Preparing a Home for the Honey Bees

Here I am last summer checking on my honey bees.

I am expecting to start two new colonies of honey bees on my farm in the next few weeks. Before I can begin being a beekeeper again I need to have some basic protection and equipment. So I am reviewing my bee equipment to make sure that it is ready to receive the new colonies of honey bees.

Bee Suit and Smoker
I have 2 different colors of bee suits; white that I bought with my bee starter kit and yellow that I got at a local farm and garden store which is just an overall to cover my clothing when working in dirty conditions. The bees do not seem to treat the yellow suit any different than when I am in my white bee suit.

Hive Tool
This is used to pry open the lid and frames that the bees glue together with propolis.

Gloves and Bee Veil
This is used to provide protection from bee stings.

I do not like for my hive, which is the container where my honey bee colony lives, to touch the ground. I like it to be off the ground so that the bees are better protected from the weather and other prying animals or insects. This hive will be perched on top of two cinder blocks and a cement paver. The hive base is at a slight downward angle or tilt so that if rain accidently gets in the hive that it will run off.

Next, I place my screened bottom board on top of the cinder blocks. A screened bottom board is suppose to provide more protection against the parasitic varroa mites.

Entrance Reducer
This is a piece of wood that lets me determine the size of opening I want my hive to have. The smaller entrance means less space that the bees have to guard against unwanted intruders. Since my colony will be new and small, I want to provide a small entrance.

Next, I place my hive body. The hive body is where the queen will be laying her eggs. This is where most of the bee activity will occur. It is the heart of the colony. In the hive body are ten frames. Each frame has a beeswax foundation where the bees will build their comb.

Then, I place my outer cover.
This outer cover protects the honey bees from the weather.

A Boardman Feeder
This is a wooden base covered with metal that slides into the entrance of the hive. Inside this goes a mason canning jar with a lid with holes. This jar is filled with sugar water and turned upside down in the holder. This is where the bees will be fed sugar water to help supplement the lack of natural food.

This is my completed hive that is ready to receive the new honey bees.

This hive is located near my corn field which houses corn, sunflowers and melons.

This hive is also close to a small pond for water access.

The hive has wind protection with the line of trees. It can get extremely hot here in Texas so the hive is placed in dapple sunlight.

This is my second hive location. I did not want to buy new equipment for this hive so  I had to get pretty creative in reusing and recycling material for this hive. That is one thing I have learned. Farming can get very expensive very fast. I have had to learn to be more creative and think how I can accomplish the same effect without spending tons of money. So here is my hive base. This is the top of a leaf catcher of an old riding lawn mower. The hive base is at a slight downward angle or tilt so that if rain accidently gets in the hive that it will run off.

On top of the hive base I placed a solid wood bottom board.

Next, I placed my hive body with 9 frames. I removed one of the frames so that I would have room for the division board feeder. The division board feeder is where I will feed the honey bees sugar water to help supplement the lack of natural food.

I also needed an entrance reducer for this hive so I used a straight stick of a small limb.

Remember in this hive I placed a division board feeder. When I use a regular outer cover it does not sit properly. There is always a gap on the side where I have the division board feeder. In this open gap other insects and rain can get in, so I decided to try and use a hard plastic cover that is used on a sturdy storage crate. I do not know if there are any negatives to using this as an outer cover versus a regular honey bee hive outer cover.

Here is an example of how well it sits on top of the hive body. It covers the division board feeder without leaving gaps.

This new hive will sit along a cross fence line. It also sits in dapple shade given by oak trees.

This hive sits near rose bushes and a mess of fragrant honeysuckles.

The hive is also very close to this creek. The creek will provide a good access for the honey bees to get water.