Dreams of being a beekeeper? Beekeeping is becoming a unique practice in the fast-thriving field of homesteading. It is an engagement required for you to make your own food while collaborating with the outside natural world. Without a doubt, apiculture, beekeeping supplies and beekeeping classes near me are becoming more in-demand these days. The question is, how to keep bees?
Indeed, apiculture is a rewarding hobby both to the farmer and plants. This practice, however, needs proper planning and aggressive investment of time and resources for its success.
Table of Contents:
Beekeeping: 10 Questions To Ask Before You Get Started
There is always a possibility that an interest in homesteading may lead to an interest in beekeeping, too. Bees make honey as well as pollinate flowering plants.
However, there are many factors to consider before you assemble these deadly stingers for you to harvest their produce, honey. These include:
Is It Legal To Keep Bees In Your Area?
Many farmers ignore what the law says and proceed with their plans. Beekeeping is dangerous to both people and animals and needs the consent of authority in the area.
If the law restricts this farming method, then seek appropriate education before appealing for its reviewing. Do this in time to avoid unnecessary fines and relocations.
Is There Any Family Member Who Is Allergic To Bees?
Some people become allergic to bee stings and the process of pollination. This should not eclipse beekeeping as drastic safety precautions should be in place to avoid these allergies.
Does Your Homeowner’s Insurance Allow Beekeeping?
You have to subject this practice to life insurance in case of accidental stings.
Do You Have An Open Location Free From Noise And Obstacles?
Bees thrive well in areas which are not crowded, noisy and wet.
Is There A Reliable Water Source?
Ensure that there is steady surplus of water in the hive. Around one liter can sustain a large swarm in a day.
Do You Stay Close To Your Neighbors?
Living at peace with your neighbors is a factor to consider when acquiring successful homesteading. Will your bees disturb them?
Is There Nectar Source Around?
Bees fly up to 3-5 miles away in search of nectar. They use this nectar to make honey. Establish a hive where bees can access pollen.
Will You Get Enough Time?
Beekeeping requires minimum maintenance as well as regular inspection. You will have to spend some time during feeding, watering, honey extraction and general maintenance of the hive.
Can You Afford Beekeeping?
For you to start apiculture, you have to consider the cost. Draft a plan to help you figure out the expenses you would incur.
How Many Apiculture Hives Do You Want?
It is important to have multiple hives for comparisons. You would, therefore, be able tell if a particular hive is failing.
This prepares you for the early warning signs that your colony is not doing well. Combining a weak colony with a strong colony may be a superb remedy for a dying hive.
With all these questions answered, you can comfortably acquire more knowledge by looking the following books.
Top 5 Best Beekeeping Ebooks For Beginners:
The Beekeeper’s Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipe & Other Home Uses
Beekeeping and crop farming rely on each other. Melons and strawberries top the list of crops that require pollination.
It is important to explore tips, techniques and the benefits of having bees in your life; whether you choose to keep a hive yourself, enjoy the by-products, or just recognize the contribution of these insects to the human ecosystem.
Its features include:
- This book gives a wealth of information for upcoming beekeepers as well as the experienced ones. It helps you learn about the lives of bees, how to keep your bees happy and healthy and honey recipes under one cover.
- The Beekeeper’s Bible is a heavy, thick, complete bible-sized book which has the history of keeping bees, different breeds, styles of hives with high detailed pictures and drawings on nearly every page. It’s plenty of literature gives you knowledge on farming basics.
- Apiarists have the necessary information at their fingertips. You will never know much about beekeeping unless you read this book.
- This book is of high quality, something you can proudly display and use for years to come. It would make a nice coffee table book because of its appearance.
- Better still, it gives great detail on what plants produce what type of honey. It gives guidelines on winter preparation and protection from other pests.
The Backyard Beekeeper, 4th Edition: An absolute Beginner’s Guide to keeping Bees in your Yard and Garden
In order to make beekeeping enjoyable, you have to establish hives in an accessible backyard that will consider both rural and city-dwelling beekeepers of all skill levels.
This guide gives advice on the following:
- How to care for your own colony. Water is essential for it dilutes the honey and cools the hive during hot weather. The nearer the source of water the better. This saves time as bees will spend more time looking for nectar. However, bees can drown in water gathered in deep open containers.
- Considering both your safety and the colonies’ when locating a place for the new bees. Wear the protective gear as you carefully work on your hive.
- Swarm control. Swarming is the only natural way of increasing the number of colonies. As you inspect the hive pay attention to signs of swarming. Correct conditions that trigger swarming.
- Honey harvesting equipments and procedures of collecting honey. Avoid killing or crashing bees during honey harvesting. Bees become violent and start to sting whenever they get the smell of their crushed colleague. Directions for using equipments are in this book.
- Problems facing bees and their control. Weather conditions contribute to the temper of bees, so make sure the hives are in the most favorable conditions. Presence of broken combs and unhealthy queen may be signs of a failing comb.
- How to keep your hives healthy. It is better if you keep your hives next to your home for regular inspection and observation.
