Advanced Beekeeping

4-H-1059-W
Advanced
Beekeeping
The 4-H Beekeeping project guides you as you learn about raising honey bees. Beekeeping offers
many exciting educational experiences, from learning about bees and honey plants, to raising bees and
producing honey and other bee products.
This is the third of three 4-H beekeeping manuals. The first, Learning About Beekeeping, covers basic
information on beekeeping: types of bees, the honey and wax they produce, plants that attract bees and the
beekeeper’s equipment. The second manual, Working with Honey Bees, offers guidance as you acquire a
beehive, care for it throughout the year and keep good records of your beekeeping work.
This manual includes more detail on some things you have already learned and introduces more advanced
beekeeping topics: increasing the number of your honey bee colonies, increasing honey production, producing
special kinds of honey, managing disease and more about bee societies.
The directed experiences in this manual are suggestions to help you to learn more about apiculture. Learning all
you can and taking responsibility for your bees’ health as you expand your apiary is important. Use this manual
as a resource for problems you may have or areas that you want to learn more about, rather than a how-to
guide. You’ll learn most by doing and keeping notes so you remember what worked and what didn’t with your
bees. Stay current with local practices and concerns by talking to others who raise bees. Local beekeeping
organizations can be a great place to learn. The internet has a wealth of resources and has made it much easier
to connect with other beekeepers in your state, the country and around the world.
Authors: Natalie Carroll, Greg Hunt, Krispn Given

Reviewers: 2006: Larry Segerlind. 2022: Amy Dodd, Jeff Monroe, Jacob Shuman, Mindy Wilkinson
Photos: Greg Hunt, Krispn Given and Tom Campbell
Editor: Nancy Alexander
Designer: Tim Thompson
CONTENTS
Expanding Your Apiary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Managing Honey Bee Colonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Splitting Colonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Taking Care of Your Queens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Seasonal Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Colony Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Developing a Business Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Short Guide to Using Honey Bees in Pollination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Pesticides and Bees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Projects to Develop Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Appendices/Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4 4-H-1059-W Advanced Beekeeping
Expanding Your Apiary
Once you feel confident in your ability to maintain a

beehive throughout the year and have successfully
produced surplus honey, you’re ready to take on
more complex and difficult projects with your
bees. You will continue to develop your skills as
a beekeeper with the help of this manual. Good
beekeepers not only care for their colonies but also
manage them to increase honey production. Your
goals should now be to:
• Keep strong, populous colonies with young
queens.
• Continue to improve your understanding of the

ways of bees.
• Increase honey production.
• E xperiment to learn better ways to improve your

apiculture skill.
As your beekeeping experience increases, your

ability to work more quickly and competently also
increases. You will be able to add new hives to
your original apiary until it contains the maximum
number of hives that you can care for. Good Beekeeping is a lifelong learning process. Talking
beekeepers know what their maximum apiary size with other beekeepers helps you learn. Advice
should be and don’t overextend themselves. Your from more experienced people is as valuable now
decision is based on many factors, including your as it was the first time you watched a beehive
available time, expense, space considerations, being opened. Continue to read all you can about
physical condition, interests and local climate. The bees and beekeeping. Take your questions to your
maximum number of hives a beekeeper can care for beekeeping advisor, local bee inspector, and local
differs from beekeeper to beekeeper. Your maximum and state associations. Subscribing to a beekeeping
may be two hives as a hobbyist, while a farmer journal can introduce you to topics of interest you
might have 200 hives. haven’t even thought of!
Your beehive is a dynamic, changeable system You are now in charge of your learning. No one
with great potential for growth. Be alert to apiary is telling you what to do and when to do it, and
operations that can be improved, and consider no one is asking you questions that show your
experiments to help you understand more about understanding of a concept or procedure. You are
your bees and how to care for them. We recommend mostly on your own with the help and advice of
you use the scientific method for experiments other beekeepers. You choose your activity, do it
(Appendix B). The more you learn, the better you’ll and when you believe you have mastered it, move
be able to help your bees produce more honey. on to another. Most of all, enjoy the journey!
4-H-1059-W Advanced Beekeeping 5
Records
Keeping accurate records is especially important beekeeping project. You can continue with the
as you expand your apiary. Records help you record-keeping format you used when you started
remember what you did, evaluate the success of (templates are included in Appendix C), or you can
your work and reduce the chance of making the use the templates as guides to create your own
same mistake twice. They also help you track how record sheets.
much time and money you’re spending on your
Managing Honey Bee Colonies
Choosing a Good Apiary Site

The site you choose for your apiary should have
plenty of floral sources within two miles of your
hives. Wild clover is a major source of nectar for
bees in much of the Midwest. Any place that has a
mixture of trees and unplowed fields is good. You
can ask people in your neighborhood, school or
church if you don’t have a place to keep a hive. Most
will agree to help you, especially if you offer them
honey.
Water should be available within a quarter-mile

of the hives. Bees can collect water from dew and
puddles, but even dew may be scarce during a hot, Removing the queen cage
dry summer. A bird bath works well for providing
water. Bees must have water to air-condition the
hive and dilute royal jelly for feeding brood, so you Purchasing nucleus hives (nucs) is a good way
must provide it if it’s not naturally available. to increase your colonies. The nuc is a small hive
of three to five frames containing comb with
The apiary should be accessible at all times of the bees, brood, honey and pollen. A nuc builds up
year. Place the hives on hard, dry ground so you more quickly than a package of bees installed on
can drive up to your apiary without having to carry foundation because it already has some capped
your equipment long distances. Place the bees near brood and empty cells where the queen can lay
some trees that block the wind from the west and eggs. Nucs purchased locally are more likely to
on a slight hill to avoid frost pockets. A protected have queens that produce bees adapted to your
site with good air drainage improves your bees’ local conditions. Ask at beekeeper meetings or look
survival chances over the winter. online for beekeepers that sell nucs or local queens.
You usually need to supply the brood box and
Increasing Your Colonies enough frames with foundation or comb to fill out
You can increase your colonies by buying nucs, the box. One concern with a nuc is that beekeepers
installing package bees or dividing your existing often get rid of the oldest frame and any disease
colonies. there can spread, so be sure to get your nuc from a
reputable company.
Installing packages • Cover

Sometimes you cannot find a provider of nucs, or • A way to feed the bees (a friction pail or
they aren’t available early in the year when you gallon jar with small holes in the lid both
want to get your bees. In this case, buying package work well)
bees is a good option. Package bees are produced
in southern states early in the year for shipment • Division board feeders (these can be
up north. They can be purchased from a supplier used with floats to keep the bees from
and shipped to you directly, or you can collaborate drowning. Entrance, or Boardman, feeders
with someone who is planning to bring a truckload are convenient but don’t work well in
of packages to your area. Follow these steps when temperatures below 40°F.) Top feeders work
ordering a package. well because they are enclosed in the hive
and easy to refill in bad weather. Division
feeders also work well for warm weather.
3. When the package arrives, check to make sure
the bottom is not covered with dead bees. If
it has 2 to 3 inches of dead bees, notify the
shipper and ask for compensation. Keep the
package in a dark place at temperatures of 50°
to 70°F. Spray the bees with 1:1 sugar syrup,
but do not soak them too much. If you need to
wait a day or two before installation, spray with
sugar syrup twice a day.
• Install your package as soon as possible.
Just before dusk is ideal. Packages can be
installed at other times of the day if it is
Shaking the bees onto the hive raining or cool (45°F or less).
• Installing in the evening keeps the bees from
leaving the hive and drifting to another hive.
1. Order a 2- to 3-pound package of bees with a
If you only have one hive, this isn’t an issue.
marked queen to arrive at a specified date. Order
early, preferably by January, before they sell out. • If you are installing during the day, block the
Packages can usually be installed when plants entrance with some grass for an hour or two
are starting to bloom so the bees have enough to keep the bees in the hive. Otherwise, the
resources. This may be any time between April 1 bees tend to drift into the most visible hive
to mid-May in the Midwest and northern states. (usually the one on the end).
2. Prepare your equipment before your bees arrive. • Remove the grass after a few hours (or the
You need the following things for each colony. next morning if you installed late evening).
• Hive stand to keep the hive bottom off the 4. Installation
ground
• Using smoke when installing a package usually
• Two deep brood boxes with 10 frames of isn’t necessary, but it’s a good idea to have a
foundation each (or 9 to 10 frames with comb) smoker lit in case you need it. It may encourage
the bees to go down into the hive. Knock the
• Bottom board
bees down to the bottom before removing
• Entrance reducer the can so they are less likely to fly when you
remove the queen.
• Inner cover
• Pry out the syrup can with your hive tool and
• Two supers for the honey flow set it aside.
between the frames. If the bees are latched

