Best Living Conditions:
- Honey bees can thrive in natural or domesticated environments, though they prefer to live in gardens, woodlands, orchards, meadows and other areas where flowering plants are abundant.
- Honey bees in temperate climates, such as European honey bees, store larger amounts of honey than other subspecies, as they need to maintain a certain temperature inside the nest to survive during winter. Bees living in these climates adapt well to their environment only when workers have created a large nest with well-insulated interiors. (Orkin)
Flowers:
- Symphotricum: low growing
- Scotch roses: typical coastal plants
- Lavender
- Daffodils: Bees are attracted to the bright colors
- Sunflowers
- Cosmos: It’s easy to grow and doesn’t need much in the way of maintenance.
- Nasturtium: A ground-keeper that blooms in autumn. They are easy to grow, and the flowers are edible
(Ectrotek)
Facts
- On average, one honeybee colony will have 30,000-50,000 bees, depending on size. Within that community lives the queen (who lays upwards of 1,500 eggs daily), worker bees who run the hive, and drones, which are the male bees who mate with queens from other colonies.(Donovan, 2019)
- For best placement, the opening of each hive should be facing south, east or southeast. This allows for the bees to soak in the morning sun (which gets them moving) and then cool down with shade later in the afternoon (Donovan, 2019)
- Beekeeping is not something that you have to constantly check. You only check the hives once every two to four weeks in the spring and summer.
- Buy bees from local bee breeders. This means that the bees will be adapted to the climate. Always think of buying bees from a similar climate.
(Campbell, 2020)
- "In the springtime, you’re going to spend a little bit more time as the bees come out of winter and start growing,". "In the summertime, not quite as much. And then in the fall, a little bit more." (Donovan, 2019)
Equipment needed:
- Woodenware/Bee hive: usually it is recommended to start out with two
- Protective viels and gloves
- Smoker: This helps calm and distract the bees while you're working within the hive.
- Hive tool: Reminiscent of an elongated paint scraper, this must-have allows you to easily access the hive and move frames around.
https://www.thespruce.com/types-of-beehives-langstroth-top-bar-3016863
https://www.thespruce.com/free-bee-hive-plans-5078043
- Honey bees can thrive in natural or domesticated environments, though they prefer to live in gardens, woodlands, orchards, meadows and other areas where flowering plants are abundant.
- Honey bees in temperate climates, such as European honey bees, store larger amounts of honey than other subspecies, as they need to maintain a certain temperature inside the nest to survive during winter. Bees living in these climates adapt well to their environment only when workers have created a large nest with well-insulated interiors. (Orkin)
Flowers:
- Symphotricum: low growing
- Scotch roses: typical coastal plants
- Lavender
- Daffodils: Bees are attracted to the bright colors
- Sunflowers
- Cosmos: It’s easy to grow and doesn’t need much in the way of maintenance.
- Nasturtium: A ground-keeper that blooms in autumn. They are easy to grow, and the flowers are edible
(Ectrotek)
Facts
- On average, one honeybee colony will have 30,000-50,000 bees, depending on size. Within that community lives the queen (who lays upwards of 1,500 eggs daily), worker bees who run the hive, and drones, which are the male bees who mate with queens from other colonies.(Donovan, 2019)
- For best placement, the opening of each hive should be facing south, east or southeast. This allows for the bees to soak in the morning sun (which gets them moving) and then cool down with shade later in the afternoon (Donovan, 2019)
- Beekeeping is not something that you have to constantly check. You only check the hives once every two to four weeks in the spring and summer.
- Buy bees from local bee breeders. This means that the bees will be adapted to the climate. Always think of buying bees from a similar climate.
(Campbell, 2020)
- "In the springtime, you’re going to spend a little bit more time as the bees come out of winter and start growing,". "In the summertime, not quite as much. And then in the fall, a little bit more." (Donovan, 2019)
Equipment needed:
- Woodenware/Bee hive: usually it is recommended to start out with two
- Protective viels and gloves
- Smoker: This helps calm and distract the bees while you're working within the hive.
- Hive tool: Reminiscent of an elongated paint scraper, this must-have allows you to easily access the hive and move frames around.
https://www.thespruce.com/types-of-beehives-langstroth-top-bar-3016863
https://www.thespruce.com/free-bee-hive-plans-5078043