Beekeeping and Smithing: Crafts that go hand in hand!

[Albert A Rasch]

Hello everyone!

Not one of my catchiest titles, but descriptive enough!

Borntolate and Neil commented on the many intersecting interests (Beeswax and Mead!) between Smithing and Beekeeping, and as I am an apiarist, I volunteered to start a thread on beekeeping for the blacksmith.

It’s not difficult to get started with bees. Basically, you need a hive, and well, some bees. It doesn’t hurt if you know an apiarist, or join a local bee group, but I am entirely self-taught. In fact I only know one other apiarist personally, and he’s an Aussie here in Afghanistan with me! None-the-less I have successfully managed 12 hives, starting with some broken down wild hives. For a couple of laughs you can read about my initial misadventures in hive management and relocation. Probably a half dozen good lessons for the astute there.

The first thing to do is get a basic education. There are many good reference sites out there, in addition to forums. My favorite site, and the one that I believe is best put together, with excellent and proven information, is The Practical Beekeeper at Bush Farms. Mr Bush is an expert in the old fashioned and hard earned way of observation and trial and error. His methodologies work, and work well. My favorite forum is BeeSource. Just those two sites will get you off to a great start.

Ok, let’s assume you want to do this with little or no money up front. If that’s the case I would consider using what is called a Top Bar Hive (TBH). Easily constructed from just about anything, a TBH will allow you to get started with a minimal investment of capital. Short of getting some nails or screws, and some sweat to put it together, there is nothing else that will cost you money. Much like smithing, you can scrounge much of the materials you use.

Here is a good reference to TBH building.

(I do strongly suggest you invest in a smoker though! Lack of one won’t make it impossible for you, just very difficult, trust me!)

Next you need to get some bees. Here is where being a member of a beekeeping group helps. There is always someone willing to help a newcomer get started. I have personally started hives for two people. It doesn’t take all that much effort, (Well, a little), but it pays huge dividends. Not only in community spirit, but it helps build up resiliant, locally aclimated bees. I’ve caught a swarm, but that’s one of those “you have to be at the right place at the right time” kind of things, and if you’re just starting it might be well-nigh impossible.

The other option is to buy a package of bees. You will need to do some reading up on that to be sure it works out properly for you! But in essence you get a box full of bees, and through careful manipulation, you get them to move into the nice new hive you made for them! Please, please get them as locally as possible. If you live up north, whatever you do, DO NOT get bees from the south! You run the risk of introducing African genetics into your hive, and by extention your area.
 
Don't be freaked out by the African Bee thing either. I have had one "hot" hive ever, and I solved that problem by rooting out that queen and squishing her little pointy head between my thumb and forefinger. After thirty days that hive was a placid normal hive again.

Like any other kind of livestock, you have to take care of them! I do not use any chemicals, antibiotics, or feed supplements at all. I am a firm believer in survival of the fittest. That means that I supply them with a safe clean environment, I am attentive to pests that may bother them, and I create the environment that helps them thwart pests. We can discuss the particulars as they come up.

Ok, that’s the basics off the top of my head.

Questions?
 
Your Apiarist,
Albert

 

Admin addition

BEFORE working with bees, find out and KNOW if you are allergic to bee stings. If you are allergic, take up knitting. If you can tolerate stings, always have anti-vemon available and know the quickest route to the hospital. 

[Neil Blythin]

Thanks for those links Albert - I am somewhat interested in this.  The Niagara peninsula is a tender fruit growing area, so I know there is quite a bit of this going on around here.  I've known of a few people (friend of a friend, and an uncle of a coworker) that did it as a hobby; and I've seen a couple of 'commercial' bee keepers in the area that take boxes out to the orchards for pollination.

 

Having worked in the wine industry, I got into home winemaking, and then ventured into mead making.  But honey has become very expensive, so I started musing with the idea of bees.  Not that I need yet another hobby right now... For interest sake, how time intensive of a hobby is it?

[Albert A Rasch]

Hmmm,

 

During the new wax season, basically when spring is about to bust open, you may need to check on your hives twice a week to redistribute the frames and add boxes. That's to maximize the hives growth potential, then while they're making honey, you may need to see them again two or three times a week. I've heard of strong hives filling a super (eight to ten frames in a box)  a day.It really depends on the nectar flow in your area.

 

One thing, I know for a fact that working a hive can be exhausting.Those boxes can weigh in excess of 60 or seventy pounds. I only use medium size eight frame boxes. No deeps, no short supers. Just mediums. They are still pretty heavy, but it makes it much easier to do it in sections: Pull half the frames, put harvested frames in their place, go cut out the comb on the first four, and go to the next box. With a top bar hive it's even easier.

