Many people choose to keep bees for a variety of reasons, including:
- to do their part for the environment by boosting and restoring bee populations
- for pollination purposes if they grow crops and flowering plants
- for honey production and hive by-products like beeswax, royal jelly, pollen, and venom
Whatever your reasons for beekeeping, it’s important to do your research and avoid common pitfalls. Here are five mistakes beginner beekeepers make (and how to avoid them).
Mistake #1: Not suiting up properly
If you watch an experienced beekeeper who doesn’t wear a bee suit, you may get a false sense of how easy it is to inspect hives without the correct equipment.
But the truth is no matter your experience level, it’s important to inspect bees fully geared up. Seasoned beekeepers know how to keep bees calm and what to do if they get agitated — but they still get stung, especially if they don’t wear protection.
Multiple bee stings at once, even if you don’t have an allergy, can lead to swelling and may end up with you in the ER.
As a newbie beekeeper, always be safe and suit up.
Another important factor to remember when you’re new to the craft is to use smoke to distract your bees. Smoke triggers a response in your bees to gorge on honey (so they don’t lose their entire stock if forced to evacuate) as they think a wildfire is imminent. The smoke blocks the chemical signals that bees use to communicate so they cannot organize an attack against you.
So, remember to suit up properly and use your smoker every time you check on your bees.
Mistake #2: Not checking your bees
Some rookie beekeepers set up their bees and then don’t check them, but that’s a big mistake.
When checking your bees, you need to record your hive inspections with notes so you can learn what works and what doesn’t — and see if your beekeeping technique is keeping your bees healthy.
Is one breed of queen more successful than another? Do certain hive styles help your bees weather the winter better? You can use paper notes, special beekeeping templates but there are apps that can be used digitally.
Inspections should be done every two to four weeks to monitor your colony’s health and progress.
You want to check your bee traffic flying in and around the hive (and note what is “normal” for your bees). How many dead bees are in and near your hive? Are your bees healthy or do they have parasites like varroa mites?
One major problem new beekeepers sometimes fail to identify is when their hive is missing a queen. Bees can’t survive without their queen. Bee behavior won’t always alter dramatically when they lose a queen Over time, though, the hive population will decline as worker bees die of old age and without eggs or young larvae, your hive won’t have a brood at all.
When inspecting your hive for a queen, look out for eggs. If you have eggs, your queen will have been active at least three days prior.
Mistake #3: Not feeding your bees
During the winter months, to avoid starvation, each colony needs at least 50 to 60 pounds of stored honey. Ideally, you won’t ever need to feed your bees. But if there’s poor nectar flow, or if your colony was started in spring, your bees may not have enough stored honey.
If you know by fall that they don’t have enough honey, you can begin feeding them. If you have stored honey, you can feed this back to your bees as honey is the best and healthiest bee food – but never use purchased honey because it can contaminate your hive and introduce diseases.
If you don’t have stored honey from your own hive, you can make or buy sugar syrup, dry sugar, or fondant to feed your busy. Bees also need protein so you can feed them pollen patties, placed on the top bars, as needed – purchased or made from dry powder. Pollen is also needed for brood rearing so use pollen patties in spring if you don’t think they’ll have enough stored food.
It’s best not to feed your bees sugar water too readily. But when you first purchase a package of bees in the spring, they’ll be confused, weak, without honey, and need feeding. A month of consistent feeding will help strengthen your colony.
Mistake #4: Harvesting too much honey
If you’re hoping to get up and running and produce honey straight away, then think again! As a general rule, you don’t want to take honey from your colony in its first year as your bees won’t yet be strong enough to produce any excess honey. They’ll need all they produce not to starve their first winter.
When you can harvest your first honey, leave at least 50 to 60 pounds of honey (see mistake number 3) for your bees. If you live in a cold climate, they may need around 100 pounds. The amount of honey your bees will need depends on climate so read up! Seek advice from other local beekeepers as it can be disheartening and devastating to lose your colony after your first harvest.
Mistake #5: Not doing your research
When you start beekeeping, since you’re working with live creatures, it’s a good idea to do your research. You can go online, take a class, talk to your supplier, talk to local beekeepers, and so forth. The beekeeping community loves to help a newbie – we were all there once!
A community of beekeeper friends can help you to know all about the types of hives, when to replace your hives, when to clean your equipment, how to conserve equipment, tips on how to keep your colonies healthy and free from pests, etc.
You’ll want to know where to place your hive (in a clear space in full sun, ideally), how to have enough room around the hive to stand and work comfortably (10-foot radius), how to ensure your hive is secure (don’t put your hive somewhere unstable), where to place your hive entrance (don’t face your neighbor’s pool or your veggie patch), and so much more! There’s a lot to know.
Another recommendation is to start with at least two colonies which isn’t much more work than one. Two colonies allow you to compare and contrast side by side. You can test theories and you can test hive styles and even different breeds of bees.
Keep learning and keep growing as a beekeeper!
How Dadant and Sons can help new beekeepers avoid mistakes
At Dadant and Sons, we have beginner beekeeper kits, beekeeping clothing, a dedicated learning center, resources available, and people on hand to give you advice. We have branches in ten states and are on hand to help you (and your bees) survive that first year.