Seattle Bee Works

Beekeeping in 2011

2011-12-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

Beekeeping in 2011 was an interesting endeavor for new and experienced beekeepers alike...

For starters the bees "season" was delayed due to the cool weather. New packages of bees weren't delivered until May (normally this would happen no later than Mid-April). Hives that made it thru last winter were slow out of the gate, and extra feeding was required just to keep them going until foraging plants became available. Swarms occurred from April to August, normally these would stop around June. And hives that had no apparent reason to swarm, swarmed anyway! Speaking of swarms, I caught a real bee-utiful swarm in Burien this year. Pic at left.

Seattle Bee Works expanded hives this year, to 16 hives. The majority of these are placed with homeowners in West Seattle, but a few were placed with friends in far reaching neighborhoods such as University Village, Queen Ann, and Columbia City. This made beekeeping a little more challenging this year- requiring additional equipment prep to maintain 16 hives and the extra drive time to visit all the hives. However, the addition of new hive locations brought with it the chance to meet and become friends with many new "hive host" families. I've enjoyed getting to share beekeeping in this way and am thankful that so many people are seeing the joy and benefit of having honeybees in their yards.

All in all the year turned out great and I was even featured in an urban farming segment on the Seattle Channel. Additionally, Seattle Bee Works upgraded our packaging and labels, and expanded distribution of West Seattle Honey to multiple outlets including both Husky Deli and West Seattle Produce. Thank you West Seattle for supporting the bees!

What can you do to help bees?

2010-06-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

Members of PSBA educating on bees at the West Seattle Sustainability Fest, June 5, 2010.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the West Seattle Sustainability Festival, in the Puget Sound Beekeepers booth. Our club was there selling our club's honey and educating folks on bees. We had a couple of observation hives there, which seem to mesmerize all ages of people. (see pic above). When I signed up for the booth, I was actually kind of dreading giving up 2 hrs of my time on a sunny day in seattle...but, once there, I was immersed in telling everyone about bees! I ended up staying for 4 hours without even noticing the time pass. I guess I love talkin' about bees.

In the process, I think I unintentionally recruited at least 3 new beekeepers- all women- just by spending a few minutes answering their questions. (while eyes were glued to the observation hive- the bees were working their charm!) Each woman was extremely interested in bees. One even had previous exposure to bee research from her college days... but they all were hesitant to start into beekeeping, mainly because they didn't have enough info or support to begin as an urban beekeeper in Seattle. They thought it took alot of space or they didn't know where to start. I explained how I live in a condo and that I've leveraged my garden-rich friends to offer up space for my hives. I told them about our club meetings and beekeeping mentors. There were no more excuses...they each said they were going to be at our next club meeting to learn more- and to get started as beekeepers. how exciting!

While at the festival, the Frequently asked question I was asked, was what's killing the bees? quickly followed by, How can I help save the bees? (especially if I don't want to/can't be a beekeeper).

While I offered some good general answers to those questions, such as: support local beekeepers, avoid pesticides and plant friendly plants.... I wanted to be able to provide specifics. Hoping that, with specifics, people will more easily take action.
Thus, I'm pursuing a path of research and planning- to educate (myself) and others on possible causes for bee decline and how we can help- specifically. As a start to gathering such info: I used my break at the festival to check in at the Master Gardener booth. The gardener there seemed excited to help support me. I walked away with lists of bee friendly plants and a contact for collaboration in creating some educational materials for future booth events and beyond.

My initial research is below, for specific answers to "what's killing the bees?" and "how can I help save the bees?" (future blog posts will address additional ways we can help bees, as I continue to compile info):

In General- Avoid Pesticides:
Specifically- avoid neonicotinoids: Even more specifically, avoid Imidacloprid. I've read that pesticides of the class "neonicotinoids" are lethal to bees. Symptoms of this class of pesticides in bees includes death, and if not death- disorientation- i.e., not being able to get to food sources and back to hive- the very life of a bee. ( Of note: these symptoms are strikingly similar to the hallmark symptoms of "colony collapse disorder", or CCD. However, neonicotinoids have not been identified -as of yet-as the sole cause of CCD).

