SOME
BEEKEEPING INFORMATION
Sacramento Area Beekeepers Association www.sacbeekeepers.org There is a monthly newsletter,
and beekeeping classes are offered periodically. These classes
fill quickly. The
coordinator for classes is Ernie Buda; his contact information is 2211budae@att.net and (916) 761-3802.
U C Davis Bee Lab website for information and “contact
us” www.beebiology.ucdavis.edu
Extension Apiculturist
(U C, Davis) is Eric Mussen,
(530) 752-0472. Note: Eric
Mussen answers his telephone. His
job description includes providing beekeeping information.
Newsletter: www.entomology.ucdavis.edu Click on “apiary newsletter” to
subscribe.
Randy Oliver www.scientificbeekeeping.com This is an informative site; he
answers e-mails.
American Bee Journal, 51 S. 2nd Street,
Hamilton, IL 62341 (217) 847-3324
www.americanbeejournal.com
This magazine is published monthly.
Bee Culture,
The A. I. Root Co., 623 W. Liberty Street, Medina, OH 44256 (800) 289-7668 www.beeculture.com This journal is published
monthly.
Packages of bees (with queens) are available from Ken Smith
in Paradise at (530) 872-4483. Reserve one
3 lb. package per hive NOW; pick it up when your hive is ready. When ordering
bee packages, early
reservations are important. Each source has its own deadline; many are already
booked by March.
Beekeeping Supplies – Note: Buy select
grade (knot free) hive
bodies and supers.
Dadant &
Sons, 15 C Valley Ct., Chico,
CA 95973 (from Esplanade, turn
right a little north of Shasta
School), (530) 893-0921 (You can
save shipping fees by picking
up your own supplies.)
Mann Lake, 1250
Harter Ave., Woodland, CA
(866) 880-7678
Glory Bee Foods,
120 N Seneca Rd., Eugene, OR 97402
(mostly crafts) (800)
456-7923
Beekeeping Books --
Anything written by Richard Taylor. Most of his books are out of print but may be located on
internet sites such as www.abebooks.com
“First Lessons in Beekeeping,” Dadant & Sons, Hamilton,
IL (revised in 1997)
“Natural Beekeeping” by Ross Conrad. ( www.dancingbeegardens.com)
“The Backyard Beekeeper” by Kim Flottum, Quarry Books,
Gloucester, MA, published in 2005
“The Hive and the Honeybee,” Dadant & Sons, Hamilton, IL, 1997 (textbook style)
“ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture,” The A. I. Root Co., Medina, OH,
1990 (textbook style)
Related information--
Xerces Society (www.xerces.org) (native pollinators) Click: pollinator-conservation (530) 510-0976
Butte County Resource Conservation District (www.buttecountyrcd.org), (530) 534-0112,
ext. 122
Cooperative Extension Butte County – Master Gardeners
Program, (530) 538-7201 (M--Th 1--3
pm)
California Native Plant Society (www.cnps.org) Mount Lassen Chapter, Woody
Elliott, 530-342-6053
California Invasive Plant Council (www.cal-ipc.org) 1442-A
Walnut St., #142, Berkeley, CA
94709
Edible Shasta Butte (www.edibleshastabutte.com),
(530) 345-9509 (publication
features local foods)
Apitherapy (www.apitherapy.org) (Yes, bee venom can be therapeutic.)
The Middle Mountain Foundation. They are dedicated to
preserving the Sutter Buttes and hold
regularly scheduled interpretive hikes and programs. (www.middlemountain.org)
www.beyondpesticides.org
BEEKEEPING
EQUIPMENT
The prices listed below
are from Dadant's 2010 Catalog.
All honey produced from the following list of equipment will have to be
squeezed (messy) or extracted from combs with an extractor. There is no
information given
here for production of comb honey.
Bee Housing:
The boxes in which bees
are housed are commonly called hive bodies or supers, which are available in
three sizes: deep (9 5/8') used by commercial and many hobby beekeepers, medium
or Illinois (6 5/8') and shallow (5 11/16”), which are used for honey
harvesting. A common practice is to use two deep hive bodies for the bees'
housing and to add shallow supers for the honey crop.
Because a deep hive body, full of bees and honey, may weigh 100 pounds
or more, and when filled with honey alone weighs 80 pounds, the use of medium
depth hive bodies is becoming increasingly popular. Two or three medium-sized boxes are used for bees to raise
young (brood) and store food, with additional medium supers added for the honey
crop. This has the advantage that
all equipment is the same size, and components can be interchanged freely.
Recently, smaller eight
frame hives, called garden hives, have been manufactured. Check Dadant's catalog
for styles and
prices.
A hive body is started
with ten wooden frames, which have foundation secured in them. Foundation
consists of starter pieces of beeswax, which is commercially available. This
foundation wax is drawn out by the
bees to form honeycomb, where young bees (brood) develop and honey and pollen
are stored.
Basic housing costs:
One medium box with
frames and beeswax foundation, $27.85.
Five complete medium boxes, $118.75. One deep hive body with frames and beeswax foundation,
$35.50. One shallow super with beeswax foundation and frames, $26.25. Screened
bottom board, $14.50. Inner cover, $8.25.
Telescoping outer cover, $14.00.
Honeybees -- A starting package of three pounds of bees with
a queen sells for about $50.00
Beekeeper Supplies including construction materials:
Hat and veil,
$22.90. Smoker, $28.95. Hive tool,
$7.25. Frame eyelets, $5.75. Frame
wire (700 feet), $4.25. Spur embedder, $5.45.
Bee brush, $3.85.
Total price for five medium boxes, beekeeper supplies, and
one 3 pound package of bees is $247.15.
A hive stand can consist of two cinder blocks –Be sure to use
a good quality wood glue
Bees in schools---Lee Edwards, 283 Red Tape Rd., Cherokee,
CA 95965-9115 (530) 534-0400
