Beekeeping

The book I read to research this post was Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Bees have to get nectar from 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey & will pollinate the plants in a 6000 acres area. The most common breeds kept for honey production are the buckfast famously created & used by buckfast abbey & the italian strain both produce lots of honey & are relatively docile. Incidently a bee sting will help relieve the pain of arthritus & it's more or less a science the use of bee products to relieve ailments. Most beehives are made of cedar which is attractive & at the same time quite rot resistant. The honey is pooled in a special tray called a super but you have to leave them enough to survive & they need about 35 pounds of honey to survive the winter although they produce far more. Incidently don't use africanised honey bees there sting is no worse than any other bee but they are vicious & if there hive is disturbed can remain angry for several days also they do sting in groups although they're only found in the americas. If a hive gets overcrowded or gets in a poor state the bees will swarm which is basically them looking for another home young hives are less likely to indulge in this activity & also it can cause problems because if they do this they do this they aren't collecting honey which they need to survive. If you move a hive you should smoke it, stopper the entrance, only do at dawn or dusk & wear protective clothing. You will probably need help & also will have to put straps around the hive to prevent it from falling apart. If you have a good hive & a weak one you can combine the trick here is to put newspaper between the 2 hives & when the bees finally chew through it they will hopefully accept each other. A final note some people breed & sell queen bees which can command £30 each on the open market.