Beekeeping For Dummies, UK Edition E-Book

David Wiscombe

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 428

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The fast and easy way to start and maintain a hive

Beekeeping For Dummies is a practical, step-by-step beginner's guide to beekeeping. It gives you plain-English guidance on everything you need to know to start your own beehive, from buying the right equipment, sourcing bees, and locating your hive to maintaining a healthy colony and harvesting honey. Plus, you'll get the latest information on the causes and effects of bee disease, colony collapse disorder, and the impact the sudden disappearance of the honeybee has on our environment and economy.

Here, you'll get trusted information on beekeeping in the UK, specifically written to address climate, buying equipment, locating hives, the local impact of colony collapse disorder and ways to avoid or minimise the risk to your hive, seasonal beekeeping tasks, local beekeeping associations, and updated content on urban beekeeping.

• Understand the anatomy of your bees
• Learn techniques and tips for harvesting, bottling, packaging, and selling honey
• Discover the benefits of beekeeping
• Learn techniques on obtaining and hiving your bees

If you're a beginner beekeeper, taking a beekeeping course, or just have an interest in the plight of the honeybee, Beekeeping For Dummies has you covered!

Leseprobe

Beekeeping For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/beekeepinguk to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

How This Book Is Organised

Part I: Getting Hooked on Honey Bees

Part II: Starting Your Adventure

Part III: Looking Inside Your Hive

Part IV: Common Problems and Simple Solutions

Part V: Sweet Rewards

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Hooked on Honey Bees

Chapter 1: To Bee or Not to Bee?

Discovering the Benefits of Beekeeping

Harvesting liquid gold: Honey

Bees as pollinators: Their vital role in ensuring our food supply

Helping the bees; helping the environment

Passing on your knowledge

Good for your wellbeing; good for your health

Determining Your Beekeeping Potential

Environmental considerations

Being responsible and considering others

Costs and equipment

Time and commitment

Beekeeper personality traits

Overcoming Fear of Stings

Knowing what to do if you’re stung

Building up a tolerance

Watching for allergic reactions

Chapter 2: Life Inside the Honey Bee Hive

Basic Body Parts

Skeleton

Head

Thorax

Abdomen

The Amazing Language of Bees

Pheromones

Shall we dance?

Dividing Honey Bees into Three Castes

Her majesty, the queen

The industrious little worker bee

The woeful drone

The Honey Bee Life-Cycle

Egg

Larva

Pupa

Part II: Starting Your Adventure

Chapter 3: Locating Your Hive

Getting Over ‘Buzz Off!’: Consulting Family and Neighbours

Location, Location, Location: Where to Keep Your Hives

Providing for your thirsty bees

Understanding why your honey varies in colour and flavour

Knowing When to Start Your Adventure

Chapter 4: Stocking Up on Basic Beekeeping Equipment

Finding Out about the Modified National Hive

Knowing the Basic Parts of the Hive

Hive stand

Floor

Entrance block

Brood chamber

Queen excluder

Super

Frames

Foundation

Crown board

Roof

Ordering Hive Parts

Preparing for assembly

Adding on Feeders

Miller and Ashforth rapid feeders

Bucket feeder

Frame feeder

Stocking Up on Your Personal Beekeeping Equipment

Smoker

Hive tool

Covering Up with Bee-Proof Clothing

Veils

Gloves

Really Helpful Accessories

Elevated hive stand

Frame rest

Bee brush

Other necessities

Chapter 5: Obtaining and Hiving Your Bees

Determining the Kind of Bee You Want

Deciding How to Obtain Your Initial Bee Colony

Picking a reputable bee supplier

Deciding when to place your order

Buying a nucleus colony

Transferring your nucleus to a hive

Purchasing an established colony

Capturing a wild swarm of bees

Ordering package bees

Meeting and Greeting: The Day Your Bees Arrive

Bringing home your bees

Feeding your bees

Buzzing with Excitement: Putting Your Bees into the Hive

Part III: Looking Inside Your Hive

Chapter 6: Opening Your Hive

Setting an Inspection Schedule

Preparing to Visit Your Hive

Making ‘non-scents’ a part of personal hygiene

Getting dressed up and ready to go

Lighting your smoker

Opening the Hive

Removing the crown board

The Hive’s Open! Now What?

Chapter 7: What to Look for when You’re Inspecting

Exploring Basic Inspection Techniques: Examining a Full Colony

Removing the first frame

Working your way through the hive

Holding up frames for inspection

Understanding what to look for every time

Replacing frames

Closing the hive

Establishing a Colony from a Nucleus

Managing your nucleus

Starting your Colony with a Package of Bees

Checking in: A week after hiving your bees

The second and third weeks

Weeks four to eight

Chapter 8: Your Work throughout the Seasons

Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer

Your summer to-do list

Your summer time commitment

Falling Leaves Point to Autumn Tasks

Your autumn to-do list

Making one hive from two

Your autumn time commitment

Clustering in a Winter Wonderland

Your winter to-do list

Your winter time commitment

Spring Is in the Air: Starting Your Second Season

Your spring to-do list

Making two hives from one

Your spring time commitment

Administering spring medication

Reversing hive bodies

Part IV: Common Problems and Simple Solutions

Chapter 9: Heading Off Potential Problems

Avoiding Absconding

Swarming

Absconding

Where Did the Queen Go?