 

I don't have all my reference materials here, I left the portable hard drive with all my bee stuff at home. I have a ton of stuff that explains it a lot better than I can, let me see what I can find again and get for you.

 

I'm dead serious though, if you have the opportunity, build yourself a TBH. Get some bees and give it a shot. You will learn more in an afternoon's placid observation of a hive with a bourbon and ice in hand, than you will with all the reading you can possibly do!

 

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but you will learn a whole lot by doing and watching!

 

I'll have  better answer for you later!

 

Albert

[Glenn]

BEFORE working with bees, find out and KNOW if you are allergic to bee stings. If you are allergic, take up knitting. If you can tolerate stings, always have anti-vemon available and know the quickest route to the hospital. When the fan hits the air this can save your life or the life of others.

 

While moving hives to another location seal the entrance and enclose the hive in a large trash bag. An open pick up truck is THE proper piece of equipment for the move. 

 

If you work the bees on a regular basis *they say* the bees will get accustom to your presence. This is true up until the one rogue bee forgets and sees you as a threat and sets off the alarm. Always dress for success. 

 

 A slip and a bump can put the entire hive of several hundreds of bees into war mode. One hive in war mode sends the next hive into war mode and so on. Any hole in your armor can trap bees inside your armor. They somehow leave road maps to other bees as to where the hole is located so it is not just a single bee that gets inside. 

[Albert A Rasch]

Good tips Glen.

 

Myself, I work them in pants and whatever shirt I happen to be wearing. (Do not wear shorts, long story...) I always wear clear safety glasses especially after an incident where I got stung in each eyelid. I do not use gloves either as I have found that it actually impedes good hive manipulation. Light colored clothes is always better. Again, if you have any hive that is less than placid, you don't need it. There are ways of resolving that issue easily and I can talk about that when asked. You should be able to weedeat around your hives without any bees getting overly agitated in the seven seconds you go around them. Common sense dictates just what you can do around your hives. That's also why you need to be attentive to what their behavior and temperaments are over time.

 

I think the most i ever got stung is 12 times in one day, and that was mostly all at once. Other than that, I usually go months without a sting. (Except when I do it on purpose for my hip. Three to five stings in the knee to hip area and my hip won't hurt fr two to three weeks.)  Slow, smooth and steady is the name of the game. And if you sense that the girls are getting riled up, cover them up, and come back later. Always work them in the daytime and avoid doing any work when it's nasty outside. They don't like nasty weather any more than you do! You might get an overly aggressive bee on occasion, but puff of smoke in its face or a leafy branch usually distracts and disorients it.

 

Oh one suggestion, Always strap down the hive if you are going to move it in the bed of a truck. And I'm not sure I would plastic bag a hive on the move. On a sunny day you could cook them to death very easily. Get a properly cut 1X2 and place it across the entrance and tape it in place with duct tape. Again, moving a hive is another project with certain rules and caveats!

 

Beekeeping is great and in my opinion worthy hobby to undertake. The dangers are no greater than messing around with hot metal and fire, though just like smithing, you are more likely to get yourself hurt f you're not paying attention. As woith all things, a good education both theoretical and practical will see you to success.

 

Best regards,

Albert

[Glenn]

The plastic bag is good for night moves, or until you can get the hive secured for a day move. Yes, the bag comes off during daylight and the hive also needs some close attention to inside temperature. With the door closed the bees can not ventilate the hive.

 

Tyvak coveralls, bee gloves, and a roll of duct tape are the game plan here.  I respect the bees right to  defend their turf.

 

It is always a good idea to have an assistant when working bees. Usually I rob several hives at a time and the weight of the multiple supers, along with the heat inside the coveralls, and occasional problem dictates you have a back up plan. We always set up a notification parameter alerting any one in the area as to bees. 

 

Before you rob a hive, put in a bee excluder. That way the supers will not have bees in them during the removal. Makes things a lot easier.

 

If you go big time, honey extractors are the trick to removing the honey but leaving the honeycomb in the frame.  

 

For all the work involved, the reward is several pounds of honey and several pounds of wax.

[Albert A Rasch]

I've had as many as twelve hives, but that was before I came here.I was getting close to considering an extractor, and I may consider one if i get up in hives again. I have a lot of orange groves in the area, and if I was to place hives by them, I would get a lot of honey, which would necessitate more frames and boxes, but as you said, lots of honey too! I'll have to wait until I get back home and see which opportunities I will be able to take. i sure would like to raise my girls again. As a matter of fact, i am splitting a hive this spring during R&R, and building up another one that has pretty much gone to disrepair. I opened up the first one while home in January, and pretty much added 50% more frames. That opened up the brood space and will allow me to redistribute sealed brood panels to three hives. I have over thirty pounds of honey to put into feeders for them, so I should see solid build up in all three by July. the split will have to raise a new queen, but the original and the "wild" hive will be fine. I should also have a substantial amount of honey in the original by June as they will have a three to four week break without having to raise brood.