onto the cage, do not release the queen, or they
will kill her. In this case, you may have another
queen in the colony, or the introduction may
require more time. If the bees already released
the queen, check for eggs in the bottom of the
comb by tilting the cells up to the light. If there
are no eggs and no queen, you may need to
order a new queen. It’s also possible that she
just hasn’t laid any eggs yet because she is too
young or because there are no cells to lay them
in, and you just can’t find her!
Introducing the queen in the cage 5. Feeding the bees after installing the package is
important. Your colony will decline in population
until the new brood hatches, and the queen
needs comb to lay eggs in. Feeding allows them
• Remove the queen cage and place her between
to draw out the comb from the foundation. Feed
the frames in the hive between two frames.
• Spraying the bees with 1:1 sugar syrup right

before shaking them into the box can help keep
them from flying.
• Jar the package sharply to knock the bees
down to the bottom. Turn it over and shake it
vigorously from side to side to get the bees into
the box. You may need smoke to encourage the
bees to go down between the frames.
• Place the queen in the hive. Let the bees
release the queen by eating the candy. Remove
the cork from the candy and put a small hole
in it with a frame nail (being careful not to stab
the queen). Then position the cage at an angle Bottle feeder
between the middle frames with the screen
facing down so the bees can feed the queen.
Put the candy end of the cage at the bottom, in
case it gets wet. This prevents it from flowing
onto the queen.
• Check the hive after three days to make sure
the queen was released. The bees may take
longer to release the queen with a candy plug.
You may have to remove the plug at this point.
Check back again in a day or two to make sure
the new queen is laying eggs. Remove the
queen cage once it is empty.
Note: Make sure the bees are not biting the

cage if the queen is still in it. You can easily
push them aside with your finger unless
they have latched onto the cage with their
mandibles. If you can push the bees aside,
pry off the screen and allow the queen to walk Division board feeder
the bees with a gallon jar of 1:1 sugar syrup (at comb containing eggs. If there are no eggs, search
least 50 to 60 percent sugar by volume) inverted for the queen. If you cannot find her, you need to
over the hole in the inner cover. Have about six buy a replacement queen.
small holes in the lid so the bees can feed on it.
In cold weather, consider adding the medication Inspect the bees every 7 to 10 days to make sure
fumagillin (sold as a powder called Fumadil-B) to there are eggs and a queen. Observe the expansion
the first two gallons of syrup to prevent dysentery of the brood nest, but do not disrupt the nest by
(Nosema). Place the feeder jar over the inner rearranging the frames. Replace the frames in
cover hole, leaving a space for bees to come out. roughly the same configuration.
Cover the jar with an empty hive body. Check When all the comb is drawn from the foundation in
the feeder jar regularly and refill it whenever it’s the first box, or the bees have at least started it, add
empty. You may need about 5 to 7 gallons of 1:1 a second deep box. You can take one or two outer
sugar syrup per package if installing the package frames of drawn comb that have little or no brood
onto foundation. Installing the package onto comb from the first box and place them toward the center
requires much less syrup. It’s also possible to feed of the upper box to encourage the bees to move up
the hive with a division board feeder or Boardman and draw out the foundation and expand the nest.
feeder. Check the feeder the next day to make
sure your bees have consumed some syrup. If the Watch. Give the bees new boxes as soon as they fill
bees are not clustered in the middle, rearrange up the old ones. When adding supers that contain
the empty frames so the bees are in the middle. foundation, place them directly above the brood
nest even if you have one super of drawn comb and
honey in place already. This encourages the bees to
Caring for the hive after installation draw it out.
Check the bees one week after installing the
Supers with foundation should have 10 frames;
package. Always carefully remove an outer frame
those with comb can have eight or nine frames if
first to avoid crushing the queen. Look for drawn
properly spaced.
Splitting Colonies
Two of the many ways to divide colonies are

explained below. Complete these preparations
before using either method.
• Choose strong colonies to divide. The best time is
four to six weeks before swarming usually occurs.
This is early to mid-April for most Midwestern
states.
• Be sure to use enough smoke.
• The colony should ideally have brood on eight to

10 frames or more.
• Arrange for a new queen to be delivered either the

day before or the same day you want to divide the
colony. She will be shipped in a cage with candy
and worker “attendants.” If the queen of the strong
colony is more than a year old, you may want to Strong hive ready to split
order two queens and replace the older queen

with a new one. If necessary, a queen can be kept
in the cage with the attendants for several days to
a week in a location that is 65–70°F. Give them a
tiny droplet of water with your finger once or twice
a day on the screen, but don’t let them get wet.
• Have your equipment ready for the new colony.
You need the following items:
-A
nother hive stand
-A
bottom board
-T
op and inner covers
-T
wo deep hive bodies with combs or frames
with foundation Splitting a colony with three brood chambers.
-A
feeder. This is optional but recommended if
no nectar is coming in from the flowers or you and looking for older pupae. Make sure both boxes
are adding foundation instead of drawn comb. contain pollen and honey. You can also put extra
(Use a division board feeder or gallon jar with brood into the new hive from other colonies later.
a few nail holes in the lid and 1:1 sugar syrup.) The new adult bees help make up for the loss of
You also need an empty, deep hive body to foragers that return to the original hive.
enclose the feeder.
Introduce the new queen with the candy cage 12
Note: For the double-screen method below, you to 24 hours after you make the divide. If you are
also need a double screen and a queen excluder if requeening the other hive, wait 12 to 24 hours after
you’re not taking the time to find the queen. de-queening before introducing the new queen.
Simple divide method Double-screen method

Four days before the queen you ordered is to be This method isn’t commonly used. It’s similar to the
delivered, open the hive using your smoker and simple divide and can be used for making splits
divide the brood equally between two boxes of the or for making up nucs. Double screens are frames
existing hive. If you find the queen, put her in the that have a screen on each side and that fit over
bottom box or a queen cage while you prepare to the brood box.
remove the top box and move frames around. This is
You can make or buy double screens. Use one that
the safest way to avoid hurting her. If you don’t see
has movable pieces of wood to create an upper
the queen, you can put a queen excluder between
entrance. You also can make your own double
the boxes. The presence of eggs four days later will
screen by stapling window screen over both sides
tell you where the queen is.
of the hole in an inner cover and making a notch in
Once you divide the brood, remove the queenless the side of the inner cover to provide an entrance for
box to a new location and introduce a queen the the bees in the top box.
next day. Make as even a split as possible and move
The double screen fits over the brood chamber of
the divide at least a mile away to keep foragers
the old hive and has a slot that provides an upper
from returning to the original location; however,
entrance for the bees. It allows heat and the hive’s
this may be impractical. If placing the divide in the
odor to be transmitted to the upper part. The heat
same apiary, put all the oldest brood (capped brood
from the lower box helps warm the brood in the
about to emerge as adults) and one frame of very
upper box. The double screen does not permit
young (larvae in uncapped cells) into the upper box
queen pheromone to pass to the queenless box
that you’re going to remove. You can tell if brood
because the bees cannot touch each other, so the
is nearing emergence by uncapping some cells
bees in the queenless box are soon ready to accept
Inspect the frames for brood and honey and decide

which ones you want to go in the upper box. Bring
an empty box to set frames in, or lean them on
end against the hive. Replace the frames that you
removed from the bottom box with frames from
the top box. You can also temporarily add a third
brood box and replace frames you move with new
frames of comb or foundation. If using frames with
foundation, place them between frames containing
comb that do not contain much brood. Try to keep
the brood in the center of the nest.
Then place a double screen over the bottom brood