Neonicotinoids have been banned or limited from use in Germany, France and Italy, given concern over the lethal effect on bees, and health effects on humans. In those locales, bee populations have improved. See link #4 at bottom. However, the U.S. still allows neonicotinoids to be used (and plentifully) in agriculture (e.g., beets, corn), in termite control in your home, as well as in common lawn/plant care products - which you can buy in any hardware or lawn care store. (Imidacloprid is the specific neonicotinoid found in these products). Imidacloprid has even been found (and allowed by the EPA) as a contaminate in sugar, since imidacloprid is regularly used in beet production, ultimately ending up in beet sugar.(see health effects to humans in link #1 at bottom). This fact is important to you as a consumer of sugar and to beekeepers. (Beet Sugar comprises 55% of refined sugar consumption in the U.S., and Beekeepers regularly feed 1:1 sugar syrup to bees during times of low nectar flow).

Neonicotinoids are absorbed into the plant structure and soil (depending on the method of application). See link #3 and #4 at bottom. The pesticide will live there and be effective at killing insects over a long duration- meaning: treating a crop, tree, lawn, or plant with this stuff will cause pesticide to remain IN the plant or soil- and if bee comes in contact with it (or the pollen produced from the plant)...it means a likely death for the bee (and other beneficial insects- butterflies, ants, spiders, the like). This also means, even if YOU don't apply the neonicotinoid pesticide, you could unknowingly purchase a plant at the store which HAS been treated, and plant it in your yard. Perhaps unknowingly, you are wreaking havoc on insects such as bees. Scary. Even more scary are the effects of imidacloprid on humans- read content from link #1 at bottom of post.

What can you do to help bees (and other beneficial insects)? Avoid use of neonicotinoids, and buy plants which have not been treated with them. If you don't know, ask the producer of them. Rose bushes, Fruit trees, beets, & certain ground covers are commonly treated with imidacloprid as they are grown. (I'm working on a list of these plants). You should also know the common lawn and plant care products which contain neonicotinoid class pesticides. Once you do, you can avoid them and educate your neighbors about them. Here's a petition, urging for the ban of neonicotinoids.
The Sierra Club has a campaign to save the bees and recommends a documentary called "nicotine bees" to understand the impacts from neonicotinoids on bee populations.

In a quick jaunt to my neighborhood home depot and true value today, I documented the following products containing Imidacloprid. Please avoid them, for the sake of bees and other beneficial insects- as well as human health:

Bayer Advanced, 12 month Tree & Shrub Protect & Feed
Bayer Advanced, All -in-one Rose & Flower Care
Bayer Advanced, Fruit, Citrus,& Vegetable Insect Control "Season Long Protection"
Bayer Advanced, Complete Insect Killer for Soil & Turf ready to spread granules (comes in bag) "Kills insects up to 3 Months"
Scotts GrubEx Season long Grub Control. Comes in bag, for spreading on lawn
Ortho Flower, Fruit & Vegetable Insect Killer. "Kills 100+ insects on contact"
Ortho Max Tree & Shrub Insect Control. "One application protects for 12 months"

From the packaging of these products, the sales and marketing message is to kill insects for beautiful lawn, rosebush, tree, etc. And, the packaging very prominently displays the fact that the killing effect will last for a long duration of time - "with just one application!" (12 months). You will know this is dangerous stuff when you buy it based on the labels, but perhaps you won't realize (or don't want to think) of all the downstream effects from using it.

Naively, before my trip to Home Depot, I'd hoped that most people had figured out ways around using insect killers (especially here in the ecofriendly and eco-conscious seattle). I'd hoped there'd be a sign saying- "we don't offer these products because....". If that didn't exist, I thought there wouldnt be that many imidacloprid containing products available -and there'd be dust on the products on the shelf.
Insead, to my dismay, there was an entire aisle devoted to these types of products- lots of stock, no dust. Curiously, I noticed none of the packages included a picture of a dead honeybee. They did have pictures of scary looking aphids and caterpillars - portrayed as the intended evil targets, though. I guess those marketing folks think putting a dead honeybee on the packaging would deter a consumers choice in buying, especially given all the publicity about bee decline and importance of bees on our food supply. No, I guess they wouldn't go that far in marketing all the possible impacts from using their products.