 

If I may ask, what's your geographic location? and what is your queen raising strategy?

 

Thanks!

Albert

 

PS: We harvested a few pounds of wildflower honey while I was home, and I am always amazed when I taste it. Delicious compared to the pasteurized and blended stuff we get here!AAR

[DanBrassaw]

This is great! Thanks for the links. The thread title caught my eye, since I've been thinking about raising bees for about as long as I've been smithing (two years). Why, you may ask? Because despite having hives removed from my walls twice, there are still bees in the walls of my shop. Having terrorized them so, I give them a great deal of credit for their tenacity, and would like to make peace with them. On the plus side, meeting a fellow who lives not a mile away and keeps bees has provided me with a great source of wax, as he does nothing with it, and considers it a nuisance. Go figure!

[David Einhorn]

Around here we have beekeeping associations that offer courses.  Taking a course is a good way to start beekeeping safely and in an informed way.  It is also a good way to find out about the laws and regulations here in the United States, such as requirements of registering an apiary, yearly inspections, licensing requirements, fines and penalties,  etc etc.    Also, at least around here, Sudden Hive Collapse (or whatever they are calling it now) is making it very difficult to keep hives alive (along with the other hive diseases). 

 

An important part of being safe around hives is how you dress.  White or off-white clothing is much safer than dark clothing.  You don't want to dress up in dark colors least they mistake you for one of nature's robber-of-hives.   ;-)

[Albert A Rasch]

Dan,
 
There is something about your place that makes it perfect place for a hive! If an apiarist could isolate the queen, the hive could be moved to TBH without too much fuss. Ok, maybe a little. But you get the idea. Then it's just a small step to barrels of mead aging in the basement...
 
David,
 
You are absolutely correct, and though I don't much care for revenuers and government inspectors, some states are pretty stringent about such things. The problem is that most state functionaries are clueless. CCD Colony Collapse disorder is related to a number of man-made causal agents. Our Ag people are actually part of the problem. Apiarists, and especially hobby apiarists who tend to have an emotional attachment to their hives rather than an economic one, are more likely to tend to their hives in a holistic manner. Your Ag departments tend to go with the chemical approach as do the commercial apiarists whose livelihood depends on pounds of honey not quality. I don't have as many hives as I used to, but four years out here has caused my bees to think I don't care for them anymore. None-the-less, I still have two hives of locally adapted bees that have never been fed, never been treated, and to this day still yield good honey. That's my brood stock for splits this spring.
 
The best way to save bees is for beekeepers to manage their hives for resiliency and local adaptations. Breed your bees to resist the local diseases. Always have a hive that you allow to swarm every year to help populate a feral bee that is acclimated to your area. They will repay you years hence with their own swarms for you to collect.
 
Best regards,
Albert

[Grundsau]

Hi Albert, great thread. I'm in Robesonia, Pa.

 

Interesting that I just came across your blog last night and didn't realize you were on IFI.

Small world... :D

Am going into my third year with bees and have 4 main hives and 1 Nuc for now.

Lost one colony due to a failing queen in late fall.

 

Have 6 Nucs of Northern bees that were raised close to my geo area on order for May.

The plans are to place them in three outyards and grow them into main hives and more Nucs.

The colonies in my home yard are going to be split into Nucs and those Nucs will get split one more time this Summer if the weather cooperates.

I'd like lots of Nucs to support the main hives.

So far the colonies have been treatment free and plan to do that as long as possible.

 

I'm not allergic to bees but asked my Dr for an Epi-pen in case of a mass of stings all at once resulting in a compromised airway.

Btw, when I move Nucs or main hives, 1/8" hardware cloth gets placed in the openings during the night and then I ratchet strap the hive together.

They get to breathe and everything stays together during transport.

 

I'm going to make another thread about our club's beginner beekeeping class on 2/16.

 

This is an early Fall Summer shot of our home yard.

The hive closest to the camera is a Nuc started in early August.

It's a divided 2- story 10 frame deep. One side is filled with sawdust.

The other side has 4 frames in each box. I eventually added another divided Deep super and gave them 4 more frames of honey.

[Albert A Rasch]

Nice!

