Resources

Use the links below to find more information about beekeeping:


Beekeeping Groups

Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association
Vermont Beekeepers Association
Northern Berkshire Beekeepers Association
American Beekeeping Federation
National Honey Board
Bee Master International Beekeeping Forum

Beekeeping Equipment and Supplies

Betterbee
Dadant
Mann Lake

Beekeeping Research

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Bee Research Laboratory
International Bee Research Association
Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research Extension Consortium (MAAREC)
Dyce Laboratory at Cornell University
University of Minnesota
North Carolina State University
University of Florida
Texas A&M
University of Georgia
Purdue University
University of Tennessee
http://scientificbeekeeping.com


Beekeeping Periodicals

American Bee Journal
Bee Culture

1 comment:

  1. April SABA Meeting notes on making splits:
    Notes on Making Splits
    From a talk by Lloyd Spear at SABA
    April 17, 2018

    Reasons to make splits:
    • Increase one’s numbers of hives
    • Replace dead hives
    • Replace a drone laying hive
    • To have colonies to sell or donate to others
    • For education and for fun
    Make splits in May-July, in a warm spring in late April.
    Use a nuc box for a split so bees have a small initial space to inhabit, then add a story before moving them into regular boxes. They develop more quickly when they are working vertically. You can use a double nuc box with different side entrances.
    You must have a new queen ready to go before attempting to make the split. It’s possible to use queen cells but they are fragile and it takes a month before the new queen is laying well.
    You should see bees collecting pollen for at least 10 days before considering making a split.

    Basic Split-
    • Select a strong hive
    • On a nice day, 65 degrees F or more
    • Remove a frame of brood from the center, if there is no queen on it set it aside outside the hive. Keep removing frames from the brood area till you find the queen. Do not stack the frames together.
    • Take 2 frames of bees to a new box with 1 frame of honey. Shake in bees from one more frame of brood.
    • The old queen stays with the old hive box.
    • The new queen is introduced into the new box.
    • Replace the pulled frames with foundation or drawn comb outside the brood area.
    • The new hive can be set behind the old hive with its entrance facing to the rear or it can be placed 10’ or more away from the old hive.




    Lazy Split- (Walk Away Split)
    • On a bright sunny day take 2 frames of brood to a new box after shaking the bees off.
    • Put two replacement frames into the old hive and then a queen excluder on top.
    • Then put the new box above the queen excluder.
    • Nurse bees will come up through the excluder to tend the frames of brood.
    • You will know for certain that the queen is in the lower box.
    • You can take the top box away to a new location after 6 hours or after overnight.
    • Then add the new queen cage.


    WOW! Split
    Timing is important for this one. Honey flows should begin around June 15 in our area. Just before the flow, June 1-15, take a hive with 6 frames of brood. Count frames by looking underneath a top brood box.
    • Find the frame with the queen and bees and set it aside, perhaps in a spare nuc box.
    • Move the rest of the hive elsewhere in the yard, field bees will return to the old site.
    • Set a new box on the old hive stand.
    • Load it with the queen frame flanked by only foundation frames.
    • Give the old box a new queen after making sure there are no queen cells on any combs.
    The hive with foundation can draw out new comb in a week on a honey flow and two boxes in 3 weeks.

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