Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Beekeeping Guides

The traps used to capture and kill yellow jackets can either be bought from the various manufacturers, or you can make a DIY trap at home. DIY yellow jacket traps have a number of advantages over commercially made and sold traps. This article will guide you on how to make a yellow jacket trap of your choice.

Bees have always set their home above the ground, and it is not to stay out of reach from humans, though that may seem like one of the reasons. There are many advantages associated with staying away from the ground, and that is the intuition that drives bees to establish their colonies in crevices that are well secluded from invaders. The hive stand is a beekeeping equipment that plays a crucial role for any beekeeper. In this DIY guide we'll take a look at how to build a homemade hive stand.

Harvesting honey from beehives requires you to separate the honey from honeycomb using one of several methods. While using a rotary honey extractor is the best and commonly accepted method of harvesting honey, there are other means by which it can be achieved, which will be discussed in this article. Read on to learn the best methods and tips on how to harvest honey without an extractor.

Wiring a beehive frame gives it strength and better support for wax comb. It prevents sagging and enables the frame and comb on it to endure honey extraction without breaking apart. This article shows you how to wire a beehive frame by yourself, using simple home and garden tools. Beekeepers should keep in mind that the purpose of wiring frames is not so much to hold comb in place, but rather to prevent it from sagging.

Beehive frame assembly is important for hands-on beekeepers with an interest in making their own beekeeping equipment. The next logical step after building your own beehive boxes is to assemble the frames and install them. This guide takes you through assembling beehive frames for both brood and honey super beehive boxes. It covers frames for deep, medium and shallow beehive boxes. The assembly of beehive frames can be split into two broad processes: 1.) First is the assembly of the wooden frame. 2.) The second broad process is wiring the frame and addition of foundation including embedding wax foundation.

Swarming is a natural process of a hive splitting itself to create two colonies. It is a common occurrence whenever a colony gets too large. Beekeepers are able to catch swarming bees using swarm traps and then transfer the bees to beehives. It it is the natural way of acquiring …

The bee smoker is an essential tool in beekeeping. It helps puff some smoke on the bees so as to calm them down when you are working on your beehive. It is required during honey harvesting and when conducting routine inspections on the beehive. You can buy a bee smoker …

Beehives are available to beekeepers in various designs, and perhaps the most popular design is the Langstroth beehive. Beehive manufacturers sell most beehives unassembled. This makes it necessary for beekeepers to know how to assemble a Langstroth beehive if it is their preferred choice. Experience in assembling a Langstroth beehive will also comes in handy when beekeepers have to put together a beehive built in any of the other two common beehive designs.

New plastic foundation and that which has been cleaned requires a coat of beeswax. The wax helps make the foundation acceptable by honeybees. Adding wax to plastic foundation on new frames is often needed to add the depth of the layer which the manufacturer has put on the foundation. This article will guide you through various ways on how to coat plastic foundation with beeswax. The other type of foundation used in beekeeping is wax foundation. Since it is already made using beeswax, it does not usually require coating with more beeswax.