Letting nature take its course

Ordering a replacement queen

Introducing a new queen to the hive

Avoiding Chilled Brood

Dealing with the Dreaded Robbing Frenzies

Knowing the difference between normal and abnormal (robbing) behaviour

Putting a stop to a robbing attack

Preventing robbing in the first place

Ridding Your Hive of the Laying Worker Phenomenon

How to know if you have laying workers

Getting rid of laying workers

Preventing Pesticide Poisoning

Chapter 10: Treating Diseases and Considering Colony Collapse Disorder

Medicating when Necessary

Knowing the Big Six Bee Diseases

American foulbrood (AFB)

European foulbrood (EFB)

Nosema

Chalkbrood

Sacbrood

Stonebrood

A handy chart

Shedding Some Light on Colony Collapse Disorder and Vanishing Hives

Unlocking the mystery of the Mary Celeste hives

Discovering more about CCD

Exploring Potential Causes of CCD

The mobile phone theory

Pollinating insect research

A Final Word

Chapter 11: Buzz Off! Dealing with Honey Bee Pests

Preventing Parasitic Mites

Varroa mites

Controlling Varroa the natural way

Acarine (Tracheal mites)

Wax Moths

Ants, Ants and More Ants

Keeping Out Mice

Dealing with Birds that Have a Taste for Bees

Pest Control in a Nutshell

Chapter 12: Raising Your Own Queens

Why Raising Queens Makes You Proud

Accentuating the Positive: Choosing Good Traits

What Makes a Queen a Queen

Buzzing with love: Queen mating

Creating Demand: Making a Queenless Nuc

Queen Rearing: The Miller Method

Using an Artificial Swarm to Raise Queens

The Doolittle Method: Grafting

Tools and equipment

How it’s done

Trying Out the Jenter System

How it’s done

Providing nuptial housing

Finding a Home for Your Queens

Part V: Sweet Rewards

Chapter 13: Getting Ready for the Golden Harvest

Choosing Extracted, Comb, Chunk or Soft-Set Honey

Using the Right Equipment for the Job

Honey extractors

Uncapping knife

Honey strainers

Other handy gadgets for extracting honey

Comb honey equipment

Honey containers

Planning Your Honey Harvest Set-Up

Labelling and Selling Your Honey

Creating an attractive label

Finding places to market your honey

Chapter 14: Honey, I’m Home: Harvest Time

Knowing When to Harvest

Getting the Bees Out of the Honey Supers

Shakin’ ’em out

Using a bee escape

Fume board and bee repellent

Food of the Gods: Honey Extraction

Cleaning Up after Extracting

Controlling wax moths

Harvesting wax

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 15: Ten Fun Things to Do with Bees

Starting an Observation Hive

Planting Flowers for Your Bees

Brewing Mead: The Nectar of the Gods

Getting Creative with Propolis

Propolis tincture

Propolis ointment

Making Candles and Polish from Beeswax

Beeswax candles

Beeswax furniture polish

Beauty and the Bees

Beeswax lip balm

Beeswax and olive oil salve

Getting up Close with a Microscope

Chapter 16: Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Bee Behaviour

Chapter 17: Ten Delicious Honey Recipes

Appendix A: Helpful Resources

Apiservices

Bee Master Forum

BeeHoo

British Beekeepers Association

Bush Farm

Cornwall Honey

David A. Cushman

The Beespace

Vita (Europe)

Apimondia: International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations

The BBKA Spring Convention

Bee Diseases Insurance Ltd (BDI)

Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA)

International Bee Research Association

The National Bee Unit of the Central Science Laboratory

The National Honey Show

The National Farmers Union

American Bee Journal

BBKA News

Bee Craft

Bee Culture

The Beekeepers Quarterly

Bee World

The Bee Shop

B. J. Sherriff

Brunel Microscopes Ltd

Compak

Giordan

Maisemore Apiaries Ltd

Modern Beekeeping

National Bee Supplies

Swienty Beekeeping Equipment

E. H. Thorne

Appendix B: Glossary

Cheat Sheet

Beekeeping For Dummies®

by David Wiscombe and Howland Blackiston

Beekeeping For Dummies®

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, LtdThe AtriumSouthern GateChichesterWest SussexPO19 8SQEngland

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ISBN: 978-1-119-97250-1 (paperback), 978-1-119-97567-0 (ebook), 978-1-119-97568-7 (ebook), 978-1-119-97569-4 (ebook)

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

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About the Authors

David Wiscombe began a career in education in 1954, and as a rural science teacher soon became involved in beekeeping. He has kept his own bees continuously since 1960.

