1. Beekeeping 101
What we learned our first
year.
Presented by Doug and Melinda Barlow

2. Where do we begin?
If you decide to become a
beekeeper, you will join over
200,000 beekeepers in the
United States. Most are
Hobbyists and with lest than 25
hives.
Beekeepers come in all ages
and sizes.

3. Why many do not keep bees!
Fear of being stung! But you can dress to
reduce the chance of being stung!

4. The Fear Factor
The sting represents the
defensive behavior of
honey bees. Most often it is
used in the defense of the
hive. However, honey bees
can be very aggressive
during bad weather, when
being harassed by
skunks, and even the
genetics of the queen
determines aggressiveness.

5. You can protect yourself.
It is highly recommended that new
beekeepers work bees with a bee
veil, gloves, protective clothing, and shoes.
Smoke is used to control bees ;
therefore, one tool to purchase is a smoker.

6. Honey Bees are beneficial insects
Usually people think of
bees for honey.

7. Honey Bees are beneficial insects.
As pollinators—
most valuable.
It is better for thirty thousand
people to have one hive each then
it is for one person to have thirty
thousand hives.
• If the bee disappeared off the
surface of the globe then man
world only have four years of life
left. No more bees, on more
pollination, no more plants, no
more animals, no more man”
• Albert Einstein

8. Honey Bees are beneficial insects
Honey bees
produce
honey, wax, propoli
s, and royal jelly.
 Some individuals
use them for bee
sting therapy
(Apitherapy).

9. A look at some bee hive locations

10. What is needed for a good
location
Most important:

Are there any ordnances or restrictions on the use of
your property in placing hives on the property?

Do you have a water source near-by? If you have a
neighbor with a swimming pool or hot tub
near, problems can be encountered!

Do you have enough property and space to locate
hives on your property?

Do you rent? Check with landlord for permission to
place bees.

11. Other Considerations
• Does your spouse approve?
• Do you or any member of your family
have allergic reactions to bee stings?
• Bee fever?

12. If you are still with me….
Then I guess we can begin to talk about the how to
get into beekeeping.

13. Getting Started in
Beekeeping
Beekeeping is harder then having a cat, but easer
they having a dog.

14. Beekeeping
A person or persons
keeping honey bees need
protection from bee
stings.
So what do they need?
A Bee veil,
 protective clothing,
 ……………….gloves,
Good shoes

15. Tools needed to work bees
You will find a number of
items in bee catalogs that
can be considered tools to
use when working bees.
However, you will need
only two:
A smoker
A Bee Brush
A hive tool

16. Where do you get Tools?
My first suggestion would be for you
to find a local dealer in bee
supplies.
• IFA
• 1646 East 1100 South
• Vernal, Utah 84078
• 7891-1616
• Cal-Ranch
• 1180 West Highway 40
• Vernal, Utah
• 789-6000

17. Getting Honey Bees
There are four general ways to
begin a colony of bees.
Start with a swarm.
Start with a package of bees.
Start with a nuc hive.
Start with an established hive.

18. Getting Honey Bees in a package.
Start with a package of bees.
 There are beekeepers who sell
honey bees.
 Often bees are brought into
Utah from other states.
 The package of bees includes a
queen, syrup can to feed the
bees, and bees.
 The size of a package depends
upon the number of pounds of
bees put into the
packages, most are 3lb.

19. Getting Honey Bees
Start with a nucleus hive.
This is called a nuc!
 It will cost more than a package of
bees.
 It will contain at least two or three
frames of capped brood, a laying
queen, and eggs & larva in various
stages of development.
 The nuc will have drawn comb rather
than foundation.
 Watch out for nuc’s sold with just bees
and new foundation. This is nothing
more than a package put into a box.
This kind of nuc will not develop
much faster than a package of bees.
The queen

20. Registering your Bees
In compliance with
provisions of the Utah
Bee Inspection Act passed
by the 1979
Legislature, you must
register your bees.
Also in Uintah County call
the Mosquito Abatement
office and register. 435789-4105

21. Getting Honey Bees
I am sure you are ready to
suit up, grab a hive
tool, light your
smoker, and get started….
But first, lets take a look at
what honey bees are!

