Having even a fewbeehivescan seem like a full - time line sometimes . There ’s beehive maintenance , beloved collection , winter feeding and wellness monitoring to keep up with . Beekeeper Michael Bush , writer ofThe Practical Beekeeper : Beekeeping Naturally(X - Star Publishing Company , 2011 ) , has a number of “ lazy apiculture ” method acting he uses at Bush Farms in Nehawka , Neb. His simplified beekeeping method allow him to keep 200 hives for slightly more study than he was doing to keep just four . Here are modifications Bush suggests to make beekeeping well-fixed .
1 . Top EntrancesNot to be confused with top - bar beehive , Langstroth hives with top entrances are easy for bee to access than those with bottom entrances . Bush realized the need to flip when he notice his urticaria were not flourishing due to skunks eating the bee — scratching on the beehive and snagging the bee one by one as they hail to scrutinise the noise . Rather than eliminate all the skunks , he rearranged the boxes , putting the entrance on top . An vantage he found was that tall grass and high snow no longer kept bee from move into the hive , meaning less mowing and snow shoveling was required .
2 . small Boxes“The fact is as you get older , things get hard to lift , ” Bush articulate , and several of his simplification methods support this notion .
A 10 - frame cryptical boxful full of dear count 90 pound , but a 10 - frame medium box seat is 60 dog pound and an eight - frame medium boxful is approximately 55 quid . Especially if your apiculture is a solo venture , there ’s no reason to make lifting a box so difficult .
Bush recommends start off with medium boxwood to begin with . If you ’re already place in beekeeping with deep boxes , you’re able to cut down your physical body and boxes without too much fuss . Likewise , start out with eight - frame boxes , or if you already have 10 - frame boxes , apply those for brood and get eight - frame boxwood to expend as supers .
3 . spiritualist Frames“If you have all the same - sized frames , the frame can go anywhere , ” Bush sound out , as long as you use medium frame . It ’s nice to have all of your boxes the same size , too , but the frame sizing is what really matters . you may move frames up or down a corner to foreclose a swarm or promote your bees to move , and you do n’t have to jumble to amend , build or bribe a intermediate frame when all you have are empty abstruse frames .
4 . innate FeedWhen you let your bees flow on honey rather of artificial feed , not only do you see your beehive are chemical - barren , you eliminate the disbursement and time commitment of dealing with artificial feed . When harvesting honey in the drop , see the colony size of it . As a general pattern , Bush leave behind a minimum of one frame of cap honey per frame of bees going into winter .
When you ask to add on provender beyond what honey will provide , use dry sugar instead of syrup . This tolerate the bees to deplete it when it ’s below the syrup ’s freeze point and preclude the bees from drowning . Wet a little sugar so it ’s sluggish to pull in the bee . Put it on a tack of paper , on top of the top legal profession but under the inner cover . Be careful to not get over all of the spaces between the bars , or the bees wo n’t be able to get at the top entrance .
5 . Paint - Free BoxesBush says his wife and neighbor are the only I who care that the boxes are n’t painted . He has n’t painted his hives since 2009 , and the bee have n’t complained so far . Bush admits that the equipment might not last as long , but not paint them ( and peculiarly not paint them every twelvemonth ) is a big meter saver . Other beekeepers are on - gameboard with this theme , as Bush is immediate to point out , include C.C. Miller , source ofFifty Years Among the Bees(1911 ) , and Richard Taylor , author ofThe Joys of Beekeeping(St Martin ’s Press , 1974 ) .
More “ otiose ” beekeeping tips — as well as instructions for converting box to top entrances , cutting down box and systema skeletale , and using 10 - frame brood boxes and eight - anatomy superintendent — are onBush ’s website .
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