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Beekeeping

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Food and agriculture;
Recreation

   Beekeeping (or apiculture, from Latin apis, a bee) is the practice of
   intentional maintenance of honeybee colonies, commonly in hives, by
   humans. A beekeeper (or apiarist) may keep bees in order to collect
   honey and beeswax, or for the purpose of pollinating crops, or to
   produce bees for sale to other beekeepers. A location where bees are
   kept is called an apiary.

History of beekeeping

   Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms of food production. Some of the
   earliest evidence of beekeeping is from rock painting, dating to around
   13,000 BC. It was particularly well developed in Egypt and was
   discussed by the Roman writers Virgil, Gaius Julius Hyginus, Varro, and
   Columella. A pioneering beekeeping popularizer in the 19th century
   United States was Amos Root.
   Enlarge

   Beekeeping was traditionally practiced for the bees' honey harvest,
   although nowadays crop pollination service can often provide a greater
   part of a commercial beekeeper's income. Other hive products are
   pollen, royal jelly, and propolis, which are also used for nutritional
   and medicinal purposes, and wax which is used in candlemaking,
   cosmetics, wood polish, and for modelling. The modern use of hive
   products has changed little since ancient times.

   Western honeybees are not native to the Americas. American, Australian,
   and New Zealand colonists imported honeybees from Europe, partly for
   honey and partly for their usefulness as pollinators. The first
   honeybee species imported were likely European dark bees. Later italian
   bees, carniolan honeybees and caucasian bees were added.

   Western honeybees were also brought to the Primorsky Krai in Russia by
   Ukrainian settlers around 1850s. These Russian honey bees that are
   similar to the Carniolan bee were imported into the U.S. in 1990. The
   Russian honeybee has shown to be more resistant to the bee parasites
   Varroa destructor and Acarapis woodi.

   Before the 1980s, most U.S. hobby beekeepers were farmers or relatives
   of a farmer, lived in rural areas, and kept bees with techniques passed
   down for generations. The arrival of tracheal mites in the 1980s and
   varroa mites and small hive beetles in the 1990s led to the
   discontinuation of the practice by most of these beekeepers as their
   bees could not survive among these new parasites.

   In Asia, other species of Apis exist which are used by local beekeepers
   for honey and beeswax. Non-Apis species of honeybees, known
   collectively as stingless bees, have also been kept from antiquity in
   Australia and Central America, although these traditions are dying, and
   the trigonine and meliponine species used are endangered.

Art of beekeeping

   The control of a colony mainly consists in taking care of the state of
   the “demography” of the hives. Although some call it a "science," the
   "art" of the beekeeper is in managing a colony's population so that the
   maximum number of bees is available for a task at a particular time.
   Most beekeepers are interested in a surplus of honey. Maximal honey
   production occurs when the most workers bees (both foragers and
   ripeners) are present at the exact same time that nectar-producing
   flowers (in both numbers and nectar production) are also at an optimum.
   For pollination, both the grower and beekeeper are looking for a
   surplus of foraging honey bees. Package bee and queen producers try to
   have as many nurse (young worker) bees as possible on hand. Queen
   breeders also try to manage drone population numbers.

   A colony of bees is composed of a single queen, many workers (infertile
   females), drones (males), and a brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae). A hive
   is the box used by beekeepers to house a colony.

   A colony of bees tries to accumulate a surplus of provisions ( nectar
   and pollen) during the more favorable seasons (when there is a lot of
   forage, such as flowers available, along with good weather) in order to
   be able to survive the more unfavourable seasons and reproduce. This
   period is the winter in the Northern hemisphere; in the Southern
   Hemisphere and in Africa this period is the dry season, or Summer.

   The population of the colony varies according to the seasons. It is
   important for the colony to have a large population (30,000 to 60,000+
   individuals) when there is a lot of forage available, in order to
   achieve the greatest possible harvest. The population is minimal in the
   winter (6,000 individuals) in order to reduce the consumption of
   provisions. The colony should not be too weak, however, because the
   bees which overwinter have to revive the colony again in the spring. If
   the population is too small over winter, another problem may be
   encountered: honey bees need to cluster together in winter in order to
   maintain the temperature (9 degrees celsius) required for their
   survival, and with reduced populations this is much more difficult to
   achieve.

