How to Farm Bees

A bee farmer will produce not only honey, but pollen, propolis and nucleus colonies for sale. A bee farmer is not a novice but an experienced keeper who has decided to turn his hobby into a business. Keeping track of expenses, income and the rhythm of the bees are all part of running a bee farm.

Things You'll Need

  • 5 screened bottom boards
  • 10 full-depth supers
  • 100 plastic full-depth frames
  • 10 medium-depth supers
  • 100 plastic medium-depth frames
  • 5 inner covers
  • 5 telescoping covers
  • veil
  • helmet
  • bee-jacket or coveralls (light or white in color)
  • smoker
  • 2 hive tools
  • 5 nucleus colonies of bees
  • gloves
  • 5 internal feeders
  • 5 bottom pollen traps
  • 5 propolis traps
  • 5 bee escapes
  • 10 cinder blocks
  • electric fence
  • compact honey extractor
  • capping knife
  • assortment of 5 gallon food grade plastic buckets
  • honey gate for plastic bucket
  • glass bottles
  • labels
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Instructions

  1. Establishing Hives

    • 1

      Select a site for the hives on a flat level surface and arrange two cinder blocks for each base. Be sure your bee yard has afternoon shade, a windbreak to the north and west and a source of fresh water. Set up electric fence if bears are common in the area.

    • 2

      Place the screened bottom boards on the level cinder blocks. Place the pollen traps on the boards. Collect pollen daily and store in the freezer until sale.

    • 3

      Set up one full-depth super on the hive base. Put the nucleus colony in and fill remaining space with full-depth frames and internal feeder. Fill the feeder with a 50/50 mixture of sugar and water. Top the super with inner and outer covers.

    • 4

      Check on the hive regularly, refilling the feeder as often as needed. Once seven frames are filled, place second full-depth super on top, with ten frames in it. Remove the internal feeder and replace it with a frame.

    • 5

      Add two medium-depth supers as soon as the second full-depth super has seven full frames. Add propolis trap by placing it atop the honey supers in place of the inner cover. When propolis trap is full, place in plastic bag and freeze. The propolis will snap loose and can then be sold.

    Harvesting Honey

    • 6

      Harvest honey when the honeycomb in the medium-depth supers is coated with wax. The honey is ripe at this point. Place bee escape in hole of inner cover. Slide both between full-depth and medium-depth supers. This will empty the bees from the honey supers within 24 hours. Remove medium-depth supers.

    • 7

      Move medium-depth supers to a clean environment to extract honey. Remove frames.

    • 8

      Uncap the honeycomb with capping knife over a screened bowl. Save the cappings in the screen to drain. Place the frames in the extractor.

    • 9

      Spin the honey out of the honeycomb in the extractor and filter the honey into five gallon pails. Store for 24 hours to allow bubbles to rise to the surface and dissipate. Use the pail with the honey gate to fill honey bottles. Label per your state's regulation for sale.

    • 10

      Replace frames in medium-depth supers and replace on hives to allow the bees to clean the comb. Remove and store in plastic bags to prevent moth infestation.