An Introduction to Beekeeping

• Bees
• Hives and equipment
• Getting Bees
 A Few Interesting Facts
• Beekeeping is easy – the bees do all of the work

• The Honey Bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.

• Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including
enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water.

• The Honey Bee’s wings stroke about 200 beats per second; it can fly for up to six miles and as
fast as 15 mph.

• Bees use the sun as a compass. But when it’s cloudy, there’s a backup—they navigate by
polarized light, using special photoreceptors to find the sun's place in the sky.

• One Cornell University study estimated that Honey Bees annually pollinate $14 billion worth
of seeds and crops in the U.S.

• Honey bees maintain a constant temperature of about 93 degrees F within the hive year-
round.

• The public domain ebook – “Huber’s New Observations on Bee” is a treasure trove of
fascinating bee facts.
The Honey Bee
Apis mellifera

The honey bee is an insect. 

•3 body parts (head, thorax and
abdomen)
•2 compound eyes, 3 simple eyes
•one pair of antennae
•two pairs of wings
•A nectar pouch
•A stomach
•6 legs, with 2 baskets for carrying
pollen (workers)
Is it a Bee?
• The “Not Bees” most
often encountered are
from the wasp family -
wasps, hornets, yellow
jackets.
• Wasp stings hurt like
crazy and wasps can
sting multiple times.

• Honey Bee stings don’t

really hurt for long – but
they sure do itch!
• Honey Bees can only
sting one time and then
they die.
• It is estimated that 1100
honey bee stings are
required to be fatal.
Residents of the Colony
Honey bees live in a colony of 20,000 –
80,000 bees and one queen. The joint
effort of the colony is required for its
survival.
A healthy honey bee colony has three
distinct types of individuals:
•A queen
•Workers
•Drones

Each type has a distinct role in the colony

The Queen
• Normally, only one queen is present in
each colony and she is the mother of
all the individuals in that colony.
• She mates only once which fertilizes all
the eggs she will lay in her lifespan.
• She lays up to 2500 eggs per day.
• She is the largest bee in the colony
with a slim torpedo shape
• She can live up to 5 years
• Her role in the hive is to produce eggs
and to release pheromone signals
within the hive.
Workers
• Worker honey bees are female, live for about 40
days and do all the work. The tasks workers
perform change as they age.
• A worker bee spends her first 20 days in the hive
performing various tasks including tending the
queen, caring for the brood (eggs/pupae/larvae),
building wax comb, and cleaning.
• Later the workers tasks shift. Scout bees search
for resources for the hive (nectar, pollen, resins,
water). Middle-aged bees become undertakers.
However, soldier bees work as security guards
their whole life.
• Worker bees produce honeycomb through the
consumption of honey produced from the
collected flower nectar.
• The average worker bee produces about 1/12 th
tsp of honey in her lifetime. To produce one
pound of beeswax, six to eight pounds of honey
are ingested.
• Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel
threatened. They die once they sting.
 Drones

• Larger than worker bees, male honey bees have no

stinger and do no work at all.
• All they do is mate with virgin queens, usually from
colonies other than their own. They die after mating.
• Easily identified by their large, contiguous eyes and
rounded rear-ends.
• In the fall or after an abrupt end to a honey flow,
workers force drones out of the colony. They may also
remove any developing drone brood.
 Biological Information
• All honey bees come from eggs.
• All honey bees develop into larva.
• All honey bees go thru something called metamorphism.
• The development times for honey bees differs between
queens, workers and drones.
What do I need?
• A hive – the home for your
bees
• Equipment
• Bees
• Startup cost $300 - $500
Langstroth Hives
• A Langstroth hive is any vertically modular bee hive that accepts
frames. Langstroth hives adopt a 3/8” space (“bee space”)
between the frame and hive wall. The boxes of a Langstroth hive
stack together to form the hive. The bees build a brood nest at
the bottom and fill the top boxes with honey. These hives come
in 10-frame and 8-frame sizes, in addition to a 5-frame nuclear
hive.
• Pros:
– Most common system - really the universal beekeeping
standard for both commercial and hobby bee keepers
– Supplies easy to find
– Support easy to find
• Cons:
– Bulky, end up storing extra parts elsewhere
– Heavy to work with
– Artificial cell size may contribute to health issues
– Have to smoke bees to calm them enough to work with
them
– More disruptive to hive to work with them
Top Bar-Hives

• A top-bar hive is a single-story frameless beehive in which the comb

hangs from removable bars allowing for natural comb formation.
Instead of setting a hive up vertically, top-bar hives switch the plane to
horizontal, so the honey is at the front and the brood nest is at the
back. Quickly gaining in popularity for backyard beekeeping.
• Pros:
– Allow the bees to make natural cell sizes
– Light and easy to work with
– Less disruptive to bees - don't need smoke or full bee suit
– Can be worked more easily by people with disabilities
– Less honey produced, but more resistant to beetles, mites and
diseases
• Cons:
– Bees can die in cold winters
– Combs can break off or form improperly
– May not have local support for this type of beekeeping
– Can have poor ventilation or other problems if not built properly
 Parts of a Langstroth Hive
The equipment for a hive consist of:

Top Cover

Inner Cover

Supers with frames -- What the bees put

surplus honey for harvest into.
Could be deep, medium, or shallow
super.

Some times a queen excluder

Hive bodies and frames (Brood

chamber)

Bottom board with entrance reducer

Plans for a Top-Bar Hive
 Comparison
Honey is stored at the
top of the frame
Langstroth Hive
Frame
Capped brood fills
much of the rest of
the frame.

Top –Bar Hive

 Tools and protective gear

• Gloves –
• Hive tool
goatskin or
• Bee brush
nitrile
• Smoker • Jacket, suit
• veil
• Frame holder
 Types of Bees
Italian
GOOD TRAITS: Very gentle, good brood pattern, isn't so prone to swarm as much, great
honey producer, light on excess propolis and makes nice looking white comb honey. A
great bee for someone new to beekeeping.
POOR TRAITS: Can drift between hives and not find their home. Are prone to rob other
hives during a dearth. A dearth is a lull in nectar flow.

Carniolan
GOOD TRAITS: Explosive spring build up, are not so prone to rob, are very, very gentle,
and good comb producers.
POOR TRAITS: Explosive build up means more swarms. Honey production is less than
the Italian bee.

Russian
GOOD TRAITS: Bred to be more resistant to mites and more winter Hardy.
POOR TRAITS: Produces lots of propolis, always seems to have swarm cells in the hive, and
moderate honey producer.

Bees generally come in a “package”

with a queen in a separate cage.
 Where do I get the stuff?
Catalogues Local Suppliers
•Dadant •Simpson’s Bee Supply – Danville, OH
– https://www.dadant.com/catalog/ – http://www.simpsonsbeesupply.com/
•Brushy Mountain
– http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/ •Conrad’s Hive and Honey – Canal Winchester, OH
– http://hiveandhoney.com/
•Kelly
– https://www.kelleybees.com/ •Little Larue Apiary
– https://little-larue-apiary.myshopify.com/
•Mann Lake
– https://www.mannlakeltd.com/ •Link to list from Ohio State Beekeepers Association
– http://www.ohiostatebeekeepers.org/
•Blue Sky Bee Supply resources/queen-nuc-and-package-suppliers/
– http://www.blueskybeesupply.com/

Local Clubs
•Ohio State Beekeepers Association
• http://www.ohiostatebeekeepers.org/

•Central Ohio Beekeepers Association

• http://centralohiobeekeepers.org/

• East Central Ohio Beekeepers Association

• https://www.e-coba.org/