pollination,
honey and beekeeping.
The Buzz About Bees Book 1 (4H
Project - Virginia Cooperative
Extension) The beekeeping
project (Books 1 - 4) will teach
you the basic biology and behavior
of honey bees and give you
hands-on management skills. The
honey bee project books begin with
basic honey bee and insect
information (junior level) and
advance to instruction on how to
rear honey bee colonies and
extract honey (senior level).
These project books are intended
to provide in-depth information
related to honey bee management,
yet they are written for the
amateur beekeeper, whether or not
you have previous experience in
rearing honey bees.
4H Honey Bee Youth Project Book
II (Virginia Cooperative
Extension Grades 4-6) Equipment of Beekeepers.
Pollinator Gardens Habitat
Program Curriculum and
Activities Pre K - Gr. 12
(Pollinator Partnership -
pollinator.org) Pollinator
Partnership is pleased to provide
this supplemental curriculum
packet as one way to enrich
classroom education through a
butterfly and pollinator garden.
It includes exercises to expand on
and enforce what students have
learned about butterfly and
pollinator gardens, pollinators,
other insects, their relatives and
biodiversity. Included are: •
Lesson plans for activities
relating to insects, ready to
integrate into subject areas
across the elementary and middle
school curriculum, including
language arts, math and science •
Extension ideas for home •
Background information for the
teacher • California State Content
Standards correlation.
Bee World Project Education
Pack (IBRA) The Beeworld Project aims
to promote the value of bees in
schools and communities.
This education pack has been
produced to help teachers and
other educators introduce bees,
their activities and their
relationship with humans. It
provides basic information for the
study and understanding of bees,
and offers ideas for bee-related
activities across the curriculum
and in support of Education for
Sustainable Development and Global
Citizenship (ESDGC). Using
this resource is an effective way
to get children interested in bees
and pollination, and help them
discover how important these are
to our daily lives. More detailed
information about bees and
additional educational resources
are available on the IBRA Beeworld Project
website.
Honey (B.C. Agriculture) This unit on Honey has
been designed for use in a Grade
11 or 12 Foods and Nutrition class
but could also be modified for
junior grades. The teaching
activities explore a range of
topics including fun facts about
honey, how honey is gathered and
processed, the types of and uses
for honey, cooking with honey, and
finally, the problems currently
faced by beekeepers across the
world. Lessons also explore honey
as a sustainable food source and
encourage the student to compare
and evaluate the product with
sugar in terms of its health
benefits and ecological impact.
The topic of Colony Collapse
Disorder is important especially
as bees are so essential to
fertilization of food crops, and
it is necessary that they feel
empowered to affect change. Each
activity is self-contained and
suggestions for extending the
lesson are given at the end of
each.
The Honey Bee: A Teacher's
Companion - (L.Johnson, Antioch
University) This is an extensive
exploration of honey bees for the
benefit of the class teacher.
The text and appendices
provide material - poetry, music,
fables, biographics, class
projects and further resources -
to draw Apis Mellifera into the
life of a teacher and a class.
Busy Bees - Education Activity
Book K-3 (Agriculture Canada) - Learning Objectives:
• learn terminology related to
honeybees and beekeeping • learn
about honeybees, their life cycle
and how honey is produced •
understand what pollination is,
and how plants produce seeds and
fruit • discover the role of bees
and the wind in pollinating plants
• learn about the tasks and
responsibilities of beekeepers,
and how honey is harvested • learn
about the products and by-products
of beekeeping. Visit the "Bees A Honey of an Idea" virtual museum from the
Canadian Agriculture and Food
Museum. This is a
great online interactive
experience that is fun and
educational for children of all
ages.
School Resource Kit K1-6 (The Canadian Honey
Council) - The activities
presented in this course relate to
honey production. Although a
fascinating subject in itself, the
resource does not restrict itself
to providing facts and information
of honey bees and how honey is
made. Instead honey
production is used as a vehicle to
develop skills that will make
students better learners.
The activities also help
foster positive attitudes towards
self, others and our world.