22. An Introduction to the
Bee’s World

23. Honey Bees
Have existed for a few million years.
For ten thousand years, records
have survived of man’s exploitation
of honey.

24. An introduction to the bee’s world
The honey bee is a highly socialized
insect.
– Apis mellifera L.
• The scientific name for the honey
bee. You will see the word honey bee
spelled as two words and as a single
word. But it is correct to spell it as two
words like House fly, and bumble
bee. Apis mellifera L. is the scientific
name for the honey bee. The honey
bee is an insect. Insects are classified
as having
• 3 body parts (head, thorax and
abdomen)
• one pair of antennae
• three pairs of legs
• and usually one or two pairs of wings

25. Apis mellifera L.
• According to Theodore B. Mitchell who spent 38 years
of his life studying bees "Bees are essential to our
economy, being the chief pollinating agents of the
flowering plants. They have a relation not only to
agriculture, but to the conservation of wildlife and
game management, and constitute an important element
in the various ecologic factors that combine to form our
environment. Thus the production of fruit crops such
as
apples, pears, melons, cucumbers, grapes, dewberries, h
uckleberries and strawberries, as well as cotton and
various seed crops such as alfalfa, several
clovers, vetch, onion, asparagus, buckwheat and
celery, are dependent upon a sufficient population of
bees, either the domesticated honey bee or some of our
native, wild, solitary or social species."

26. A Honey Bee Colony
• Honey bees live in a colony of
many individuals whose joint
effort is required for
survival. Within this colony of
bees are both females and
males. The males are called
drones and are necessary for
mating with the queen. They
gather no nectar or pollen for the
hive. They also have no stinger.
There may be 300 to 500 of these
in a strong hive. Each colony
will have a queen. She is the
mother of all the bees in the
colony. The queen is a female as
are her daughters the worker
bee. Both the queen and workers
have stingers but only the worker
bee is usually associated with
stinging. The queen uses her
stinger to kill rival queens.

27. The inhabitants of the hive
Meet the queen:
 The queen is a mature
female. She lays thousands of
eggs during her life time. A
good queen may lay over 2000
eggs in a single day. A queen
has the longest live span in the
colony living for up to five
years. She is larger than the
other bees in the hive and has
a slim torpedo shape. She
does have a stinger, but uses
it to kill other queens. Under
normal conditions a hive will
have only one queen.

28. The inhabitants of the hive
Meet the worker bee:
 Worker bees are sexually underdeveloped
females. They may number as many as
60,000 in a colony. The population of a
colony depends on a number of factors such
as: the egg laying ability of the queen, the
space available in the hive (area where the
bees live) and the incoming food supply.
They are called workers because that is
what they do. They collect food and water
for the colony, build wax comb, do the
housework, maintain the interior
temperatures of the hive and guard the
hive against intruders [in other words: they
can sting]. Female worker bees under
certain conditions can lay eggs but because
they are not mated, they produce eggs that
only develop into drones.

29. The inhabitants of the hive
Meet the Drone bee:
 Drones are the males in the
colony. Note the general
shape of the drone. Notice
two things: 1) the head is
large and the eyes
predominate the head and 2)
the rear-end of the drone is
rounded --they have no
stinger and can not
sting. Although they are
usually considered
worthless, they contribute
to the continuation of one
generation to the next
generation.

30. 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 all honey bees differ by caste.
Lets look at each of these.

31. All honey bees come from eggs
• A queen honey bee can
lay over 2000 eggs in a
single 24 hour period.
• If your math is
good, multiply this by
10, 20, 30, and 40 days
the general life span of
worker bees.
• Eggs are deposited
into cells.

32. All honey bees develop into larva
• Larva in cells look somewhat
like little worms. The body is
composed of a head plus 13
ring-like divisions or segments.
• It grows to fill the cell very
quickly. Between the day it
emerges from the egg until it
reaches the fifth day of
development, it will grow six
times it’s body weight during
each 24 hour period of
development.
• Healthy larva are white in color.

33. All honey bees go thru something
called metamorphism
• This means that the honey bee during its
development into an adult will pass thru several
distinct stages from egg to adult.
• When a cell is capped – the larva transforms into
a pupa. From a pupa it will develop into a
imago. It then emerges as an adult.