chamber and put the box containing older brood,
Double screen on top of a hive. The back is open to make an upper honey and pollen above it. Or, if you happened to
entrance. find the queen, put the frames of brood in the upper
box and the queen in the lower box, and place
a queen. If the upper hive does not accept the new the double screen in between the top box and the
queen, the screen can be removed and the hive original brood chamber. Make sure the upper box
merged again with no fighting, because the bees has an entrance, and face it opposite the direction
still share a common colony odor. of the lower entrance.
Double screens are also used in queen-rearing Introduce a queen to the queenless box one to four
operations to produce queen cells. days after the double screen separates the brood
chambers. It takes three days for an egg to hatch,
This method allows you to make up many nucs or so if you don’t know where the queen is in the
splits, because you do not have to find the queen. beginning, you’ll know which box is queenless in
When you go back to inspect it later, the queenless three to four days — the one without eggs.
box will probably be buzzing more and will not have
eggs. Check the box with the new queen within a week
after introducing her. If the queen was accepted, the
Choose a strong hive and decide which brood box can be moved it to a new location with a new
frames you want to move to the top box to make bottom board and covers. If it needs more bees, you
the nuc or split. Use one or two frames of young, can shake some into it from the bottom box, but be
uncapped brood and most of the frames of sealed careful you don’t shake the old queen into your box!
brood that are about to emerge as adults.
Taking Care of Your Queens
The key to having productive colonies is to always Check for eggs, lots of brood in the combs and a
have vigorous queens in disease- and mite-free good laying pattern (not a scattered brood pattern).
colonies. Young queens are productive egg layers Requeening once a year ensures you always have
and much less likely to swarm. Checking all your young queens. Some beekeepers leave the queen
hives, even briefly, every 10 days is a good idea. in for two seasons if she is still laying a good brood
At the very least, check them during critical times pattern the second season, but they run the risk that
— early spring, just after harvest when treating for she will begin to fail during the colder months. Keep
mites and before winter. a record of marked queens so you know how old
each queen is and where she came from.
Marking Queens Queen marking key

If you have a supersedure queen, you can mark Use the color listed if you mark your queen in a year
the queen yourself with just a little practice. A ending in:
marked queen makes her easier to find if you want
to replace her and helps avoid hurting her while you • 2 or 7 Yellow
work with the hive. If you later find an unmarked • 3 or 8 Red
queen, you will know she was superseded. • 4 or 9 Green
• 5 or 0 Blue
A few beekeepers clip off the tip of one of the mated

queen’s front wings to prevent the queen from flying
away with a swarm. That way, if the colony swarms,
the queen may be lost in the grass, but the bees
return to the hive with a new queen. They may,
however, still swarm again with a virgin queen if
you do not relieve the crowding of the brood nest.
Warning: Make sure the queen is mated before you
clip her wing! If you clip a virgin queen’s wing, she
cannot fly out and mate.
A marked queen is easy to spot.
The first step in marking a queen is to catch her by

grabbing her wings as she walks on the comb. Don’t
be afraid to hold her in your hand. She won’t sting
you because queens sting only other queens. Hold
your queen gently against your clothes between
your thumb and forefinger firmly on either side of
her thorax. Have an open bottle of enamel paint
(e.g., Testor’s) and an open queen cage ready. Use
a blade of grass to put a small spot of paint on her
thorax, rubbing it into the hairs. Be careful not to Tagged queen laying an egg
use too much or to get paint on other parts of her
body, especially her eyes and antennae.
Bees accept young queens more readily than older
An easier way is to use enamel-paint marking queens. Queens also are more likely to be accepted
pens or special queen-marking cages. Purchase a in small colonies, and finding the old queen to
marking pen at a hobby store or from a bee supply remove her is easier in a small hive than in a hive
catalog. Let the queen dry off in a queen cage for with lots of bees. It’s therefore easier to requeen in
about five minutes before releasing her back into the spring when the colony population is lowest.
the colony to keep the workers from removing the
paint. Plastic roller cages are convenient because On the other hand, requeening during the summer
they have a hinge and large opening. Record the in northern states has several advantages.
date, where the queen is from and the color you Northern-bred queens may be better adapted to
used to mark the queen. The standard queen color your conditions, and these queens are only available
coding system is based on the last digit of the year. in the summer. For example, someone raising their
own queens in the Midwest may have new queens
by about the first of June, when good weather for
mating queens is more likely than earlier in the year.
Plenty of drones for the queens to mate with should
be available as the strong colonies prepare for

swarming. Introducing queens during the summer
also can also ensure you have young queens likely
to start laying eggs earlier in the year the following
spring. Further, young queens are less likely to
swarm or be superseded than old queens. If you’re
trying to maximize honey production, you may want
to wait until just after the honey harvest to requeen,
or you may want to do it gradually over the summer.
Queen and attendants in a candy cage. The candy is put at one end.
Requeening Methods
A number of requeening methods are described
below.
1. C
andy cage. This is the most common method
The first step in replacing the queen is to find and used to introduce a new queen. The introduction
kill the old queen. Replace the weakest queens if is done as described for installing a package.
you are requeening only some of your colonies. Queens are usually shipped in candy cages. You
This includes queens that are no longer laying large can make your own queen cages and candy if
patches of brood, those you know are old and those you are raising queens. Make the candy by mixing
that never produced big colonies. The usual method high-fructose clear corn syrup or honey with
of killing a queen is to pinch her head. Do not try powdered sugar. (This takes a surprising amount
to introduce a new queen until the old queen has of powdered sugar.) The candy must be soft but
been out of the colony for at least 12-24 hours. In firm. If it’s too soft, it will melt in the heat of the
some cases, you can wait longer. Do not wait more hive and kill the queen by covering her. Put a
than four days, however, if possible. piece of wax paper between the candy and the
screen of the cage to keep it from drying out, and
then staple on the screen. The hole in the non-
candy end of the cage is sealed with a cork or
piece of wood.
Queen in a roller cage
Check for laying workers before introducing a new

queen. Combining hives or trying to introduce A small hive, or nuc
a new queen may cause a problem because the
workers may kill the new queen. Also knock off any
queen cups if you are introducing a queen in a cage.
It may take a long time before the queen is safe to
release, and queen cups may be made while you
wait.
2. N
ucs. Because queens are more easily edges and enter the cage. The advantage of a
accepted into small colonies, one method push-in cage is that it allows the queen to begin
of requeening is to make up small nucs to laying eggs before she is released. Shake the
introduce the new queens into. A nuc can bees off the comb that is fairly dark (they are
also be used for introducing virgin queens stronger). Place the cage in an area with a little
and queen cells that you find in your other open nectar or honey and (preferably) over
colonies. It then serves as a mating nuc as the a small patch of emerging brood so the bees
queen flies out and mates. Once the queen is that emerge will tend the new queen. The cage
accepted and laying, combine the nuc with a doesn’t have to be over brood, but there should
larger colony that you made queenless one to be a few cells of honey. The push-in cage must be
two days before merging them. pressed in firmly. Check it in three to five days to
make sure the bees have not chewed underneath.
3. N
ewspaper method. Perhaps the safest way to If they have, move the cage. Once the queen
merge colonies is to put a sheet of newspaper is laying eggs or you are satisfied the bees are
between them. This allows time for the two not biting the cage, you may release the queen
boxes of bees to acquire the same colony odor, directly. Remember: If the bees have clamped
which prevents fighting. To do this with a nuc, their mandibles on to the cage, dislodging them
first place the frames from the nuc into a deep with your finger will be difficult. Never release a
hive body. Put one sheet of newspaper over queen if they are biting the cage.
the open hive you’re going to merge it with,
and place it on top. Use your hive tool to make 5. V
irgin queens. Virgin queens can be introduced
some slits in the newspaper so the bees can the same way as other queens, but they are
chew their way through it more quickly. sometimes more difficult because they are less
attractive to the bees. They also tend to run
around and are harder to catch. They may fly
away during the process but will probably return
to the hive. A new queen takes five to 10 days
to take her first mating flight and another week
after that before she is laying lots of eggs. If she
doesn’t mate in 14 days, she is getting too old to
properly mate. Expect a two-week break in brood
rearing with a virgin queen. For this reason, you
may want to consider introducing her to a mating
nuc before killing the old queen and introducing
her to the main hive. Another good alternative is
to introduce her above the old hive. To introduce a
virgin queen above the old hive:
• Take a notched inner cover and place it with
Queen under a push-in cage
the notch up and facing the back of the hive to
provide a second entrance. Take two frames of
brood and bees and one frame of honey (but
4. P
ush-in cage. Make a rectangular cage out of
not the queen) and put them in a deep box
8-mesh hardware cloth (eight openings per
above the inner cover. Seal the hole in the inner
inch), 3 inches by 5 inches, to push into the
cover with a double screen.
comb with the queen underneath. This method
is often used when introducing artificially • After 24 hours, introduce the virgin in the top
inseminated queens. When done properly, it box.
is the safest method. You can also buy plastic
push-in cages that work a little better, because
the bees are less likely to chew around the
• In two weeks, check for eggs and brood. You position. Try to keep the cell warm during
can then use the newspaper method to merge transport: 75° to 90°F is best, but don’t let it dry
the two colonies, or you can just remove the out, either. If the weather is cool (below 60°F), the
double screen and allow them to merge. The best place to attach the cell is in the middle of the
new queen should be the one that survives, brood nest near the top of the comb.
but removing the old queen first is the safest
method.
6. Q
ueen cells. Queenless hives accept queen cells
very well. Find a dark comb in the middle of the
nest and mash down some cells with your fingers.
Carefully push the thickened bottom portion
of the queen cell into the comb and use the
mashed area to allow space for the cell to hang
downward. The bees attach the cell to the comb,
and the queen should hatch out and be accepted.
Handle queen cells carefully to avoid damaging
the queen; she is sensitive to mistreatment at
certain stages of development. Do not bend the
cell at all when attaching it in a perpendicular
Sealed queen cell
Seasonal Management
With the problems we now face with Varroa February