This was my first day on the task of documenting specific answers to "what's killing the bees?" and "how can I help save the bees?". I am no expert, but will continue to compose more specifics for your consideration, in future blog posts. In the meantime, I encourage you to do your own homework. Think through your day to day choices, and consider more bee-friendly (and human friendly) options, for all our sake.

Some resources I used to write this-are below in the links. Most of these are captured in my twitter feed (to the right) too. (I usually send them there first, when I run across them.) So , be sure to follow me on twitter, for regular updates on source info I discover. Over time- I'll recap what I find in blog posts, such as this one.
Follow me on twitter: @seattlebeeworks

From articles I've researched:
Link #1: great overall article on neonicotinoides, impacts and usage. Quote from Link: Sierra Club statement on Imidacloprid: "It has been shown to cause acute health effects, including spasms and thyroid lesions," the Sierra Club stated. "No chronic toxicity tests have been made available to the public, but we do know that it has effects on mammalian reproduction. The reproductive health of birds is also affected, with reduced egg production and egg thinning. It affects a multitude of beneficial insects, as well as earthworms."

Linke #2: Imidocloprid contamination in beet sugar. Quotes from link:

"Imidacloprid is a powerful neurotoxin, lethal to bees in doses as small as five parts per billion, and has serious sub-lethal effects - including disorientation - at much lower doses. To put that in context, if you took ONE THOUSAND METRIC TONNES of 1:1 syrup made with beet sugar, and stirred in just ONE TEASPOONFUL of Imidacloprid, you would have a mixture capable of killing bees. Please read that last sentence again and think about it."
"The US 'Environmental Protection Agency' has approved permitted levels of Imidacloprid in sugar beet of 0.05 parts per million - that is at least TEN TIMES the lethal dose for bees."

Link #3: Sunset Magazine Fresh Dirt: Quote from link: "Imidacloprid is a nerve toxin. It is highly toxic to insects, including beneficial ones such as bees. It persists in the soil and is taken up by plant roots and spreads to all parts of the plant, including the pollen"

Link#4: Bee populations restored with neonicotinoids ban Quote from link: "Nicotinyl pesticides, containing clothianidin, thiametoxam and imidacloprid, used to coat plant seeds, are released into the lymph as a permanent insecticide inside the plant. But after just sucking dew from maize leaves that absorbed neonicotinoids, disoriented bees can't find their way to the apiary. Massive numbers of bees get lost and die"

Hive Update June 2010

2010-06-06T14:56:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed in my twitter feed that my latest check of my 4 hives has yielded some sad news- 2 hives dead, 1 has a laying worker. The remaining hive is well, but is the one I started fresh from a package of bees. (the Marine Drive hive). So, none of the hives from last year have lived...despite making it through the winter. My celebration of getting hives through the winter was short lived.
I'm still assessing the cause of the hive deaths: The 2 dead hives, on queen ann, still had some (small amounts) of honey in them along with some random bees, which were there to rob it (I perceive). There was No big cluster of bees dead inside and no evidence of a swarm cell. What I saw: Some honey, Some capped brood (dead) , robbers present (bumble bees, random honey bees (from nearby active hive).

Some possible causes, which I need to assess further/get advice:

new queens I introduced in April Failed- not sure how to discern if this was the failpoint- need to ask mentors
Starvation (there was evidence of bees w/ butts in air in search of food so this is a contributor, no doubt)
Pesticides (I put this on the list because of no big cluster of bees in hive- despite big population in April)

If you have ideas, feel free to comment.

Pics from Summer 2009

2009-12-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

Here's some great pics by Dan Cole: Ada Cole and I visiting the Admiral Hive.

View more of the pictures at Dan's site- here

Pointing at the queen!

My Favorite shot:

Another season under my beekeeping belt...

