What in the world did anyone do before cyberspace? Not even the most determined library search of years gone by would have turned up the plethora of bee-related resources that are only a click away on the web. Just enter the word "beekeeping" or "honey bees" into any of the search engines, and you'll come up with hundreds (even thousands) of finds.

When you extract honey from a hive, the wax cappings that you slice off represent your major wax harvest for the year. There's also the excess comb you remove during each routine inspection of a hive. Save all of this wax. You'll probably get 1 or 2 pounds of wax for every 100 pounds of honey that you harvest, plus whatever burr comb you remove.

Build a solar wax melter by first breaking it down into its individual components — these tables show you how and provide instructions on how to cut those components. The top assembly requires a dado cut. Lumber in a store is identified by its nominal size, which is its rough dimension before it's trimmed and sanded to its finished size at the lumber mill.

After you've cut all the pieces of your solar wax melter, it's time to clear a good work space and put all this stuff together. You start with the floor of the solar wax melter and work your way to the top.Attach the riser to the lower and upper floors.First use the deck screws and a power drill with a #2 Phillips head bit to attach the lower floor to the riser.

In the autumn of 2006, a beekeeper in Florida filed the first report of a sudden and unexplained disappearance of his bees. They didn't die. They just packed up and left. More reports of heavy losses (mostly from commercial migratory beekeepers) quickly followed. In subsequent years, beekeepers have reported losing anywhere from 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives.

As you plan your new beehive-building adventure, you may want to start by deciding which hive design to go for based on your woodworking skills and beekeeping needs. You will also need to know which tools and fasteners you'll need for that particular build. Plans may differ somewhat depending on the type of hive you choose, but you can follow some basic steps to build most types of beehives.

What to do during your spring, autumn, and routine beekeeping inspections varies. The spring inspection starts or revives your bee colony, the autumn inspection prepares your beehive for the cold weather (assuming it gets cold in your area), and your routine beekeeping inspections help maintain a healthy and productive hive.

The majority of the bee hive’s population consists of worker bees. Like the queen, worker bees are all female. They are smaller, their abdomens are shorter, and on their hind legs they possess pollen baskets, which are used to tote pollen back from the field. The life span of worker bee is a modest six weeks during the colony’s active season.

One way or another, handmade beehives are designed to provide the bees with shelter from the elements, a space to raise brood, a space to store honey, and adequate ventilation so that the bees can regulate the colony’s temperature. In addition, modern hives provide the beekeeper with the ability to inspect, manipulate, and manage the colony.