Howland Blackiston - Beekeeping For Dummies

8 Chapter 9FIGURE 9-1: On this early summer evening, this “beard” of thousands of bees was...FIGURE 9-2: The proper honey band width in a Top Bar hive to accommodate a wint...FIGURE 9-3: Wrap your hive in tar paper to protect your colony from harsh winte...FIGURE 9-4: A foam covering serves as insulation and a windbreak for your Top B...FIGURE 9-5: Although the outside temperature may be freezing, the center of the...FIGURE 9-6: Reversing hive bodies in the spring helps to better distribute broo...FIGURE 9-7: When this newly forming swarm cell is capped, the colony will likel...FIGURE 9-8: Beekeeping temperature zones in the United States.

9 Chapter 10FIGURE 10-1: A swarm resting in a tree. FIGURE 10-2: A swarm that has taken up temporary residence under a picnic table...FIGURE 10-3: A useful way to provide a colony with ventilation is to drill wine...FIGURE 10-4: Hanging a queen cage. FIGURE 10-5: Sliding a queen cage onto the bottom board. FIGURE 10-6: I don’t advocate using a Boardman entrance feeder — the smell of t...FIGURE 10-7: The best way to determine whether you have laying workers is to co...FIGURE 10-8: This young lady allows herself to be covered by so-called “killer ...

10 Chapter 11FIGURE 11-1: The huge pile of dead bees in front of this hive is a telltale ind...

11 Chapter 12FIGURE 12-1: These are a few of the many natural food additives and supplements...

12 Chapter 13FIGURE 13-1: Varroa mites can seriously weaken a hive by attaching to bees and ...FIGURE 13-2: This jar’s lid has been modified for a powdered-sugar-shake mite i...FIGURE 13-3: Varroa mites first attach themselves to drone pupae, so that’s a g...FIGURE 13-4: An adult tracheal mite (Acarapis woodi). FIGURE 13-5: Tracheal mites (seen in this magnified photo of an infected bee’s ...FIGURE 13-6: In warm weather a packet of menthol, such as Mite-a-Thol, placed o...FIGURE 13-7: Para-Moth is approved for use in the control of wax moths. It cont...FIGURE 13-8: The small hive beetle has become a significant problem for beekeep...FIGURE 13-9: Placing the legs of your elevated hive stand in cans of oil preven...FIGURE 13-10: These beehives were shattered to smithereens by a hungry bear. FIGURE 13-11: Installing a metal mouse guard prevents mice from nesting in your...

13 Chapter 14FIGURE 14-1: This illustrates the dominant versus recessive gene expression. FIGURE 14-2: Cutting a sawtooth pattern along the bottom edge of the wax founda...FIGURE 14-3: Carefully cut around the queen cell and transfer it onto a frame i...FIGURE 14-4: A cell bar frame (detail of individual queen cup). FIGURE 14-5: Three different kinds of grafting tools. FIGURE 14-6: Queen cell protectors snapped into place. They are used to protect...FIGURE 14-7: Different kinds of cages designed to hold her majesty. FIGURE 14-8: A push-in queen cage helps you confine a queen to just a few cells...FIGURE 14-9: The delicate process of grafting larvae into queen cell cups. FIGURE 14-10: A pee-wee mating nuc takes up less real estate than a conventiona...

14 Chapter 15FIGURE 15-1: Egyptians harvested honey over 3,000 years ago. FIGURE 15-2: This chart illustrates the typical content of honey (based on data...FIGURE 15-3: The four basic types of honey you can produce (extracted, comb, ch...FIGURE 15-4: Some of the honey varietals from around the world that are in hone...FIGURE 15-5: Use this honey aroma and tasting wheel to pinpoint the unique flav...FIGURE 15-6: A refractometer is used to measure the water content of honey.

15 Chapter 16FIGURE 16-1: This hand-crank, stainless-steel extractor extracts up to six shal...FIGURE 16-2: An electrically heated uncapping knife makes short order of slicin...FIGURE 16-3: A double stainless-steel honey strainer (like this one) is an effe...FIGURE 16-4: A double uncapping tank helps you harvest wax cappings. It reclaim...FIGURE 16-5: An uncapping fork or roller is a useful tool for opening cappings ...FIGURE 16-6: The honey gate valve at the bottom of this five-gallon bucket make...FIGURE 16-7: You can use a solar wax melter to begin the rendering process. Ver...FIGURE 16-8: Here’s the setup, left to right, in my garage for extracting honey...FIGURE 16-9: Here’s my honey label — simple and to the point. FIGURE 16-10: These are the standard layouts and nutritional information that c...

16 Chapter 17FIGURE 17-1: On the top is a frame of comb from a Langstroth hive. On the botto...FIGURE 17-2: Shaking bees off a Langstroth frame. FIGURE 17-3: This triangular bee escape enables bees to easily travel down into...FIGURE 17-4: A safe and fast way to get bees out of honey supers is to use a fu...FIGURE 17-5: If you have a friend to help, a hive carrier like this makes carry...FIGURE 17-6: Remove wax cappings using an electric uncapping knife. The uncappi...FIGURE 17-7: Place the uncapped frame vertically in the extractor. FIGURE 17-8: This box makes it easy to protect and transport comb from a Top Ba...FIGURE 17-9: This is one style of honey press that is used for extracting honey...

17 Chapter 18FIGURE 18-1: A weak colony can be combined with a strong colony by using the ne...FIGURE 18-2: A follower board stops bees from entering unused space. FIGURE 18-3: These blueprints serve as a guide for building your own elevated h...FIGURE 18-4: Here’s a typical kit for brewing mead (honey wine). FIGURE 18-5: A propolis trap can be placed where the inner cover usually goes. ...FIGURE 18-6: Here’s a sample of the wonderful products you can make from beeswa...

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2 Table of Contents

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