8136 GRIT Guide to Backyard Bees and Honey

Offer 6 Beekeepers Hard-won Advice Beginning and experienced hive owners will appreciate the been-there, done-that tips from our blogging community.

to Attract Bees 10 How and Other Pollinators The art of attracting pollinators boosts harvests and helps our food systems.

to Know 14 Getting Your Bees The sweet truth about the life and times of one of humankind’s most important social insects.

Things to Know 22 5Before Getting Bees

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Experienced beekeeper broadens her world view with the help of bees.

COVER PHOTOGRAPH: SUMIKO PHOTO

Basics: 24 Beekeeping What’s All the Buzz About?

If you’re interested in raising honeybees but aren’t sure you can commit, here’s a rundown of the equipment you’ll need to get started and the schedule you can expect to follow.

to Become 28 aHowBeekeeper A certified beekeeper offers a checklist for beginners.

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10 Items to Take to the Bee Yard Honeybees are a fact of life for this experienced Illinois beekeeper.

With a 31 Beekeeping Honeybee Allergy I had never had a problem with honeybees, so I didn’t think too much of being stung three times in short order.

Difference 32 The Between Beehives Beekeeper details the pros and cons of the three top beehive designs: Top-Bar, Warre and Langstroth.

Your Own Beehive 36 Build Create your own bee condo, save money in the process.

to Install a 39 How Package of Bees Your bees have arrived in the mail … now what?

as Honey 42 Wholesome Famous as a sweet treat, this bee staple is packed with good nutrition and health.

in Nature 46 Nectars What’s your favorite type of honey? Learn what factors play into honing the besttasting honey.

a Swarm 52 Harness Honeybees don’t have to come at an expensive price. This spring and summer, consider the free alternative.

to Build a 56 How Honey Extractor You can make an inexpensive honey extractor from simple materials available in your local hardware store.

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84 Extraction 60 Honey and Processing Learn how to extract, process, and store honey with step-by-step instructions.

Honey of a Meal 62 AHoney adds something

natural, healthy and sweet to each course of any great meal: appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, desserts and soups.

68 Put down the sugar bowl and Beehive Baking

switch to honey with these wholesome recipes.

to Buzz About 74 ATheBounty art of attracting nature’s pollinators to your garden.

Native 80 Go With Wild Bees

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The humble little orchard mason bee is the best-kept (pollinator) secret.

84 Neighborly Beekeeping

One beekeeping homesteader’s advice for keeping bees – and keeping good relations with the neighbors – when other folks are in close proximity.

Studies on 86 Recent Honeybee Deaths

Parasites, disease and pesticides linked to massive bee colony losses.

the Honeybee 89 Saving Businesses educate future beekeepers.

Bee Behavior 92 Solving Problems

Understanding normal bee behaviors is essential to identifying unusual behavior and correcting any problems.

95 Resources Check out the websites

for various companies for everything you need to become the best beekeeper.

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How to

Bees Attract

and Other

Pollinators

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fields in the Delaware Valley of New Jersey and Pennsylvania found some surprising results. Of the 23 farms studied, native solitary bees visited enough melon flowers to completely pollinate 21 of the 23 fields. Thousands of solitary bees were observed, representing 46 different species, in a superb backup plan for the overstressed honeybee.

The bad news is … honeybees aren’t alone. Many of the same problems that the bees face are affecting other pollinators as well. Who can forget the news in 2014? In an ironic twist, National Pollinator Week kicked off with reports

TOP TO BOTTOM: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/NATUREUNLEASHEDNET;

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hat do juicy peaches, ripe watermelons, plump tomatoes, fiery hot peppers, and crisp apples have in common? They all depend on a host of pollinators like bees, beetles, flies, butterflies, birds and bats to help them fruit. In fact, you would not be stretching the point to say that almost every food except for meat and grain relies directly on pollinators. That means pollinators are a big deal, three times a day, every day!

Our honeybees are in trouble, though.

Since 2006, they’ve been in decline for a multitude of complex reasons. While no one understands exactly what’s wrong with them, researchers do know that the disorder turns apparently healthy beehives into a bizarre honeybee version of roach motels: Bees check out, but they don’t check back in.