He joined the East Devon Branch of Devon Beekeepers Association in the early 1960s and has been their Apiary Manager for periods totalling 13 years, Chairman for 13 years and is currently President. During this time he has given many lectures and demonstrations and helped run beginners courses.

His expertise eventually came to the attention of River Cottage and he became their beekeeper and set up their apiary. He now runs courses for River Cottage and Monkton Wyld Court.

He has appeared on television in both River Cottage and Autumn Watch programmes.

David has lived with his wife Mandy at Monkton Wyld in rural West Dorset for over 30 years.

Howland Blackiston has been a backyard beekeeper since 1984. He’s written many articles on beekeeping and appeared on dozens of television and radio programmes. He has been a keynote speaker at conferences in more than 40 countries.

Howland is cofounder and president of bee-commerce.com, an internet-based store offering beekeeping supplies and equipment for the back yard beekeeper. Howland is the past president of Connecticut’s Back Yard Beekeepers Association, one of America’s largest regional clubs for the hobbyist beekeeper. Howland and his wife Joy live in Weston, Connecticut.

Dedication

This book is lovingly dedicated to my wife Joy, who is the queen bee of my universe. She has always been supportive of my unconventional whims and hobbies (and there are a lot of them) and never once did she make me feel like a dummy for asking her to share our lives with honey bees. I also thank our wonderful daughter Brooke (now grown and married), who, like her mother, cheerfully put up with sticky kitchen floors and millions of buzzing ‘siblings’ while growing up in our bee-friendly household.

HB

Authors’ Acknowledgments

My thanks to all the beekeepers I’ve learned from over the years; my family for their forbearance during the adaptation; Rachael Chilvers and Claire Ruston for shepherding me through the process; and Ian for his very thorough technical review.

DW

I was very fortunate, when I started beekeeping, that I met a masterful beekeeper who took me under his wing and taught me all that is wonderful about honey bees. Ed Weiss became a valued mentor, a great friend, and ultimately a partner in business. I am deeply appreciative of his friendship and beewisdom. Ed served as the first technical review editor for this book, and I am most appreciative of the many hours he spent checking my facts to ensure that I had been an attentive student. Thank you, Ed.

My good friends Anne Mount and David Mayer played a key role in the creation of this book. Both of them are authors, and both encouraged me to contact the Dummies team at Wiley. Thank you, Anne and David. I owe you a whacking big jar of honey!

A good how-to book needs great how-to images. Special thanks to John Clayton for some of the close-ups used in the book. Thanks also to Steve McDonald and Dr Edward Ross who provided most of the stunning macrophotography used in this book. I extend my gratitude for images (and technical suggestions) provided by Kim Flottum at Bee Culture magazine. Image credits also go to The National Honey Board, the US Department of Agriculture, Marco Lazzari, Peter Duncan, Eric Erickson, Reg Wilbanks, Mario Espinola, David Eyre, Swienty Beekeeping Equipment, E. H. Thorne Ltd., Wellmark International, Barry Birkey and Kate Solomon.

And thanks to fellow beekeeper and friend Stephan Grozinger, who patiently served as my model for some of the how-to photographs.

Thanks also to Leslie Huston for her help with the chapter on raising queen bees, to Ellen Zampino for her section on planting flowers for your bees, and to Patty Pulliam for her wonderful beeswax recipes.

Writing this book was a labour of love, thanks to the wonderful folks at Wiley. What a great team!

HB

Publisher’s Acknowledgements

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Commissioning, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Rachael Chilvers

Commissioning Editor: Claire Ruston

Assistant Editor: Ben Kemble

Proofreader: Kelly Cattermole

Production Manager: Daniel Mersey

Publisher: David Palmer

Cover Photos: © iStock / Rachel Giles

Cartoons: Ed McLachlan

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees

Layout and Graphics: Cheryl Grubbs, Joyce Haughey, Corrie Socolovitch

Indexer: Cheryl Duksta

Introduction

Keeping bees is a unique and immensely rewarding hobby. If you have an interest in nature, you’ll deeply appreciate the wonderful world that beekeeping opens up to you. If you’re a gardener, you’ll treasure the extra bounty that pollinating bees bring to your fruit, flowers and vegetables. In short, you’ll be captivated by these remarkable little creatures in the same way others have been captivated for thousands of years.

Becoming a beekeeper is easy and safe – it’s a great hobby for the entire family. All you need is a little bit of guidance to get started. And that’s exactly what this book is for. We provide you with a step-by-step approach for successful hobby beekeeping. Follow it closely and you can have a lifetime of enjoyment with your bees.

I (David) was first shown the inner workings of a hive of bees by the County Beekeeping Instructor. He was trying to persuade me to take over the hives in a secondary school so that the youngsters could continue to be introduced to the craft of beekeeping. Well, he succeeded, so under his guidance, the lads and I learned together for the first season. It was a case of bluffing that I wasn’t scared or losing face in front of a bunch of 14-year-olds who were all dead keen. But I found beekeeping so interesting that I soon decided to have bees of my own and that decision started me on a hobby that has continued for over fifty years.