Beekeeping (apiculture) is the practice of managing honeybee colonies to attain desired objectives. The most common primary objectives for managing colonies are to:

1.Ensure large, healthy adult honeybee populations to coincide with major nectar flows;

2.To use these strong honeybee colonies to best execute the beekeeping management plan to:

Maximize the collection of nectar (ie. to maximize honey production); and/or
Provide pollination services for local food crops.

Some beekeepers have other objectives for their honeybee colonies such as:
Raising honeybee livestock for sale to other beekeepers;
Producing other honeybee substances, including bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly.

PLANNING IS KEY

In order to attain the desired results, be it honey production, pollination services, or other goals, the beekeeper needs a plan. The fundamental elements that drive the plan are:

Knowledge of local nectar flows. This knowledge is critical in that it tells the beekeeper which crops provide nectar and pollen for the honeybees, when the nectar flows occur, where the crops are located, and how prolific they are. This also provides timing for moving honeybee colonies into and out of fields for pollinating various food crops for growers. This knowledge not only gives the timing for maximizing the strength of colonies to take advantage of nectar flows, but also identifies times when there will be a shortage of food for the bees.

Knowledge of honeybee biology. The beekeeper must understand the natural instincts of the honeybee in order to facilitate an environment to enhance the productivity of the colony. Honeybees are social insects and thus the beekeeper must manage honeybee colonies as opposed to managing at the individual bee level. To do this, the beekeeper must have a good knowledge of the honeybee life cycle, seasonal cycles of the honeybee colony, the roles of of the different types of bees, and honeybee diseases. Since most of the beekeeper's objectives revolve around honeybees collecting nectar, knowledge of the food requirements of the colony, and how the bees collect and process food, is critical.

Beekeeping techniques to manipulate the colony. There are a number of basic beekeeping techniques that are used to ensure good colony health, and to maximize colony strength at the desired times. Management techniques do vary somewhat, and are fined tuned to the conditions in particular regions.

Deciding on the goals and how to best use the colonies. Given the local nectar flows, pollination opportunities, and the price of honey, the beekeeper must make a plan as to how to best manage the colonies to achieve the desired objectives.

BEEKEEPING TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Basic Hive Equipment

Modern honeybee colonies are designed to mimic the dimensions and environment of a bees nest built naturally by wild (feral) honeybees, with the added ability to remove individual frames of honeycomb for inspection and manipulation. The dimensions of the removable frames are similar in dimension to honeycomb built in the wild. One notable feature is that the space between each frame, known as the "bee space", is approx 8 mm. This space is sufficient for the bees to move around but not big enough so that the bees will build additional honeycomb in the space, thus facilitating easy removal of the frames.

A standard bee hive consists of:

One bottom board
One or two brood chambers (each containing 9 or 10 removable frames)
One queen excluder (to prevent the queen from moving from the brood chamber to the honey supers)
One or more honey supers (boxes each containing 9 or 10 removable frames)
One inner cover
One telescoping hive cover

BEEKEEPER'S TOOLS

The essential tools required by a beekeeper to manipulate honeybee colonies are:

Smoker
Hive tool
Bee veil
Some beekeepers additionally may use a full bee suit with gloves, and a bee brush.

BASIC COLONY EXAMINATION

Beekeepers check their colonies approximately once every 10 days from spring until fall to ensure the colonies have good nutrition, strong health, and enough space. The best time to check the hive is on a warm sunny day with little wind to prevent chilling the brood and to take advantage of having most of the field bees away from the hive. The primary things that a beekeeper is looking for when doing a hive inspection are:

Are there fresh eggs present? This signifies that a queen is present, even if she is not seen during the inspection.

Is the brood pattern good? A spotty appearance to the brood pattern may indicate a poorly performing queen or disease issues.

Does the colony have enough honey and pollen? If there is not enough food stores, and there is little external food present, the colony may need supplemental feeding.

Are there any signs of disease? If so, appropriate disease treatment protocols may need to be initiated.

Is there enough space? If the colony is strong and there is an abundant food source, a lack of space will cause the colony to swarm.

THE BEEKEEPER'S CALENDAR

In February and March beekeepers are checking to ensure that the bees have enough food and are strong and healthy. If a colony becomes weak, it is combined with a strong one. If a colony becomes too strong, it may be divided in half by the beekeeper, thus creating two colonies. Poor queen bees may be replaced with new ones, and beekeeping equipment is removed from colonies that did not survive the winter. In the world today, this unfortunately occurs 35% of the time.

During April and May, beekeepers are checking to ensure that the bees have enough room to expand the colony. If the bees outgrow their physical space, they will swarm. During swarming, a little over half of the population of bees leaves the hive to start another colony. If this happens, the beekeeper will lose the year's honey crop from the colony that swarms.

In June and July, the majority of honey and pollen for the year is gathered. During this critical time, the beekeeper might need to visit the hives every day. Full boxes of honey are removed for extracting, and empty boxes returned to the hives for refilling. Pollen traps are emptied into freezers for storage, and no one gets a day off.

By August and September, the last of the honey crop is gathered and the bees are prepped for winter. Beekeepers ensure that brood is redistributed to make all colonies of equal strength. Colonies are fed if needed, and weak colonies are combined to make strong ones. In colder climates, all of the colonies are wrapped in an insulated blanket by October.

TO BECOME A BEEKEEPER

There is a vast knowledge base on beekeeping, including many excellent books and periodicals. Although the basic biology of the honeybee is constant, there are many variables such as weather, genetics, disease profiles, local crops and climate that combine to make beekeeping a complex problem. There are a number of different methods or variants to managing honeybee colonies. Beekeepers also tend to be a independent lot and experiment with their own methods.

It is very simple and enthusiastic, so one who has patience as well as observance can make it easy. If you are desired to be in bee cultivation it is not a necessity of own land. These honey bees will bring honey from nearby 500 meters with brisk. In between gathering nectar and pollen to fulfill their hunger and trust, they will pollinate the whole trees and plants. The honeybees we know and love here at Honeybee Centre forage for nectar and pollen from flowering plants. They use the nectar collected to create our favourite sweet treat - honey!

When carrying the nectar back to the hive, their bodies break down the complex sucrose of the nectar into two simple sugars, fructose and glucose. Tucking it neatly into a honeycomb cell, the bees will then beat their wings furiously over top of this syrupy sweet liquid to fan out the moisture and thicken the substance. When it is complete, the bees will cap that cell with beeswax, sealing the perfected honey for consumption later on.

BEE SEASON

Bee season depends largely on temperature and the seasonal patterns of flowers. After hibernating over the winter, bees awaken in time to collect pollen and nectar from their preferred plants; flowering plants also bloom in correspondence with the arrival of their most effective pollinators. Certain bee species are active pollinators during certain seasons, as native flowering plants and bees have established a relationship throughout their lengthy evolution. Some bees have no seasonal preferences and feed off a variety of flowering plants.

Three of the most commonly encountered bees by homeowners are honey bees, carpenter bees and bumble bees. These bees usually become active in the spring with the warm weather and flowering of plants. They remain active throughout the summer and into the fall. Cooling temperatures in the fall prompt them to prepare to overwinter. During the winter months their activity decreases to the point where they are not seen unless on a warm winter day.

Understanding bee seasons and the flower preferences of certain bee species could facilitate pollination and assist in both commercial and personal gardening.