destructor mites, beekeepers are finding they
This is a time when you can check your bees, but
need to be more flexible on the timing of certain
only when the temperature is above 40°F and there
operations, such as administering medications,
is no wind. Check your hives briefly. If a hive is dead,
queen introductions and the honey harvest. Each
it can be marked as such or stored. Protect the
spring brings a swarming season and a nectar flow
comb from wax moths by putting moth crystals on it
that depends on the weather and its influence on
or storing it in a cold place once the temperature is
flowers. Be aware of the weather and know what
above 60°F. If there is any brood, immediately close
important flowers are blooming. This makes you
the hive to keep from chilling the brood.
a better beekeeper who is prepared to help your
bees at the right time. And it keeps you in touch
with nature. Some suggestions for a seasonal
management schedule are given below. The dates
are typical for the Midwestern region, so adapt
your schedule to your local climate and each year’s
weather as needed.
December to February
Downtime. Work on equipment and read
beekeeping magazines and books.
An apiary in winter
Brief inspections of brood can be done on days

that are above 50°F with no wind or above 55°F
with light wind. This could be a time to reduce your
Varroa mite levels, but this is usually done after the
honey harvest. If there is no sealed brood, all the
mites are exposed to the miticide because they
cannot hide beneath the cell cappings. The need
for mite control depends on mite populations, but
one treatment per year is usually required as soon
as honey is removed. Mite treatments that rely
on evaporation, like thymol, must done when the
weather is warm enough. Read the directions for the
product you’re using. You can just open the lid and
peek under the inner cover to look at cluster size or
to introduce feed when the outside temperature is
below freezing without harming the colony.
Hives should be inspected for food stores about the

time that bees are beginning to rear brood (usually
January or February, weather permitting, or this may
be put off until March). Colonies that did not have
adequate stores going into winter may be starving
in February, even without brood rearing. Colonies
can be fed in cold weather by putting granulated
white sugar on the inner cover. Another efficient
feeding method for the winter is to make a cake of
hard candy following the recipe below. These are
also called candy boards. Pollen patties can provide much-needed protein.
Winter Bee Candy Late February or early March is usually the best
time to add pollen substitute in the Midwest, if
Ingredients
supplemental feeding is planned to stimulate earlier
• 15 pounds granulated sugar egg laying by the queen. Pollen feeding should
• 3 pounds clear high-fructose corn syrup be done about six weeks before reliable sources
• 4 cups water of nectar can be obtained from early flowers (like
• 1/3 tablespoon cream of tartar maple trees and dandelions). Purchase pollen
substitute from a bee supply company. Unless you
Directions buy prepared patties, you need to mix it according
to the directions. Some people trap bee pollen
• Mix the sugar, syrup, water and cream of tartar.
and store it in their freezers to add to their pollen
• Heat the mixture to 242°F, using a candy substitute and make it tastier for the bees.
thermometer to determine the exact temperature.
Hint: Make pollen substitute the day before you
• Pour the heated mixture into molds to make flat intend to use it so it doesn’t get too hard or soft
cakes that fit on top of an inner cover. Let them when it sets up. If it gets hard or dry, the bees won’t
cool and harden. eat it. Putting the pollen substitute between wax
paper keeps it from leaving a mess on the frames
• Place the hardened cakes over the inner cover and makes it easier to apply.
(keeping the opening free for the bees to feed).
Some people use special boards that take the
place of the inner cover.
March Overuse of antibiotics may select for antibiotic-

resistant foulbrood, and terramycin-resistant
Honey bees often get their first fresh pollen in
American foulbrood has already been reported.
March from maple trees and willows. Make sure
If you inspect your hives regularly, you will see
your hives have adequate food. More colonies
when a foulbrood problem occurs and can cure it
starve to death in March than in any other month
before it gets out of control. If you only see a few
because as bees begin rearing brood, they eat up
cells showing the problem, inspect again to see if it
a great deal of honey and pollen. A convenient way
clears up. Bad weather often causes poor brood or
to feed bees is with a division board feeder, which
chilled brood that may look like disease, but later
takes the place of a frame inside the hive so bees
the problem resolves itself. Combs with a lot of
have easy access to the syrup. Give the bees equal
foulbrood should be burned or put in a well-sealed
volumes of sugar and water in the spring.
garbage bag and thrown away to prevent spread of
Combine weak colonies with stronger ones. the disease.
Equalize colonies somewhat by stealing a frame of
brood from each of the strongest hives and giving
them to the weakest hives. Colonies that need April
honey can be given a frame from the stronger hives Continue to ensure adequate food, especially if your
or fed syrup. Don’t take too many resources from a weather is cold or rainy. A strong colony occupying
strong colony or it will only weaken the hive. Some two boxes should have at least three full frames
beekeepers recommend switching the position of of honey. Feeding in bad weather stimulates more
the two hives. The bees from the stronger colony rapid brood rearing and in some cases, may be
think the weak hive is now home, which can help necessary to prevent starvation. If the weather is
improve it. good, however, and honey isn’t available, your bees
should be able to forage on dandelions and spring
Some beekeepers do a preventive treatment for flowers and get by.
American foulbrood disease at this time. This is no
longer recommended unless your colonies have had It’s a good idea sample for Varroa mites so you
this problem in the recent past or show foulbrood know if your fall treatment was successful or if your
symptoms. There have also been occasional colony has become re-infested. See the notes under
problems with European foulbrood, and both the August entry for more information on sampling.
types of disease usually can be cleared up with
a treatment of one 6.4 ounce pack of terramycin Begin swarm control in April. Split the strong
mixed with 2.5 pounds of powdered sugar. Note: colonies if you have the extra equipment to start
This requires a veterinary feed directive. Feed this to new ones. You can use your own equipment if you
the bees in three doses, each five days apart. Each had winter losses as long as it is disease-free. Some
feeding should consist of about 3 tablespoons of beekeepers reverse the brood boxes to stimulate
sugar/terramycin mix sprinkled on top of frames at the cluster to move up and expand the brood nest.
the edge of the hive. The brood nest is usually at the top of the hive at the
end of winter. Placing this box on the bottom board
and putting the nearly empty bottom box above
it should reduce crowding of the brood nest and
may prevent swarming. You can also put a super
with empty combs underneath the brood nest.
This provides room for returning foragers to stay
and helps reduce crowding of the brood nest if it
extends to the bottom. You may want to use a queen
excluder to keep the brood out of that box.
Treating a hive with antibiotics in powdered sugar

