Beekeeping 101: Choosing a Type of Beehive (2024)

FAQs

What is the 7/10 rule in beekeeping? ›

Before adding a super, beekeepers often use a standard rule of thumb, which is known as the 7/10 rule. This rule says that the proper time to add a super to a beehive is when the bees have already covered 7 of the 10 frames in the existing box or boxes.

However, there are three main types of beehive in use today - the Langstroth, the Warre and the Top Bar. Each of these has its advantages and disadvantages. Like most things in beekeeping, many beekeepers will tell you that their way - and their hive - is the only way to go.

Although your hive size and frame size will depend on preference, you'll have to decide which of these factors is important for you. If you prefer a standard frame that's most popular in the beekeeping community, go with the 10-frame; if you anticipate weight to be an issue, then the 8-frame may be a better option.

The queen controls the population of the hive, laying fertilised female eggs or unfertilised male ones. The smaller female bees that emerge are worker bees, collecting honey and maintaining the hive, while the larger males are drones. The average queen bee will live from two to five years.

With two brood boxes, there is enough space for your queen to lay as many eggs as she can. This means you won't need to check your hives as often. When using one brood box, there is only enough room to feed your broods sugar syrup in small increments. With two, you can give them larger amounts less often.

The larger the hive the more effective it is at producing honey. A hive of 30,000 bees produces one and half times more honey than two hives of 15,000. You can see that the Queen keeps busy laying eggs.

The top three types of bee hive used are the langstroth hive, the top bar hive, and the warre hive. The Langstroth hive is the most commonly used hive today, and would likely be the best type for a beginner.

Caucasian bees are sometimes described as the gentlest of all honey bees. They are dark colored to black with grayish bands on the abdomen. They tend to construct burr comb and use large amounts of propolis to fasten combs and reduce the size of the entrance.

If you are just starting out, most reputable beekeeping sources will recommend starting with two hives. Having two hives for your first few years will help you to learn the art and science of beekeeping, while providing you with the proper amount of experience and resources needed to successfully keep healthy bees.

The hive should be placed in early morning sun. This gets the bees out of their hive earlier in the day to forage. In the Northeast, hives can remain in the full sun for the entire season. However in places with warmer climates, hives should receive some afternoon shade.

What is the most common type of beehive? ›

Named for their inventor, Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth, Langstroth hives are not the only hives of this style, but they are the most common. Langstroth patented his design in 1860 originally being designed for comb honey production; it has become the standard style hive for 75% of the world's beekeepers.

blue hive vs red hive | Fandom. Blue is cheap, works fine with only a single passive. Red is expensive, requires double passive to make more than blue, with a single red passive you will make less with red then you would with blue.

Some beekeepers use only 8 or 9 frames in a honey super, while others use all 10. It does make a difference. Obviously, if you use 9 frames, the comb on each frame will be drawn out wider by the bees, thus making much more space for the honey.

Some beekeepers also prefer to use nine frames in ten frame brood boxes in order, as you said, to make the box less crowded and make frames easier to remove and replace. I would never suggest using eight frames in a brood box. Bees treat brood comb a little differently than comb for storing excess honey.

Older worker bees will reject queens that they are not familiar with and tend to view them as a colony invader, even when they have no hope of raising a new queen on their own. This is especially true if the queen is unmated, or not well-mated, with numerous drones from unrelated colonies.

Nurse bees will select 10 to 20 newly hatched female larvae and begin feeding them a strict diet of royal jelly, a milky white substance that be bees secrete from the tops of their heads. The exclusive diet of royal jelly turns on the female larva's reproductive system, turning her into a queen.

Without a queen, the swarm will die, so if they lose their queen, the entire swarm will return and try again later, which can appear like many swarms instead of just one.

If another box is placed on top the hive or under the hive, the bees will do one of two things, 1) leave it alone, or 2) their population will thin and disperse into the new space leaving the clustering bees that were caring for young to prepare this new space or clean it up.

When you add them to your brood box, press the frames tightly together so that the spacing is correct for the bees to start their comb. Leave any excess space towards the edges of the box.

Only collect honey in a clean comb, one that has not been in a brood chamber or otherwise contaminated by mice, wax moth, etc. You can harvest the first crop as soon as it's capped so that you have an early varietal, or at least a springtime artisan honey to share or sell.

