Seven Tips To Help You Become A Master Beekeeper
Tip #1:- Be acquainted with the true art form that’s deep within the business of honey beekeeping, it’s the the activity of looking after colonies of bees, keeping the bees in great health and making sure that they produce honey of the highest quality. Successful beekeepers with productive colonies have made the time to gain knowledge about the various bee types as some kinds might show hostility, they can propagate disease, become regular victims to parasites and end being totally exposed to predators also.
It’s possible for all of these factors to impact and affect the productivity of your honeybees negatively which will end up yielding unsatisfactory harvests. Before anybody goes blind folded into the beekeeping world, a bit of standard research must be done so that you can acquire above average information about keeping honeybees (Or get a Step-by Step beekeeping guide from the links below).
Tip #2:- Safety is an integral part of honey beekeeping, bees are harmless when being handled with total, utmost respect and it’s highly possible to work with bees for years without a single stinging incident. However it is still important that safety principles are upheld all the time not just some of time. Get yourself a good beekeeper’s suit and it should consist of a long sleeve jacket, long pair of pants that can be sealed at bottom to prevent the bees from moving up your pants, a hat that has a veil and gloves.
I can never over state the value of having a first aid kit make up part of your apiary, because even if your become very carefull when dealing with honey bees, there will be an occasional stinging accident and anybody who has hypersensitivity to beestings must receive instant medical attention.
Tip #3:- Every activity needs a set place whereby production can take place, and the same rule apply for beekeeping. You will require some space to keep your colonies called the apiary. The perfect area would be in a farm as most farmers welcome beekeepers and their colonies with open arms because of their understanding of how important bees are for pollinating crops. However not everyone can have access to farmland. However it is still possible to raise honey bees in urban areas, but extra precautionary measures must be adhered to.
Tip #4:- Becoming part of a beekeepers association will enable you to get support about beekeeping issues. Most states don’t allow unregistered individuals to become beekeepers and this is where club’s support will come handy. They will ensure that you meet the required standards by the authorities, and help you set up an appropriate date for the authorities to come and grade your apiary accordingly to get you certified as soon as possible.
Tip #5:- Once the above steps have been dealt with the next step to go into is to acquire some beehives and bees. There is a variety of avenues for purchasing bees but I’d pressume that if you are reading this article you’re a beginner, so my recommendation is that you buy packaged bees. I suggest packaged bees simply because they come complete with Queen, drones and some worker bees to help you get started. You can be sure that they’re free of diseases, and the best part about packaged bees is that they have a a clearly documented history.
Contact your beekeepers association in your state and they will happily direct you to some reputable suppliers on their data base so that you can get your first package of bees and a good hive to get you moving in the right direction.
Tip #6:- Now that everything is in place it is time to position your honey bees in their new environment or home so they can acclimatised and start honey production. You want make sure that the queen is properly installed in the beehive (for detailed steps of installing the queen refer to the Step-by-Step guide, accessible from the links), then prepare syrup mixture and water source and place them not far your apiary this will allow your bees easy access to water and food, eliminating the need to travel long distances just to forage.
Tip #7:- Bees can look after themselve without too much assistance, nonetheless an good honeybee keeper will make it easy for them so that their sole focus is on the production of honey and increasing the hive. Regular hive inspections are a must, so that any imminent dangers can be recognised and dealt with or completely avoided.
Diseases, pests, parasites and predators are common threats to bees and many of the above can be easily dealt with. When inspecting your behives often at least two or three times every week, you will observe behaviour patterns and movement of your bees and whenever there’s a slight change you’ll immidiately notice it.
Success in beekeeping lies with good management practise and knowledge of all the honey bees facts, arranging your inspection intervals, the ability to spot diseases & pest problems quickly. The minute you have these processes pinned down, a perfect harvest doesn’t come as a surprise, so engage yourself as much as much as possible and learn this great practise so that you can reap great rewards.
