Beekeeping for beginners Part 10 bees, honey homesteading
August 20th, 2009 | by beekeeper |SurvivalReport asked:
Part 10 of our ongoing series on beekeeping. This part shows and discusses a few of the potential diseases and pests of the honey bee. honeybee, bees, beekeeping, homesteading, survival, self-sufficiency, self-reliance, peak oil preparedness, food shortage, food storage, apiary, beehive, Nosema, CCD, wax moths, anything else that might catch.. LOL www.survivalreport.net
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26 Responses to “Beekeeping for beginners Part 10 bees, honey homesteading”
By idahoswarmbegin on Aug 22, 2009 | Reply
Haven’t opened yet, have observed alot of activity. Going to open towards evening to make the switch. Been thinking about cutting the branch if everything looks ok, and removing some frames and depositing the swarm and brood and honey into the hive with less frames to make room or to shake them check the comb for larvae or pupae and tying it into a open frame with string????? Depends on what I see, maybe get lucky and spot the queen. I’ll let you know what I find>
By SurvivalReport on Aug 23, 2009 | Reply
Have you checked in on them in the cardboard box?
By idahoswarmbegin on Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
Caught a swarm, no equipment stuck in a cardboard box 15 days ago. Have new equipment (no queen secluders) What would be best way to move temporary hive for success.
By SurvivalReport on Aug 27, 2009 | Reply
Definitely won’t HELP them. Go talk to your mosquito control folks, you might be able to work something out.
By kick0yr0ass0blue on Aug 28, 2009 | Reply
My neigborhood is spraying for mosquitoes, will this harm my bees?
By SurvivalReport on Aug 28, 2009 | Reply
We use 2 deeps down here as a minimum for overwintering. 90% of the time this has been enough, last winter we lost one and all the cells were empty with a few bees dead head first in them (possibly starvation). But we had a unusually cold winter this year. Check with a LOCAL beekeeper, might need at least 3 up there. We also feed pretty much year round. Good luck.
By kick0yr0ass0blue on Aug 29, 2009 | Reply
are there any diseases or pets that seem to be more common in certain areas of the U.S.? also, i live in northern Illinois, the winter’s here usualy get around -10 the coldest, should i use 2 or 3 brood boxes?
By SurvivalReport on Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
You need Terramycin for AFB and EFB. They are beginning to recommend Fumigil B again for Nosema.
By kick0yr0ass0blue on Sep 3, 2009 | Reply
What would you recomend should be your basic stock of medications for a beginner bee keeper? What brands are most reliable?
By donttrustsnowmen on Sep 3, 2009 | Reply
Yea,I really hate chemicals,,tryin to do all natural,,so far its been 10 months and I havent used ANY chemicals,have had lotz of luck with the oil bottom traps.
By SurvivalReport on Sep 5, 2009 | Reply
We use shallow supers for “our” part of the honey crop. Now this depends greatly on what area of the country you are in. If it gets really cold where you are, they may need 3 or more full deeps just to make it through the winter. We are in the south with somewhat mild winters. Good luck!
By jc7622 on Sep 5, 2009 | Reply
I’m in the learning phase. You say that you use two deep boxes and then only harvest from a super on top of those two. What size super do you use? Also, do you put a queen excluder in there somewhere (under the super, under the top deep box)?
By winterskyshadow35 on Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
You said in the begining of this video, that you might use bleach to clean the plastic, but you didn’t seem to like that idea very much. I have an alternative for you! Use lemon juice instead! it does the same exact thing as bleach without the toxic qualities of bleach. I use baking soda and lemon juice instead of commercial cleaners in my home for just that reason.
Happy Day,
Eva
By bozzchem on Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
touche! Their pollination potential outweighs any other cost involved. What good is a garden without them?
