Using honey in wound care

Over the past several years, wound care has changed a lot, and is constantly evolving. The day of the simple gauze dressing is pretty much over! There are many fantastic new wound treatments out there today that were unheard of just a few years ago.
 
There are several alternative, and quite old-fashioned treatments for wounds that have been slowly gaining in popularity after having fallen into disuse for many years.
 
Wound care continues to be a challenge today, and many standard treatments are just not providing the expected results. Wounds can become infected with bacteria that are resistant to the standard prescribed antibiotics. That continues to be a challenge.
 
One of these old-fashioned treatments that have once again started to become fashionable are apitherapy (honey therapy).
 
Honey has been used in treating wounds as far back as the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Chinese, and probably even further back in time than that.
 
When applied directly to a wound or on a dressing, honey acts as a moisturizing sealant, and helps to keep contamination out.


Its high sugar content plus the vitamins and minerals it contains are thought to provide nutrients that are necessary for wound healing and new tissue growth.

In addition, honey has certain properties that draw fluid from the wound and kill bacteria.
 
There is an enzyme in honey, which when exposed to the oxygen in air, forms its own kind of hydrogen peroxide. It is also anti-bacterial and helps to cleanse the wound.  
Honey can help debride, that is, remove dead or contaminated tissue----from a wound, and help it close.
 
Positive results have been reported at many randomized controlled trials around the world.
 
Honey seems especially promising as a wound dressing for cancer patients who have weakened immune systems and those patients who have chronic, stubborn wounds that refuse to heal.

Honey is used for treating children with burns. It is an ideal, and affordable, first aid dressing, especially in emergency situations, such as earthquakes. It is quite suitable for burn treatment, especially in areas where water used to cool the burn is contaminated.

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three Common Honey Bee Types

Learning about the different types of bees can help in identifying which ones are more suitable for beekeeping than others.

Certain bees don't tolerate a lot of disturbance while others do.

Within this article I hope to give you some indication about three common honey bees' types as well as the two other types as far as behavioral differences are concerned.

Behavioral dimension :

There are effectively two known types of bees if one considers the behavioral dimension. In fact, there are solitary bees and social ones. What are solitary bees and what are social bees?

Solitary bees are bees that do not live in a colony

Social bees do the contrary, meaning that the queen the workers and the drones live all in a colony.

Disturbance Level :

These little creatures also differ in their tolerance of disturbances. In fact, certain colonies may abandon their hives because of disturbances. 

However, the level of disturbances tolerated by bees varies. Some bees can tolerate more disturbances than others.

(1) The Apis Florae :

First of beginning with bees that don't tolerate a lot of disturbance we have the apis florae. As mentioned earlier, if the apis florae feels disturbed it is likely to leave its hive.

This species are characterized by a smaller size when compared to other honeybees, they build single comb hive and are generally found in forest as well as in lush, areas of farming .

(2) the Apis Dorsata (the rock bee) : 

The rock bee or apis dorsata is another type of honeybee. It is characterized by a bigger when compared to the other honeybees

The apis dorsata shares some similarities with the apis florae or dwarf bee. 

Effectively, the rock bee also may abandon its hive because of disturbances. 

Additionally, the apis dorsata, construct single comb hives like the apis florae. Their hive can also be found suspended like those of the dwarf bees.

Having the hive suspended 5 meters above the ground can serve as a protection against honey predators of a larger size .

(3) the Apis Cerana (oriental honey bee)
 

The Apis Cerana differs particularly from the dwarf and rock bees in the fact that the apis cerana can live and be raised in man-made beehives.

The apis cerana build parallel comb hives instead of the single comb hives particular to the two other honey bees types .

The climate seems to have an influence on the size of the bees. Consequently, due to the variety of places with diverse climates where the oriental honey bee can be found, the bees also have different sizes.

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What is Apitherapy and Its Benefits?

There are literally hundreds of alternative therapies that are available for people to try. However one of the least known and probably accepted therapies is apitherapy.

What is Apitherapy?

Apitherapy or bee therapy is the basically the use of bee products to treat different conditions. There are a number of products that can have health benefits and be used in apitherapy and they include pollen, raw honey and royal jelly however the main one used is bee venom.

The use of bee products and in particular bee venom dates back to ancient Greece, Egypt and China.

In fact it is believed that Hippocrates who is considered to be the father of medicine actually used bee stings to treat people for conditions such as arthritis.


In addition in 1888 Philip Terc published a paper on bee venom and rheumatism. 


Today bee stings are used throughout the world as a treatment for a wide variety of different conditions.

Health Benefits of bee products :

1. Bee Venom :

this can be given to people as actual stings or can be given through a needle.
Bee stings have been shown to contain substances such as adolapin and melittin which are anti-inflammatory substances and are thought to be more powerful than commonly prescribed products such as cortisol. 


