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

272 Pages·2010·4.96 MB·English

by  Richard E. Bonney, Malcolm T. Sanford

STOREY’S GUIDE TO KEEPING HONEY BEES
Storey’s Guide to
KEEPING
HONEY BEES
Honey Production • Pollination • Bee Health
MALCOLM T. SANFORD
and RICHARD E. BONNEY
The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.
Edited by Deborah Burns, Claire Golding, and Rebekah Boyd-Owens
Art direction and book design by Cynthia N. McFarland
Cover design by Kent Lew
Text production by Erin Dawson
Cover photograph by © Bryan Reynolds
Illustrations by © Elayne Sears, except for pages 76 and 77 (excluding
dandelion) by Beverly Duncan, page 77 (dandelion)
by Sarah Brill, and page 31 by Michael Gellatly
Expert review by Dr. Hachiro Shimanuki, former research leader of the Honey
Bee
Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, and Dr. Susan Drake, faculty member in
the Family
Medicine Residency at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Tallahassee, Florida
(the section
on bee stings and reactions)
Indexed by Samantha Miller
© 2010 by Malcolm T. Sanford
The foundation for this book is two previous works by Richard E. Bonney, Hive
Management (1990)
and Beekeeping: A Practical Guide (1993)
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief
passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may
any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or other — without written permission from the publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our
knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the
author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in
connection with the use of this information.
Storey books are available for special premium and promotional uses and for
customized editions. For further information, please call 1-800-793-9396.
Storey Publishing
210 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247
www.storey.com
Printed in the United States by Versa Press
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Sanford, Malcolm T. (Malcolm Thomas), 1942–
Storey’s guide to keeping honey bees / by Malcolm T. Sanford and
Richard E. Bonney.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60342-550-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-60342-551-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Honeybee. 2. Bee culture. I. Bonney, Richard E. II. Title.
SF523.S36 2010
638’.1—dc22
2010010908
Dedication
I dedicate this book to my father, Malcolm Elam Sanford,
who instilled in me the value of the written word.
I became the published author he longed to be.
The book is also dedicated to the honey bee.
This social insect gave me both the platform and the training ground to distill my
thoughts into as few words as possible, while clearly communicating complex
issues to a wide audience
made up of scientists and laypersons alike.
—M.T.S.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1 Beginning Beekeeping
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
Honey Bee Evolution
History of Beekeeping
3 A Bee’s Life
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
The Colony and Your Community
Weather Issues
Forage Availability
5 Getting Equipped
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
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
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
The Honey Crop
Harvesting the Crop
Processing the Crop
Storing the Crop
Chunk and Comb Honey
Other Bee Products
9 Pollination
Unique Challenges
Small-Scale Pollination
Is Pollination for You?
10 Diseases and Pests of the Honey Bee
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
Model Beekeeping Ordinance
Sample Pollination Contract
Resources
A Sampling of U.S. Beekeeping Supply Houses
Sources of Beekeeping Information
Index