A variation of this article (written by me) appeared in the NZ
Beekeeper under the pseudonym 'Skep', the name I used to write a
series for beginners several years ago. I have revised it only
slightly to make it 'stand alone', rather than refer to the other
articles in the series.
Readers of Bee-List are welcome to reprint into other newsletters
- all I ask is that you credit me and send me on a copy when it
gets printed!
-------------------------------------
Nick Wallingford
55 Watling Street
Tauranga, New Zealand
Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
(East coast, N Island, New Zealand)
Internet [log in to unmask]
-------------------------------------
This article is devoted to an overview of the the essential
operations of beekeeping. Beekeepers should regularly critically
examine beekeeping practices to see that what they do will
satisfy both them and their bees.
Arthur Gosset was a very well respected beekeeper in Canterbury,
New Zealand. I worked some years ago for Bray and Gosset.
Sitting in the smoko room, I remember very clearly some advice he
gave me.
At the time I was all fired up with complicated and labour
intensive methods of getting as much production from a colony as
possible. I was dreaming up all sorts of involved and fiddly
gadgets and management systems, involving two queening and
strange hive designs.
Arthur looked at me and simply said that all beekeeping is a
matter of watching out for three main things:
You must have a young queen in the hive. You must never let them
become short of food. You must give them enough room at the
right time to store the crop.
At the time, as a young(er) man, that was all too simple for me.
Where is the 'art' in beekeeping if it can be reduced to that few
words? At the time, I even thought he was holding out on me, not
letting me in on his 'secrets' of management.
Only with more experience have I now come back to his words and
realised how true they are. The complexities of beekeeping come
with HOW to do the WHAT of those three questions. The methods
and timing that you will use to get a queen in the hive, feed the
colony if need be and super it up will determine how successful
your beekeeping can be.
Sugar syrup mixing and feeding and supering up are really topics
of their own. There are plenty of options available to you in
either operation.
Re-queening is another major topic that should be covered more
fully than in this article.
Of course, with the goal of messing up such a tidy presentation,
I would add another few operations to Arthur's three. Knowing
how to properly inspect a hive for brood disease should be
listed. Another concept I feel strongly about is that of using
methods and materials related to the scale of your beekeeping.
Disease recognition for the hobbyist is a real poser.
Because it is present in such small levels, the odds say if you
have only one hive, it will only get infected once every 200
years. (NB: This is based on NZ's average of about 0.5% of hives
being found infected annually. Antibiotics are not fed for AFB
in NZ - bees are destroyed, though hot paraffin wax dipping can
salvage most equipment)
Like many other statistical lies, if you trust to that, you'll
likely come unstuck. In fact, as a hobbyist, you have several
things going against you. Because you'll see cases of disease so
rarely, you'll tend to get complacent and even careless in your
inspections. After all, after looking for something you don't
want to find for some time, its easy enough to decide to stop
looking!
Because you probably have your one or two hives in an urban
location, your's are relatively close to many other hobbyist
hives. All it takes is one careless beekeeper to put everyone
else nearby at risk.
If you're not confident that you can recognise American Brood
Disease, talk with a local beekeeper who might be able to help
you. Contact your local beekeeper's club and ask if they might
be able to arrange a programme to help with disease inspection.
Get a copy of the relevant Ag Link from the Ministry of
Agriculture and Fisheries or other good photographs.
Don't just trust to good luck and the odds; its up to all
responsible beekeepers to keep disease levels down. There is
nothing wrong with getting a case of disease; it happens to most
all beekeepers at one time or another. There is a problem if you
don't know how to properly deal with disease and become a source
of infection for other beekeepers and your other hives.
My other interest, making sure that your approach to your
beekeeping is of the appropriate 'scale' is not a difficult one.
It is often overlooked by hobbyist (and other...) beekeepers.
What I mean is that you don't need to kill flies with a sledge
hammer. You are a hobbyist, and your approach to beekeeping
should keep that in mind. You don't need to involve a lot of
specialised equipment that will only be used once a year.
While keeping your specialised equipment costs down, you can take
advantage of the time that you can put into your beekeeping.
After all, you are doing this as a hobby, remember? You can
afford to be a little more exacting than a commercial beekeeper,
and do things that involve more trips to the hive, for instance.
A good example of keeping your 'scale' in mind is equipment
making. You probably won't save much money by making your own
boxes and frames, for instance. If you enjoy doing it, go ahead
by all means. The scale of your beekeeping should tell you,
though, that you'd be better off buying equipment in kitset to
assemble.
Similarly with honey handling equipment. What started out as a
relatively inexpensive hobby can rapidly change to a major
expense if you insist on buying a new stainless steel extractor
and building a small honey house in your backyard. Sure, this
might suit you, and if you are determined to do it, go ahead. A
better method for someone with only a few hives, however, would
be to share the bare minimum of extracting equipment with several
other hobbyists.
Often, a local hobbyist beekeepers club will have the basic
equipment that can be rented from them for a reasonable daily
rate. If not, why not form your own 'syndicate' of 2 or 3
like-minded beekeeper friends and share one set between you?
Extracting together can be a truly social event if approached in
this manner.
I guess what I'm trying to get across with this column is that
there are only a few key points to being a good beekeeper, no
matter how many hives you have. If you learn how to properly
care for the basics, especially Arthur Gosset's three rules of
beekeeping, you will be a good beekeeper.
Its not hard to get a good crop in a good year. Have you
ever heard the saying 'Bees make honey in spite of beekeepers'?
It's often true, you know...
If you are a GOOD beekeeper, you'll get a honey crop in that
mediocre season when others get little or nothing. Your hives
will be gentle enough that you don't upset your neighbours or
become a nuisance. Your hives will be tidy enough that an Apiary
Inspector will not have to attack the glued up frames with a
spade.
The details of how you go about taking care of the important
aspects of beekeeping, re-queening, feeding and supering at the
right time, are the subject of all the talk of beekeepers and the
books and the magazines. Learning what methods work for you in
your location for a particular season is the 'art' of beekeeping.
Now you've finished this short article, sit back and think about
your own beekeeping systems. Are you taking care of the
fundamentals? Are you re-queening at least every 2 years? Has
your hive always had at least two good frames of honey or stores
provided by feeding sugar to them? Do you give them the extra
room that they need when they need it?
If you do, then you can move ahead to the 'fine tuning' of more
intricate management systems, such as two-queening or complicated
dividing/uniting procedures suited to your local requirements.
If you can't honestly say you are taking care of the basics, make
that your special goal over the coming season and see what a
difference it makes.
Young queens, with reduced swarming levels and smooth, rapid,
reliable build up. Colonies that never get the set back of
running short of food. Hives that get the new honey super before
the bees have started to pack out the brood nest. What a
difference they all make!
Why is it always such a surprise that the beekeepers who
consistently get the best crops are the ones that sit quietly at
the back of the room and claim they don't have any special tricks
or gadgets to share?
|