34. The development times for all honey
bees differ by caste
Egg
Queen
Worker
Larva
3 days
4-5 days
3 days
Pupa
8 days
Emerge
16 days
5-6 days
12-13 days
21 days
6-7 days
14 days
24 days
•
Drone
3 days

35. The cells of honey bees differ by
caste
Queen
cells
Worker
cell
Drone
cells

36. Some Facts About….
The queen bee
• She develops from a fertilized
egg.
• She must mate with a drone to
produce fertilized eggs.
• She is the mother of all the bees
in the hive.
• She may live for 5 years or
more.
• Her role in the hive is to
produce eggs and to release
pheromone signals within the
hive.

37. Some Facts About….
The worker bees
• She is develped from a fertilized
egg.
• The worker bee lives for a short
period of time – usually a period of
about 40 days.
• A worker bee spends its first 20 days
in the hive performing various task
– cleaning cells, feeding young
larva, building wax comb, etc.
• She defends the hive. It has a
stinger.
• The worker bee also has pollen
baskets on her rear legs to gather
and collect pollen while she is
foraging for nectar outside the hive.

38. Some Facts About….
Drones
• The drone is the male bee in the
hive.
• He develops from an unfertilized
egg. Meaning he is passing on
genetic material from his mother
only.
• He provides ½ of the genetic
material in worker bees.
• His life span depends on the
health of the colony. During poor
honey flows and honey
shortages, drones may be driven
from the hive. This happens at
the onset of winter as well.
• Drones can be created by laying
worker honey bees.

39. Some Factsyou will observe within a hive of bees
About….
What
This frame from
the brood
chamber is
close to ideal.
Honey is stored at the
top of the frame
Capped brood fills
much of the rest of
the frame.

40. Some Factsyou will observe within a hive of bees
About….
What
Beekeeping may differ from
region to region but in
Ohio, beekeepers usually keep
their bees in two deep hive
bodies.
Another term used is brood nest
or brood chamber. Note that
this hive is set up for 9 frames
rather than 10.
A hive should have a good
population of bees.
You will also see what is called a
division board feeder in this
hive.

41. Some Factsyou will observe about a hive of bees
About….
What
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

42. Managing Bees

43. Beekeeping
Management of
honey bees
Honey bees lived just
fine until man came
along and began to
capture them. This is
called keeping bees and
managing them. In the
wild they are just wild
feral bees.

44. Managing Bees
Where a hive/ hives should be
located.
Some general rules:
1.
Your honey bees should not become a
nuisances to your neighbors! If they
do, you will face problems with their
complaints.
2.
It is often recommended that a hive of
bees face toward the sun and away
from prevailing winds.
3.
It should be located within a short
flying distance to a water source.
4.
It should be protected from the heat of
the sun during summer months.
However, deep shade is not necessary.
5.
Easy access to the hives.

45. Good Neighbor Guidelines
• Being a good neighbor is not building fences as Robert Frost once put it. As a
beekeeper our bees don't get fenced in. I always recommend common sense.
• 1. Place your colonies of bees away from lot lines and occupied
buildings. If near buildings, place colonies away from used entrances
and lines of traffic. Colonies should be in full sun if possible.
• 2. If your colonies are near the line, erect a six foot barricade between
the bees and the line. Use anything bees will not pass through: dense
shrubs, fencing, etc. An alternate solution may be to place the hives
on a roof. Anytime bees are flying close to the ground and across the
property line of a neighbor, there are potential problems.
• 3. Bees may be annoying at their water source. If you do not live
within 500 feet of a natural water source, or if you live near a
swimming pool, place a tub of water in your apiary with wood floats
in it. This is to allow the bees to drink without drowning. Change the
water weekly to prevent stagnation and mosquito breeding.

46. Good Neighbor Guidelines
• 4. Minimize robbing by bees, since those which are being robbed
become very aggressive. To accomplish this, work your bees only
during a nectar flow, keep exposed honey to a minimum, and use
entrance reducers on weak colonies.
• 5. Try to prevent swarming. Though gentle, swarms are a nuisance.
• 6. Do not keep more than three or four beehives on a lot less than
one-half acre. If more colonies are desired, find a nearby farmer who
will allow you to keep your hives on his land in exchange for some
honey.
• 7. Do not work your beehives when close neighbors are in their
yards.
• 8. If you have a mean colony that may bother neighbors when you are
working it, re-queen it.
• 9. A pound or two of free honey each year to neighbors bordering on
your property often makes bees much more acceptable to them.
• 10. Please remember: the successful beekeepers' bees are not a
nuisance to his neighbors.

