The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

362 Pages·2010·12.35 MB·English

by  Kim Flottum

The
Backyard Beekeeper
An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Keeping
Bees in Your Yard and Garden
Kim Flottum
Dedication
This book, the process that brought it to be, and the evolution of the information
provided here is hereby dedicated to Professor Chuck Koval, Extension
Entomologist, University of Wisconsin, Madison—who first let me in and
showed me his way of sharing information. I miss his good advice and his
humor, but not so much his liver and onions.
To Professor Eric Erickson, USDA Honey Bee Lab, Madison, Wisconsin (and
Tucson, Arizona)—who made me learn about bees, and who encouraged me to
learn, and to use what I learned to help those who could use that information.
To John Root, President (now retired), of the A. I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio
—who hired me to shepherd his magazine, Bee Culture, and who let me bring
together all that I had to take his magazine to the next generation of beekeepers.
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
In the Beginning
A New Concept
Chapter 1 Starting Right
First Steps: Where Will You Put Your Hive?
Bee Yards Other Than Backyards
Extreme Urban Beekeeping
Equipment: Tools of the Trade
Frame Assembly
Box Assembly
The Bees
Chapter 2 About Bees
Overview
The Queen
The Workers
Foragers
Drones
Seasonal Changes
Review and Preparation
Chapter 3 About Beekeeping
Lighting Your Smoker
Package Management
Honey Flow Time
Keeping Records
Opening a Colony
Honeycomb and Brood Combs
Integrated Pest Management
Maladies
Comb Honey and Cut-Comb Honey
Summertime Chores
Late Summer Harvest
Fall and Winter Management
Early Spring Inspections
Chapter 4 About Beeswax
Melting Beeswax
Waxing Plastic Foundation
Dealing with Cappings Wax
Making Candles
Making Cosmetic Creams
Other Beauty Benefits from Your Hive and Garden
Making Soap
Encaustic Painting
Chapter 5 Cooking with Honey
Using Honey
To Liquefy Granulated Honey
Cooking with Honey
Recipes with Honey and Your Garden Harvest
Conclusion
Glossary
Resources
Index
Photographer Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Preface
Since the first edition of this book was published, a tsunami of changes have
crashed over the beekeeping world. Almost, it seems too many to number,
though I will try because it is important to delineate why this book has been
updated and revised. Though much has changed, much has stayed the same. I
have retained the sections and the information that have not changed, and that
are unlikely to change. But the ideas, techniques, and principles that are no
longer viable are no longer here.
The memory of Colony Collapse Disorder is still fresh in the minds of
beekeepers and on the pages of magazines and newspapers. It began as a
mystery, turned into a disaster, and then harnessed the power of the government,
the beekeeping industry, the media, funding agencies supported by fruit and
vegetable growers and other pollination users, cosmetic companies that use
honey bee products, and certainly the public. The threat (or supposed threat) of
the world losing this vital pollinator to an unknown disease was a wake-up call
that nearly everyone heard, and inspired many into looking at what was going
on.
In spite of all the attention, research, money, press coverage, and the
discoveries that weren’t the solution to Colony Collapse Disorder, the final
answer remained elusive. Along the way many serendipitous discoveries were
made. For instance, honey bees were increasingly being exposed to a witch’s
brew of sly new crop pesticides that were, perhaps, poorly tested and poorly
regulated before being released. In addition, climate aberrations in several parts
of the United States early on led to several of years of drought and poor
foraging. This coupled with an increasing diet of monoculture crop monotony
led to additional nutritional distress.
The bane of beekeepers worldwide was the continued presence of varroa
mites that refused to die. Beekeepers kept trying to kill them by adding more and
more toxic chemicals to their hives and not cleaning up the mess left behind. The
stress on some colonies from moving from place to place was measured by
researchers, while at the same time a nosema variant that was new (or newly
discovered) rose to stardom and unleashed its particularly nasty symptoms on
the bee population.
Some thought that maybe it was one of the viruses common to bee hives
everywhere that took advantage of all of this. Or did one of those common
viruses suddenly mutate and change the balance? Or—and I suspect this will be
found to be the answer—could it have been an opportunistic new virus (or one
not seen before in honey bees) able to capitalize on the weakness and stresses
created by all the other problems? Maybe the world knows the answer by the
time you are reading this, rendering all the questions moot and the solutions
already in motion. Maybe not.
Colony Collapse began mostly unnoticed, made lots of noise during its
second season, was at its deadliest and most noticeable the third, but by season
four made barely a whimper. And then, it was (mostly) gone. Gladly, most
beekeepers weren’t affected by Colony Collapse Disorder, nor were most bees in
the United States. Now its tune is only barely heard. At its height, however,
something like 10 percent of all the bees that died during one long cold winter
were lost to this disease alone. More were reported in Europe and elsewhere.
What was left in the wake of Colony Collapse was a much wiser beekeeping
industry. And this is why I have revised this book. During the four years Colony
Collapse Disorder was running amok I was fortunate enough to work with and
report on the results of the researchers, the primary beekeepers, the funding
agencies, the government officials, and the organizations and businesses that
devoted the time and money to bring to light the answers we now have.
We learned good lessons: keep our houses clean; keep our bees from the
harms of an agricultural world; our bees need to eat well and eat enough; and we
need to be far more diligent in monitoring the health of our colonies. As a result,
today bees are healthier, happier and more productive. Interestingly, so too are
our beekeepers.
Now, this book will fill you in on all we’ve learned. You will begin your
beekeeping adventure well armed with all this new information plus the tried and
true ways that remain. Add to this that urban and rooftop beekeeping has risen
and spread like warm honey on a hot biscuit. If you are part of this movement,
then what’s inside will be a welcome addition to your citified beekeeping
endeavors.
You are, right now, light years ahead of where beekeepers were even five
years ago. With this book, a bit of outdoor wisdom and a colony or two of honey
bees you will truly enjoy the art, the science, and the adventure of beekeeping.
You will enjoy the garden crops you harvest, the honey you and your bees
produce, and the beneficial products made from the efforts of your bees and your
work.
So again I ask, what could be sweeter? Enjoy the bees!
Kim Flottum
Backyards are good places to keep bees because they are close; urban areas support bees well
with diverse and abundant natural resources; and bees are the pollinators of choice for gardens
and landscape plants all over the neighborhood.