 

I've lately taken to putting my hives on a stack of three CMU blocks. In order to keep them that much higher from the ground. It does make it a little more difficult to move the supers, especially if they've been propolized together.I'm thinking of going to steel stands though, because i would like to start using screen bottom boards in the summer months. that and I am going to get guineas. I'm thinking, and this is just a thought, that guineas will eradicate the African Hive Beetles since they pupate in the ground. Keeping the hives a bit higher will minimize the potential loss of bees to the guineas. (There are equally adamant sides to the guinea story, some say they eat bees, others say they don't! I guess i will find out wont I!)

 

I've also pondered how to put stop the ants from infesting the hives. One thought is to build a bottom board with a that has bolts for legs, and set those bolts in small flat cans like tuna comes in and fill the cans part way with oil. That should keep them from climbing up.

 

Let me add a couple of links here:

 

This gentleman, Walt Wright, is probably the foremost experimenter today. He's a hobbyist not a professional but he knows his bee stuff! “The fact that you will find none of this information in your favorite reference book does not make it any less true.”

 

Walt Wright Read the Checkboarding articles first, and then make your way through the others; a wealth of information you will find nowhere else.

 

This article is just as interesting : On the Spot Re-Queening Similar to the method I've used, but a little more sophisticated and thoughtful. Once you get past the simple splitting of hives to increase your colonies, this is the technique to use.

 

Grundsau, when you say, I'd like lots of Nucs to support the main hives, what do you mean by that? Are you going to allow them to grow out as hives, or are you planning them as brood makers to build up the other hives, or as back-up hives just in case?

 

Good stuff being shared here!

 

Regards,

Albert

[Grundsau]

Albert, you've got the right idea.
The Nucs are going to function as support staff for the main hives.
I'll keep the Nucs from swarming by pulling brood frames to start more nucs or adding those frames to the main hives.
Also for replacement queens and combining with weak hives.
Adding the entire Nuc to a main hive to act like a "bee bomb" just before the nectar flows start.
Replacements for dead hives.
My goal is to have one or more Nucs for each hive this summer.

Have you heard of Michael Palmer? He is the Nuc Guru from up north.
I'll post some links when I get home.

Btw, just checked the bees today. One colony died in a cluster trying to keep brood warm.
We are down to 3 hives and 1 Nuc now.
The upside is there are now six 10 frame Deeps of drawn comb and capped honey for Spring.

[Grundsau]

Good stuff to be found here:

Page 5 on on at this link has some Nuc info: http://pwrbeekeepers.com/splits-and-nucs-demonstration.pdf
More info: http://www.wicwas.com/document%20files/monthly%20articles/larryarticles2006/LarryJuly2006.pdf
Michael Palmer video Part 1 of 2: http://vimeo.com/23178333

[Albert A Rasch]

Grundau,

 

Check this article out and tell me what you think, it might change your management strategy...

 

Swarm Management

 

The key concept is managing the brood space so that the bees can continue to expand there colony. Instead of managing the Nucs to stay within certain size constraints, it suggests managing the hive to maximize growth and storage potential.

 

That drawn comb and honey will be just the ticket to help checkerboard come white wax season. or to expand a Nuc from Nuc to colony.

 

I'm all excited for you guys, i wish I was home managing my hives again!

 

Hmmm, I just had an inspired thought... As soon as it warms up here, I'm going to put out sugar syrup in a ziplock. If any bees come to get it, I'll follow them back to their hive, if it's on base. I can cobble together a TBH in no time.

 

Anybody ever have poppy honey?

 

LOL!!!

 

Best regards,

Albert

 

I remember reading several articles by Palmer. Good guy with good ideas, I'll have to catch up on his writings.

[swiftden]

I too am a bee keep from South Australia. I Currently have 30 hives. I used my extractor for the first time the other day and took 70kgs of honey from 4 doubles and a triple.

I too am trying to get into black smithing. slowly getting gear together and making room in my shed.

Unfortunately i already have too many hobbies and work which seem to get in the way.

Bees can be very interesting.

Regards

Allan

[onetreeforge]

I use to have a bee hive, the bees were yello when I started and frindley, but black bees moved in and they all turnd black, you couldn't even get near them in the end, they would atack the dog and sting me thrugh 2 pears of jeans, had to stop mowing that part of the lawn, but the honey was very nice, ended up giving the whole hive to another beekeeper, as they nealy stung the dog to death and I had had enough of stings after being stung with in an inch of my life by German paper wasps     

[Albert A Rasch]

Onetreeforge,

 

Have you guys been Africanized? Because that's exactly what it sounds like. Only cure is to suit up and squish that nasty queen to death, and stay away for six or seven weeks.

 

BTW, you Kiwis have been great allies! If I had my druthers, I would have more of you here, you know how to take the fight to the enemy!

 

Best regards,

Albert

 

PS: Actually I would just as soon get all of us out of here.

 

Except maybe the French... AAR