Kim Flottum - First Time Beekeeping

Backyards are good places to keep bees because they are close; urban areas support bees well with diverse and abundant natural resources; and bees are the pollinators of choice for gardens and landscape plants all over the neighborhood.

Beekeeping is both an art and a science. Science is the knowledge, but art is the application of all of this information.

STEVE REPASKY, AUTHOR OF SWARM ESSENTIALS

This is so easy to avoid. Unlike commercial, large-scale beekeepers, the backyard beekeeper has control over the integrated pest-management schemes that deal with these problems. They have some access to bees adapted to their specific locations and continuous selection of those lines of bees that thrive where they live. This is a small, steady step in the right direction.

Enough good food, all the time is also being addressed. Acres of unused and marginal land are being converted by corporations and highway, parks, and forestry departments to accommodate all pollinators. Towns and cities are turning the corner on asphalt, lawns, and pretty but inedible flowers for pollinators. The same is happening in the big ag fields. Between crop rows in those barren isles, forages are being planted. Herbicides are looked at with less esteem and more caution, and governments are rethinking land-use policies to accommodate more pollinators, whether bees, birds, bats, or butterflies. The sun is rising just a little on these dark issues. And backyard beekeepers are leading the way.

Several countries have banned some classes of pesticides, dietary supplements for bees have flourished, new Varroa control strategies have come forth, and whole generations of beekeepers have appeared, concerned and committed to helping honey bees.

You will begin your beekeeping adventure knowing what can go wrong and will be well-armed with new information plus the tried-and-true ways of beekeeping. You will be a smarter, better beekeeper. With this book, a bit of outdoor wisdom, and a colony or two of honey bees, you will truly enjoy the art, the science, and the adventure of beekeeping. By applying what we share here, you will be able to enjoy the garden crops you harvest, the honey you and your bees produce, and the beneficial products made from the efforts of your bees and your work.

What could be sweeter? Once again, we can enjoy the bees!

KIM FLOTTUM

Ive been around bees, beekeeping, and beekeepers for more than forty years, and there has never been a better time to have a few honey bee colonies in your backyard. They pollinate the vegetables in your garden, increase the production of your orchard trees, and make the whole neighborhood thrive. In fact, the crops that are pollinated in part or in whole by honey bees supply us with an incredible amount of our daily sustenance. Scientists and crop producers tell us that honey beepollinated plants may account for a third or more of our daily diet.

Perhaps as importantly, honey bees make wild plants more productive, more luxurious, and more nutritious for the wildlife that relies on them for sustenance.

So, if having a couple colonies of honey bees out back sounds like a good idea, lets find out what thousands of beekeepers already know.

A look at only a small part of the A. I. Root wood shop around the turn of the last century.

IN THE BEGINNING

The way we keep bees today can be traced to the introduction of the modern hive in the mid-1800s. L. L. Langstroth, a minister who suffered from a nervous condition, became a beekeeper to ease his discomfort. He became wise in the ways that bees were being kept in all parts of the world and experimented with his own bees, looking for a way to keep bees from fastening their combs to the top and sides of the boxes.

The story goes that one day as Langstroth was walking home from a visit to a beeyard, he had a vision of a framea complete square of wooden strips that surrounded and contained the beeswax comb. The bees could attach their comb to the strips rather than the top and sides of the hive box. He saw a means of hanging the frame inside the box the bees lived in. This kept the comb separated from the top, sides, and bottom of the box by just enough space for the bees to pass. This concept revolutionized beekeeping and is the perfect example of what working with the bees, rather than against them, can accomplish. This fundamental design has remained virtually unchanged since Langstroths discovery.

Today, an experienced assembler who has all the necessary tools can put together a four-box hive, including frames, covers, and the rest, in 3 to 4 hours. A first-timer with most of the tools could do the same thing in, maybe, two days.

L. L. Langstroth, holding the frame he invented, sitting in the beeyard at the A. I. Root Company in Medina, Ohio, many years after his Eureka! moment.

But these days, the journey isnt the goal for many people. Its having bees in the garden. This is where technology, labor, and the eternal press of time come together. Theres now a full range of assembly choices, ranging from the traditional build-it-yourself kits to painted, fully assembled hives. If you choose the traditional route and assemble your own beekeeping equipment, be forewarned that the assembly instructions that accompany these kits are often woefully inadequate. But then, so are the typical instructions for assembling a propane gas grill.