2009-12-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

Not many blog entries this year, but attempted "tweeting" as a way of recording my hive activities and passing along other tidbits of info on beekeeping. (See tweet feed on right side of this screen). Feel free to follow me if you are on twitter, @seattlebeeworks.
The Puget Sound Beekeeping Association is going strong and I've been elected to Vice President, so am looking forward to supporting the non-profit's efforts in educating the community and other fun beekeeping/honey events and mentoring of new beekeepers.

This year was a bad year for honey harvests, for most beekeepers. My mentor, with 8 hives, declared no honey harvest due to drought and weak hives. I was lucky to claim ~60 lbs from 4 hives, mostly medium to dark honey. (to compare: three yrs ago I had 100lbs from 1 hive!)
I'm currently in the process of bottling and supplying holiday orders, as well as preparing my usual supplies to Husky Deli in West Seattle. (Their holiday tasting event is Dec 4th 5-9pm)

Learnings this year:

I suffered only one queen death this year, even before she was released in the hive- thus, I claim no fault, but learned I could get a queen "on warranty"- who wouldda thunk?
One of my hives was pretty arnory-stinging me thru my gloves and very active/aggressive guard bees. I didn't do much to support this hive during this season, figuring they had it under control if they didn't want me visiting- so bee it. :-) (this obviously was the "lazy beekeeper" approach.) Next year, to remedy, I will likely requeen in the spring- that is, if the hives make it through the winter.
I also learned that it isn't good to have a mixture of equipment sizes- especially when your hives aren't in the same locale. I prepared alot of shallow hive bodies, for honey supers this year... but found it frustrating to end up not having a western size when I needed, or the wrong equipment in the wrong locale, or mismatched frame sizes prepared. I may sell those shallows for westerns, to make it easier on myself.
Honey Labels- design matters. I took a letterpress course this year to both foster a curiosity I had about this lost art, and to establish a new honey label design. My letterpress label turned out really cool, but more asian looking than I'd expected/intended. I learned west seattle buyers don't go for honey that appears is from Asia- my sales reduced as a result. (Read about china tainted honey imports to figure out why). Back to the drawing board on my labels- a good winter project.

I still love beekeeping, but I do think I am at my limit of hive count,given the lack of my own beeyard. I seem to get many offers from folks for hosting more hives in their yards...which surprises me, but am glad to see the support for bees.

If you are looking for a neat gift this year, don't forget you can always give bees!

New Season of bees

2009-04-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

I again have 4 hives this year, didn't have any survive last winter...which is my #1 goal this coming year. I left plenty of honey for their winter food but I dont think there were enough bees to cluster and stay warm enough to make it through the long winter here in seattle.
Anyway on april 19th, I hived the 4 new packages and left the queens in their little cages so the bees could get acquainted with them, and improve acceptance. A week later it was time to release the queens. My friend who hosts the Admiral hive discovered my queen, dead in her cage :-( The other three hives were just fine, so not sure what happened there...
I got a replacement queen- under "warranty" as a result of this death, so early after receipt.
I will go back and let her out this weekend, and check the other hives to make sure the queens that did live are laying eggs.

I'm a lazy beekeeper

2008-09-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

well, not really, I am behind on my chores though. Primarily due to not having enough equipment put together to manage 4 hives.

I scheduled the extractor rental for the last weekend in october. I need to go by my hives this weekend and pull off honey supers..which should have been done a few weeks ago.

Now, I need to recruit helpers and a place for extracting. Now that my mentor lives in the boonies, I need a place to do the extraction. I am halfway tempted to go rent one of those storage units 1) to place all my beekeeping gear in it year round, as well as 2) to perform the extraction there. hmmmm. another thing for my to do list.

my honey at husky deli in west seattle

2008-07-03T23:10:00.001-07:00

Moving of hives

2008-07-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my beekeeping mentor moved his hives to his new residence...but not without assistance, which I truly owed him due to all his help to me. However, since I was recouping from recent surgery, the only assistance I could provide was the help in recruiting two strong and willing participants.
With extra beesuits in hand we arrived at Tim's old house on Saturday morning. We proceeded to his "backyard", which consists of a deck with an awesome view of seattle...and overlooking a very steep hillside, declining from his house, and where his bees live.