For this reason bee stings are thought to be very valuable for treating conditions like arthritis, bursitis, rheumatism and tendinitis.

2. Bee Pollen :

This product is high in vitamins and minerals and can be used as a nutritional supplement. 
In addition it can be a valuable treatment for people suffering from seasonal allergies such as hay fever. In additions some claim it can help with anti-aging and athletic performance.

3. Raw Honey :

This is honey that has not been processed in anyway and is thought to be a source of energy. 
In addition it is believed to have antibacterial properties that could make it good for treating things like sore throats.

4. Royal Jelly:

There have been a number of claims about the health benefits of royal jelly and some say it can help with things like fatigue, infertility, asthma, and lack of appetite. 


In addition studies have shown that it could be useful at reducing cholesterol levels. You will also find royal jelly in a number of anti-aging products such as face cream.

Risks of Apitherapy :

There are a number of people who should not undertake apitherapy or should take extra care. For example if you have an allergy to bee stings then you need to take extra care.
 
As many people may not be aware of the allergy it is important to choose a reputable therapist who will be prepared if you have an allergic reaction as they can often be very severe.
 
In addition people who have heart disease, hypertension, tuberculosis, or diabetes should make sure they avoid apitherapy completely. Honey should not be given to children under the age of one due to the possible bacteria in it and people who have a weak immune system should also avoid honey.

Finally the recommended dosage for many of the bee products is not known so care should always be taken to ensure you remain safe.

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How To Choose The Best Beekeeping Books

To start a serious beekeeping business, some great literature on the topic will be one of your priorities.
 
While much of keeping and managing these little flying insects is hands on, the topic requires a small wealth of knowledge for the best success.

When you are first getting started, this can feel like an overwhelming task - even for the hobbyist.
 

Where is the best place to get the most reliable information?

Your local library will likely have a section on the topic, but it may be too much of a trip for you. It can also be annoying when the book you really want to read has already been checked out.

You can research online as well, but this can take a lot of time. There are may facets to beekeeping that will come up in your searches, and much of this information may not be relevant to you.

Probably the easiest way to get your organized information quickly is by ordering an e book. 


What kind of contents should you be on the lookout for? 


For those who are beginners, keep alert for a step by step guide. A proper guide will come with some clear pictures and diagrams, and should be easy to follow. Terms will be well defined and everything uncovered in good detail.
 
Here are the topics you'll want your beekeeping e book to cover:
 
How to start beekeeping ?
 
Where are the right places?
 
When is the best time of year to start and perform specific duties ?
 
What are the tools you will need ?
 
How much equipment is necessary ?
 
What is the best way to control the bees ?
 
What are the techniques to place bees in the hive and remove them when needed ?
 
How to extract honey ?


The kinds of bees available, and enough detail for you to discern the right ones for you to get .
 
Basic beekeeping laws and what you might expect from some local governments.
 
If you have never purchased an e book, they are generally produced in a way that they can be opened on any computer. 


One great advantage is because of it's electronic format you can quickly type in a term and find reference to it quickly within the book. 


E books may also contain some embedded links that can make a trip to a website with more information just a quick click away.

With todays technology, whole libraries of e books can be downloaded onto a Kindle or even an Ipad and this can make for no lack of great reading materials on any trip. 


It is possible to come across e books that are somewhat dated. 


Do look out for the most recent and updated information when it comes to beekeeping as the art is constantly evolving. 


You will want to be up to date on the newest technologies, as well as warned of any new diseases or bee issues.






Article Source:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/pets_and_animals/article_3486.shtml

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Life of a Carniolan Queen Bee

Carniolan Queen Bee is a big lady who dares to kill and spends her entire life to do nothing else than mating and laying eggs while well served and fed by the worker bees.

The metamorphosis of queen bees :

Before a female bee becomes a queen she will go through a metamorphosis from an egg to a stage of a mature queen which will occur in about 23 days. 


The phases include: egg - larva - capping of the queen cell - pupa - emerging pupa, virgin queen bee - nuptial flight - a mature queen bee ready to lay eggs.

In fact, those are the worker bees that make queens. 


After a queen bee has laid eggs in queen cups, the worker bees start to select which among all those larvae should be developed to be queens. 


They will then provide more quality food, which is the royal jelly, to those selected larvae. 


Although all larvae are fed with royal jelly at the beginning for several days, but only queen larvae will be fed continuously and exclusively. 


The rest of the larvae will become worker bees.

Queen bees are raised in very special constructed cells. 


Initially the eggs were placed in queen cups, as the larva emerge the worker bees then build it further to become a queen cell to exclusively feed the larva. 


The worker bees then will cap the queen cell with beeswax. In these cells larvae will develop into pupae. In about 7 - 10 days the pupa becomes a virgin queen bee and tries to emerge from the queen cell.