If the swarming instinct is not curtailed, only the

most tedious methods can prevent swarming.
For a hobby beekeeper with a few colonies, these
methods are feasible but not always successful.
Once the bees start constructing swarm cells at the
bottoms of the frames, go through the colony every
7 to 10 days and cut all the cells. Be careful! Before
you cut cells, make sure you see eggs in the colony.
The queen may have stopped laying eggs and is
about to swarm, or she may have already swarmed
and you didn’t notice there are fewer bees. You do
not want to make the mistake of cutting all the cells Honey bee on a clover blossom
and leaving your colony hopelessly queenless!
July
May The honey flow from clover usually stops about the
Make sure your bees have plenty of room. Reduce end of July or the first two weeks of August in the
crowding by giving them new brood chambers or Midwest. If you’re raising queens, you could remove
supers before they need them. The extra empty the queens from some of your hives when you have
comb stimulates increased foraging and honey time toward the end of the nectar flow. Replace the
production. Flowers are starting to give nectar — queens that show poor brood patterns, those that
dandelions, autumn olive, Asian honeysuckle, tulip are not laying enough eggs, and/or queens from
poplar and others. Sometimes black locust trees colonies that show signs of disease. Finding queens
produce a short nectar flow at the end of May, and in big colonies is difficult, so keep marked queens!
basswood trees can produce honey in late May or The day after the old queen is removed, fuse the nuc
June. with the large queenless colony to introduce the
new mated queen, or introduce her with some other
If you are raising your own queens, May is usually method such as a candy cage. You may need to
the best time to start because it is swarming season feed your bees in July or August if dry weather has
and the bees have the instinct to raise queens. You reduced levels of pollen and nectar.
can also carefully remove swarm cells and add
them to queenless hives by hanging them between
the frames or attaching them gently to the side August
of a brood frame, hanging down in their natural The real honey flow is often done by the end of the
orientation. There should be plenty of drones for the first week of August. Perhaps the most critical thing
queens to mate with when they are ready this time you can do to help your bees survive the winter is to
of year. get the honey off as early as possible and treat for
Varroa mites.
June
The honey flow really starts this month. Clovers are
producing nectar and should be in full vigor by the
end of June or early July. Make sure all the supers
are on your hive. If you raised your own queens in
May, you could introduce them to small nuc hives
and let them mate in late May or June.
Two kinds of holders for sticky boards to check mites

Monitor your hive for the severity of Varroa mite Once the honey supers have been harvested, the
populations with sticky boards, alcohol wash or honey needs to be extracted and bottled. The wet
powdered sugar roll so you have a good idea of supers can be returned to the hives (after mite
whether you need to treat them. This also helps you treatments are completed) to let the bees clean
know which hives need to be treated. them up. Sometimes beekeepers just set the supers
out in a shady place and let the bees rob them
You can purchase the sticky boards or make them out. Some people store their supers wet, which is
by cutting 3/8-inch doorstop wood strips and OK, but they will smell sour from fermentation and
constructing a rectangle to which you staple screen may have a little mold, which is also acceptable.
that the bees can’t get through. Put contact paper The bees clean them up in the spring, but this
on the back and spray it with vegetable oil before makes extra work for them. Stored comb requires
sliding it in the colony entrance. Count the number paradichlorobenzene (PDB) moth crystals when the
of mites that fall in a 24-hour period, or put it in for weather is warm (above 60°F).
three days and divide by the number of days so
you have a 24-hour average. The average gives you Place extracted comb in a freezer if you suspect it
more accurate data. contains pests other than robber bees. This kills the
pests but not the eggs. Preserve the eggs after they
You can also check for mites on adult bees with the have been in the freezer for 48 hours by wrapping
powdered sugar shake method. The sugar shake them in plastic or putting them in an airtight
is done by putting half a cup of bees (about 300 container. Place them in an airtight container in the
bees) in a quart jar with a screened lid. Put several basement (climate controlled) until spring.
tablespoons of powdered sugar on them, let them
set for two minutes, then shake the mites onto a It is important that you reduce the entrances of any
white sheet and count them. Treat for Varroa mites if weak colonies that may get robbed by stronger
more than 10 percent of your drones are infested. colonies when the nectar flow stops. Do not leave
honey exposed too long when you work your bees,
If you find you need to treat for mites, choose the or they’ll get used to robbing from each other.
method of mite control convenient for you. As soon
as the supers are off, hives that have high mite
levels should be treated. A number of products September to November
are available. Apivar strips contain amitraz, which
Hopefully your bees found lots of nectar in
is a good miticide. If you want to avoid pesticides,
goldenrod and aster flowers in late August and early
you can use a softer chemical such as thymol
September and are storing pollen for winter. The
(synthetic oil of thyme) that is available in several
small, white asters are often important for the fall
products. (Apilife-Var and Apiguard use thymol and
flow in the upper Midwest, but the fall flow is not
eucalyptus oil.) Always follow the manufacturer’s
dependable.
label instructions for all products.
Controlling the mites now ensures that healthy bees

are raised during September and October. They
are your “winter bees” and must live all winter long
and still be strong enough to forage and feed the
brood in the spring. The nurse bees feeding brood
normally are young bees, so the old winter bees
must be healthy and rejuvenate their brood food
glands in the spring. Brood food glands are the
glands in the heads of nurse bees that make royal
jelly to feed larvae. In contrast, working bees in the
summer only live about six weeks or less.
Stores of bee bread are important when winter comes.

