How to Take Care of Honeybees

Beekeeping gives you access to fresh honey and to keeps crops pollinated. Caring for Honeybees requires the knowledge of how to move and work around the bees, feeding the bees every two weeks and checking the bee apiary regularly to observe the status of your honeybees. Learning to be a beekeeper is not for everyone, however people who successfully care for honeybees enjoy it and gain the pleasure of fresh honey.

Things You'll Need

  • Bee suit
  • Bee hat
  • Gloves
  • Smoker
  • Sugar syrup
  • Bee apiary
  • Bee feeder
  • Hive tool
  • flashlight
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Instructions

    • 1

      Put on all your protective beekeeper clothing including, the bee suite, the hat and veil, and gloves. Wear boots and tuck your pants into your socks so that bees cannot sting your legs.

    • 2

      Examine the entrance of the bee apiary and check to make sure that the worker bees are exiting and entering the hive.

    • 3

      Apply smoke from the smoker to the bee apiary to calm and quiet the bees so that you can work around them.

    • 4

      Open up the top of the bee apiary and check for the queen bee who will be working inside the apiary creating new bees. The queen bee runs the hive and the workers do not work as well without a queen bee.

    • 5

      Check the bee feeder which is located on the side of the hive. Add a solution of sugar syrup which is made of sugar and water to the feeder if it is empty or partially empty. This will help keep the bees fed.

    • 6

      Remove any old or unused food from the top and the side of the bee apiary by scraping it off with your hive tool. Smoke the bee apiary again.

    • 7

      Remove the frame and inspect it. Hold the frame with both hands and pick it up out of the apiary. Do not use any sudden jerking motions and do not drop the frame because it can crack and break. The frame is where the honey is produced and stored. If the frame is full you can remove the honey from it by scraping the honey into a large clean container. Replace the frame.

    • 8

      Close the cover of the bee apiary and move away slowly from it.