Upon maturity the virgin queen bee in her peanut-like cell will try to go out by chewing a circular opening on the cap cell made by the worker bees.


After most of the cap has been cut, the cap will eventually swing open resembling a hinged closure. With the presence of the virgin queen, the old mother queen will give way to the young virgin and voluntarily leave the hive with the primary swarm.

A virgin queen is a bit larger than most of the worker bees, but smaller than the mated laying queen.


In fact, a virgin queen is not easily distinguished when put together with the worker bees in a frame. She moves actively and can run across the honeycomb, scrambles over the workers and may even fly if she feels annoyed by the workers. 
You can frequently find a virgin queen hanging on the hive wall or corner.

The deadly queen competition :

As soon as a virgin queen bee emerges from her cell, she will look for other emerging queen bees with only one straight purpose, to kill them! 


As there are many virgin bees in a colony, with all of them having the same purpose, it is most likely that a war of virgin bees is about to happen.
 
Virgin bees do not just killed their direct rival virgin bees, but also the un-emerged virgin bee still occupying its cell.


You can often see an opened side of a queen cell with a dead pupa inside, indicating an assassination by another virgin queen.

When the swarm mode of a colony continues and the primary swarm has left the hive, the worker bees can temporarily hold the virgins fighting each other. Some virgins may leave and follow an after-swarm, while other virgins will stay and look for an opportunity to continue the deadly competition

At the end only one virgin remains who will become the new queen bee. If a primary swarm has both a new young queen and an old queen in the same time, the new queen will let the old queen to live and continue to lie down. 


After a few weeks the old queen will eventually die naturally and time has come for the young virgin to take over.

The nuptial flight :

This is an important phase of the queen bee where she mates with bee males and then land to start the new generation of a colony in a hive. 


The mating is typically carried out during a flight of the queen and male bees, hence called nuptial flight.
 
The mating should happen in a clear weather with the absence of rain which could be a trouble for flying insects. 


The queen starts to release pheromones to attract the males. However, after releasing the pheromone it often happens that the queen tries to escape the males letting only the fastest and fittest male bees to mate her. The mating will occur during the flight.

It is common that a queen will mate with a number of males and stores the sperm in a special organ in her abdomen which can last for her whole life. 


This sperm storage is good for about 20 years which can produce ten of millions fertilized eggs. 

The queen is now ready to lay eggs continuously and she totally becomes an egg laying machine to breed the younger bee generation. 


Oh, what a life of a queen bee. 

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Life Cycle Of Honey Bees .

Three Things Successful Beekeepers Know :

1. The unique life cycle of the honey bee :

The queen bee lays eggs in the octagonal shaped cells and the eggs get attached to the wall of the cell with a strand of mucus.


During spring when the eggs are being laid, the queen bee can lay up to 1900 eggs in a day. 


The egg remains in the cell until it hatches and there emerges a larva.


There are nurse bees that have to care for the larvae and feed the larvae with honey and secretions from the glands which are referred to as bee bread.

There are five stages to the development of a larva, and the larva sheds the outer skin after each of these stages. On the sixth day of this procedure the larva is cocooned by one of the worker bees in its cell where it stays for the next eight to ten days and then emerges as a fully formed bee from its cocoon.

2. The life span of a honey bee :

The life span of the honey bees depends on the purpose that they are in the hive for .


Different jobs have different honeybees doing it and their life spans also differ accordingly. 


The queen bee has a life span of two years but this is only if she has been inseminated with a sufficient amount of sperm while she was on her nuptial flight.

The queen bee if she is in a good condition can lay up to 2000 eggs in a day and is also responsible for killing her mother and sisters too. 


The queen bee has nothing to do as there are enough bees in her entourage to feed her and to clean the waste matter too.
 
An older queen bee will leave the nest while the rest of the bees from the hive are going to swarm. This usually happens during spring time. 


Those who are proficient in bee keeping, think that the queen bee generates some sort of pheromone that avoids the worker bees from the hives in becoming interested in sex.
 
The virgin queen bee is one who has not had her nuptial flight. 


The drone bees are the ones that survive only until they have impregnated the queen bee during her nuptial flight. The drone bee dies after mating with the queen bee.

3. Life of the worker bee :

The worker bee lives for one hundred and forty days only during the winter, and during summer it is only forty days. 


They have a short life span because they literally work themselves to death. 


There are many different duties that the worker bees have to perform.
 
The nurse bees take care of the larvae while others have to go out and collect pollen to make honey. 


Other workers have to be capping the honey combs while some have to attend on the queen bee. 


These worker bees also have to starve the drone bees to death and clean the hives. 


All worker bees are always sterile and in case they lay an egg are drone bees.
 
