The whys and wherefores of bee keeping as a hobby. This presentation covers the basics of cost, timing, benefits and whether you have what it takes to love insects.

1. So You Think
You MIGHT Want to
be a Beekeeper?
Investment vs. Benefits
2010

2. Agenda
• Falling in love with a bug
• Starting the adventure
• Beekeeping calendar
• Sweet rewards
• 2010 Philadelphia Honey Festival
• Resources; next steps

3. • Western Honey Bee (Apis
mellifera), an insect
• Superorganism: one
individual bee cannot
survive by itself
– Labor is divided within
the superorganism
– Multiple generations
live together
– Young are cared for
cooperatively
Falling in Love with a Bug?
Resistance is Futile!

4. The Amazing Language of Bees
• Pheromones – “glue” that holds it together
– Queen Substance
– Workers’ pheromones
– Brood pheromones
• Dance Language
– Waggle Dance – distant location & type of food
– Round Dance – near location & type of food
• Piping

5. Starting the Adventure
• Determine your potential
– Fear, allergy, location, laws,
money, time
– Basic protective equipment
& tools (approx. $100)
– Basic hive “woodenware”
(approx. $170/hive)
– Package of bees
(approx. $85)
– Total startup cost ~ $355

6. Woodenware from the Bottom Up
• Cinder block
• Bottom board & entrance reducer
• Brood chambers with frames of foundation
• Queen excluder
• “Supers” (boxes above the queen excluder)
• Inner cover
• Outer cover
• Rock

7. Demonstration of Parts
City hive on front lawn, Philadelphia
Country hives on Saul High School
farm, Philadelphia

8. Thanks to the Good Rev. LLL
• The moveable frame hive allows for
manipulation of individual frames of bees
• Intense observation & experimentation
opportunities
• Ability to monitor the health of the hive
throughout the beekeeping year
• Flexibility in managing the colony & apiary
• Sustainable economic industry: apiculture

9. Which is more complex?
Which takes more time?

10. Beekeeping Calendar
• Jan, Feb – buy equipment & reserve bees
• Mar – assemble & paint your hives
• April – package bees arrive/ install & feed
• May – swarm watch & management
• June – add chambers, excluder, super
• July – harvest honey
• Aug, Sep – feed as needed; make candles
• Oct, Nov – make mead, prep hive for winter
• Dec – relax, read back issues of bee mags

11. City hive on front lawn, Philadelphia
Country hives on Saul High School
farm, Philadelphia

12. Sweet Rewards
• Honey Harvest
• Wax, Pollen, Propolis
• Stress Relief
• Bees as Pollinators
• Being part of the big picture: Save the
Bees
• Getting an education & passing it on
• Meeting some interesting people
• Philadelphia Honey Festival

13. Resources
• PhillyBeekeepers.org
• Montcobeekeepers.org
• Chescobees.org
• Beekeeping equipment suppliers
– Dadant
– Brushy Mountain Bee Farm
• Bee-related courses, lectures and events
– Check the county-specific websites

14. BACK UP SLIDES

15. 2010 Philadelphia Honey Fest
• Celebrating Langstroth’s 200th
Birthday
• Sept. 10-12 and year-around
• Volunteers needed

16. 2010 Philadelphia Honey Fest
• Arts/Culture: Hive art, “The Bee Man”,
candle-making, bee-bearding(!)
• Food/Beverage: Honey tasting, mead &
honey brews, cooking with honey contest
• Hive and the Bee: Extracting honey,
colony collapse disorder, alt. hive types
• Science/History: Langstroth’s hive, the
importance of pollinators to our survival

17. How & Why Bees Make Honey
• The colony requires about 80# of stored
honey going into the winter
• Honey is the fuel used by the bees to
maintain a temperature of 57ºF inside hive
• Temperature increased to 95ºF mid-Feb
as brood rearing begins
• Shivering action of wing muscles, without
beating the wings, converts the food into
heat

18. Nectar ÷ Enzymes - Water = Honey
• Nectar collected from blossoms by the field
bees is transported in the honey stomach
• House bees accept the nectar from the
field bees (mouth to mouth transfer)
• Sucrose is broken down to glucose &
fructose
• “Fanning bees” evaporate the moisture
• “Builder bees” cap the cured honey with
wax when moisture is down to 20%