Since Tim is very experienced in managing the hives in this location, he had a contraption built on his deck which he'd previously used to hoist honey up to his house. Very ingenious and made the work of moving the hives as painless as it could get. (Of course, I was only observing. The sweat drenching the backs of those moving the hives was very apparent).

Here are the pics of the adventure of getting the hives into his van for the long journey to his new home.

Cool link

2008-07-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.vanishingbees.com/
great little film and information on ccd and the state of our bees. check it out.

lotsa bee stuff

2008-06-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

been so busy I haven't had time to post.
The four hives are going well...the admiral hive lost its queen but then the hive created a new one. Last week's check indicated the queen is laying, so it is back on track now.
The two queen anne hives are moving along nicely, given they were started with drawn comb. I have them up to 4 boxes high now. The admiral hive and vonveyville hive are only three boxes high now.

This weekend should prove exciting. My mentor is moving his bees. I've recruited some strong backs to assist in getting the hives up his steep hill. I will be sure to take lots of pictures.

Update and pictures

2008-05-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

I now have 4 hives, two in the same location as last year (queen ann) and two in west seattle- different properties.
Last sunday was decently warm so I checked all 4 hives...saw eggs and brood in all four, and got a visual on the queen in the von veyville hive (property name). This one I was particularly worried about since I received a call last week saying ALL the bees were outside the hive. Upon my arrival I found a big cluster of bees hanging out beneath the hive, sitting on the cinder block which I used to support the hive.
I gently scooped most of them in a bucket, but quickly realized that the majority were UNDER the hive, down in the cinderblock, not just on the outside of it...this was likely where the queen was. I feared that I would kill her in my scooping, but had little choice. I eventually took the hive apart, off the cinderblocks and got them all dumped back in the hive. I assumed I got the queen as they stayed in the hive. Thankfully, having gotten to see her this past sunday confirmed I didn't squash her in my bee rescue.
This was a time that it would have been good to have one of those bee vacuums my mentor had used for swarm catching. AND, It just so happens that a fellow condo dweller threw away one of the 5 gal watercooler bottles needed for a beevac. I will convert it after some thrift shop scavenging for parts.

Here are some pics of the hiving of the admiral hill hive- my friend's boys are pictured as I am telling one of them to shake the bees out of the package/cage.

Shake Shake Shake!

Dumping the bees out of the cage

The queen's cage

Putting the queen's cage in- left in for a day so the bees get used to her pheromones.

You should check this out

2008-05-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/#/howYouCanHelp/howYouCanHelp/

Busy weekend

2008-04-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

I've been getting ramped up for this season of beekeeping. I finally inspected my two hives from last year. Neither made it thru the winter, appeared as if the bees didnt survive the cold as there was no evidence of rampant disease or lack of food. In fact, I found about another 150 lbs of honey in the hive which I purchased last december.

Today I spent the day cleaning this hive as it had not been tended to in a while..the frames were basically glued together with wax and propolis. It was quite a chore, scraping and hacking away at the gunk..and then I had to move the 4-5 boxes of honey (~30 lbs each).

This year I am hoping to have three active hives: two in the same location as last year, and one at the top of the hill here in W. Seattle. A friend and her two boys (both 10 yrs old) are wanting to learn. They seem to be maintaining their interest level, which is fun to see, and, I 've been giving them some homework, like mixing up the feeding syrup.

This year will also bring more work as I am going to be supplying honey to a local deli - in place of my mentor as he is moving from the area. So, I guess you could say I am going commercial.

will update once I get news on the arrival of the girls.

Orchard Mason Bees

2008-03-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

A new adventure in bees.
In researching what it requires for my condo bldg to have a certified backyard habitat, I got to thinking about orchard mason bees. I thought it would be cool to install some in our backyard area, or even just have them on my deck.
While mason bees don't produce honey, they are pollinators and would satisfy one of the checkboxes of the backyard habitat- providing a place for living creatures to nest/live.

SO, I just ordered an orchard mason bee "house" and some bees- they come in pods, not yet active...which I thought was interesting, we will see what I end up with. Apparently the bees have a much longer life cycle than honey bees.