Each hive has between twenty thousand to two hundred thousand bees in a one hive. 


The bees only survive if their queen life, if anything happens to the queen bee then the whole hive dies.

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How to Buy Honey Bees ?

Package bees :

Package bees are one of the ways to can buy honey bees when you want to start beekeeping and producing honey.  


Beekeeping does include getting the honey bees into your beehive! 


Having decided to start keeping bees, either as a hobby or as a commercial venture, you have bought or made and installed your beehives in an appropriate area.
 
You have all the equipment necessary - and now you must get yourself some honeybees! To move forward, please follow below mentioned guidelines.Buying Established Honeybee Colonies :

For starters, it is simpler for to buy recognized honeybee colonies from a trustworthy local beekeeper. 


It is better to buy two colonies so that in case, one of the two colonies become weaker, you can exchange frames of brood and honey.
 
A colony of bees consists of 20,000 to 60,000 honeybees, one productive queen, 10 to 12 combs, brood and foodstuffs.

You may also buy a 'nucleus' consisting of 5 to 7 frames, a fertile queen, workers, stores, brood, and probably, drones). 


It will be easier to control the smaller quantity of bees in a nucleus or a 'nuc box'. 


This will be a quite appropriate option for first-time beekeepers. 


The benefit of this method of getting bees is that it is the fastest choice to get started because by now you have honeycomb and brood, as well as all the bees you require.

You may purchase honeybee colonies and nuclei online, but it is strongly recommended that you buy them from reputable local beekeepers or suppliers. 


There is not an iota of doubt that locally bred bees are better adapted to weather conditions in your district.

How to Order Packaged Bees ?

The second option is to buy packaged bees (each package contain worker bees and one queen bee) to transfer into your new beehive(s). 


Usually, honeybee packages that you order are dispatched by mail in 2 to 5 pound packages, containing 9,000 to 22,000 bees.
 
A three-pound package of bees, for instance, contains approximately 10,000 bees and 1 queen and is about the size of a shoebox.
 
A bee package sent through the mail will have a screen around it and a can of sugar water inside the package for the bees to eat during the trip. 


To separate the queen from the other bees, a cage is used. The cost plus shipping of a three-pound package of bees will be between $50 and $70.

Unlike a ready-made bee colony, the worker bees from a package will need to be fed for a short time after you transfer them into the hive(s), until they begin to gather nectar and pollen and build honeycombs to produce their own food.


If you decide to order a package of bees, it is important to do so at the right time. 


The bees should arrive and be installed into the hive in early April, giving them sufficient time to establish the colony before winter arrives. 


Placing your order as early as January will ensure that your bees are reserved for you.
 
Make it possible to take delivery of your purchased bees from the seller yourself. 


A lesser number of bees will die than if you receive your order through the mail. 


If you are expecting a package of bees by mail, remember to ask your post office to notify you as soon as it arrives. 


The sooner you get bees home, the better, because they will most likely be thirsty and hungry.  

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Installing a Package of Honey Bees

One of the most common ways of starting a new hive is to buy a 'Package Of Bees' from a bee supply company.

Package of Bees :

 The average package purchased comes with three pounds of honey bees amounting to about 10,000 bees inside plus a Queen Bee in a small screened cage in the center out of sight.

The Queen Bee is accompanied by two or three worker bees who attend to her every need during the period of shipment.
 
The bees are provided a large can of sugar syrup in the center of this mass of bees. 


This can is upside down with numerous pinholes punched in the lid to provide access to the food for their journey to their new bee hive. 


A small wooden cover is nailed over an opening o­n the top of the box to give access to its contents, the Queen Bee Cage, thousands of worker bees in a huge clump and a can of sugar syrup, food for their journey.

You should be ready to install a package very shortly after it arrives or wait until evening and keep them in a cool spot ( 50 to 75F ) away from the sun.
 
Your bee hive should be ready for the bees. It is not good for the bees to keep them in the package box any longer than necessary.
 
Spray a sugar syrup mixture ( 1 : 1 of water and sugar ) o­n the package screening. This will help to keep them occupied and remain calm.

Now you should you have the package of bees next to the open bee hive in which they are going to be installed. 


Be sure you have placed an entrance reducer in the hive opening o­n the bottom board. This is for the purpose of making it easier for them to defend the smaller entrance to the hive should a horde of robber bees descend upon the bee hive while they are getting themselves established.

Pry off the wood cover o­n the top of the package box. 
Gently slide out the large can of sugar syrup and place it to the side.
 
Pull out the small wooden cage with the Queen and slip it into your pocket to keep her warm and out of harms way. 


This cage is a small wood block suspended downward under the wood cover and hollowed out in the center to provide a chamber ( covered with a piece of screen ) for the Queen and a couple of attendants inside with her. 