Smithonian Pollinator Lesson
Plans (Gr. 4-9) Smithsonian in Your
Classroom’s purpose is to help you
use the educational power of
museums and other community
resources. Smithsonian in Your
Classroom draws on the
Institution’s hundreds of
exhibitions and programs—from art,
history, and science to aviation
and folk life—to create
classroom-ready materials for
grades four through nine. Each of
the four annual issues explores a
single topic through an
interdisciplinary, multicultural
approach. The Smithsonian
invites teachers to duplicate
materials from this publication
for educational use.
Kids Discover Bees - Reading
Comprehension Skills
(Kidsdiscoverteachers.com) Power Vocabulary is a
systematic and individualized
approach to vocabulary development
that enables teachers to assist
students to improve their reading
comprehension skills. Power
Vocabulary consists of two word
groups—specialized and
general-usage words.
Environmental Learning Program
(Pollinators) K-6 This is a single lesson
plan with the objective to observe
the interaction between flowers
and pollinators.
Environmental Learning Program
(Bees as Pollinators) K-6 This is a single lesson
plan with the objective to observe
the interaction between flowers
and honey bees as pollinators.
Environmental Learning Program
(Pollinator Field Guides) K-6 The objective of this
lesson plan is using various
colors of pressed flowers, create
a field guide to pollinators to
various colors of flower.
Africanized Honey Bee Activity
Program (Children) This is a single lesson
plan providing information on
identifying Africanized Honey Bees
and their potential nesting
sites.
Pollinator Activity Book
(U.S.D.A. Gr. 4-7) Information and activities
on bees and pollination.
Bees Visit Flowers (Teaching
Guide) Bees visit flowers is a
concept cartoon activity that
evaluates competing ideas using
discussion of alternative
explanations about observable
facts. Children decide which of
the alternatives presented
represents the whole answer. They
need to support or add to the
statements in the cartoon and to
link these with their own
observations.
Honey Bee Lapbook - Adaptable
to different ages
(Homeschoolshare.com) - Educational
Information and activities on
honey bees. Designed to
assist home schooling.
Bees and Flowers - Partners in
Pollination (Oregon State
University) - 6 lesson plans (Grades
6-8). The Rural Science
Education Program is a partnership
between Oregon State University
and local rural K-12 schools for
enrichment of the science
curriculum with hands-on science
activities that encourage critical
thinking in K-12 students about
the impacts of agriculture on the
environment and the implications
of advanced scientific research on
human lives.
The Bee Book (Haagen Dazs) An assortment of
honey bee education and
activities covering the subjects
of science, math, reading, writing
and art (Grades 6-8).
What's The Buzz About
(HobbyFarms.com) Single page honey bee
educational information (all
ages).
What Is Pollination
(Pollinator.ca) (All ages)
Why Manage Pollination?
(Pollinator.ca) (All ages)
Wild pollinators
(Pollinator.ca) (All ages)
Powdered Sugar Sampling to
monitor Varroa Powerpoint
Presentation (University of
Delaware) (All ages)
The Environment
Environmental Education Story
Book (Centre for Eco-Cultural
Studies, Sri Lanka - Ages
4-9) Stories are a perfect way
to reach a young child’s attention
as they mix real issues and a
fantasy world where everything is
possible and imagination is the
only limit. They are a different
way to create a genuine interest
in learning while also allowing
children to become aware of the
different threats to the
environment they live in. A
mixture of these three
ingredients, school, English
learning and storytelling has
proven effective in other places
around the world, where entire
conservationist movements have
been created around characters
like the Easter Bilby in
Australia. This and other
successes inspired the creation of
this book. I hope it can of use to
facilitate English learning in Sri
Lanka and in other regions where
these stories fit the biodiversity
conservation context.
Books
The Travelling Beehive by Elena Garcia and Manuel
Angel Rosado, Illustrated by
Juan Hernez
from
APOLO
- "The Travelling Beehive" is
an amazing book for children of
all ages. I highly recommend
it for every beekeeper, their
children and grandchildren. This
book is wonderfully written by
Elena Garcia and Manuel Angel
Rosado and beautifully illustrated
by Juan Hernaz. It is
published by Apolo which is an
organization dedicated to the
preservation of pollinators and
their habitat. You can
follow Polli the honey bee and her
friend Dipter the hover fly as
they face the challenges of a
disappearing green space.