Here's the site I ordered them from...knoxcellars it is local- in washington, but there were many other options for online ordering if you are interested. Also, you can simply make your own orchard mason bee nesting block by drilling some holes in a block of wood (dimensions matter so do a little research online before you do this http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=10743) and then hanging the block up outside in your yard. Some local orchard bees might find their way into the nest and voila!
I just wanted to go the surefire route of ordering some bees to start with.

Here is a really good article telling everything you wanted to know about orchard bees.
http://www.sare.org/publications/bee/blue_orchard_bee.pdf

http://www.pollinatorparadise.com/Solitary_Bees/SOLITARY.HTM#What_are_Solitary_Bees?

Oh and, mason bees don't sting or rarely sting!

On organic honey | By Umbra Fisk | Grist | Ask Umbra | 05 Mar 2008

2008-03-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

On organic honey By Umbra Fisk Grist Ask Umbra 05 Mar 2008

I have wondered about this for a while, and while this article doesnt necessarily answer the question all that well (in my opinion), it raises some questions you might want to ponder with regard to labels you see on honey and all foods.

Bloomberg.com: U.S.

2008-02-01T00:29:00.000-08:00

Bloomberg.com: U.S.

interesting article about diseased bats. mentions bees and colony collapse disorder

Bee Fun facts

2008-01-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

From this month's edition of the puget sound beekeeping club's newsletter:

Honey Bee Fun Facts
• Honeybees are the only bees that die after they sting.
• Honey speeds the healing process and combats infections.
• Honey never spoils.
• It would take about 1 ounce of honey to fuel a honeybee's flight around the
world.
• Honeybee colonies have unique odors that members flash like ID cards at
the hive's front door, so the guard bees can recognize the entering bees.
• While foraging for nectar and pollen, bees inadvertently transfer pollen
from the male to the female components of flowers. Each year, bees
pollinate 95 crops worth an estimated $10 billion in the U.S. alone. All told,
insect pollinators contribute to one-third of the world's diet.

exciting weekend

2007-12-18T14:53:00.001-08:00

This past weekend I gained some experience in moving a hive...a full hive!

A fellow beekeeper decided to sell one of his hives and I agreed to purchase it...and thankfully Tim helped me move it. We did this on sunday...but required some preparation sunday morning by the hive seller. He had to "button it up" by using a screened wire top and front cover as well as some straps around all the boxes to keep it together in transit. He did this in the early morning so that the bees would be in the hive. It was pretty cool this past weekend so that was another factor we had to consider. Anytime you move a hive the bees will of course be disturbed, and once at the destination, will want to get OUT of the hive. If it is too cold they will freeze, which obviously isn't good, so we did the best we could and chose the warmer of the two days...but I don't think warm is a word I would use to describe seattle right now.

Upon arrival at the origin point, tim, myself and john had to maneuver the hive down from its stand and onto a handtruck. I was not in beekeeping uniform nor was tim, but john was. He was at the front of the hive, and tim and I were on either side. One of my hands was at the front of the hive though and at some point I heard ..."we have a leak". I feel tickles on my hand and try not to freak out. No stings, whew. We readjusted and continued on into Tim's van without event.
It was a bit unnerving to be sitting in a van with 5 boxes of bees sitting behind us, buzzing. This seemed like a nightmare just waiting to happen.

The only event came when we had the hive settled in its new home, next to my other hive...and I had to "unbutton" the hive. I failed to bring my boots, but did have my beesuit on. I let the bees loose and they went crazy, and clung onto me for warmth. Did I say I didn't have my boots on? I gingerly walked around the hive trying to get the screened covers off with a screw driver. In between looking at my ankles, which were covered with bees and trying to flick them off with the screw driver, I finally succeeded at getting away from the hive. I almost made it until I got it...right on the ankle, no doubt by a perturbed and cold bee...which now died as a result of me not wearing boots and having to sting me.

here's a pic of the hive in the van:

Sneak Preview of the honey

2007-12-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

After much anticipation...and risking ruin of your surprise if you are a lucky recipient of my honey....Here's a special preview.
But first...to give proper, and well deserved credit* to my fabulous friend and designer, suze, who worked on the label design and metal tag for me. After a few iterations of sizing the text to the various bottles, it was left to me to start printing, cutting, and gluing. (Needless to say not ALL the bottles are done yet, but I hope to give the lucky recipients some honey before the holidays.)

