Beekeeper practices

Beekeepers have been worrying about the disappearance of bees around a specific period of the year. Around the year 2006-2007, it was seen that a large number of worker bees just disappear from their hives all of a sudden. No specific reason was found behind the disappearance, and that gave rise to a new term ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ for all the beekeepers. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the term given to what looks like the most serious disappearance of honey bee colonies. It can be...

The fall of 2006 brought a new worry for the beekeepers with the new phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder. It was reported that a number of bees started disappearing mysteriously leaving behind just the queen bee and a few other young ones. Although, till now, no exact cause is found behind this unnatural behavior of the bee colonies, there are still few theories about them. Here are a few of the speculated reasons for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

If you are into beekeeping, you must have also heard about the bee smoker. When you talk about lighting a smoker, it is very much like starting a fire while camping. If you are not sure why people smokers in beekeeping, it is to calm the bees. Qualified beekeepers can tell you that bees are of compliant nature. But they can get defensive if they feel threatened. During those times, it becomes important to avert any possible attack.

If you love beekeeping, it is because either you love being around bees. Or like most of them out there, you love honey. It’s always exhilarating to see the jars filled with delicious honey coming from the bees. And yet many beekeepers dread the whole honey extraction. They mind it messy and troublesome. You will find a lot of advice online on how to extract the honey. But very few till about how to clean the extractor after you are done with the honey extraction.

If you are one of those rare species who don't know what a honeycomb is, let's begin with that.

If you are into beekeeping, you might be wondering about how many beehives you can manage. You might be confused about how much you can handle. When you are starting out in beekeeping, you might get carried away and bite off more than you can chew. There are various factors to be considered when you are getting yourself into beekeeping. You need to carefully assess your abilities and other elements before you make a decision.

Many bees and wasps go into hibernation when the cold months of the year arrive. In a lot of species of bees, only the queen manages to live through the winter. Then they come out in spring to rebuild a colony. However, honey bees are one of those that stay all through the winter. They do it regardless of the cold temperatures and lack of flowers. Not all bees act the same way. Some bees hibernate while some work hard to keep warm and fed. Honey bees and bumble bees belong to the same line...

How Long Does It Take To Get Honey From A New Hive? If you are a new beekeeper, then you would surely be eager to taste some of the honey from your own beehives. It is natural for beekeepers to look forward to their first harvest. But before you decide to take away honey from a new hive, you must make sure that the colony has sufficient honey. This is why most beekeepers do not harvest honey from a new hive for the first year.

Why Bees Leave Their Hives? Many new beekeepers find it strange when part of the colony or an entire colony leaves the hive. Like everything else, there is reason behind this behavior. In a healthy colony, bees leave the hive to forage for nectar, to find water, or to cleanse their bodies of parasites or other materials. The drone bees often go on mating flights with the queen bee as well. But there are two other reasons why bees leave their hives – swarming and absconding. Let us discuss...

Why And How Bees Make Honey? Every living being works towards one cause for most of their lives. Survival. Honey is survival food for the bees. Since bees feed mostly on nectar and pollen, they require blooming flowers to feed. But when winter sets in, honey bees lose their natural source of food, which means that they need an alternative source of food to survive. Honey works as their alternative source. The nectar and pollen collected by honey bees are converted into energy-rich food...

Honeybees are a vital part of the food chain of this planet. They facilitate the pollination in a variety of plants and flowers. Indeed, honeybees are also important for some of the crops grown by the farmers. The bees have a very well-ordered social system, and the queen bee is the most important part of it.

You might not be aware of it, but honey bees also face the starvation problem. Honey bee starvation is a problem which is encountered by many bees and beekeepers. There are various reasons why bees might be starving. It may occur due to poor weather, infection, exhausting food reserves and more. While residential beekeepers lose more colonies in the winter, commercial beekeepers don't face much loss due to season. As a beekeeper, you should know when you need to feed the bees. It can be...