1. Summer Management and Honey Production before - during and after the honey flow

2. TOPICS IN THIS LESSON 1. Strength of the colony 2. Swarming
3. Adding supers
4. Using the smoker
5. Honey extraction
6. Hive inspection

3. A Reminder

4. Remember from last week
There are 3 ways of doing things
1. The right way
2. The wrong way
3. Your way
Why is there a third way ?

5. BECAUSE
Your the beekeeper

6. Management applies to commercial beekeepers
Summer Management
Management applies to commercial beekeepers

7. Summer Management
And to the hobbyist

8. Early Spring
Over wintered colonies need to be checked for a laying queen and a supply of honey and pollen( which is protein) --if short of honey a supply of sugar water must be added along with a pollen substitute- re-queen if required.

9. Early Spring Feeding Sugar syrup – 1 part sugar to 1 part water
Pollen substitute – make a patty using Drivert sugar ( bakers sugar ), Mega Bee , mineral salts and a little bit of essential oil. This goes on the top frame. T

10. Check for disease and strength of the colony

11. Brood diseases ( Brood disease will be covered in a later lesson )
American Foulbrood
European Foulbrood
Chalk brood
Varro Mite
Tracheal Mite
Small Hive Beetle
Wax moth
( Brood disease will be covered in a later lesson )

12. Strength of the colony The objective should be to have
the colony reach it’s peak of strength at the time the main honey flow begins---the preparation for this should begin the preceding late summer or early fall. Those 3 requirements—a good queen-plenty of pollen- and plenty of honey !

13. Package bees or a new queen
The beekeeper must take into consideration these time periods
1. 15 to16 days for a new queen to hatch
2. 21 days for a worker bee to hatch
3. 24 days for a drone bee to hatch

14. Mid Spring Management
Hives should be checked for swarm cells-- they may be removed to keep the bees from swarming or if the beekeeper wants to increase the number of hives, then the beekeeper should leave them in and hope to be around when they swarm– it’s best to have extra hive bodies on hand.

15. Watch for Swarm Cells

16. Supersedure cells

17. Summer Management April/May FEED- FEED- FEED Reverse your Hive bodies
Make sure there is food in the brood chamber
Make sure that your queen is laying - look for eggs and larva
Get your Supers Ready
Prepare to SPLIT or Add Hive Body to prevent swarming u

18. Summer Management How to Check your Queen Presence of Queen
Learn to recognize Eggs, Larva, Capped Brood vs. Capped Honey
Eggs situated in normal position
What a Queen Looks Like
Quantity of Brood
Brood Should be on several frames
Frames should be about 2/3 full of brood – corners have honey
Quality of Brood
Brood pattern should be solid – not a mixture of capped and uncapped
in the same area.
Check on honey and pollen stores as a bad brood result from
lack of food!

19. Brood Chamber with Food

20. Brood Chamber with Food

21. Brood Chamber with Food

22. Summer Management How to Check your Queen
For a Productive Hive – Queen MUST produce 1500 to 2000 eggs/day
Replace the Queen with a newly mated Queen
Kill the Queen and allow the colony to make a new one (~40 days to Eggs)
If two very weak hives, kill the Queens, combine hives, re-queen

23. Find Eggs and Larva

24. Find Eggs and Larva

25. Finding the Queen

26. Find the Queen

27. Find the Queen

28. Find the Queen

29. Summer Management
June – July
Check hives for any signs of robbing, weak colonies, swarming or anything out of the ordinary.
Add supers as required—if top brood chamber is ¾ full—it’s time to add a super

30. Summer management

31. Summer Management

32. Summer Management

33. Summer Management

34. Swarming
Swarming is a great way to increase the number of your colonies– but not so good for your honey crop that year.

35. Swarming usually occurs from May thru July—but can vary !

36. Why do bees swarm Who knows ? Some say it’s due to overcrowding.
Some say the old queen is bad—but if she is bad how can she start a new colony ?
Other reasons are improper ventilation, starvation or supersedure impulse.
Swarming is the bee’s natural way of dividing colonies to create new ones.

37. Preventing a swarm

38. Swarm Control
One method of swarm control is to remove the swarm cell located on the bottom of the frame The Demaree method separates the queen from the brood which relieves congestion in the brood chamber. A queen excluder is placed between the two hive bodies .