They are joined in their
struggle by Bazumba the wild bee,
Missus Bombus the bumblebee, Lepi
the butterfly, her majesty the
queen, Dorian the farmer and Ramon
the beekeeper. Sit back and enjoy
the The Travelling Beehive .
The Adventures of Beatrice the
Bee created by
USGS Kids
The Adventures of Maya the Bee
by Waldemar Bonsels
The adventures of Maya the Bee (Epub book format)
The adventures of Maya the Bee (Epub book format)
Videos
Activities and Projects
Education Resource
Websites
Brushy Mtn Bee Farm
Caring for a new colony
(143 mins)
Installing a package of bees
(39 mins)
6 weeks as a beekeeper now
what?
(108 mins)
Preparing for Fall with Kim Flottum
Getting ready for winter (91 mins)
Preparing for Fall with Kim Flottum
Getting ready for winter (91 mins)
Harvesting and extracting
(103 mins)
Making colonies from the ones
you have
(90 mins)
Basic Mead making
(75 mins)
Candle making
(65 mins)
IPM techniques
(95 mins)
Processing your wax
(75 mins)
Queen maladies
(117 mins)
Year 2 build up your hives!
(89 mins)
Brushy Mtn Farm Youtube channel has webinars and videos of virtually every topic related to beekeeping.
Hive Health Diagnostics (Barb
Bloetsher) 56 mins - Play
Pesticides in and around the
hive (Dr. Reed Johnson) - 58
mins Play
Questions from the hive (Dr.
Reed Johnson) - 55 mins Play
Marketing Bee Products (Dr.
Julie Fox - 54 mins) Play
is respectfully submitted by the
Author, to the candid consideration
of those who are interested in the
culture of the most useful as well
as wonderful Insect,in all the range
of Animated Nature. The information
which it contains will be found
to be greatly in advance of anything
which has yet been presented to
the English Reader; and, as far as
facilities for practical
management are concerned, it is
believed to be a very material
advance over anything which has
hitherto been communicated to the
Apiarian Public. Debarred, by
the state of his health, from the
more appropriate duties of his
Office, and compelled to seek an
employment which would call him, as
much as possible, into the open air,
the Author indulges the hope that
the result of his studies and
observations, in an important branch
of Natural History, will be found of
service to the Community as well as
to himself. The satisfaction which
he has taken in his researches has
been such that he has felt
exceedingly desirous of interesting
others, in a pursuit which, (without
any reference to its pecuniary
profits,) is capable of exciting the
delight and enthusiasm of all
intelligent observers.
Plants and Beekeeping - F.N.
Howes (1945)
Practical Beekeeping - Ralph Benton (1907)
Some of the essentials of Beekeeping - Burton Gates (1912)
American Honey Plants (1920 Book)
The Bee-Keepers Guide (A.J. Cook 1883)
Practical Beekeeping - Ralph Benton (1907)
Some of the essentials of Beekeeping - Burton Gates (1912)
American Honey Plants (1920 Book)
The Bee-Keepers Guide (A.J. Cook 1883)
* A few great sources of classical
books are Cornell University's "The Hive the Honey Bee
Collection", Michael Bush's classic bee book
collection and The Biodiversity Heritage
Library.
The Travelling Beehive -
Children's - "The Travelling
Beehive" is an amazing book for
children of all ages. I highly
recommend it for every beekeeper,
their children and grandchildren.
This book is wonderfully
written by Elena Garcia and Manuel
Angel Rosado and beautifully
illustrated by Juan Hernaz. It
is published by Apolo which is an
organization dedicated to the
preservation of pollinators and
their habitat. You can follow
Polli the honey bee and her friend
Dipter the hover fly as they face
the challenges of a disappearing
green space. They are joined in
their struggle by Bazumba the wild
bee, Missus Bombus the bumblebee,
Lepi the butterfly, her majesty the
queen, Dorian the farmer and Ramon
the beekeeper. Sit back and enjoy
the The Travelling Beehive .