How much honey can 1 hive produce? ›

A typical beehive in the United States can produce anywhere from 10 to 200 pounds of honey in a year. That is an unbelievably large range, which indicates just how critical these variables are in order for a beehive to reach peak honey production.

A single bee can produce 1 tablespoon of honey in its lifetime. 683 bees fly roughly 32,550 miles to gather 5.93 lbs of nectar from about 1,185,000 flowers in order to make one 9.5 oz. jar of Big Island Bees' honey!

A hive of bees must fly 55,000 miles to produce a pound of honey. One bee colony can produce 60 to 100 pounds of honey per year.

Face the hive entrance away from the prevailing winds. Ideally, face the entrance in a southerly direction if you're in the northern hemisphere and northerly direction for the southern hemisphere.

The Italian Honeybee may be the best bee for beginners, because this subspecies of the Western honeybee is not an aggressive bee which means it has little interest in swarming. It takes a lot for this honeybee to want to leave its hive.

You will see a patch where all the cells next to each other are capped, making a solid pattern. If the larvae are unhealthy, worker bees will remove them, creating holes in the pattern. The result is what's often called a “shotgun” pattern and it is a symptom of a struggling colony.

Her strong pheromones (body smells) keep the colony working together and prevent the worker bees from trying to lay eggs. The drones are lazy boys. Their only work is to mate with a queen and only the fittest few will get this pleasure.

Mason Bee Revolution explains how docile, hard-working, solitary mason bees (and their compatriots, the leafcutter bees) are even more productive pollinators than honeybees, and keeping them can be a fun, easy, backyard hobby for gardeners, conservationists, foodies, and families everywhere.

Bumble bees are nonaggressive and rarely sting people; when they do, it's usually because someone has stepped on, or disturbed, their nest. Contrary to popular belief, they do not die after stinging. Bumble bees are a welcome addition to any yard or garden!

The average backyard hobbyist should always start with 2 or more. Why? With two hives, you can compare the hives to each other. Usually if both hives are acting the same way, it is a normal bee "thing".

Can I split a first year hive? ›

Don't split a first year hive. Such a hive will need all the honey it can get to make it through the winter. Don't put it at risk. Consider only 2nd year (or later) colonies as candidates for splits.

It can be as few as zero up to five times per year. As a general rule, you should never split a first year hive. However, an overwintered hive is not always a go-signal for splitting. Ideally, you should at least have a minimum of 10 frames of brood before splitting a beehive.

Avoid Hills and Valleys

While this helps them avoid predators, it also keeps them away from the cool air that may be travelling near the ground. The major issue that beekeepers have with putting hives in a valley is that the cold air usually settles in valleys.

A campfire can be within five blocks underneath the hive, if nothing blocks the smoke. This "smokes" the hive, so that harvesting does not aggravate the bees. However, a campfire (let alone a fire block) also damages mobs that touch it, and bees are no exception.

One thing that beekeepers can do to help prevent drift is to provide visual cues so returning bees can easily locate their own colony. Different hive colors, or blocks of color, help bees hone in on the right hive. Patterns painted near the entrances also provide cues.

Concerned about their own safety, and especially the safety of the queen, bees could be more defensive and hostile if they had been bothered by a skunk or other pests for the past few nights. Poor weather — Poor weather is one of the most common reasons a beehive may get aggressive.

Bees from different hives sometimes fight each other. Fighting usually only occurs when there are specific conditions, such as nectar shortage or if a bee colony's hive has been destroyed. Intruder bees are kept out by guard bees, and they are generally killed if they try to enter the hive.

It's a bee. To be specific, it is Franklin's bumblebee, Bombus franklini, the rarest bumblebee in the world. Always restricted to a tiny range in southern Oregon and northernmost California, the species has seemingly disappeared.

A number of herbs, including basil, thyme, lavender, lemon balm, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, sage, are all of the mint (Lamiaceae) family. In fact, a gardener may choose to plant a scent garden subsisting entirely of herbs for the enjoyment of the gardener and the bees.

Can bees smell humans? ›

Bees don't smell fear. However, they detect fear pheromones released when an animal or human is afraid. Essentially, their olfactory system enables them to collect scents and establish their meaning. So, even though they don't smell fear directly, they have a keen sense of smell for perceived threats.

When a super is added prematurely, the bees will tend to move upward first, rather than outward. This sometimes results in a long and narrow shape to the colony, which is less than ideal both for the efficient use of the equipment, and for maximizing colony growth and honey production.