39. Catching a swarm
The old queen leaves the hive with a number of worker bees. They usually gorge themselves with honey ( except for the queen - she has to stay slim and trim)
Scout bees look for a new home– now it’s up to the beekeeper to give them that new home.

40. Whatever works

41. Whatever works

42. Honey Extraction August-Sept
When the first super is 2/3 capped over it’s time to take it off and replace it with another super—providing that the bees are still bring in nectar.

43. Removal of frames Use a smoker Shake or use a brush
Bee Go or other chemicals
Use a leaf blower
Remember– you’re the beekeeper– what works best for you !

44. Using a smoker
The smoker was featured last week –but remember– the type of fuel used in a smoker contains pollutants and toxic gases – use fuels that are derived from natural sources ( wood shavings , dried grass , pine cones etc.)
A few puffs of smoke at the entrance and under the top cover are sufficient
(as a precaution–carry a fire extinguisher)

45. Wear protective clothing
How fast can you run ?

46. Shaking the frame Use your brush
Once the frame is removed give it a few good shakes to dislodge the bees OR
Use your brush
Gently brush the bees off the frame
( I do this in front of the hive )

47. Honey Extraction Chemicals BeeGo/Honey Robber (n-butyric anhydride)
Sprinkle on Cloth and place over super
Nasty smell drives bees down out of super
Risk of contaminating Honey!

48. Honey Extraction Bee Blower Leaf blower will work
works well and is convenient

49. Capped Honey Indicates It’s Ripe
Honey Extraction
Capped Honey Indicates It’s Ripe

50. Honey extraction
Place frames in an empty super after bees are cleaned off. When all hives have been emptied of capped frames you are ready to begin extraction.
When all of the frames have been extracted you can put them back on the hive and let the bees clean them out.

51. Honey Extraction
De-capping the Comb
Hot Knife
Uncapping Fork

52. Drain the Cappings/save the wax
Honey Extraction
Drain the Cappings/save the wax

53. Honey Extraction
Extractor

54. Homemade extractor

55. Chunk Honey/Cut Comb Honey
Honey Extraction
Chunk Honey/Cut Comb Honey

56. Wax Production A valuable by-product of beekeeping!
DO NOT USE OLD Brood Comb!

57. Uses of bee’s wax 1. cosmetics 2. candles for churches
3. wax for beekeeper products

58. Hive inspection How and When to Check Your Hives
Is too much Inspection a Bad Thing?

59. Hive Inspection Nothing Short of a “Home Invasion”
Beginning Beekeepers Inspect their Hives TOO MUCH !
Goal is to get familiar with “outside” to tell you what
is happening on the “inside”
How does the colony behave?
Are there a lot of bees coming and going?
Are there dead bees/larva on the landing board?
Is there a strange smell?
How much does your hive weigh?

60. Hive Inspection Nothing Short of a “Home Invasion” IF YOU SEE
# of Bees seems to be decreasing
Dead Bees, larva, or pupae on the landing board
Detect a strange or foul odor
Bees that are unusually temperamental
Robbers, predators, or leaking honey
Lethargic, aimless, or deformed bees
ANYTHING out of the Ordinary
OPEN IT UP!

61. Hive Inspection Nothing Short of a “Home Invasion”
Visually Inspect your Hives Exterior Often
BUT Removing Frames:
Disrupts Hive activity for 4-8 hours
Agitates the Bees
Breaks Propolis Seals
Damages comb and disrupts Honey
Risks Heating or Chilling Brood
Changes the Hive Humidity – harm larva
Invites Predators into the Hive
RISKS HARMING THE QUEEN

62. Routine Maintenance Be Non-Invasive!
Lift Lid and Slide Inner Cover Slightly to the Side To:
Add sugar water to the feeders
Add Pollen patties or mite treatments
Weigh Hive To:
Determine Hive Health (Honey, Comb, Bees are heavy)
Look for Swarm Cells by Lifting Hive Body and Inspecting all
Frame Bottoms at the same time
Look of Mites by use of Sticky Board

63. Summary Remember-you’re the beekeeper What we have covered
1. strength of the colony
2. swarming
3. adding supers
4. using the smoker
5. honey extraction
6. hive inspection
Remember-you’re the beekeeper