The Adventures of Maya the Bee
(Children's story) - Waldemar
Bonsels
Why the Bee Buzzes (Young children) - Ryan Struhl
Why the Bee Buzzes (Young children) - Ryan Struhl
|
| Bee Crossing |
|
| No Trespassing Honeybee Yard |
Practicas de Apicultura - Con la publicación de
este libro se pretende apoyarla
impartición de módulos prácticos
asociados a losprogramas de
incorporación a la empresa agraria,
a lavez que constituye un material
didáctico de gran utilidad en los
diversos tipos de formación
impartidos enlas Escuelas. Se
trata de un libro de atractiva
presentación y cuyocontenido, de
gran detalle y especialización,
responde auna marcada orientación
práctica. Esperamos sea degran
utilidad y contribuya a mejorar la
cualificación denuestros apicultores
y la tecnificación del sector
apícola regional.
Curso de Apicultura (para
emprendedores y productores)
for entrepeneurs and producers
Apicultura y medios de Vida
Sostenibles
(Beekeeping for sustainable
livelihoods)
Apicultura de pequeña escala
- (small scale beekeeping) Gentry
1982
La Vida De Las Abejas
(Maurice Maeterlinck 1901)
Thanks so much for this library. I'm interested in the Native bees and am going to make use of your links.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are enjoying it. I add material to the library every week. Don't forget the Busy Bumblebee song in the Children's section. It's my favourite.
ReplyDeleteVery very nice work of you , big help for us , thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you find it useful. I add about 100 new articles or books every few months. I wish there was an easier way to quickly translate the PDF pages into any language without having to download them but at least there is google translate. Thank you for your kind words. Enjoy!
Deletewhat a wonderful library, thank you so much. can you find anything about eastern European bee sheds? they look like they would work here in Alberta. I kept a hive in an old shed here for 7 years succesfully until they got agressive and chased an old person and I had to put then down. They were very productive. I am not haveing much luck finding plans for the bee shed designs though they have been used for many many years.
DeleteThanks, I'm glad you are enjoying the library. I've also looked for Eastern European bee shed plans for years with no success which is strange because they are so popular. There are lots of free shed plans available on the internet (http://shedplanslists.com/free-shed-plans-pdf/) so what I would do is choose the plan I like and design one south facing wall to fit the hives based on bee shed photos (https://goo.gl/sT00g2). Good luck and let me know if you find any bee shed plans.
Deletethank you my friend!!!!!!!!!!! very nice work!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for this amazing library. I put a link on my website http://buckfastimker.wordpress.com for the Dutch beekeepers.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are enjoying it. You have a great website. Unfortunately we have no Buckfast bees in Canada. Bee imports are very restricted (we can't even get bees from the U.S.). I hope you and your family are happy and healthy and that your bees are resistant to disease and mites and produce buckets of honey.
ReplyDeleteExcellent...for anyone going into or rearing bees
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you find it useful. As Michael Bush says you can buy my book but all the information is available on his website. There are many great free sources of information on the internet and this is just a collection of those we found most useful. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMy website is also available in Spanish: http://www.bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm as is my book: https://www.amazon.com/Apicultor-Practico-Volumenes-Natural-Spanish/dp/1614760942/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472146315&sr=8-1&keywords=El+Apicultor+Pr%C3%A1ctico It would be better if the links to my powerpoints went to my website. I try to continually improve them and the latest ones will be there: http://www.bushfarms.com/beespresentations.htm
Delete--Michael Bush
Good to know. I didn't realize your site was also available in Spanish. I will change the powerpoints to link to your website.
DeleteThis site is really helpful. Thanks for your effort. I'm a beekeeper from Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you have found this website helpful and I hope that you, your family and your bees in Nigeria are happy and healthy and that your bees give you buckets of honey.
ReplyDeleteThank You for the Web Library. I have downloaded all what I wanted to know more on Beekeeping to become a an advance beekeeper soon.
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome Gabriel. Good luck in your beekeeping adventures.
DeleteThis is a great website for becoming a great beekeeper. I find it so helpful. Thanks. I'm a beekeeper from Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteThank you Olajuwon. There is great potential for growth of the beekeeping industry in Nigeria for increased crop production and honey yield. Good luck to you, your family and your bees.
Delete