Weak colonies should be combined with stronger The 1/2-inch hardware cloth also works and is
ones before the winter. Colonies that are merged easier to find, but some mice are small enough to
should be reduced to two or three deep boxes. get through it.
You could use three boxes for strong ones that you
will split next year. Store extra boxes and comb in If your colonies do not have at least six deep
an unheated building with covers on the top and frames of honey for the winter, feed them 2:1 syrup
bottom. (twice as much granulated sugar as water, by
volume). Dissolve the sugar in hot water. You can
Note on equipment storage in hot weather: add Fumidil-B powder to help control for Nosema
Wax moths can destroy the comb in two weeks. disease (dysentery), but this is costly and the
Store empty comb, especially during warmer benefit may not be worth the expense. It’s only
months when wax moths are active, with several necessary to feed your bees in the early spring or
tablespoons of paradichlorobenzine (PBD) moth late fall, or when you’re trying to get them to draw
crystals. (Do not use naphthalene crystals!) Stack comb on foundation. Bees in the Midwest often
the boxes, putting the PBD crystals on newspaper make enough fall honey for themselves and we do
on the tops of the frames every four to six boxes. not have to feed them. Put mouse guards on your
hives. The easiest way is to staple 1/2-inch hardware
Either nail wooden entrance reducers in place cloth over the entrance or just bend it lengthwise
leaving the smallest opening (3/8-inch high), or and shove it in the entrance. Remove this in the
staple 3/8-inch hardware cloth across the entrance. spring so the workers can more easily take out the
dead bees.
Colony Troubleshooting
Your primary concerns should be the presence and Common Problems and
well-being of your queens and the levels of Varroa
mites. Finding the queen is often unnecessary. Look
Recommendations
for eggs by letting sunlight shine into the bottom of
1. Problem: I can’t find any eggs or brood!
the cells if you do not see her. If eggs are present, a
queen was there within the last three days because Possible causes and solutions:
it takes three days for an egg to hatch.
•T
he queen has quit brood rearing because of the
The position of the eggs is also a clue. A laying season (winter or about to swarm). No action
worker deposits multiple eggs on the side of the is needed in winter. But if your bees are about
cells, a signal that there is no queen. to swarm, only the most tedious methods can
prevent it. See the April calendar section for more
Also look for queen cells. Swarm cells are queen
information on swarms.
cells made in preparation for swarming in the spring
and are usually found toward the bottom of the •N
o queen. Buy and introduce a new queen as soon
comb. Emergency and supersedure queen cells are as you can.
usually found toward the middle of the comb. When
a queen is failing and the bees make a supersedure -O
ptional test: Add a frame of eggs and young
queen cell, it’s sometimes best to let the bees larvae from another hive. Check for the
replace her. This may cause a break in brood rearing start of queen cells on the third day. Finding
for two to three weeks, however. queen cells indicates the hive was probably
queenless and will now raise a new queen.
-A
new queen is present but not yet laying. (You laying worker colony usually is weak and can be
may find some sealed brood left from the last combined with another colony without too much
queen). Be patient. Queens normally begin danger to the queen. Use one of the following
laying eggs roughly two weeks after emerging methods:
from the cell.
-T
he easiest and probably best remedy is to
-A
n extended shortage of pollen has caused merge the colony with another colony. Use
the queen to stop laying eggs. Supplemental the newspaper technique and place the laying
feeding may be necessary. worker colony above the one it is to be merged
with.
2. Problem: Eggs are present, but no other brood. -T
ry to introduce a queen. Set up the hive in its
original position. Introduce a queen in a push-
Possible cause: Brood rearing has just resumed after in cage pushed into dark comb that contains
being halted. Perhaps the bees raised a new queen some open honey and possibly a little capped
that just mated. brood. Push the cage well into the dark comb.
Solution: This is good! No action needed. Plastic push-in cages seem to work better
because bees are less likely to chew around
them. Release the queen in three days if the
3. Problem: You see wet-looking pollen. workers are not biting the cage. (They cling to
the cage with their mandibles when biting it
Possible cause: When pollen isn’t needed and are not easily brushed aside.)
immediately, bees put nectar and honey on it. This
is called bee bread and is normal. Yeasts in the bee
bread make processed food for the bees. 6. P
roblem: The brood is scattered in an uneven
pattern.
Solution: No action is needed.
Possible causes and solutions:
4. P
roblem: Clean, shiny-looking cells in the • The queen is running out of sperm. If this is the
middle of brood nest. cause, requeening is advisable. If nothing is done,
the bees will raise a new queen and her daughter
Possible cause: The workers have prepared the cells will supersede the current queen.
for egg laying. They should look clean and shiny on
the bottom. • Something is killing the brood. Cold nights in the
spring can kill some brood. Rarely, pesticides and
Solution: No action needed unless there is no poisons may cause the brood to have an uneven
queen. pattern. Or the problem could be mites or disease.
-C
heck for possible sources of pesticides or
5. P
roblem: I see eggs, but more than one egg other poisons if you haven’t had cold nights
per cell. recently.
Possible causes and solutions: -C
heck for disease symptoms of foulbrood,
chalkbrood and parasitic mite syndrome.
• The queen is freshly mated, or not mated — be
patient. She soon learns to put only one egg -C
lue: Is one colony showing the symptoms, or
per cell. However, check again in 5-10 days, and are several? If it’s just one, the first situation of
replace the queen if this is still happening. the queen running out of sperm is more likely.
If several show symptoms, something killing
• If the colony has been queenless for two weeks or
the brood is more likely.
more and you’re seeing new eggs, you probably
have a laying worker colony. Some of the workers’
ovaries have developed, and they are laying drone
eggs. Do not introduce a new queen to this colony.
Laying workers usually kill introduced queens. The
7. P
roblem: I found the queen, but I also see 7. P
roblem: I opened my hive and suddenly found
a new queen cell that has a neat, round virgin queens emerging from several cells!
opening at the bottom.
Possible cause: Your colony is preparing to swarm.
Possible causes and solutions: When bees are going to swarm and have multiple
queen cells, the worker bees prevent the queens
• A virgin queen recently emerged from this cell. from emerging too soon by sitting on the cells and
• If the old queen is present, doing well and you thumping them. Sometimes the queens still begin
want to keep her, try to find the virgin queen to chew their way out, but the workers re-seal the
and kill her. Otherwise the virgin will probably opening before the queen can emerge.
kill the old queen and a break in brood rearing Solution: It’s too late to prevent the bees from
will result. New queens usually take less than swarming, if they haven’t already. This is a good
two weeks to mate and begin laying eggs, so opportunity if you want queens to requeen other
no eggs are laid for a time. hives. You can capture some of these queens and
• Another possibility is that the old queen is not put them in cages with attendant bees. Add some
performing well. Evaluate the brood to make bee candy (made of powdered sugar and honey or
sure she is still laying lots of eggs and filling white corn syrup) or give them a drop of honey and
frames with brood. put them right into new queenless hives. Wait 24
hours after dequeening before introducing the new
• If the brood is spotty, it may be best to let the queen to a hive. Give them a droplet of water twice a
new queen take over. day if you’re keeping them in cages for a while. You
can keep them in the cage with candy for about a
week. These queens can also be mated in small nucs
and kept for colonies that need new queens later.
Developing a Business Plan
When your bee colonies are healthy and growing, a good beekeeper must also be a good business
you’ll have more honey than your bees and you can person who knows how to package their product
use each year. You will need to decide what to do efficiently and attractively and offer it in a way that
with the extra that your bees produce. Honey and appeals to the public.
other bee products make great gifts for family and
friends. Developing a business plan can be quite complex.
Some resources can help you get started. The
Another option is to market honey in one of three website Strategic Business Planning (https://
forms: extracted, chunk or cut comb honey. Chunk ag.purdue.edu/agecon/fambiz/Pages/SBP.aspx)
honey is a piece of comb honey packed in a jar from the Purdue Institute for Family Business,
with liquid or extracted honey. Cut comb honey is contains a wealth of information.
a square of comb honey cut from a shallow, super-
size frame of sealed honeycomb, then packaged in From the Strategic Business Planning website:
clear plastic. These can help make your beekeeping “Coming up with business plans and structuring
hobby a profitable business. a family business correctly are critical steps in the
Developing a business plan will help you sell your planning process. Doing these correctly can set the
product. Honey is a valuable commodity, and its stage for a smooth and efficient business operation.
commercial value is increasing as more people Check out the business planner (interactive
realize the benefits of using it. To make it profitable, business planning program) along with publications
to help you formulate your own business plan!”
The Business Planning link on the Strategic promotion, and includes a set of worksheets to help
Business Planning website contains an online tool, you tailor your marketing mix. Note:
Purdue INventure Business Planner (www.purdue.
edu/newventure/), that can help you get started. • If you decide to sell honey, you must follow all
This website helps you write a business plan using state guidelines for your product.
a question-and-answer format. You must register to •L
abels on your jars of honey describe the contents
use the software. Registration is free. and tell whose bees produced it. These labels
You also need a marketing plan if you intend should be as attractive as possible. Design your
to sell your bee products. A publication called own and have them printed, or purchase labels.
Complete Marketing’s Four P’s: First Steps for New Bee equipment companies sell a variety of labels
Entrepreneurs, is available for free from Purdue with space for you to write or stamp your name
Extension’s Education Store (www.edustore.purdue. and address.
edu). Enter the product code EC-730 in the Search •S
ome states require food safety training before
box on the right. This publication explains the you can market or sell honey. These classes teach
four P’s of marketing: product, price, place and you any rules or regulations required in your state.
Short Guide to Using Honey Bees in Pollination
General Considerations • Bumble bees are large, active foragers and are
also social. They live in small colonies that are
active throughout the season.
Why use honey bees?
Many crops depend on pollination by bees for • Honey bees have large colonies and are active
adequate fruit set. North America has over 3,000 throughout the growing season. Worker honey
species of wild bees. Some of these species are bees visit any flowers that provide good amounts
much more efficient than honey bees for pollinating of nectar or pollen, the two resources bees need
specific plants on a per-bee basis. However, almost for energy and protein. The main advantage of
all wild bees are solitary. A single female makes a using honey bees to pollinate agricultural crops
nest, forages and cares for the brood, so solitary is that you can manage colonies with tens of
bees do not have colonies. Many wild bees visit only thousands of bees to serve as mobile pollination
specific kinds of plants or are active for part of the units.
season. Honey bees, on the other hand, are social —
they have a colony containing one queen that lays
all the eggs, and tens of thousands of worker bees
What is a good pollinating hive?
to do the foraging. A good pollination unit is a strong hive, meaning it
contains lots of bees. A strong hive has many bees
The three primary pollinator bees and their benefits coming and going from the entrance on a warm
are: day. If you take the lid off, bees should be filling
at least one or two large brood chambers, with a
• Orchard mason bees are active during the spring
carpet of bees covering the tops of the frames. A
and are efficient pollinators of apples. Mason bees
good pollinating unit has at least one deep brood
can be encouraged to nest in plastic straws or
chamber full of bees, brood and eggs (indicating
holes drilled in wood. Their progeny will return to
that they have a queen).
the same orchard each year.
A hive started from just shaking a package of bees get used to foraging on the nearby weeds. If they’re
onto a foundation is not a good pollination unit, moved in too soon, enough of the crop may not be
because the population is low and will continue to blooming to effectively compete with the weeds.
decline for at least a month while the bees draw
comb for the queen to lay eggs in and the first new
workers hatch out. The pollination contract
When contracting your bees to pollinate a crop, the
beekeeper and grower should discuss the following
details before the bees are delivered to a field. A
signed formal contract protects both the grower
and the beekeeper. Two primary items should be
included:
• Pesticides. Will any pesticides be used while the
bees are present? If so, what pesticides? Bees
are extremely sensitive to sprays on flowers. A
beekeeper could lose all 300 of their colonies
in one week to pesticide-poisoning during
pollination. The beekeeper and grower should
know which pesticides are most toxic to bees.
• Access. The beekeeper should always have access
Hives ready for almond orchards in California, the largest managed to the colonies to inspect them and make sure
pollination event in the world they still have queens and are healthy.
The contract should also include the location of the