Types of beekeepers

   There are several types of beekeepers:
     * Hobbyists — They have a different day job but find beekeeping fun
       as just a hobby.
     * Sideliners — Basically, sideliners have other income but moonlight
       as "beekeepers" for extra money.
     * Commercial — Beekeeping is their only source of income.

   Some southern U.S. and southern hemisphere (New Zealand) beekeepers
   keep bees primarily to raise queens and package bees for sale. In the
   U.S., northern beekeepers can buy early spring queens and 3- or 4-pound
   packages of live worker bees from the South to replenish hives that die
   out during the winter, although this is becoming less practical due to
   the spread of the africanized bee,

   In cold climates commercial beekeepers have to migrate with the
   seasons, hauling their hives on trucks to gentler southern climates for
   better wintering and early spring build-up. Many make "nucs" (small
   starter or nucleus colonies) for sale or replenishment of their own
   losses during the early spring. In the U.S. some may pollinate squash
   or cucumbers in Florida or make early honey from citrus groves in
   Florida, Texas or California. The largest demand for pollination comes
   from the almond groves in California. As spring moves northward so do
   the beekeepers, to supply bees for tree fruits, blueberries,
   strawberries, cranberries and later vegetables. Some commercial
   beekeepers alternate between pollination service and honey production
   but usually cannot do both at the same time.
   A beekeeper collecting a bee swarm. If the queen can be swept to the
   frame and placed into the hive the remaining bees will follow her
   scent.
   Enlarge
   A beekeeper collecting a bee swarm. If the queen can be swept to the
   frame and placed into the hive the remaining bees will follow her
   scent.

   In the Northern Hemisphere, beekeepers usually harvest honey from July
   until September, though in warmer climates the season can be longer.
   The rest of the year is spent keeping the hive free of pests and
   disease, and ensuring that the bee colony has room in the hive to
   expand. Success for the hobbyist also depends on locating the apiary so
   bees have a good nectar source and pollen source throughout the year.

   In the Southern Hemisphere, beekeeping is an all-the-year-round
   enterprise, although in cooler areas (to the south of Australia and New
   Zealand) the activity may be minimal in the winter (May to August).
   Consequently, the movement of commercial hives is more localised in
   these areas.

Types of beekeeping equipment

   Wooden hives in Stripeikiai in Lithuania
   Enlarge
   Wooden hives in Stripeikiai in Lithuania

   There are considerable regional variations in the type of hive in which
   bees are kept. A hive is a set of wooden boxes filled with frames that
   each hold a sheet of wax or plastic foundation. The bottom box, or
   brood chamber, contains the queen and most of the bees; the upper
   boxes, or supers, contain just honey. The bees produce wax and build
   honeycomb using the wax sheets as a starting point, after which they
   may raise brood or deposit honey and pollen in the cells of the comb.
   These frames can be freely manipulated and honey supers with frames
   full of honey can be taken and extracted for their honey crop. In the
   USA, the Langstroth hive is commonly used. The Langstroth was the first
   type of hive with movable frames, and other designs of hive have been
   based on it. In the UK, the most common type of hive is the National
   Hive but it is not unusual to see some other sorts of hive (Smith,
   Commercial and WBC, rarely Langstroth). The more traditional skep is
   now largely unlawful in the United States, as the comb and brood cannot
   be inspected for diseases.

   A few hobby beekeepers are adopting various top-bar hives commonly
   found in Africa. These have no frames and the honey filled comb is not
   returned to the hive after extraction, as it is in the Langstroth hive.
   Because of this the production of honey in a top bar hive is only about
   20% that of a Langstroth hive, but the initial costs and equipment
   requirements are far lower. Top-bar hives also offer some advantages in
   interacting with the bees and the amount of weight that must be lifted
   is greatly reduced.

