Property:Development:Farming:Insects:Bees

(UP)
See:
- https://theapiarist.org/beekeeping-economics/
- HiveIQ (eps based + sensors)

Summary

Beehives:
- Several types of hive designs.
  - Most common is the 'Langstroth hive' design, whose key features are:
    - designed for 5, 8, 10 frames, hanging within a stack, composed of (from bottom up):
      
      stand to level boxes, slightly tilted to the back.
      
      a bottom board with entrance for the bees,
      
      vertical modular stack of boxes
      
      bottom board,
      
      with optional entrance reducer for protecting young hives against enemies and winter cold drafts.
      
      a deep or medium sized brood box / hive body for the queen to lay eggs in brood
      
      an optional queen excluder filter to let through workers but not queen
      
      the next box is a for food for through winter
      
      next box is a 'honey super[structure]', for honeycombs that can be used for crop
      
      inner cover:
      
      a communication hole is recommended
      
      to create dead space attic for heat in hot weather
      
      to give access to emergency food in dead space attic if required in winter
      
      outer cover, made of wood/tin/other that is either a:
      
      migratory cover (a solid cover that does not extend beyond the sides of a hive body) or
      
      telescoping cover (has eaves that wrap around the top box by an inch or so):
      
      each frame is designed to be hung far enough (by bee space 7mm-9mm, 1/4“ to 3/8”) from other frames and box walls to not lead bees to make connections to other frames with either wax or propolis (essentially bee glue).
      
      to connections being made
    - makes it easy to check for:
      
      disease
      
      parasites
      
      imminent swarming
      
      aging queen
  - Frames:
  - All frames
    - have a width of 35mm (1-1/16“) and
    - length of 480mm (19”)
    - But vary in terms of hanging depth.
      
      Jumbo/Dadante/Continental: 294mm (11.6“) x 480 (19”) x 285mm (11.2“)
      
      Deep frames: 230mm (9-1/8 inches)
      
      Medium frames: 160mm (6-1/4 inches)
      
      Shallow frames: 140mm (5-3/8 inches)
  - are softwood pine
  - Are either called
    - foundationless
    - foundationed:
      
      comb free notched at 60 degrees around perimeter to encourage cell construction
      
      plastic cells (needing wax covering maybe)
Multi-Sweet:
- 7.
- 49cm long ( 46.6m long int) x 29.2cm deep … which is too deep for a Large frame. Needs
  - Jumbo/Dadante/Continental: 294mm (11.6”) x 480 (19“) x 285mm (11.2”)
Getting Bees:
- You buy a nuc.
- A nuc is:
  - a 'nucleus colony' with a queen, brood, and workers, created from a larger parent hive or swarm.
  - It's a narrower box of 5 frames.
    - A nuc may or may not be given a queen at the time it is created (If the nuc does not contain a queen or queen-cell, but does contain eggs, the workers will create a new queen from one of the eggs).
    - Beekeepers take out hives so give more room and prevent swarming.
    - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarming_(honey_bee)
    - Vulnerable, with only about 10% of the bees.
    - So Feed is required.
    - Need a Top Feeder (stops other bees from stealing).
    - To make the syrup, you mix a 1:1 ratio of hot water to table sugar, being sure to let the syrup cool to room temperature before using it.
    - Set the opening to smallest setting as they can't defend themselves well with so few.
    - From https://www.instructables.com/Nucleus-Colony-or-How-to-Start-a-Beehive/
    - Nucs typically come in a temporary box with a lid. Hive entrances must be closed while no bees are flying to avoid leaving any behind and weakening the nuc. This means that the entrances must be closed before dawn or after dark.
    - Ideal times to pick up nucs are the same deal- early in the morning or after dark. It's tough on any colony to be locked inside all day, especially with the temperatures are warm, so best to plan for this.