field and apiary, crop to be pollinated and acreage,
When do you move your hives? and the number of hives to be delivered.
Bee hives are usually moved after sunset to avoid
losing foraging bees. Beekeepers that move only a Beekeepers sometimes repay a landowner with
few hives usually just screen off the entrances and honey in non-commercial situations.
load the hives individually on a truck. Straps ensure
the boxes don’t come apart if the hive is knocked
over. Beekeepers with larger operations often move How many hives are needed?
hives on pallets with four hives per pallet. If you The number of hives that a grower needs depends
are moving hives for a grower’s use, let the grower on the crop. Crops with more than one seed
know you’ll deliver them at night and discuss where per fruit benefit from multiple bee visits to the
the hives should be placed. Before you arrive make flowers to get large fruit. Examples of such crops
sure the site has adequate access and water for are apples, cucumbers, melons and blueberries.
your bees. Blueberries need perhaps the most hives per unit
of area because they are not that attractive to the
bees. Table 1 shows some estimates of the optimal
How do you time the move? number of hives per acre.
Timing depends on what flowers are competing
for the bees’ attention. One thing to consider is the Table 1. Number of hives needed for different crops
attractiveness of your crop as a nectar source. Bees Crop Hives/acre
are good at locating the sweetest nectar in the area.
Apples 1.2
Often this comes from weeds in the surrounding
fields. Bees like to forage within 300 feet of the hive Blueberries 4.0
but will travel two miles or more for a good nectar Cantaloupe 2.4
source. It’s best to move the bees into the crop just Cucumber 2.1
as flowering has started in earnest so they don’t
Squash 1.0
Pesticides and Bees
Pesticide toxicity Residue exposure

The acutely toxic effects of pesticides to bees Some pesticides are highly toxic to bees but can still
are measured by experiments in which the test be applied to the blossoms in the evening, because
compound is administered to bees as a contact they rapidly decay to less toxic compounds. The
pesticide in a controlled way. Table 2 indicates how residual activity of pesticides is expressed as an
pesticides are rated based on their LD50s, or the RT25 value (RT = residual time; 25 = percent
lethal dose needed to kill 50 percent of the test bees of initial mortality). RT is the time needed for
(concentration in microgram/bee, or µg/bee). the pesticide to degrade enough to reduce bee
mortality to 25 percent of the initial mortality of the
freshly applied product.
Table 2. Classification of toxicity based on
This test is done by spraying the pesticide on alfalfa
LD50s (µg/bee)
leaves and keeping the leaves in a cage with bees at
LD50s (µg/bee) Toxicity 75°F. Cooler temperatures can dramatically increase
< 100 Virtually non-toxic the time needed for residues to become nontoxic to
bees, so be especially careful with pesticides when
11–100 Slightly toxic the weather is cool. For more information, read
2.0-10.99 Moderately toxic Protecting Honey Bees from Pesticides (product
> 2.0 Highly toxic code: E-53-W at Purdue Extension’s Education
Store, www.edustore.purdue.edu).
Projects to Develop Your Skills
Now that you are an experienced beekeeper, you • Constructing a simplified pollen trap for use on
know there is much more you can learn and many colonies of honey bees
more projects you can do with your bees. Some • Constructing an observation hive
topics and project suggestions are listed below.
These are intended to develop your beekeeping • Designing and building a hive stand
skills. Choose a beekeeping project that fits both • Developing a business plan
your interests and the needs of your bees. Read • Dividing colonies for increase
more about your project before you begin. Then
complete the Project Record (Appendix A) before • Dividing hives
you begin. Use the scientific method (Appendix B) if • Double queening
you decide to do a research study. • Fall management
• Hive increase
Project suggestions • Hive swarms
• Bee behavior • Home-built beekeeping equipment
• Bee hunting • Introducing a queen to a hive
• Collecting pollen for supplemental feeding • Pollination of agricultural crops
• Processing and uses of beeswax • U.S. standards for grading honey

• Protecting honey bees from pesticides • Uniting hives
• Queen production and rearing • Use of honey bees for crop pollination
• Research on honey bees and pesticides
• Section comb honey production Take on as many project activities as you think
you’ll be able to complete, but try to do at least two
• Selective honey gathering projects each year. Some projects will take much
• Summer management more time than others. Keep a notebook with an
• The bee language up-to-date description of your work with your other
records. Write a detailed report explaining your
• The history of hive bodies project from start to finish so you have it for future
• The value of the honey bee as a crop pollinator reference. Consider taking photographs, making
• Two-queen system of honey production drawings or otherwise adding to the explanation of
your activities.
Resources
Books Recommended magazines, available online