Protective clothing

   When interacting with the bees, novice beekeepers usually wear
   protective clothing (including gloves and a hooded suit or hat and
   veil). Experienced beekeepers rarely use gloves because they make
   movement clumsy and can transmit disease from one hive to another. The
   face and neck are the most important areas to protect, so most
   beekeepers will at least wear a veil.

   Defensive bees are attracted to the breath and a sting on the face can
   lead to much more pain and swelling than a sting elsewhere while a
   sting on a bare hand can usually be quickly removed by fingernail
   scrape to reduce the amount of venom injected.

   The protective clothing is generally light colored and of a smooth
   material. This provides the maximum differentiation from the colony's
   natural predators (bears, skunks, etc.) which tend to be dark-colored
   and furry.

Smoker

   A well used bee smoker
   Enlarge
   A well used bee smoker

   Smoke is the beekeeper's second line of defense; protective clothing
   provides remarkably little protection from agitated bees. Most
   beekeepers use a "smoker"—a device designed to generate smoke from the
   incomplete combustion of various fuels. Smoke calms bees; it initiates
   a feeding response in anticipation of possible hive abandonment due to
   fire. Smoke also masks alarm pheromones released by guard bees or when
   bees are squashed in an inspection. The ensuing confusion creates an
   opportunity for the beekeeper to open the hive and work without
   triggering a defensive reaction. In addition, when a bee consumes honey
   the bee's abdomen distends, making it difficult to make the necessary
   flexes to sting.

   Smoke is of no use with a swarm, because swarms do not have honey
   stores to feed on in response. Usually smoke is not needed since swarms
   tend to be less defensive, as they have no stores to defend, and a
   fresh swarm will have fed well from the hive.

   Many types of fuel can be used in a smoker as long as it is natural and
   not contaminated with harmful substances. These fuels include hessian,
   cardboard, and rotten or punky wood. Some beekeeping supply sources
   also sell commercial fuels like pulped paper and compressed cotton, or
   even aerosol cans of smoke.

Formation of new colonies

Swarming

   A swarm about to land
   Enlarge
   A swarm about to land

   The most successful colonies reproduce by swarming. In the beginning of
   spring, several queen cells are produced. About a week before the
   queens hatch, the old queen leaves the hive with half of the worker
   bees (all categories) and they form a swarm: right when they leave, the
   worker bees' crops are all stuffed with supplies, and because of this
   they are less inclined to sting: a new swarm is gentle for several
   hours.
   A swarm attached to a branch
   Enlarge
   A swarm attached to a branch

   This swarm is looking for shelter; a beekeeper who captures it and
   introduces it into a new hive helps to meet this need. Otherwise, it
   will return to a wild state, in which case it will find shelter in a
   hollow tree, an excavation, an abandoned chimney or even behind
   shutters.

   Inside the hive, the first queen to be born will immediately kill all
   her rivals who are still in their cells. This is due to the fact that
   each colony can only have one queen. One week later, the new queen
   undertakes her first nuptial flight.

   A colony can produce, from spring to the start of summer, up to three
   swarms: the primary, secondary and tertiary.

Artifical swarming

   When a colony accidentally loses its queen, it is said to be orphaned.
   The workers realize that the queen is absent after one or two days. The
   colony cannot survive without the queen laying eggs, renewing its
   population. So the workers select cells containing eggs aged less than
   three days and enlarge these cells. The larvae contained therein
   receive nothing but royal jelly, which ensures that they will grow up
   to be queens.

   Beekeepers use this capability in order to multiply their colonies. In
   order to do this, they remove several honeycomb panels from a healthy
   hive. These panels must hold many worker bees and eggs aged less than
   three days. The workers are then placed into a little hive that has
   honeycombs filled with provisions. If everything goes well, a new queen
   is born two weeks later.

Harvesting honey

   A beekeeper removing frames from the hive

   A frame

   Smoking the hive

   Opening the cells: Uncapping

   An uncapping fork

   Uncapping the cells using an uncapping knife

   Extracting the honey

   Filtering the honey

   Pouring in pots (after maturation)

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beekeeping"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
