{"id":822,"date":"2026-02-12T16:55:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T00:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/?page_id=822"},"modified":"2026-03-12T16:53:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:53:31","slug":"beekeeper-equipment-and-tools-abejas-module-2-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/extension\/beekeeper-equipment-and-tools-abejas-module-2-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Beekeeper Equipment and Tools (ABEJAS Module 2.1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beekeeper Equipment and Tools (ABEJAS Module 2.1)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r48EjzyXdAk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Text Transcript with Description of Visuals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Audio<\/th><th>Visual<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>[Music]<br><br>Welcome to the second module of ABEJAS.<\/td><td>ABEJAS Logo in front of beekeeper driving fork lift carrying honey bee colonies<br><br>Title: Module 2.1 Beekeeper equipment and tools<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>This module will cover equipment, tools, and safety while beekeeping and teach you how to recognize nutritional needs and assess queen status during colony assessment.<\/td><td>Beekeeper in an apiary talking to camera<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Let&#8217;s start with the equipment and tools you will use while beekeeping. [Music]<\/td><td>Lit smoker on a trailer bed<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&nbsp;<br>Many commercial beekeeping operations use standardized Langstroth box sizes, such as eight frame, or ten frame deeps, mediums, or shallow boxes.<\/td><td>Honey bee colonies sitting in an apiary. Text on screen: Langstroth hives with standardized box sizes<br><br>Beekeeper puffing smoke onto bees in a colony. Text on screen: This box is a 10 frame deep with 8 frames and a feeder in place of 2 frames<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>This standardization simplifies hive management and equipment compatibility across different operations.<\/td><td>Beekeeper using hive tool to separate frames inside a hive box, then taking out frame and inspecting bees. Text on screen: Medium and deep boxes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>There are different size hive boxes depending on their purpose. Deep boxes are a little over nine inches tall and are used to provide ample space for brood rearing.<\/td><td>Beekeeper taking lid off colony, then overhead view of beekeeper working in multiple boxes and moving frames from box to box. Text on screen: Deep boxes provide plenty of space for brood rearing<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Medium boxes are a little over six inches tall and are often used as supers for honey storage or brood boxes in some regions. <\/td><td>Beekeeper carrying two more shallow boxes over to another hive. Text on screen: Medium boxes are often used as honey supers<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Shallow boxes are a little over five inches tall and are less common than the other two sizes. Shallows are primarily used for honey supers.<\/td><td>Beekeeper taking a frame out of a box while another beekeeper puffs smoke onto bees. Zooms into a frame full of capped honey.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>All boxes will have frames that are compatible with the depth of the box.<\/td><td>Beekeeper holds two frames side by size. Text on screen: A frame from a deep box (left) and from a medium box (right)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Shallow or medium boxes are easier to handle and extract honey from, and this can reduce a beekeepers\u2019 physical strain.<\/td><td>Two beekeepers lifting hive boxes off of colony<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>It&#8217;s important to wear protective gear such as a beekeeping suit, veil, and gloves while working in a honey bee hive.<\/td><td>Beekeeper putting on a full body suit and veil<br><br>Two beekeepers putting on gloves <br>Text on screen: Veil and gloves<br><br>Two people standing on grass wearing closed toes boots<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The tool you will use in everyday hive inspections is called a hive tool.<\/td><td>Two beekeepers standing side by side holding a silver and yellow hive tool, then transitions to a container holding smoker, a suit, pair of gloves, and hive tool<br><br>Text on screen: Hive tool<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>ve tools are essential to prying open hive boxes, to break propolis seals, separating and lifting frames, and scraping comb from the frames or hive bodies.<\/td><td>Beekeeper using hive tool to separate frames inside a hive box<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Frequently cleaning your hive tool is important to minimize spreading diseases to other apiaries and facilities.<\/td><td>Beekeeper using one hive tool to scrape debris off another hive tool<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Sharpening your hive tool will help you easily remove excess wax and propolis when working in hives.<\/td><td>Beekeeper scraping comb off of hive lid<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Another tool you&#8217;ll commonly use is a smoker. A smoker consists of a metal chamber where fuel such as woodchips, burlap, or pine needles is burned.<\/td><td>Beekeeper puffing smoke onto bees in a colony. Text on screen: Smoker<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The bellows allows you to gently puff smoke over the bees. The smoke helps keep the bees calm and reduces the likelihood of being stung. <\/td><td>Beekeeper opening smoker and takes out old burlap from inside smoker<br><br>Lit smoker on a trailer bed <br><br>Pile of pine needles on trailer bed<br><br>Beekeeper puffing air into smoker through the bellow<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The smoke temporarily masks the alarm pheromones that would normally signal danger or defensive behaviors.<\/td><td>Beekeeper puffing smoke onto bees in a colony<br><br>Beekeeper putting a small roll of burlap that is on fire into smoker<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Beekeepers use various types of feeders to provide supplemental food to honey bee colonies.<\/td><td>Beekeeper lifting feeder out of hive box. Text on screen: Feeders<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The types of feeders used are specific to each operation, but may include top feeders where sugar water is provided above the hive frames,<\/td><td>Honey bee colonies with small rectangular feeders on top of lids. Text on screen: These top feeders are made from metal cans<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>or in-hive feeders that are placed inside the hive and take the place of 1 or 2 frames in the hive.<\/td><td>Sugar syrup being poured into in-hive feeder with a hose, then beekeeper holding two in-hive feeders side by side. Text on screen: In-hive feeders<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Lastly, another important tool you may use is record keeping.<\/td><td>Man holding clipboard. Text on screen: Record keeping<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>This can be through paper logs, notebooks, writing on hive boxes, or digital platforms. How each operation keeps records may vary, but overall &nbsp;record keeping is incredibly important to tracking colony health, queen status, strength, production and management activities such as miticide treatments.<\/td><td>Hive lids with writing<br><br>Person holding phone and navigating an app<br><br>Person holding clip board and writing notes on paper<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Now that you know more about the equipment involved in beekeeping, we will talk more about safety next.<\/td><td>Beekeeper in an apiary talking to camera<br> <br>ABEJAS logo, list of two upcoming videos, and @wsubeeprogram YouTube Logo appears<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>[Music]<\/td><td>Drone footage of hives placed in a circle and beekeepers working in hives<br><br>Overlay of WSU Bee Program, Washington State University, Wonderstone Films, United States Department of Agriculture, Project Apis m, Miller Honey Farms, and University of Minnesota Extension logos appear<br><br>Scrolling list of people involved in development of videos appears <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&nbsp;If you&#8217;ve enjoyed this video, please subscribe to the channel and leave us a comment below to let us know what additional topics you would like us to cover in future videos.<\/td><td>A beekeeper closing a clapperboard that says &#8220;WSU ABEJAS English&#8221;<br><br>Beekeeper in an apiary talking to camera<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Text Transcript with Description of Visuals Audio Visual [Music] Welcome to the second module of ABEJAS. ABEJAS Logo in front of beekeeper driving fork lift carrying honey bee colonies Title: Module 2.1 Beekeeper equipment and tools This module will cover equipment, tools, and safety while beekeeping and teach you how to recognize nutritional needs and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8511,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8511"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1072,"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/822\/revisions\/1072"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/descriptive-transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}