Two books are recommended for the serious • American Bee Journal, www.dadant.com/journal/
beekeeper: Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping
by D. M. Caron and The Hive and the Honey Bee • Auburn University Bee Laboratory, https://
edited by J. M. Graham. These books are expensive agriculture.auburn.edu/research/enpp/bee-lab/
but contain a lot of information about bee biology • Bee Culture, www.beeculture.com/
and products of the hive — in fact, most of the
information a beekeeper would ever need. It is • DriftWatch website https://driftwatch.org/
therefore a good idea to purchase one of these (requires a logon)
books or check whether your local library has
one. Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping is our • The Complex Life of the Honeybee, product code
recommendation for the advanced 4-H beekeeper. PPP-116, The Education Store, www.edustore.
purdue.edu
• The University of Florida Bee Lab, https://
entnemdept.ufl.edu/honey-bee/
Glossary
Afterswarms: Swarms that leave a colony with a Chunk honey: A piece or pieces of comb honey
virgin queen after a swarm of the same season has packed in a jar with liquid extracted honey.
already left the hive.
Clarification: The removal of foreign particles from
American foulbrood: An extremely contagious liquid honey or wax by straining, filtering or settling.
disease of bees caused by the bacteria Bacillus
larvae that affects them in the larval (worm) stage of Cluster: A large group of bees hanging together,
development. one on another.
Apiary: A collection of colonies of honey bees; also, Colony: A community of honey bees having a
the yard or place where bees are kept. queen, thousands of workers and (during part of the
year) a number of drones.
Apiculture: Beekeeping.
Cut comb honey: Squares of honey in the sealed
Bee escape: A device to remove bees from supers comb it was produced in, cut from a shallow,
or buildings, constructed to allow bees to pass supersize frame of sealed honeycomb and then
through in one direction but to prevent their return. packaged in clear plastic.
Beehive: A box or other structure for housing a Deformed wing virus (DWV): An extremely
colony of honey bees. common virus often associated with Varroa mites
that can also transmit it. Bees may show no
Bee space: An open space (1/4 to 3/8 inch) that symptoms or may have deformed wings, part of the
permits free passage of a bee but is too small to symptoms of parasitic mite syndrome.
encourage comb building.
Drifting: The return of field bees to colonies other
Beeswax: The wax honey bees secrete from eight than their own.
glands on the underside of their abdomen and use
to build their combs. Drone: A male honey bee from unfertilized eggs of
queens or workers.
Bee veil: A wire screen or cloth enclosure worn over
the head and neck for protection from bee stings. Dysentery: A disease of honey bees causing an
accumulation of excess waste products that are
Bottom board: The floor of a beehive. released in and near the hive.
Brace comb: Small pieces of comb built between European foulbrood: An infectious disease
combs and the hive. affecting honey bees in the larval (worm) stage of
Brood: Young developing bees found in their cells in development; caused by the bacteria Streptococcus
the egg, larval and pupal stages of development. pluton.
Burr comb: Small pieces of wax built on a comb or Extracted honey: Liquid honey.
on a wooden part of a hive but not connected to Extractor: A machine that uses centrifugal force for
another comb or part. removing honey from the comb without destroying
Castes: The different kinds of adult bees in a the combs.
colony: worker, drone and queen. Field bees: Worker bees, usually at least 16 days
Cell: A single compartment in a honeycomb in old, that leave the hive to collect nectar, pollen,
which bees rear brood or store food. water and propolis.
Foundation: Used to form base on which bees can Movable frame: A frame of comb that can be easily
construct complete comb, made of either wax or removed from the hive. It is constructed to maintain
plastic and imprinted with hexagons. a proper bee space, which prevents the bees from
attaching comb or fastening it too securely with
Frame: Four strips of wood joined at the end to form propolis.
a rectangular device for holding honeycomb.
Nectar: A sweet liquid that plants secrete, usually in
Granulated honey: Honey that has crystallized, their flowers, and that bees convert into honey.
changing from a liquid to a solid.
Nosema: An infectious disease of the adult honey
Hive: Worker bees available for purchase. As a verb, bee that infects the mid-gut or stomach, caused by
to put a swarm in a hive. a protozoan parasite. Symptoms closely resemble
Hive body: A single wooden rim or shell that holds those of dysentery.
a set of frames. When used for the brood nest, it Observation hive: A hive made mostly of glass or
is called a brood chamber. When used above the clear plastic to permit observation of the bees at
brood nest for honey storage, it is called a super. work.
Hive cover: The roof or lid of a hive. Usually these Pesticide: A general name for materials used to kill
are telescoping covers, meaning they have an undesirable insects, plants, rodents or other pests.
overhang around the edges.
Pollen: Dust-like grains formed in the flowers of
Hive tool: A metal tool with a scraping surface at plants in which the male elements are produced.
one end and a blade at the other, used to open Honey bees use pollen as a protein food for their
hives, pry frames apart, clean hives, etc. young.
Honeycomb: The mass of six-sided cells of wax that Proboscis: The tongue of a honey bee.
honey bees build and in which they rear their young
and store their food. Propolis: A kind of glue or resin that bees collect
and use to close up cracks, anchor hive parts, etc. It
Honey flow: A time when nectar is plentiful and is also called bee glue.
bees produce and store surplus honey.
Pupa: The third stage of a developing bee, during
House bee: A young worker bee, one day to two which it is inactive and sealed in its cell. The adult
weeks old, that works only inside the hive. form is recognizable during this stage.
Inner cover: A thin wooden board placed just Queen excluder: A device, usually constructed of
beneath the hive cover for added protection and wood and wire or sheet zinc, with openings large
insulation from the elements. enough for worker bees to pass through but too
Job shadowing: Learning from others by following, small for the passage of larger drone and queen
watching and studying what they do in their jobs. bees.
Larva: The grublike or wormlike immature Robber bee: A field bee from one colony that takes,
form of the honey bee in its second stage of or tries to take, honey from another colony.
metamorphosis. Sacbrood: A slightly contagious disease of brood
Metamorphosis: The series of stages through caused by sacbrood virus, often associated with
which an insect passes: egg to larva to pupa to Varroa mites.
adult.
Sealed brood: Brood, mostly in the pupa stage, in Supersedure queen: Replacement of a reigning
cells that the bees have capped or sealed with a queen by her workers.
somewhat porous capping of wax.
Swarm: A large group of worker bees, drones and a
Section comb honey: Honey in the sealed comb queen that leaves the mother colony to establish a
produced in thin wooden frames called sections. new colony.
Smoker: A device that burns slow-burning fuels Tracheal mites: Microscopic Acarapis woodi that
to generate smoke to keep the bees calm while infest the breathing tubes inside a bee’s thorax.
working in their hive. Most bees are resistant to this parasite.
Solar wax extractor: A glass-covered box for Travel stain: The darkened appearance on the
melting beeswax by the heat of the sun. surface of comb honey when left in the hive for
some time; caused by bees tracking propolis over
Species, sub-species: The biological division the surface as they walk over the comb.
below genus comprising organisms capable of
interbreeding. Sub-species (for bees, synonymous Uniting: Combining two or more colonies to form
with race) have defining characteristics. one large colony.
Super: A receptacle in which bees store surplus Varroa destructor: Commonly called the Varroa
honey placed over (above) the brood chamber. As a mite, considered the most serious cause of colony
verb, to add supers in expectation of a honey flow. winter losses.
Supersedure: Rearing a new queen to replace the Virgin queen: An unmated queen.
mother queen in the same hive.
Wax moth: A moth whose larvae feed on and
destroy honeycomb. Also called lesser wax moth.
Appendices/Attachments
Appendix A. Project Template
Project title:
Goal (what you want to find out):
Hypothesis:
How I plan to set up my experiment:
When I will collect data (start and end date):
Data I will keep (for example, date, time, temperature, humidity, cloud cover, number of bees, observed bee
response):
How I will interpret my data (for example, you might use averages, charts and graphs, written observations):
Conclusions:
Appendix B. The Scientific Method
The scientific method is an organized way to address a problem you are having with your bees.
It will help you organize your thoughts, conduct an experiment and analyze data.
Stating the problem: Think about what you want to learn.
1. Form the hypothesis – After you choose a problem to study, describe what you think is happening.
2. Observe and experiment – Observe or set up an experiment to test your hypothesis. Tally your data. You
can make your own charts by hand or on the computer.
3. Interpret data – Once you have collected your data, you need to understand what it tells you. You can
interpret the data by comparing numbers visually or in graphic form.
4. Draw conclusions.
Consider how your observations and/or experiments affect your hypothesis. Do your observations and
experiments support or reject the hypothesis? How do the results give you ideas for future studies and a
new hypothesis? Should you run your experiment again? Should you change one of your variables?
On your worksheet:
1. State the problem.
2. Write a hypothesis.
3. Observe and experiment (create a data sheet).
4. Tally, study and interpret your data.
5. Draw conclusions.
a) Was your hypothesis supported, or not? (Circle one) Yes No
b) What else did you learn?

Appendix C. Record Templates
The following tables are suggested templates for your records. Adapt them to suit your needs and preferences.
You can develop them in a Word (or other) software program or use Excel (or other) program so you can easily
tally each column (number, cost, value, etc.).
Beekeeping Equipment Inventory

Date Obtained Item Number Cost
Total
Receipt List
Date Obtained Item Value (used at home) Value (sold)
Total
Financial Summary
Assets
Value of bees, equipment on January 1
Value of supplies, equipment purchased during the past year
Miscellaneous expenses during year – describe
Total
Inventory
Value of bees and equipment on January 1
Value of bee products (number of bottles of honey and amount of extracted, chunk
or cut comb honey) on December 31
Total
Labor Record
Record all the time you spent working.
Date Location Kind of work Time (hrs)
Total
Apiary Record
Maintain a record book for your hives with a chart for each individual colony. Make a table like the one below, or
adapt this template to suit your needs and preferences. Print a number of record sheets so you can keep one for
each colony in your notebook.
Colony Number:
Date Queen Brood amount Amount of pollen Amount honey Bee population Honey removed
Equipment
Notes
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4-H-1059-W

Authors: Natalie Carroll, Greg Hunt, Krispn Given

Expanding Your Apiary

Once you feel confident in your ability to maintain a

• Continue to improve your understanding of the

• Increase honey production.

• E xperiment to learn better ways to improve your

As your beekeeping experience increases, your

Managing Honey Bee Colonies

Choosing a Good Apiary Site

Water should be available within a quarter-mile

Installing packages • Cover

between the frames. If the bees are latched

• Spraying the bees with 1:1 sugar syrup right

Note: Make sure the bees are not biting the

Two of the many ways to divide colonies are

• The colony should ideally have brood on eight to

• Arrange for a new queen to be delivered either the

order two queens and replace the older queen

Simple divide method Double-screen method

Inspect the frames for brood and honey and decide

Then place a double screen over the bottom brood

Taking Care of Your Queens

Marking Queens Queen marking key

A few beekeepers clip off the tip of one of the mated

A marked queen is easy to spot.

The first step in marking a queen is to catch her by

be available as the strong colonies prepare for

Queen in a roller cage

Check for laying workers before introducing a new

With the problems we now face with Varroa February

Brief inspections of brood can be done on days

Hives should be inspected for food stores about the

March Overuse of antibiotics may select for antibiotic-

Treating a hive with antibiotics in powdered sugar

If the swarming instinct is not curtailed, only the

Two kinds of holders for sticky boards to check mites

Controlling the mites now ensures that healthy bees

Stores of bee bread are important when winter comes.

Developing a Business Plan

Short Guide to Using Honey Bees in Pollination

The contract should also include the location of the

Pesticides and Bees

Pesticide toxicity Residue exposure

Projects to Develop Your Skills

• Processing and uses of beeswax • U.S. standards for grading honey

Books Recommended magazines, available online

Appendix A. Project Template

Goal (what you want to find out):

How I plan to set up my experiment:

When I will collect data (start and end date):

Appendix B. The Scientific Method

Stating the problem: Think about what you want to learn.

1. State the problem.

3. Observe and experiment (create a data sheet).

4. Tally, study and interpret your data.

a) Was your hypothesis supported, or not? (Circle one) Yes No

b) What else did you learn?

Appendix C. Record Templates

• Continue to improve your understanding of the

• Increase honey production.

• E xperiment to learn better ways to improve your

Installing packages • Cover

• Spraying the bees with 1:1 sugar syrup right

• The colony should ideally have brood on eight to

• Arrange for a new queen to be delivered either the

• Processing and uses of beeswax • U.S. standards for grading honey