Welcome to Beekeeping
Always start your day with your favorite caffeinated drink!
A look into the art and science of keeping honey bees!
Presented today by: Bob Borkowski
• Beekeeper since 1998, started as a 4-H project with my son.
• Student at the Institute of Applied Agriculture, Sustainable Agricultural Business Management major
• Veteran owner of B & B Apiaries, where our hobby is turning into a retirement business.
Why keep honey bees?
One honey bee makes 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime
Ancient cave paintings depict humans “robbing bee trees” for honey.
Ancient Egyptians traded honey in commerce.
Honey is mentioned five times in the Bible.
John the Baptist survived in the wilderness on wild honey and locust!
And who could forget this famous honey robber of all time !
According to the National Honey Board beekeepers fall into three categories.
• Commercial beekeeping operations: these are your migratory beekeepers who provide most of the national pollinations services. They run 300 + colonies in their operations.
• Sideline beekeepers: local beekeeping operations running between 25 and 300colonies for local pollination and honey production.
• Hobby beekeepers make up 95 % of beekeepers managing up to 25colonies at a time, usually in their backyards or other small locations.
Honey Production
Beekeeping in the Mid-Atlantic States
Honey production in the Mid-Atlantic States is mostly in flowering trees:
Black Locust Trees (Amber honey)
Tulip Poplar Trees (Dark Amber)
American Holly Trees (Water white honey)
Basswoods (an early blooming tree)
Sourwood (typically in the Appalachian areas)
Black Locust, Robinia pseudoacia Tulip Poplar, Liridendron tulipifera American Holly, Ilex opaca
Flowering trees for honey production in Maryland
Pollination of Crops
Honey bees facilitate cross pollination
Colony Collapse Disorder
• Phenomenon first discovered in 2006
• Lots of research was initiated to discover a cause
• No real hard facts as to why this occurs, a host of possibilities exist
• Top of the list is Nutrition, Parasites, and Pesticides
• Visit PlosOne.org to see some of the latest honey bee research
There are three species of honey bees used in Maryland
Italian Hybrid: Carniolan Italian Bee Russian
These species have favorable traits, mostly they are gentle to work with and overwinter well.
You’ll need some equipment to get you started!
Outer CoverInner Cover
Section (comb) Honey Super
Shallow honey super(liquid honey
Queen Excluder (optional)
Brood or Deep Super ( Queen egglaying and raising young bees andreplacements
Bottom Board (solid or screened)
Hive Stand (optional)
Let’s Order Some Honey Bees
Three ways to obtain honey bees:
• Three Pound Packages
• Nucleus Colony
• Whole Colony
Swarms are also good way to obtain bees but a bit riskier
Catching Honey Bee Swarms
Not for the faint of heart!
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATIONYou’ve ordered your equipment and your honey bees now, you need a place to put your new colonies
You first need to orient your hive entrances towards the South, Southeast
Away from areas of high winds (hill tops) and cold stagnate air (near gullies)
There are three caste of honey bees in each colony:
• An average colony contains 60,000 honey bees
• They are the workers, infertile females 60,000, the queen, the only fertile female, and the drones, haploid males 300-1,000
300-1,000 up to 60,000 1
Brood area of a frame of honey bees
Starter Queen Cells, made by the bees
Artificial Queen Cells
An Italian Queen
A Carniolan Queen
A Russian Queen
Harvesting Honey
The beginning of the harvest, or extracting process
Cutting away the wax capping
Bottling Honey
Products of the Hive
Butterfly gardens will attract honey bees and other pollinators
Let’s not forget Bumble Bees
Need we say more !
Beekeeping Clubs in Maryland
There are local, county-oriented beekeeping clubs across Maryland. This is your chance to meet beekeepers, understand beekeeping in your local area, and perhaps get some experience at working with bees while getting early access to Spring beekeeping instruction.
ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, President: President: Walter Shreeve, [email protected] ARUNDEL BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, Lindsay Barranco, [email protected],APPALACHIAN BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, Acting President: Hop Cassidy, [email protected] OF SOUTHERN MARYLAND BEEKEEPERS, President: Chip Whipkey (240) 925-2196, [email protected] BACKYARD BEEKEEPERS NETWORK, President: Beth Sherring, [email protected]: BOWIE UPPER MARLBORO BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, President: Robert Greenwell, (410) 279-308, [email protected] COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, President: Fred Sypher, [email protected] MARYLAND BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, President: Roger Williams, [email protected] BEEKEEPERS ALLIANCE, Toni Burnham, [email protected], (202) 255-4318FREDERICK COUNTY BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION, President: Rose Aurigemma, [email protected] COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, Jason Ellis, [email protected] VALLEY APIAN SOCIETY, President: Mark & Sara Gibson (301) 371-0811, [email protected] EASTERN SHORE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, www.lowershorebeekeepers.orgMONTGOMERY COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, President:Tim McMahon, [email protected] BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION. President: Harry Dutcher, [email protected] ASSOCIATION OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, www.beekeepersnovaWYE RIVER BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, Contact: [email protected] "Short Courses" in Maryland (next sessions in 2015)
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