Getting Started with Beekeeping

Your First Hive Inspection

Don't stress about finding the queen—look for brood and healthy activity instead.

Step 1: Timing Your First Inspection

Wait four to five days after bringing your bees home before doing your first inspection. This gives the bees time to settle in and start their routine.

Step 2: What to Look for During Inspection

• Full frames: If your top box is about 80% full of bees, it's time to add your next box
• Brood presence: Look for all stages of brood—especially larvae and capped brood
• Pollen and nectar: Frames should show a mix of pollen, nectar, and honey
• Well-fed brood: Larvae should appear moist, shiny, and white

Step 3: Feeding Your Hive

New hives need food. Feed about one gallon of 1:1 sugar syrup per week. Feed consistently to help them grow and draw out comb.

Step 4: Post-Inspection Tips

• Push frames tightly together when done
• Keep inspections short—5 to 10 minutes is plenty for your first visit
• Come back for a follow-up inspection four or five days later

Hive Management Best Practices

Understanding Your Hive Structure

• Bottom box (brood box): Reserved for the queen and brood development
• Middle box: Can be brood box or honey storage depending on season
• Top boxes (supers): Reserved for honey storage and harvest

When to Add Boxes

Add boxes when the current box is about 80% full of bees. This prevents overcrowding and encourages growth.

Queen Excluders: To Use or Not to Use?

Identifying and Fixing Honey-Bound Hives

A honey-bound hive has so much nectar/syrup that the brood nest is filled, leaving no room for the queen to lay.

Signs of a Honey-Bound Hive:

• All boxes above the first brood box are completely full of honey
• Lower brood box has multiple frames of capped honey and only a few frames of brood
• No open spaces for the queen to lay eggs
• Bees are drawing excess burr comb all over the hive

How to Fix It:

1. Remove 2 frames of honey on either side of the brood
2. Set frames at least 20 feet away and allow them to be robbed out
3. Place the now-empty frames back into the hive on either side of the brood
4. Add an empty box
5. Stop feeding if you were feeding

Seasonal Beekeeping Guide

Critical Summer Care (Post-Harvest)

Winter losses are often the result of improper care during summer months. Start your winter preparation immediately after honey harvest!

Summer Feeding Strategy

After harvest, your bees are entering a critical period. There is virtually no nectar flow, yet they're still rearing brood and need large amounts of food.

Trickle Feeding Method

Feed approximately 1/4 to 1/2 gallon of 1:1 sugar syrup per week rather than large amounts infrequently.

• Goal: Maintain at least 30 pounds of stored honey in the second box
• Duration: Continue until the hive has adequate stores (usually into October)
• Enhancement: Add nutritional supplements like Apis Biologix or Complete to syrup

Pollen Supplementation

During hot, dry summers or nectar dearths, pollen becomes scarce. Provide pollen patties to ensure brood gets proper nutrition.

Pest and Disease Management

Varroa Mites: Your #1 Priority

Varroa mites are the most significant pest threat to honeybees. They weaken hives by feeding on bee blood and transmitting viruses.

Testing for Varroa Mites

Test regularly! Goal is to maintain a Varroa load of less than 2%.

Treatment Options

• Apivar: Most effective in high temperatures
• Natural compounds: Various organic treatments available; efficacy rates 95-99%
• Mechanical methods: Queen isolation cages, drone comb removal, cultural practices

Visual Signs of Mite Infestation

• Deformed wings (K-wings): Bees with crumpled or misshapen wings
• Bald brood: Uncapped or partially uncapped pupae
• Drone brood inspection: Drones are more susceptible; inspect between boxes

Recognizing a Drone-Laying Hive

If your hive has lost its queen and failed to raise a replacement, worker bees will begin laying unfertilized eggs, which develop into drones.

Signs of Drone-Laying Hive:

• Abundance of drone cells instead of worker cells
• Multiple eggs per cell (4-12+), often stuck to sides and floor
• Raised, bumpy brood pattern as workers widen cells for larger drones
• No new worker brood appearing

Harvesting and Honey Processing

Is the Honey Flow Over? How to Know

The major nectar-producing flowers begin to die

Talk with local beekeepers to identify key nectar-producing plants in your area. When these flowers die off, harvest time is likely around the corner.

What are your bees doing?

When the nectar flow ends, you'll notice:

• Bees begin to uncap honey and consume it
• No longer storing large amounts of fresh nectar
• Fewer uncapped cells with nectar in the hive
• Bees may become prone to robbing

The bees have capped and cured the honey

Test honey curing with the shake test:

1. Hold a frame horizontally over an open hive
2. Shake vigorously
3. If nectar rains out, honey is NOT cured—wait another week
4. If little or no nectar comes out, honey IS cured and ready to harvest

Getting Bees Out of Supers

Before harvesting, you need to remove bees from honey supers.

Extracting Honey Without an Extractor

You don't need an expensive extractor for small amounts of honey!

Cookie Sheet Method

1. Uncap both sides of frame with uncapping knife
2. Place frame upside down on cookie sheet (bees build cells at 17° angle)
3. Cover loosely with plastic wrap
4. Let sit overnight—one deep frame yields almost a quart of honey

Crush and Strain

1. Remove comb from frame
2. Squeeze honey out of comb by hand into a bowl
3. Strain through fine mesh to remove wax
4. Allow several days for air bubbles to rise before bottling

Storing Honey Frames for Next Year

If you're not extracting, store empty frames for reuse.

• Freezer: Most effective; prevents wax moth damage
• Certan: One-application, non-toxic wax moth protection
• Para-Moth: Traditional crystals; requires periodic replenishment and airing out

Educational Resources & Tips

Understanding Your Bees

Your bees are telling you something every time you open the hive. Learn to listen:

• Nutritional status: Look at brood color and moisture level. Dry larvae indicate insufficient nutrition.
• Queen health: Eggs are tiny (grain of rice size) but larvae and brood patterns indicate queen presence
• Hive organization: Honey on outside edges, pollen banded around brood, brood in center is ideal

Summer Splits

Want to expand your apiary? Summer is ideal for splits.

• Split as early as possible in summer for best overwintering success
• Use mated queens rather than queen cells (faster establishment)
• Minimum 4 frames of brood for viable summer split
• Feed heavily—they're in a race against winter
• After July 4th, success rate drops to about 50%

Mean Bees?

If your bees suddenly turned aggressive:

• Check weather: Bees are grumpy when it's windy, chilly, or otherwise poor
• Improve smoker technique: A poorly lit smoker is one of the easiest-to-fix causes
• Look for hunger: Trickle feed during dearth periods
• Timing: Work hives in afternoon when gentle foragers are out
• Last resort: Requeen if genetics are mean

Selling Your Honey

If you decide to bottle and market honey:

• Check state licensing requirements (varies by state)
• Follow FDA food labeling laws
• Check local health department guidelines
• Peel-and-stick labels are cost-effective (quantity pricing available)
• Create a brand identity with catchy name and logo
• Price to sell AND to reflect your costs plus profit
• Social media and word-of-mouth are your best marketing tools

Connect With Us

The Walker County Beekeepers Association meets monthly to share knowledge, support each other, and advance the art and science of beekeeping in our region.

For meeting times, locations, and additional resources, contact your local association officers.

Remember: Every beekeeper is always learning. Don't hesitate to ask questions and share your experiences with fellow beekeepers!

© 2026 Walker County Beekeepers Association
Dedicated to supporting honeybees and beekeepers in our community
This educational material is provided as a general guide. Always consult with experienced local beekeepers and follow your state's beekeeping regulations.