The author of this book becomes influential in the field of honey bee research. He travels and lectures on the basics of honey bees, the entire process of pollination and his beekeeping knowledge can never go unrecognized.
He clearly illustrates his findings by the help of good pictures to emphasize on a point so that at the end of it all you will be able to know how a queen looks like. In addition to this, he shades more light on the diseases, pests and other bee predators threatening the existence of the hives.
Not to forget in this book are some of the honey recipes for food and products that you can make.
Beekeeping for Dummies
This book backs the idea of becoming a backyard beekeeper because it has everything you need to know for you to start your own colony.
It includes assembling and maintaining beehives, purchase and use of all the latest tools to achieve good quality honey.
It provides all tools, tips, tricks and techniques you need to become a real backyard beekeeper. In the end, you’ll be able to identify the queen from her workers and drones, open and close the hive properly, identify different tastes of honey and protect the colony from attacks.
With this hands-on guide, backyard beekeeping is no longer challenging as it was before. You can keep bees on a small urban rooftop or extensively while inspecting and managing your colony.
It captures the entire process of honey production, how to keep your bees healthy and happy by use of latest hiving techniques.
Inside its magnificent pages lie a pile of guidelines on how to:
- Manage a Top Bar hive.
- Acquire and install beehives successfully.
- Identify and fix common problems facing bees.
- Learn when and how to inspect your bees.
Beekeeping for Beginners: How to Raise Your First Bee Colonies
Imagine the feeling of raising your own bees, getting your fresh supply of honey as well as inviting numerous healthy pollinators into your yard.
This guide helps you learn step-by-step the basic fundamentals of today’s beekeeping techniques.
The author takes you through this promising journey from picking the right hive to collecting honey. It includes:
- Learning everything you need to know to commence your first colony. It’s about borrowing ideas from experienced beekeepers.
- Starting your colony while considering the newest natural practices available.
- Complete glossary and clearly explained vocabularies that enables you to handle beekeeping like an expert.
This book takes the reader through all the basics of beekeeping with patience, sincerity and with a sense of humor.
With this book you develop the confidence of making the best decisions for your bees. The ‘how-to’ aspect of keeping bees attests this author’s depth of knowledge. From the legality of keeping bees, honey harvesting equipments and maintenance of healthy hive is also evident throughout this guide.
Perusing its pages will reward you with instructions that will take you through the entire process of apiculture.
The author’s hobby is to teach others how to become self-sufficient by acquiring things from the scratch to becoming an expert beekeeper.
The side panel explanations of words rules out the use of a dictionary as it refines bombastic vocabularies into way one can easily understand.
The Beekeeper’s Handbook:
This handbook is the best single-volume guide to the passion and profession of beekeeping. In addition to its clear descriptions, the easy-to-follow directions are enough to construct an apiary, handle bees and maintain a healthy economy throughout the entire season.
It exhaustively gives guidelines on how to care for various colonies as well as noting the pros and cons of available alternative within the process of beekeeping, enabling beekeepers to make the best choices for their own hives. These guidelines include:
- Step-by step directions for all stages from setting up an apiary to harvesting honey.
- Approximately 100 illustrations featuring techniques, equipment and bee life.
- Information about how to manage new pests and diseases including Colony Collapse Disorder.
- Coverage of new trend and changes in laws governing beekeeping.
- A gift to every beginner with clearly-highlighted instructions and other important features.
Even the experienced beekeepers find a valuable reference in this guide. It is an excellent choice of training journal for bee courses on all levels.
This edition has an abundance of great information and exceptional illustrations with the help of diagrams. Surely, this book should never miss in every beekeeper’s library.
It covers every aspect of management in beekeeping, a unique feature that is missing in other editions.
FAQs:
Q: Is it important to know if your bee colony is swarmed?
A: You can never predict when swarming is about to happen. Visit colonies frequently to prevent this from happening.
Q: What is honey beekeeping?
A: It is the raring of bees for the main purpose of getting honey and its products.
Q: A whole economy just disappears without trace. What could be the reason behind this?
A: Water is crucial to the honey bee for survival. If there is insufficient supply of water, the entire colony will migrate. Also adverse weather conditions can make bees feel uncomfortable.
Q: What are the effects of feeding honeybees with unrefined sugar?
A: Refined sugar (brown) is poisonous to bees and kills them. Always avoid sugars which are harmful to bees like fructose corn.
Conclusion
Bees need flowers in order to thrive. Consider keeping a bee garden with plants rich in pollen and nectar. Avoid use of pesticides and herbicides. These chemicals are toxic to bees.
Honey is essential for our body health. It helps in quick wound healing and improves cardiac health. Excessive consumption of honey may equally be dangerous due to its high sugar content.
Cut down the cost of hiring a professional beekeeper by becoming one. You cannot afford to miss the abundance of wealth these books have to offer. Their prices are relatively affordable in the market. Go out there and grab your share and you can never regret spending your money on something as valuable as undergoing an organ transplant.
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