The good news is that honeybees aren’t the only pollinators. Butterflies, moths, solitary bees, native bees, flies, beetles, even hummingbirds and bats are ready to take up at least a portion of the slack. A recent study of watermelon

ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/TOLTEK

By ANDREW WEIDMAN

ANDREW WEIDMAN; ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/YINYANG

The art of attracting pollinators boosts harvests and helps our food systems.

of a massive bumblebee die-off on an Oregon parking lot, thanks to the careless use of Safari, a potent neonicotinoid insecticide, on linden trees in bloom.

Tens of thousands of wild bees dropped from the sky. They made national news, but most pollinators don’t. Sadly, many more die quietly every day, falling victim to habitat loss and excessive use of harmful chemical agents.

That’s not all that’s happening.

Suburban lawns, with their carefully manicured and clipped turf, appeal to beneficial insects about as much as an interior stretch of the Sahara Desert.

Our national landscape is losing meadows, hedgerows and woodlot edges at an alarming rate. Farmland is being developed into suburban communities or consolidated into massive single-crop operations, leaving fewer nectar- and pollen-bearing flowers and host plants to support pollinators through most of their active season. What remains – in flowerbeds, gardens and croplands – is unfortunately often laced with multiple harmful pesticides.

Our pollinators desperately need our help, but what can we do to help? As gardeners, we need to provide the resources they need to survive.

The simple requirements are water, food, shelter and security.

Water can be provided in several different ways. If you have a leaky water faucet outside, let it drip slowly, forming mud puddles. Birdbath basins can double as “bug baths,” outfitted with an island of gravel, or floating wood or bark rafts for safe landing strips. Water features and ponds can be modified to include a pebble beach where insects can safely drink, protected from hungry fish.

Even lawn sprinklers and mist emitters are effective choices – some insects prefer to get their water “on the wing” by flying through the mist.

Food sources can be a bit more involved, but not necessarily more difficult to provide. “Plants That Attract Pollinators,” on Page 13, will give you some suggestions for preferred plants.

You want species that offer a steady supply of pollen and nectar, and host plants for butterflies and moth caterpillars.

Often gardeners look only to the honeybee for pollination, a stance that ignores a multitude of our native pollinators and beneficial insects, including butterflies, caterpillars, beetles, flies, birds and even bats.

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HONEYBEE ANATOMY As an up-and-coming beekeeper, it might do you good to take a closer look at the anatomy of our buzzing buddies. Honeybees are insects, of course, and like all insects, they have bodies that can be classified into three broad regions: 1. The head, which contains the bee’s mouth, eyes, brain and antennae.

2. The thorax, a middle section with three pairs of legs.

3. The abdomen, which contains some of the bee’s internal organs and the stinger if the bee is a female.

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Pupae

Now is when the action really gets interesting. You won’t be able to actu-

ally witness this part, but underneath the cap of the larva’s cell, the oncelarva has now become a pupa.

Over the next two weeks or so, the pupa undergoes a fabulous transformation, known as metamorphosis.

The pupa grows legs, sprouts wings, and develops eyes, antennae, and the stripes that are characteristic of a fullgrown honeybee.

After about 12 days since being capped (for workers) or 14 days (for drones), a fully developed honeybee chews its way through the cap and is free to roam the hive. (A queen bee, however, develops rapidly and only stays in the pupa stage for about seven days. During this time, the growing queen bee is exclusively fed royal jelly.

If it weren’t for this, she would simply develop into another worker bee.)

Adults

After a pupa becomes an adult worker bee, she performs many jobs. Young adult workers clean the hive, tend to larvae and take care of the queen.

Slightly older workers also begin to produce wax from the wax glands on

CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT:

The Langstroth hive design revolutionized beekeeping and is still the most popular hive design among beekeepers. The top-bar hive is gaining in popularity.

larvae are white and chubby and don’t really look at all like insects. They can’t feed themselves, so they are fed instead by the workers.

Worker bees produce royal jelly out of glands in their heads. The royal jelly is a rich substance, full of vitamins, and the workers feed this to the larvae for three days. After that, the growing larvae are switched to a diet of honey and pollen. (If, however, the hive is replacing a queen, they will continue to feed a handful of larvae straight royal jelly, which will spark the development of a new queen.) The larvae are fed more than 1,000 times a day!

