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Beekeeping Guide - The Essentials For The Beginner!
The equipment needed varies with the size of your operation, number of colonies, and the type of honey you plan to produce. The basic equipment you need are the components of the hive, protective gear, smoker and hive tool, and the equipment you need for handling the honey crop, a beekeeping guide can help you understand how all these components all come together smoothly. Honey bees normally only sting to defend themselves or their colony; when colonies are handled properly and precautions are taken, stinging is not a major problem. Most beekeepers develop a tolerance for bee venom over time and have reduced sensitivity to pain and swelling. However, the few people who react strongly to bee stings and pollen or who are unable to get over fears of stings should avoid contact with bees. Honey bees are social insects, which means that they live together in large, well-organized family groups. Social insects are highly evolved insects that engage in a variety of complex tasks not practiced by the multitude of solitary insects. A decent beekeeping guide will be able to explain these complex interactions. A honey bee colony typically consists of three kinds of adult bees: workers, drones, and a queen. Several thousand worker bees cooperate in nest building, food collection, and brood rearing. Each worker has a definite task to perform, depending on its age. But surviving and reproducing take the combined efforts of the entire colony. Individual bees (workers, drones, and queens) cannot survive without the support of the colony. In addition to thousands of worker adults, a colony normally has a single queen and several hundred drones during late spring and summer. The social structure of the colony is maintained by the presence of the queen and workers and depends on an effective system of communication. The distribution of chemical pheromones among members and communicative “dances” are responsible for controlling the activities necessary for colony survival. Labor activities among worker bees depend primarily on the age of the bee but vary with the needs of the colony. Reproduction and colony strength depend on the queen, the quantity of food stores, and the size of the worker force. As the size of the colony increases up to a maximum of about 60,000 workers, so does the efficiency of the colony. As you can see or “read”, beekeeping isn’t rocket science but you would be well advised to seek out some help on this subject and a beekeeping guide is something that you can refer to time after time. One thing not mentioned yet are the common pests and diseases of the honey bee. Honeybees are affected by a number of pests and diseases that may be subdivided into three main categories: (1) pests, (2) diseases and (3) viral infections. Good bee husbandry should include, monitoring colonies for diseases, becoming familiar with the symptoms of the various adult and brood diseases Mice are the most common and troublesome rodent pest of honeybee colonies. They become a problem during autumn and winter when beehives provide them with food (pollen, honey and bees) and protection from the cold. Wasps and bumble bees can invade weak honey bee nests and steal their honey, a phenomenon referred to as “robbing”. There are a number of honey bee viral diseases which include , sacbrood virus, deformed wing virus, kashmir virus, acute bee paralysis virus, black queen cell virus, chronic bee paralysis virus and parasitic mite syndrome. As I’ve mentioned before, beekeeping isn’t complex rocket science, there are so many variables to consider when beekeeping and that is why a beekeeping guide is a very good investment. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Visit my website for more information on how a Great Beekeeping Guide, can help you start out in Beekeeping, or simply Follow other beekeeping enthusiasts, hobbyists and beginner beekeepers to quickstartbeekeeping.com for a FREE 10-Part mini-course. |
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