Notes for New Beekeepers

Contents 1. The Hymenoptera 2. Apis mellifera 3. Three Castes of Honeybee 4. The Life Cycle of the Honeybee 5. Beehives 6. Polystyrene or Wooden Hives? 7. The Parts of a Beehive 8. Bee Space 9. Frames and Foundation 10. Smokers, Tools and Silly Hats 11. Your Apiary 12. Selecting an Apiary Site 13. The Apiary Environment 14. Bees and Neighbours 15. Start Beekeeping 16. Purchasing Bees 17. Transfer Bees into Your Hive 18. Inspecting Your Colonies 19. Supering 20. Operate a Two Hive System 21. Queen Cells and Queen Cups 22. Swarm Prevention 23. What to do if you find a queen cell 24. Swarm Control 25. Finding a sealed queen cell - Your bees have swarmed 26. Collecting a Swarm 27. Bee Diseases 28. Varroasis 29. Adult Bee Diseases and Management Issues 30. Forage 31. Plants for Bees 32. Hive Products 33. Extraction Techniques 34. Selling Honey 35. The Beekeeping Year 36. New Beekeepers Checklist Bill Cadmore was born and raised in a tiny village on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. He moved to London for university studies and then on to post-graduate work at the University of Leeds. As a teacher of Biology and Physics he went onto become a senior leader in a large comprehensive school in Leeds. Working with other schools, colleges and workplaces he helped develop a vocational training scheme to complement the work he was doing with the academic students. While walking home one day he made the mistake of spotting a swarm in a tree. On telling the local beekeeper about the swarm he was invited to put on a veil and help hive the swarm - still in his business suit. This led to hobby beekeeping in his garden and then the purchase of a field for an out apiary. This soon became multiple apiaries in and around the city. Taking early retirement to become a bee farmer he soon found himself employed as the apiarist for a bee research programme at the University of Leeds. Bill is presently chairman of Bradford BKA and is a past chairman of Yorkshire BKA and Leeds BKA. For two years he worked as an education officer for BBKA/NBU organising conferences around the country to encourage associations to improve the quality and quantity of training they provided. He has written on establishing training apiaries and has produced a teaching pack that has been given to every school and youth organisation in Bradford - called 'Bradford's Beautiful Bees'.