Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees: Honey Production, Pollination, Bee Health

by Malcolm T. Sanford, Richard E. Bonney

Overview

Everyone is buzzing about bees! Urban beekeeping is on the rise as swarms of people do their part to help nurture local food systems, make gardens more productive, connect with nature, and rescue honey bee populations from colony collapse disorder. Honey bee hives now grace the White House Lawn, the roof of Chicago City Hall, the National Arboretum, and the top of the Fairmont Hotel. Even Hagen-Daazs has gotten into the act with its well-funded campaign, Help the Honey Bees.

Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees, the newest addition to the best-selling series, will be the single resource sought by beekeepers in all settings. Malcolm T. Sanford presents a thorough overview of these industrious and critically important insects. With this book as their guide, beekeepers will understand how to plan a hive, acquire bees, install a colony, keep bees healthy, maintain a healthy hive, understand and prevent new diseases, and harvest honey crops.

The book also provides an overview of the honey bee nest and colony life, insights into honey bee anatomy and behavior, an exploration of apiary equipment and tools, season-by-season beekeeper responsibilities, instructions for harvesting honey, and detailed, up-to-date information about diseases and other potential risks to bees.

This comprehensive reference will appeal to both the experienced beekeeper who seeks help with specific issues and the novice eager to get started.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603425506
Publisher:	Storey Books
Publication date:	09/18/2010
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Dr. Malcolm T. Sanford is the Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida.  He has been published extensively in the apiculture press including the journals Bee Culture and American Bee Journal.  He has been the newsletter author for over twenty years at Ohio State University and the University of Florida, writing on beekeeping management.  He is the Coordinator of the Apis Information Resource Center and author of The Apis Newsletter.  He has been a beekeeping management consultant in Egypt, Italy, France, Chile, Ecuador, Iraq, and Mexico.  He lives in Florida.

Veteran beekeeper Richard E. Bonney, author of Hive Management, Beekeeping, and co-author of Storey’s Guide to Keeping Honey Bees, was the longtime owner of Charlemont Apiaries in Charlemont, Massachusetts. 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments viii

Preface ix

1 Beginning Beekeeping 1

Seven Basic Tips for Getting Started

Dimensions of Beekeeping

The Beekeeper's Commitment

Time Commitment

Financial Considerations

Stings

Legal Considerations

Finding Resources

2 Origin and History of Beekeeping 25

Honey Bee Evolution

History of Beekeeping

3 A Bee's Life 41

What Is a Honey Bee?

Inside the Colony

The Queen

The Worker

The Drone

The Varroa Mite

Activities and Behavior

Patterns of Behavior

4 Choosing Hive Location 68

The Colony and Your Community

Weather Issues

Forage Availability

5 Getting Equipped 80

Hive Design and Dimensions

Hive Materials

Supers

Frames and Foundation

How to Make a Frame with Pins

Bottom Board

Queen Excluder

Covers

Hive Stand

Hive Scale

Feeders

Pollen Trap

Tools of the Trade

Beekeeper Garb

6 Enter the Bees 99

Smoker Basics

Package Bees

Managing Package Bees

Installing a Nucleus Colony

Starting with an Established Colony

Swarm!

A Wild or Feral Colony

7 Managing Honey Bee Colonies 119

Working a Colony

The Beekeeper as Manager

A Colony's Yearly Life Cycle

Population Cycle

The Apicultural Calendar

Late-Season Management

Requeening

Managing Nutrition

8 Taking the Crop 158

The Honey Crop

Harvesting the Crop

Processing the Crop

Storing the Crop

Chunk and Comb Honey

Other Bee Products

9 Pollination 180

Unique Challenges

Small-Scale Pollination

Is Pollination for You?

10 Diseases and Pests of the Honey Bee 188

Innate Defense Mechanisms

Brood Diseases

Adult Diseases

Parasitic Mites

Integrated Pest Management

Tolerant or Resistant Stock

Colony Collapse Disorder

Wax Moth

Small Hive Beetle

Black Bears

For More Information

Glossary 230

Model Beekeeping Ordinance 232

Sample Pollination Contract 233

Resources 235

A Sampling of U.S. Beekeeping Supply Houses

Sources of Beekeeping Information

Index 239