CHAPTER 1
Getting Started
A beekeeper at peace with his hives.
Technically, a hive is a box where beekeepers keep a managed colony of bees, while a nest is where a feral colony lives. A colony is a collection of bees living in a hive or a nest. Many beekeepers use the terms ‘hive’ and ‘colony’ interchangeably, although this is incorrect. For convenience, however, in this book, we use the term ‘hive’ to mean ‘colony’ since this is standard usage amongst beekeepers.
What is the best time to start beekeeping?
Problem:Bee colonies can be acquired anytime, but in which season is it best to start beekeeping?
Solution
The best season to acquire bee hives depends on the climate in your area. If your region has a spring where many flowering plants bloom, this would be an excellent time to start beekeeping. Later in the year, it would also be good if flowering plants were abundant. A long late spring and summer with many consistent sources of pollen and nectar is optimal. This gives your new colony time to strengthen and prepare for winter. If you try to establish your new colony near a winter shortage of food sources, you may need help keeping your colony alive. Similarly, in geographical areas where you have hot, dry summers with few flowers, ensure that the hives you purchase in spring have enough supplies to last through the flowerless summer. The seasonality of flowering plants tends to be reduced in cities because keen gardeners often grow a diversity of plants that flower during an extended season (frequently only having no flowers around them when snow is present, which may never be the case in many parts of the world).
Buying an established colony with a local beekeeper or club support is the safest option. With this strategy, it is possible to start beekeeping during less bee-friendly times of the year. However, there are three distinct advantages of starting in spring: (i) it is more likely that beekeepers will have surplus hives due to the need to control swarming, possibly by splitting hives; (ii) the beginner beekeeper will generally like to start with a smaller hive or well-established split because it is easier to transport and is less daunting to manage, (iii) depending on your area, the food resources are more likely to be abundant, (iv) a well-established split with a new queen is very unlikely to swarm until the following spring, giving you more time to learn swarm management techniques (see section on ‘Swarming’). Installing packages without local support is the riskiest strategy (see ‘How do I successfully install a package of bees into a hive?’). It is best attempted early in the honey-producing season, giving the colony time to build up numbers and store honey and pollen before winter.
A hobby beekeeper inspecting his hive.
How should I start as a beekeeper?
Problem:I want to become a beekeeper but must figure out how to start.
Solution
Many potential beekeepers have little, if any, prior knowledge or experience with beekeeping. Perhaps by talking with friends or workmates who are already beekeepers or watching documentaries about the problems honey bees face, many new