After about six days (it can be slightly shorter or longer depending on if the individual larva is to become a drone, worker or queen), the larva has eaten its fill and has grown quite large.

It is at this time that worker bees seal the larva’s cell over with a cap made of wax and perhaps a bit of propolis (a sticky substance collected by the bees).

SAMANTHA JOHNSON AND DANIEL JOHNSON/COURTESY VOYAGEUR PRESS; FOTOLIA/PHOTOCREO; ISTOCKPHOTO.COM (2)/MINDSTORMINC., PICTURETHATPHOTO

Gathering pollen can take honeybees miles away from their home hives. During one collection trip, a honeybee will stop at 50 to 100 flowers. Even so, the average honeybee during its lifetime makes only about a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.

their abdomens, which they use to build comb. Older workers also act as hive guards. It is only after about three weeks of adult life that they begin to fly outside the hive, visiting flowers and collecting nectar and pollen.

HOW BEES WORK

So just what is it that your bees do all day long? Everyone knows they fly around and visit flowers – and they somehow make honey in the process – but what really goes on in their lives?

We’ve touched on a few things already, but we’ll try to run through a more thorough description of honeybee life.

Worker bees outside

Outside the hive, foraging workers visit flowers to collect nectar, which they store in their special “honeystomachs.” While on the flowers, the bees also collect pollen on their bodies and on the fuzzy hairs on their legs (there is a special cavity on the hind legs of worker bees called a pollen basket where a large amount of pollen is collected), and then they haul the pollen back to the hive along with the

The queen of this hive stands out; her larger and longer shape is easily spotted as she is surrounded by her busy drones.

nectar. In the process, they inadvertently pollinate flowers.

One other item that bees collect outdoors is a resin-substance known as propolis, which they retrieve from tree buds and sap. Propolis is quite sticky.

Worker bees inside

Inside the hive, the worker bees build hexagonal cells made of wax.

These are for storage and for rais-

ing brood. The propolis is used as a sealant for cracks in the hive and also as a building material. Bees are very particular about the spacing of areas inside their home. This is known as “bee space” and is about 3⁄8-inch wide.

If a particular area is deemed a bit too narrow for them (for instance, the area between frames inside the hive), they will not hesitate to use propolis to fill in the cracks. Likewise, if the WWW.GRIT.COM

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Beekeeper How to Become a

Busy worker bees take a moment just outside the hive before they take off or go inside to deposit pollen; a beekeeper scrapes off the wax covering on the honeycomb cells before harvesting honey.

Opposite: This flower’s color attracts one of the far-ranging honeybees.

A certified beekeeper offers a checklist for beginners.

caught up at this point, though, so here’s my recommended to-do list:

packages or nucs and sell them for what may seem like a good price.

Believe me, you get what you pay for with bees and equipment.

1

Read! There is so much wonderful information out there about all things beekeeping. Read about hive design. Check out books from your library, and read what beekeepers are posting about on beekeeping forums.

Also, many local beekeeping associations have a library that you can borrow from.

5

Consider asking a beekeeper you know if she would be willing to mentor you during your first season.

No matter how many YouTube videos you watch showing you how to install a package or nuc, it is really valuable to have someone with a good bit of experience alongside you.

2

Get in touch with your local beekeeping association. Start attending regular meetings. It’s a wonderful source for local connections and you will certainly meet some beekeeping veterans who are generous with their time and knowledge. I don’t think my bees would’ve made it through my first season had it not been for the kindness and experience of a local beekeeper I met through the association.

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To-do list (to prepare for spring)

The truth is that if you’re hoping to have some hives this spring, then you’re already behind. It’s not impossible to get

If you decide you’re going to take the plunge, it’s time to order bees!

Many, if not most places are sold out of nucs and packages by the time February rolls around. You can still find them but you definitely want packages no later than halfway through April and nucs no later than the beginning of May.

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When shopping around for bees, ask the supplier where their bees come from, if they’ve successfully overwintered and, most importantly, if they’re coming off of pollination.

Sometimes, large apiaries will take bees that are weak and unhealthy, coming off of pollination and combine them into

(3)/CBCKCHRISTINE, PHOTOGRAFIERO, FREEPEOPLEA

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he weather recently was unseasonably warm and it made my spirits soar to see how busy my bees were. I also saw a lot of pollen being brought into the hive, which is another sign that things are on track for the busy season.