By SurvivalReport on Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
We have a few hive beetles. I chase them down every hive we open and crush them with the hive tool. I believe it is “Check Mite” that is supposed to help with hive beetles as well as when you have mites. Be REALLY careful if you use anything like that, the directions and cautions on the box kinda make you wonder. It’s an organophosphate based product, so you may be able to test your old stocks of atropine if you use it incorrectly
By SurvivalReport on Sep 10, 2009 | Reply
I agree. But 25 gallon jugs of honey won’t pollinate your garden and fruit trees though. Nor act as a deterrent to trespassers either.
By donttrustsnowmen on Sep 13, 2009 | Reply
What would you recommend for small hive beetles?
I bought a hive from a local beekeeper that is eaten up with these little beast..
I would like to use something all natural,,and have bought the Hood beetle trap,but it doesnt work as well as advertised.
Thanks for the great videos.
By bozzchem on Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Excellent videos and very enlightening!
Once I started pricing the equipment for getting from hive to jar, I quickly realized it was no different than when I started brewing beer. By the time you pump out the coin for the equipment and get yourself comfortable with the process-you could have bought enough beer (honey in this case) to last for many years.
25 gallons of honey goes a LONG way and costs far less than half of that for the equipment needed for production.
Still considering…
By SurvivalReport on Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
ABC’s of Beekeeping is good. There is a video/DVD set that was on GA public TV “A year in the life of an apiary” that Keith Delaplane did years ago. Dr. Delaplane is “the man” when it comes to beekeeping. You can usually find a set on Ebay under “beekeeping.” I would highly recommend ANYTHING Delaplane authored. Good luck! If you have any questions please let us know! SR
By ryer9000 on Sep 18, 2009 | Reply
you videos are great. im very interested in starting a colony. what book do you recommend for beginners that has the most practical advise on keeping bees. thanks
By SurvivalReport on Sep 21, 2009 | Reply
Yes. Everyone uses standard Langstroth dimensions. Only difference will be Deep hive body, medium hive body or shallow super. Width of frames will be the same but they will get SHORTER in height from deep (over 9 inches) down to medium than shallow. I’d advise using standard 10 frame hive equipment. Down here we use 2 Deep bodies, then a shallow super for honey. Even down south, the bees use almost a full deep super of honey every winter. You have to leave some for them to make the winter thru.
By keyofliberty on Sep 23, 2009 | Reply
Could I use Brushy Mountain Frames with another companies hive body/super?
By SurvivalReport on Sep 26, 2009 | Reply
We’ve had good luck with the Brushy “superframes” which are wood frame with plastic foundation. For a 10 frame setup you would need (10) of item 228B. This is going to make it a bit easier for a beginner also- not having to assemble the frames. A deep hive body will be necessary (#371DT- unassembled but very easy to assemble)as well as a bottom board- either IPM screened (#277) or solid (#668) and a telescoping top cover (#667) and perhaps an inner cover (#671) if you live in a cold climate .
By frozentootsiepop on Sep 26, 2009 | Reply
I’m very interested in starting a hive of my own and I just finished watching 1-10 of your bee videos. I’m now on Brushy mountains website and trying to pick a good hive. Can you tell me which one you used? Would a beginners kit be adequate?
By kerz on May 5, 2011 | Reply
So then, when you start your hunt for land, a particularly detailed list of questions, composed by you, should be answered. Look at the following examples : one. Due to this, the total for that line would be ( getting out my Excel spreadsheet tool here ), 4.9, or go on and round it to five.
By Cory on Oct 14, 2011 | Reply
Imagine I had a list in effect and each factors I need met for the land starts out with something close to ‘I need my land to…’ Perhaps that phrase could read something similar to, ‘I desire my land to have water at seventy five feet,’ or ‘I desire my land to grow fruit trees,’ or ‘I need my land to be level with rich mud to produce a garden,’ or ‘I desire my land to get tons of sun in order That I can use solar power.’ It doesn't matter how long your list is. If I want to stack my land prospect sheets by the Grand total of the running totals for each property ( as you will fill out one for each property you look over ), then allegedly, the property that is the best for me will be on top of the stack while the property that's the most horrid for me will be on the base of the stack.
You might want to put this information in a spreadsheet so that the mathematics will be done for you.