O­ne end of the this Queen Cage has been drilled out and the tunnel is filled with a bee candy mixture so that she cannot escape.

This Queen Bee has not been raised with this collection of worker bees. 
If she were thrown in with these workers unprotected when the package was being put together, they would immediately kill her because she is not 'one of them'. While she is in this cage during shipment they get used to the pheromones she is constantly giving off and she and the workers become family so to speak. So when she is finally released from her cage she is 'one of them'.
 
When you are ready to shake the bees out of the box into their new home take the Queen Cage out of your pocket and using a small nail insert it into the bee candy and make a narrow hole. 


This is to help the worker bees now in the hive eat their way throug to enable the Queen to enter her new home. At this point you don't want her coming out through the tunnel and perhaps falling to the ground and getting injured or possibly stepped o­n or disappear from our sight.

Suspend the Queen Cage by gently putting it between the two frames about four frames in from the side of the hive box. 


Position the cage with the bee candy plugged hole facing down towards the bottom board and make sure the frames o­n each side of the cage are pushed together securely.. The bees will chew through the bee candy plug and release the queen within a few hours. 


Do not put the queen cage under the opening in the inner cover with the sugar syrup feeder sitting above it.

Bang the package box o­n the ground or the hive box itself a couple of times to get most of the bees to fall towards the bottom of the box. 


Pick up the box and invert it over the center of the hive box and give it a few healthy shakes so that the majority of the bees will fall down between the frames.


It's okay to bang the edge of the box to shake some of the remaining bees loose.
 
Some bees will fly around but don't worry about them as they will not fly away. They will never abandon their Queen. 


There will still be some bees stubbornly staying inside the package box.
 
Place the box o­n the ground in front of the hive with the opened area facing towards the bottom board. The bees remaining inside will eventually all crawl out o­n their own and march inside the entrance to the hive.
 
Close your hive up leaving the package bee box where it is o­n the ground.
 
Come back in a couple of days to check if the queen has been released from her cage. If she has not then gently lift the cage out and widen the bee candy tunnel making sure o­nce again that she does not fall out. Replace the cage and check it the following day.

Make sure that you keep them supplied with sugar syrup until they start building up their own supplies.

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Albert_Needham

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Starting a Honey Bee Keeping Project

Honey beekeeping has become quite popular home based business opportunity because honey bee keeping doesn't require a huge investment or space. you can start it right from your backyard.

One of the major issues which require special attention if you really wish to make your honey bee keeping project successful,is 'collecting bees'.

Some major ways to collect bee's are :

1. Colonies are available for purchase from local beekeepers or from other suppliers. colonies include queen bees and you can receive all the bees you want like queen bee, workers and drone as well for farming. This is the quickest option for a starting beekeeper.

2. Another option is to purchase a nucleus. In this option you will get a queen bee and some other worker bees. 'Nucleus' consisting of 5 to 7 frames, a fertile queen, workers, stores, brood, and probably, drones). It will be easier to control the smaller quantity of bees in a nucleus. It is a good start.
 
3. Another option available is in the form of a package of bees. Usually these packages include a queen bee and a certain amount of worker bees. In this case, the worker bees would have to be feed until they can begin producing honey on their own.  


4. If you do not wish to purchase bees then you can capture swarm of bees. But, it may quite monotonous for those who have just started their journey in this field. As, you first need to know how to protect yourself from swarm of bees.

When you pick up your bees they should be packaged in a special carrying case that is designed just for bees. 


When you travel with these bees you have to give sugar syrup as there will be scarcity of food for bees. Traveling is hard for bees so some bees may die. It is quite normal.

one of the most vital parts to make your honey bee keeping project successful,is choosing proper colony or hive. You can buy hives from a recognized seller and try to buy two colonies because when one colony will get weaker then you can exchange frames of brood and honey. 


A colony of bees consists of 20,000 to 60,000 honeybees, one productive queen, 10 to 12 combs, brood and foodstuffs.

You can also buy bees in package offer. In one package one queen and some worker bees are include. It is found by weight like in 2 to 5 pound packages, containing 9,000 to 22,000 bees.

A three-pound package of bees, for instance, contains approximately 10,000 bees and 1 queen and is about the size of a shoebox.

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How To Keep Bees Without Being Stung To Death

You've come to the right place for some tips on how to keep bees. 
Keeping bees is a hobby despite the fact that some people consider them dangerous.

All bees require being handled in the right way and they will be as friendly. Newbies in the industry are advised to acquire the basic techniques and equipment so that they can effectively raise them.

One of the basic necessities prospective beekeepers should get is a beehive. 


There are a number of beehives used by different people but the best ones are the commercially manufactured that resemble a small cabinet. 


Bees are possessive of their homes and hence you should be wary when tampering with the hive as this may land you in deep problems. Hives are best kept outdoors.