Beekeeping is such wonderful hobby and rewarding in more ways than one. I almost didn’t take the leap into it and I certainly wouldn’t have if I had weighed the pros and cons in my honeybee-ignorant mind. The reason I’m telling you

this is because I’m speaking to all of you who think beekeeping sounds like an interesting or worthwhile hobby. I’m not saying to jump right in without doing your research and (more importantly) connecting with some experienced beekeepers, but I am encouraging you to get busy checking off your beginner beekeeper to-do list.

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: FOTOLIA

By LINDSAY WILLIAMSON

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Keep records! It’s important to always check for certain things during hive inspections and make sure that you write them down. Do you see eggs, larvae, and capped brood? If so, how is the laying pattern? Did you spot the queen? Did you see any bees or brood that look sickly?

Were there any weird or bad smells?

How are their food stores? I’m not a fan of feeding bees sugar syrup, and for that reason, I always leave them with more than enough honey, but sometimes there is just no avoiding it.

After installing most nucs and definitely with packages, you will need to provide some sugar syrup for your bees.

Too much sugar syrup can be hard on their systems and cause nosema.

When to expect your first harvest

The very last thing I want to tell you is don’t expect to harvest any honey your first season. It’s not unheard of to have a beginner start out with a crazy successful colony that produces more

than they need to overwinter, but it’s definitely not the norm. At the very least, even if you feel they have produced plenty, wait until close to fall to decide, because in most areas, your bees will go through a significant amount of the stores just making it through the late part of summer when there is not

as much nectar available but still a ton of mouths to feed.

Enjoy your hives. Bees are such noble and amazing creatures. Naturally, I expected to learn some things when I started keeping bees but they have taught me so much more than I could have anticipated.

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Nectars in Nature What’s your favorite type of honey?

Learn what all plays into honing the best-tasting honey.

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food (or “food”) in white containers labeled with only the name of the food. These days, consumers are more aware of where their food comes from, how it is processed, and the varieties available.

Recently I learned that there is a wide variety of honeys out there, and each may be processed in different ways. To understand why different varieties of honey have different characteristics, and how processing affects these traits, it’s best to start with how bees make honey.

Winter in the hive

Honeybees are eusocial insects, meaning they have a queen that lays eggs while all the other females in the hive are nonreproductive worker bees. All the worker bees are sisters. During winter, honeybees mostly remain in their hive.

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The numerous worker bees huddle around the queen, forming a winter cluster. The heat of their metabolic activity, which can be increased by shivering or beating their wings, keeps the queen and other members of the cluster warm – quite warm, in fact. The queen is kept at 81 degrees Fahrenheit during the coldest days of winter. The fuel for all this heat is the honey produced earlier in the year.

Spring and beyond

Once the first spring flowers emerge, worker bees collect nectar and pollen.

LEFT TO RIGHT: FOTOLIA

The 1970s and ’80s saw a spike in generic food. Many supermarkets sold

(2)/GERTRUDDA, NKAROL; INSETS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: FOTOLIA (4)/AFRICA STUDIO, TEPTONG, ADRIAN_AM13, SASHAGRUNGE

By CHRIS COLBY Nectar is a liquid solution, produced by the plant, containing more than 50 percent water.

The main solid dissolved in nectar is sucrose, followed by lesser amounts of fructose, glucose, maltose and other sugars. Whatever floral compounds responsible for the flower’s scent are also present in the nectar. A worker bee collects 50 to 60 milligrams of nectar – about 90 percent of her body weight – before returning to the hive.

Much of this nectar is stored in the bee’s honey sac (or honey stomach), an outcropping of the digestive system.

Pollen is “plant sperm,” and worker bees collect this, too. Worker bees get pollen grains stuck on their “hair” when they visit flowers.

They then groom themselves to roll the pollen into balls and move the balls to their pollen basket, a structure on their hind legs. They bring this pollen back to the hive. Of course, some pollen rubs off the bee whenever she visits a flower, potentially pollinating it, and that is why flowers maintain features to attract bees.

Worker bees use some of the nectar and pollen for their own nutrition. They will also regurgitate it to feed their sisters.

