Second Edition Beekeeping Tips and Techniques for the Southeast United States, Beekeeping Finance

This second edition is devoted to tips and techniques learned over 50 years of working with bees, mostly in the Southeast United States, as well as beekeeping finance. The book is targeted at advanced beginners to experienced professionals. All beekeeping is local, so some of these tips and techniques may not work in your area, but they should be considered. Beekeeping finance tips should be considered for starting and growing your operation. Many businesses fail due to poor financial controls and planning. This book is organized as more of a reference book. It is intended for the reader to utilize the Table of Contents to find topics of interest, then to read those topics individually. Of course, you are welcome to read the entire book; I believe you will enjoy reading the entire book. The reader should have taken at least a basic beekeeping course so they understand the bee terminology. Techniques and thoughts updated. • Bees can regulate a closed hive better. o Screened bottom boards should only be used with the plastic insert to minimize drafts. It is better to use a solid bottom board. o We should not use inner covers with a hole/notch in the rim to allow moisture to escape. Insulated covers should be used so that moisture from consumed honey condenses on the hive sides and not the underside of the cover, where it rains down on the winter cluster. Thick-walled wooden hives should be used to maintain heat inside the hive, along with an entrance reducer on the smallest hole size. o Hives should be placed in the morning and early afternoon sun, with shade in the late afternoon in South Carolina. This will help with disease and pest control. • Propolis should be allowed to collect on frames and inside the woodenware. Pesticides collect in propolis, and propolis is antimicrobial and antifungal. • If possible, recommend that eight-frame hives should be used rather than ten-frame hives. Eight-frame hives are more “natural” than 10-frame hives. o Bees typically build five to eight combs in the wild. o They are lighter. o Colonies have a greater chance of swarming. o They maintain heat better in the winter. o Bees tend to move up rather than out. That is why the outermost frames in a ten-frame hive are sometimes difficult for the bees to draw out. • Section on treatment-free beekeeping • Section on tropilaelaps • The dollars have been updated to today’s cost in the financial section. The technique is still the same. • Section on the Yellow Legged Hornet (YLH) (Vespa velutina). What we know as of May, 2026