When the bee colony reaches a point when a 10 frame hive reaches 8 frames full of bees, that is when you will add another super. Use the 80% rule in adding each super. After the second super is full drawn out of comb, that is when you can end supplemental sugar water feeding.

Honey Extractors

A manual extractor has a crank that is used to spin the frames without needing a power source. Hand powered extractors generally hold 2 to 4 frames and it takes around 15 to 20 minutes to spin the honey out of the frames.

With two brood boxes, there is enough space for your queen to lay as many eggs as she can. This means you won't need to check your hives as often. When using one brood box, there is only enough room to feed your broods sugar syrup in small increments. With two, you can give them larger amounts less often.

Most beekeepers seem to prefer using ten frames in the brood boxes—and for good reasons. There is really no benefit to having extra wide spaces for raising brood, and ten frames provide more area for the brood nest, so this makes sense.

But the big question is how long should you wait until you add the second box. This applies whether you are using deep hive bodies for the brood area or medium sized boxes. Add your next box once the bees have drawn out 5-7 combs in their first box.

Worker bees tend to the queen between days 7 and 12 of their life. During those days she interacts heavily with the queen. Between days 4 and 12 of her life she is a nurse bee, at which time she will also interact heavily with the drones and other baby bees.

Once daytime temperatures drop below 57 degrees stop feeding liquid syrup and switch to a solid sugar board.

It can be as few as zero up to five times per year. As a general rule, you should never split a first year hive. However, an overwintered hive is not always a go-signal for splitting. Ideally, you should at least have a minimum of 10 frames of brood before splitting a beehive.

How many bee hives can you have on 5 acres? ›

On a 5 acre lot I have about 75 hives. If you go greater than 75 hives you will see the honey bees competing for the same nectar source and will reduce your honey yields per hive. This is a lot of bees and I highly recommend placing this apiary in the countryside where no homes are within . 5 miles.

Bees are very important because they pollinate the largest number of plant species. Other insects such as spiders and flies or wasps may use the flower for a hiding place, or may occasionally scavenge from the flower. These animals can also be pollinators, but they aren't as efficient as bees at their tasks.

Worker bee housekeeping

The very first job of the worker bee is house-keeping! She will clean the cells and prepare them for a new egg or nectar.

Worker bees are all female, and are all offspring of the queen. But there are males in the hive called drones. Drones fly off to reproduce with other young queens who will start a new colony. There are three types of honey bee within every hive: workers, drones, and a queen.

THICK OR THIN

“Thinner” syrups like 1:1 (with less sugar) are similar to flower nectar and should be fed in the spring and summer. Heavier syrup like 2:1 has more sugar with less water which is best for fall feeding. Fall days are often shorter and cooler than summer days.

As such, the dry sugar will not be edible, and they will still starve to death. Fondant can be used as an emergency feed in late winter or early spring, as it is placed directly inside the brood chamber, making it easily accessible to the bees.

Splits should be made from overwintered colonies in the spring when there will be plenty of forage and time for them to recover. Most splits are what you call an “even split”, meaning you will halve the colony, dividing the number of brood combs and honey evenly between the two hives.

A minimum three frame split is recommended with a frame of capped brood, eggs and larvae, honey, and pollen. A five-frame split is better with all stages of brood since it will build up quicker than a three-frame split. Figure 3 is a good frame for a split.

Our colleagues and friends from other queen producing companies report the same; queens, whatever their genetics, simply don't sting humans. In the miniscule times where it has been reported that a queen actually has stung a person, we have heard that the sting is not as painful to a person as that of a worker bee.

Depending on the size of your property, by keeping 6 or more colonies of bees, you may be able to considerably reduce your property taxes. What is commonly referred to as an "Agriculture Exemption" is not actually an exemption but rather an alternate valuation of your property based on an agricultural use.

What is the best height for a beehive? ›

How high should my hive stand be? A. While this is heavily dependant on your stature, an ideal height for a hive stand is approximately 18in off of the ground. Unless you are 6'5", this height will be ideal for working your hives without destroying your back.

Here's a rule of thumb when considering whether you can keep a beehive in your garden: A typical beehive is about 22 inches by 16 inches. You need at least five feet of space in every direction around the hive. If you plan to have multiple beehives, they should be at least three feet apart.