The remaining nectar and pollen, if any, goes toward honey production. In early spring, most of the nectar and pollen is immediately consumed by the workers to restore the health of the hive, fuel hive maintenance activities, and produce new bees. Typically, honey production lags behind the first appearance of flowers by several weeks.

From nectar to honey

Honey production actually starts inside individual worker bees. The honey sac secretes enzymes into the nectar to begin modifying it.

One of these enzymes is invertase, which splits a sucrose molecule into its two component sugars – fructose and glucose. Another enzyme is glucose oxidase, which begins converting glucose into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide acts as an anti-

Hives stand at the ready for their winged residents. INSETS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: Lavender honey goes with everything; a colony of bees swarms before finding a new home; a honeybee laden with pollen returns to the hive; and a beekeeper inspects a frame covered with bees and wax from a Langstroth-style beehive.

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Beehive

Baking

Put down the sugar bowl and switch to honey with these wholesome recipes.

Article and photographs

by KAREN K. WILL

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or some folks, giving up sugar is like giving up breathing – it’s just not possible. As Americans, we begin developing our sweet tooth practically from infancy, from sweetened fruit juices to store-bought cookies. But of all the industrial foods out there – modern oils, white flour, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, etc. – sugar may be the most deleterious to our health.

Refined sugar depletes our bodies’ B vitamins, which cannot be stored, so we depend totally on our daily diet to supply them. B vitamins are crucial to neurologic and metabolic function, and they are important for treating depression and protecting the body from cardiovascular diseases.

A diet high in refined sugars promotes bone loss and tooth decay – from the inside out – because it upsets the balance of calcium and phosphorus.

Knowing all of that, sugar still isn’t so easy to banish from our diets. Similar to other addictive substances, it’s easier to wean ourselves gradually (start by cutting half the sugar in all recipes) rather than quitting cold turkey. Also, for bakers, sugar is second nature. What about when you want to whip up a batch of cupcakes, cookies or a birthday cake?

This is where honey comes into play.

Honey is not only more healthful (see “Wholesome as Honey” on Page 42), it imparts a unique, earthy flavor to baked goods that can be altered based on the variety of honey you choose. It can replace sugar in almost any recipe if you follow a few rules: Always reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees; for every cup of honey used, reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by 1⁄4 cup; and when modifying or creating your own recipes, remem-

ber to add a pinch (up to 1⁄2 teaspoon) of baking soda to neutralize the acidity of honey (unless the recipe calls for sour cream or sour milk). On average, honey is 1 to 11⁄2 times sweeter (on a dry-weight basis) than sugar.

Since honey varies greatly in flavor and composition, you will experience differences in consistency, flavor, cooking time, and the amounts of other ingredients needed. When substituting all or most of the sugar in a recipe, use a mildflavored honey (like clover) so it will not overpower other ingredients (unless of course, that’s what you’re going for).

When switching to honey in baked goods, you’ll notice many differences throughout the process: The batter will be thinner; your baked goods will brown more quickly in the oven (this is normal – just watch carefully and make sure they don’t reach the point of no return); and the finished products will be springy and retain freshness for a longer period of time.

Have fun experimenting. And be sure to send us your experiences in written or photographic form to G, c/o Caleb Regan, 1503 S.W. 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609, or email us at editor@grit.com.

Light Wheat Sandwich Bread Yields 1 loaf.

1 cup warm water (about 110 F) 21⁄4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 ⁄4 cup honey 1 ⁄2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1 egg 21⁄2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup whole-wheat flour 1 In large mixing bowl, combine warm water and yeast. Stir and let stand for about 5 minutes, or until frothy. Add honey, salt, butter and egg, and stir well.

2 In separate bowl, whisk together flours. Add most of flour mixture to yeast mixture; stir until ball forms.

3 Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, gradually adding remaining flour until it’s all incorporated.

Place dough in oiled bowl (I use walnut oil), turning over once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 2 hours.

4 Turn out dough on floured surface and knead for several minutes. Shape into log and place in greased (or nonstick) 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Press dough evenly into pan, making sure it touches all sides.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise again at room temperature for 1 hour.

5 Preheat oven to 400 F. 6 Once dough has risen and peaks above the pan, bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and bake for another 17 to 20 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 195 F. Turn out onto wire rack to cool (at least 1 hour) before slicing. Store in plastic bag.

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