Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Beekeeping Guides

Any beekeeper that is conscious about the welfare of their honey bees leaves nothing to chance when it comes to ant-proofing their apiary. Using an ant proof beehive stand is one great way of doing so.

An entrance reducer is used in beekeeping to vary the size of the beehive entrance. It is usually a piece of wood that goes between the bottom board in a Langstroth beehive and the lower edge of the bottom-most beehive box. This article looks at how to make an entrance reducer, and the uses it has in beekeeping.

Good hygiene is a key factor in beekeeping. In a beehive, the frames are one of the important items you should clean. Both experienced and beginner beekeepers need to know how to clean beehive frames. They can then reuse the frames in their beehives with little risk of spreading diseases and sure that they are controlling pests of honeybees. Some beehive frames are best destroyed by fire and other destruction methods. These are the frames that have contagious diseases of bee colonies such as foulbrood. It is especially important to clean beehive frames when moving them between honeybee colonies. Some colonies that appear healthy at first, may in fact harbor disease-causing organisms that can infect a weak colony. Do not put off cleaning beehive frames for any reason, especially if you plan to use them in another colony. It is great if you schedule and carry out beehive frame cleaning soon after harvesting honey. This gives your frames ample time to dry properly before the next use. You are also able to repair any damaged frames and replace those that cannot be reused; all this done in time before honey flow season.

Langstroth beehives are synonymous with modern beekeeping. From the invention of the beehive, it has gripped the beekeeping industry like a giant. The iconic beehive provides a great home for honey bee colonies when built well. It is divided into the lower section, beehive boxes and the upper section. Langstroth beehives have several components that are held in it including beehive frames. This article guides you on how to make Langstroth beehive frames. The frames are held in beehive boxes that make up a beehive stack. We will look at deep beehive box frames, medium and shallow beehive box frames. The frames you make can be used in both 8-frame and 10-frame Langstroth beehive setups.

Honey bee colonies sometimes experience periods of resource shortage. It is alright to feed honey bees when they do not have enough food resources to keep the colony going. Feeding the colony requires you to have one or more types of feeders. There are also many different types of feed that can be given to honey bees and the main ones are sugar syrup and pollen. Pollen is usually fed in powder form, or in the form of pollen patties. Sugar syrup fed to bees is of 1:1 ratio of sugar and water, or 2:1. This article delves into the feeding of honey bees and how to build a homemade bee feeder for your apiary.

The Langstroth beehive top cover is very important due to its primary function of protecting the beehive. The top cover keeps the elements out, prevents water and solid items such as snow entering from above. It works in conjunction with an inner cover to keep everything dry. The top cover can be telescoping and flat or garbled (sloped). The inner cover is always flat and does not telescope over the sides of the beehive. This article shows you how to build a Langstroth beehive top cover as well as the inner cover.

Various types of beehives are used in beekeeping. Perhaps the most common types are the Langstroth beehive, the top bar beehive and the Warré beehive. Warré hives are well liked for their focus on the well-being of honeybees. They are not common in use, but they have many advantages over other types of beehives. Warré beehives were invented by Abbe Emile Warré by mimicry of the hollows found in trees that bees naturally use as their hives. The use of Warré beehives is usually foundationless. They are great for beekeepers that want to house their bees and rear them in a close-to-natural way. This guide takes a look at how to build a Warré beehive, as well as its uses, management among other thing.

Beekeeping with Langstroth beehives gives allows for high honey yields and makes beehive maintenance easier. Beekeepers using Langstroth beehives have the options of buying a hive and maybe assembling it themselves, or building one. This article details how to build a Langstroth beehive and touches on the important features of that make this beehive design style so popular in beekeeping. It also delves into benefits of using a Langstroth beehive in beekeeping.

The making of a homemade mason bee house is an exciting project that involves simple woodworking that will take just a few minutes to get through with. This is a project that the kids will love to take part in; watching the bees as they construct their nest will definitely give yourself and the kids a sense of fulfillment.