Beekeeping Basics
Just Keeping Your Bees Alive?
One December I was having coffee with someone I was mentoring when he asked a question that stopped me mid-conversation. He asked what I was planning to do with my bees in the next beekeeping season. There was an awkward pause while I frantically searched my mind for an answer that sounded halfway intelligent. The truth was, I had no further thought than just keeping them alive. But, he lit a fire under me that really increased my experience level as a beekeeper.
Heaven knows that keeping bees alive — keeping ahead of varroa — is a plenty big challenge for any beekeeper, much less a newer one. But really, is that what we love about beekeeping? Yes, I love the bees just for the bees, but parse that out a little bit, what is it we really love about beekeeping? For me, it is how absorbing it is, and that there is always more to figure out and learn. It is the challenge. Making an actual plan for the next summer — beyond just keeping the bees alive, can not only make you a better beekeeper, but can greatly increase your enjoyment of them, and keep you on schedule a little better.
Further goals for the basics
Every established colony, if headed by a queen who has been through one or more spring buildups, will need swarm management. Beyond the goal of averting a swarm, it will be helpful to decide what the purpose is for the colony for the remainder of the summer. Do you want a lot of honey? Not want any honey? (I know plenty of beekeepers who feel like extracting honey is just a necessary evil pursuant to owning honey bees, and something they would rather not have to deal with.) Want more colonies for pollination? Or maybe you want to make some money selling nucs, or learn to raise super queens? Now is the time to make this decision, since it will change the way you handle swarm control.
For maximum honey production and for queen rearing, you will want the strongest colony possible that will not be swarm-prone. Requeening with a new, young queen, preferably one that is mite resistant, is the best way to achieve these goals. A very straightforward way to do this is to just pull the old queen, and introduce the new one.1 This will result in a very strong colony ready for the spring flow.
Another option is to pull a nuc to sell: three frames of brood with the bees attached and the old queen, one frame of honey and bee bread, and one of drawn comb to work into. The parent colony that you keep will still be very strong, the missing bees and brood barely noticeable in the long term, and you will have an extra $225 or more in your pocket. If you sell your nuc within your club or area, you get to feel virtuous, since in doing so you make it possible to avoid potentially importing new pests along with bees from other areas.
Winter shopping list: nuc boxes for sale and personal use …