Each of the beehive structure should have at least 5 supers. The supers are structures where bees store their honey. 


They are located between the top and the lower part of the beehive. The young ones are also reared in the supers. You can choose from deep or shallow supers.

With deep supers, you only require a one size foundation while you will need multiple size foundations in case you are using shallow supers. 


Deep supers have a demerit of the fact that you require dragging 100 pounds when the beehive is full.

When installing a beehive, ensure to place it on a flat and firm surface where it will not easily be toppled over even by strong wind. 


The location of the hive should be safe to prevent both people and animals from disturbing it.

When you are installing the frames in the hive, there are some spacers which are generally wood planks placed in between. You will only need a few of the spacers to separate your super. 


Going through the beehive kit can help in proper placement of the spacers.

When the bees have made adequate honey, you will need to collect it. 


A smoker will be required. This is device that is filled with smoky materials and lit. When it is puffed, it produces smoke that confuses the bees making it possible for a honey gatherer to collect it safely.
 
A metallic hive tool is used in opening the beehive safely. Once you have learnt the art of how to keep bees, you can set up your beehive in a suitable area where bees will come on their own or else you can order them from local rearers.


 


Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Braxton

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Beekeeping Tips

Beekeeping is a regulated process of raising bees so that honey can be collected. 


There is a long history behind the keeping of bees and it's not merely a pleasing hobby to indulge in.
 
It can also be a profitable business. But to truly see how much one can gain from this rewarding hobby, some lessons in beekeeping must first be taken. 


Making sure that you have in your possession the proper equipment is the first step to success in beekeeping.

The hive is the backbone of your beekeeping operation so the components of your hive are the most important things to consider.
 
You can start your beekeeping business by buying what is known as "package bees", which is a certain amount of adult bees typically between 2 and 5 pounds (1 and 2 kilograms). Or you can buy an established colony or even collect the swarms yourself.
 
It's certainly the advised recommendation for beginners to start off with the package bees. 


Also necessary for a beekeeper is the protective gear such as a beekeeping suit, gloves, and a hat and veil. Smokers are also very important. These control the bees making working with a hive and the colony possible.

Smokers are a device that emits smoke which then prompts the bees to prepare to vacate the hive due to threat of a possible fire. 


Smokers have a secondary function - masking the pheromone released into the hive by the guard bees when they think there is danger around.
 


The honey bee is quite a social insect and lives in hives because a colony can be home to thousands of bees. By contributing together, the bees in  the colony all look for food, raise newborn bees and assemble the nest.

Beekeepers can take advantage of the natural inclinations of the honey bee to collect honey that can be used for themselves or sold for a profit. 


One challenge that beekeepers face is the extraction of honey from the hive. It's actually very important to not leave it in the hive for too long. If left for too long, honey takes on a darker color and the bees will have no room for accumulating more honey. 


Most people have the impression that all honey is light in color, so although a darker honey is not of inferior quality, some may believe it is based purely on ignorance. 


On the other hand, it's extremely important to not extract the honey too soon. 


While honey matures it contains a good amount of water, and if harvested too soon, the honey could spoil or ferment.
 
When the honey is ready to collect, the bees will let you know. 


When it's noticed that there are wax caps covering the honey cells, it's a sure sign to harvest.

The best time to collect the honey is on a sunny day when the majority of the bees are active and out looking for food. The morning is usually a good time for this.
 
Before you even think about purchasing your bees, you need to ensure that your local government or council actually permits beekeeping in your area. 


There are advantages to introducing bees though. In comparison to the hornet or the wasp, bees are very calm. 


If bees inhabit an area, then the possibility of hornets or wasps also inhabiting this area are very low. 


Although bees are armed with a stinger, if you make sure your hive is positioned safely (meaning not near to schools, parks or other recreational areas) then you should expect very few issues.

Article Source:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/hobbies/article_2004.shtml

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Beekeeping , Things To Start With

To begin with Beekeeping , you might not require loads of stuff, nevertheless you will find several necessary things that you'll really need to get for your beekeeping interest.

Firstly, you will need to obtain your personal bees. At this point, there are several different kind of honey bees to choose from.
 
They've some scientific names e.g. : 


Apis Mellifera (the most popular in North America),
Apis Mellifera Ligustica (Italian honey bee),
Apis mellifera carnica Pollman (Carniolan honey bees).

The most popular will be Italian Honey Bee,that is mild and also makes plenty of honey.
 
Next, you will have to purchase a home for the bees, i.e. the beehives. Again you can find numerous kinds. Probably the most popular would be the Top Bar Hives and also the Langstroth Hives.

Additionally, obtain a hive tool - that's a tool to prise open the hives and also to split out the casings since bees are likely to cling on those stuff and it is really tough to deal with them without this type of device.