47. Management of a colony of
honey bees
• First, make sure all is ready. Do you have your hive tool? Is the
smoker going? What about neighbors? Children?
• Approach the hive from the side if possible. Do not stand in
front of the entrance. If you do, you will notice a crowd of bees
in a holding pattern behind you.
• Use your hive tool to remove the top cover. I like to lay the top
cover on the ground next to the hive with the bottom side
up. Blow a little smoke toward the entrance. Notice that I said a
little smoke. You don't need a lot.
• Next remove the inner cover. Bee have a tendency to glue this
down to the inner side of the hive with propolis, so you may
have to pry the inner cover off. Keep your smoker handy.
• Once the inner cover is off the top bars of the frames in the top
box (super) are exposed. Bees will start to migrate toward the
disturbance and you will notice them coming up between the
top bars. You can apply a little smoke to calm them down. A
few may become air borne and fly about you. Ignore them.

48. Management of a colony of
honey bees
• What you will see…
• When the hive is opened the
bees will investigate and
begin coming to the top of
the frames.
• If the hive is very strong, the
entire top will be covered
with bees.
• This is the time to use a
gentle blast of smoke
directly to where the bees
are coming up.

49. Management of a colony of
honey bees
Smoke is a great help in
controlling honey bees.
However, don’t use too
much.
Good fuel to use in your
smoker…..
Wood shavings
Burlap
Pulk wood (decaying wood easy
found in dead trees.
Pine needles

50. Management of a colony of
honey bees
Work your hive from the
side and not the front of
the hive.
A few puffs at the entrance
and a little on the top bars
is enough.
Too much smoke will cause
the bees to begin to run
out of the hive.

51. Management of a colony of honey
bees
• Move slowly when
working the bees. Fast
rapid movement causes
the bees to react to your
actions.
• Work bees during the mid
day in good weather.
• If the hive becomes
uncontrollable, close the
hive and wait for a better
time of day.

52. Management of a colony of honey
bees
• Your hive tool is used
to pry off the top
cover, inner cover and
separate the hive
bodies. It is used most
often to get frames out
of hive bodies.
• The hive tool is held in
the hand ready for
use.

53. Management of a colony of honey
bees
• What should we be
looking for when we
begin to work the
hive?
• First, a beekeeper’s job
is to do the least
amount of damage to
the bees.

54. Management of a colony of honey
bees
• It is not necessary to
find the queen each
time we open the hive!
• We can tell that she is
present if you can see
eggs in cells.

55. Management of a colony of honey
bees
• A hive should not be open
any longer than necessary
to do an inspection.
• An inspection consist of
looking for things that are
not normal within a hive of
bees. As you gain
experience, this will
become easier. Hold the
frame so that the sun is
reaching the frame from
over your shoulder.

56. Management of a colony of honey
bees.
You should see:
1.
A good population of honey bees.
2.
Eggs, larva, and capped brood.
3.
Honey and pollen.
Hopefully you will not see:
1.
Varroa mite that might be on bees.
2.
Queen cells?
3.
Other things in the hive such as
mice, yellow jackets, wax moths,
etc.+
We are going to look at each of these.

57. Management of a colony of honey
bees.
• What is a good
population of bees?
• If the bees are covering
the brood areas of the
hive in spring, this is a
good sign. At this
time of year, there may
be only four or five
frames of bees.

58. Management of a colony of honey
bees.
• Later in the
season, you will expect
to find bees in all parts
of the hive.
• At times they may
even cluster on the
front of the hive.

59. Management of a colony of honey
bees.
If you see a large population
of bees in your hive, you
should be looking for
queen cells which indicate
your hive may be about to
swarm.
A large swarm like this will
reduce the number of bees
in your hive. Would you
rather have bees hanging
in a tree or gathering
honey?

60. Management of a colony of honey
bees.
• Honey and Pollen?
• Cells with pollen
• A hive needs food to
survive during all
times during the year.
It is critical during
times of brood rearing.