After that you will have to safeguard yourself by using beekeeping suit. This is the white apparel which beekeepers put on, the hat as well as the gloves.

You will probably have to deal with bees which is challenging once they are around you. 


Note that you simply stay out from the pathway or entrance from the hive and try to handle the hives simply at off-peak interval, i. e. not when there're leaving the hives every day and returning from the afternoon.
 
Despite these "precautions", there will be bees around which is why you require a bee smoker. The purpose of this is to be able to emit smoke in order that the bees will not focus on you... Smokers can be small or large and they are made of different material.

Lastly, get the feeder to feed your colony. This is certainly very useful specifically during winter if food are rare. 


Nonetheless some beekeepers exercise feeding the newly acquired bees so they start off well from the new place. 


Basically you have the smaller top up feeder as well as the bulk feeder which will contain up to be able to 20 liters connected with sugar syrup. 


This is certainly essential during wintertime, so you can certainly fill it up to last the winter. The smaller ones will only handle 1/10th of the bulk feeder.

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What Beekeeping Supplies Will You Need?

Doing business with the bees requires a unique set of tools.. Lets talk a bit about hive tools, smokers, and protective clothing. 


These are not the only things you will need, but are at the top of the list for the things you absolutely should not do without.

Hive Tool Your hive tool is akin to a common pry bar. This tool is designed to carry out a few different tasks. 


Initially, it can help you pry open a hive that might get stuck due to the bees application of propolis. 


Propolis is a sealant the bees use to close up gaps they think need some repair. 


The hive tool is designed to help you scrape and remove any sticky parts you don't want sticking. Additionally it can also be use to dismantle and do your own repairs to the hive. 


There are different hive tools on the market to choose from.
 
All of your basic functions can be performed with an inexpensive Red J. It is a great tool for removing frames from your hive. 


The "J" refers to the actual shape of the tool. An Orange J is an upgraded version of the Red J. You'll find it is broader and somewhat sturdier. Better suited for removing nails and cleaning out the bottom boards is the Yellow. It's ends are broad, with only one of them curving downward.
 
Protective beekeeping clothing Ideally, you should have a full beekeeping suit, but at the least a hat and veil to protect your head and face from getting stung. 


Bee smoker A smoker will deter the bees when you approach the hive. It has a calming and mesmerizing effect on them. It resembles a tall cylindrical kettle with a billow out the back. 


For some natural smoke you can ignite pine needles or corn cobs. Any untainted and chemical free natural materials will work in your favor to keep the bees and your honey safe. 


Stainless steel and copper are commonly used to make smokers. While copper is more traditional, stainless steel will be more resistant to the elements. Always use caution when handling a lit smoker as it will get hot.
 
There are more tools you will need as a beekeeper, but these are by far the most important. Hopefully if you are a newcomer to beekeeping.

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WOOW.....Amazing Honey Bee Facts

20 statements about extraordinary abilities of honey's great creator :

1. They are insects with a scientific name - Apis mellifera.

2. The honey bee has been around for 30 million years.

3. It is the only insect that produces food eaten by man (Bee honey ).

4. Honey bees are environmentally friendly and are vital as pollinators.

5. They have 6 legs, 2 eyes, and 2 wings, a nectar pouch, and a stomach.

6. The honeybee's wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.

7. A honey bee can fly for up to 6 miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour, hence it would have to fly around 90,000 miles - 3 times around the globe - to make 1 pound of honey.

8. The average honey bee will actually make only 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

9. It takes about 556 workers to gather 1 pound of honey from about 2 million flowers.

10. It takes 1 ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the world.

11. A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.

12. A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honeybees and 1 queen.

13. Worker honey bees are female, live 6 to 8 weeks and do all the work.

14. The queen bee lives for about 2-3 years and is the only bee that lays eggs. She is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs per day.

15. The male honey bees are called drones , and they do no work at all, have no stinger, all they do is mating.

16. Each honey bee colony has a unique odour for members' identification.

17. Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting. Queens have a stinger, but don't leave the hive to help defend it.

18. It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required to be fatal.

19. Honey bees communicate with one another by "dancing".

20. During winter, honey bees feed on the honey they collected during the warmer months. They form a tight cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves warm.

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Six Great Tips For Beginners In Raising Bees

Raising bees should be considered as something beneficial to a number of aspects :

-First, . Producing quality honey and sell them is something very feasible to accomplish. 


-Second, it could be a very good choice for a hobby which can be developed to a profitable small to medium business .

Bee keeping is not a very expensive venture and for anyone with a little space it is possible to start this business with just about $300 for one hive.
 
The very first thing that you should do is to find out whether you or any family member of yours is allergic to bee stings, if not you can go ahead and get your first bee hive.
 
Another point that you should clarify from the local cooperative office, is whether you are permitted to keep bee hives in your area. If you can do so, then you will have get registered as a beekeeper with the beekeeping organization.
 
Bees play an important role in the pollination of crops, Thus bees are indispensable to ensure a successful harvesting of a farm crops. 


It is the fact that bee population in some region is declining, hence threatening the supply of crops. Playing this role, bees are also useful to many other plants. 


Raising bees could be a form of social responsibility as a contribution from your side that aims to keeping nature balance.
 
Honey and bees have been proven by the medical profession to possess therapeutic values. 


Honey has been known since ancient time as a remedy for many diseases and to strengthen body immunity. Many natural therapists use bee stings as a cure for some specific illness.


here are 6 tips on how to raise bees If you are interested in raising bees :


(1) Get your beekeeping supplies :

You need a beekeeper suit to cover your whole body while working with your bees to protect yourself against bee stings. 


This suit includes a full length jumper, a hat with a veil that can be zipped onto the jumper, gloves and boots. 


To manage the honey combs in the beehives you may need a hive tool.
 
A beekeeping smoker is also needed to calm the bees. Smoke creates a feeding effect to the bees, which then overfeed themselves making it hard for them to sting. 


Smoke also masks the smell of alarming venoms produced by the guard bees, avoiding the bees to go wild.
 
(2) Prepare your hives :
 
Hives are the homes of your bees, where the bees store honey in combs so prepare it thoroughly. These are actually your honey plants.

The number of hives to start with will depend on your purpose. You may need only one or two hives if you decide beekeeping for a hobby. But as a small business you may need at least 10 hives to start with.

What you need to set up your hive is a brood chamber which is the place where the queen bee lays eggs and about five frames which are the place where the bee workers build honeycombs to keep their honey. 


It is good if you buy one or two extra frames just to anticipate the bees swarming.

Place the hives at the right location. This should be a spot with a study ground where people will not obstruct the 'traffic' of the bees into the hives to store honey. It should be kept away from matters that might agitate the bees to sting such us vibrations and loud noises.

It would not be necessary to place the hives near pollinating crops since the bees are able to fly miles away to collect nectar and pollen. Remember to face the hive opening to the east or south, so that it could be warmed by the morning sunlight.


(3) Get your bees :
 
Make sure that you get them from a reputable breeding source. 


Buy the European bees strain and avoid the African bees which are known to be highly aggressive and are easily agitated. 


Buy a colony starter that includes a queen, workers and drones.

The main task of a queen is laying eggs as long as she could, while the poor drone has only one thing to do, mating the queen. The queen will then kill the drone as soon after the mating.

Other things such us collecting nectar, guarding the hive, cleaning and feeding the larvae is done by the diligent worker bee.

There will be a necessity to replace the queen bee if she dies. A queen can also leave the hive with a swarm and need to be replaced. This swarming could happen 2 - 3 times during summer.

You have two options in getting a new queen. Buy one or you can create one by starting a new colony. 


In the later case you need to take a frame that contains workers and larvae, and then the workers will eventually feed a selected larva with nutrient-rich food to create their new queen..

(4) Get your bees start working :

To get the bees on working you need to feed them with bees supplement in springtime. 


You can feed them with pollen supplements as well as sugar and water. The objective is to give them strength prior to the blooming of trees and flowers.
 
Feeding them with sugar and water also allows them to start building up honey in their honeycombs. As soon as they go out of the hives, they will be able to find the way of their routes of pollen within several days.

You should make a frequent check whether your bees are in good shape and well established in their hive.

Remember that during the first year of honey production, the bees need the honey for their own requirement. Hence you should harvest only a little amount of honey and leave a sufficient amount as storage for winter.
 
(5) The queen bee :
 
The queen bee is kept separately along with a few nurse bees, and her container will be covered with a piece of sugar candy. 


The rest of the bees for your bee hive will be put in a container together and these will form the remaining hierarchy.


In this container there will be a bowl of sugar syrup which is for the bees to feed on while traveling. 


The bees will need a drink once you get them home, for this you should spray the container with a fine spray of water. Now your bees are home and you can get started on your bee hive.

(6) Harvest the honey :
 
Very little could be harvested in the first year, but afterward you can start harvesting substantial amount of honey.
 
Harvesting is indeed the best part of beekeeping.
 
Check all the honey-filled supers and remove them from the hive at any time to get the honey extracted from the combs. 


Remove the rubbish or dead bees from the honey comb, and then put back empty frames as replacements.
 


You will be able to sell the honey in two forms; the liquid honey and the pieces of honey comb.

The liquid honey is produced by the mean of a centrifuge to extract honey from the honey combs. 


While the second form is the original honey comb pieces made by the bees. This form provides some enjoyment to some people who are after the natural honey flavor.

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