* special thanks to, of course, the bees...as well as my beekeeping mentor, Tim, who continues to support me in my expanding beekeeping endeavors.

In succession of the iterations of bringing the label components together

My first wax seal attempts- the wax kept sticking to the stamp, so I first tried putting the wax on tissue paper, but it looked kind of weird (see the black tissue paper around the seal?). note the metal bee stamp next to bottle.

Added the new label, with improved wax seal and gold string instead of ribbon

Wowee...the metal tag- this was the coupe d' etat on suze's design input. I love it!
Thanks to Aculine for the great work on the tag- and accepting my bribe of honey in exchange for a waived setup fee.

My first batch order done..

.just a few more hundred to go....

The season of giving- give bees!

2007-11-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

As the holiday season ramps up I am often asked what I'd like for christmas...I don't really need much, but realize that others are not so fortunate.
Did you know you can give the gift of bees??

Bees in the News

2007-11-08T11:24:00.000-08:00

The Puget Sound Beekeeper Association's newsletter compiled a list of reports of bees in the news and on TV...found them very interesting.

Check them out!

Bees in the News
PBS, Nature Series, Silence of the Bees
On October 28th, Nature premiered an excellent one hour program on Colony
Collapse Disorder. Check their webpage for previews, videos and up to date
information on the state of research and how Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus may be
related. An excellent segment and related webpage on “What you can do to help”
states that one of the best things that you can do is become a backyard beekeeper
and join a local beekeeper’s association. Puget Sound Beekeepers Association
would fit that bill! Other recommendations are to plant a bee garden with tips on
species and landscaping.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bees/

60 Minutes: What’s Wrong with the Bees?
On October 28th, CBS’ 60 Minutes had a segment on Colony Collapse Disorder.
Watch the whole segment here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/25/60minutes/main3407762.shtml
and watch additional clips and interviews on Yahoo’s News page
http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/105/bees

Bee Movie | Official Site

2007-10-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

Bee Movie Official Site

Mark your calendar's for Nov 2nd
Bee Movie is released on this day in the U.S.

I can't wait!!!

Play, Spirit, and Character | SoundSeen: Animals at Play with Stuart Brown and Norbert Rosing [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]

2007-10-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

Play, Spirit, and Character SoundSeen: Animals at Play with Stuart Brown and Norbert Rosing [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]

This isn't specific to bees, but thought it an interesting peek into nature.

Extraction complete!

2007-09-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I went over to Tim's to extract my honey- he'd prepared his garage to process his, mine and a couple more folk's honey. THere was an official honey shoe area and a regular shoe area. The Extractor was sitting upon this stand (on wheels) and when in low speeds it sort of herked and jerked around, so it seemed we kept it in the corner of our eye no matter what we were doing.
Here are some pics, they show the uncapping process (with a hot shaving device thing), a comb scraper, and then the extractor itself.

My bounty- three tubs- close to 100 lbs of honey!

Experiment in action- supposedly a way to test if honey is raw/unprocessed: put layer of honey in dish and then swirl water over it (like panning for gold). The honey forms these hexogonal shapes, like the wax comb. Not sure why, but it works! Haven't testing processed honey to see if it behaves differently.

Shaving off the wax cappings

Liquid Gold

The extractor, fits 12 frames.

Whee! thank goodness this is an electric extractor- there are handcrank models!

Extraction preparations

2007-09-18T16:36:00.001-07:00

Got the call from Tim last night since he is coordinating the extraction machine for getting the honey out of several people's frames. He said likely this weekend or early next week it will happen. He said to wear old shoes that will become "honey shoes" everafter, since everything will get a touch of honey on it!
He said I should go back and check my hive to see if the remaining honey was capped off and to retrieve that for our extractions. Also I am to dump the "bad hive" in with the good hive since it won't make it thru the winter, or much longer, on its own.

I won't need bottles yet, as we will just get the honey into food grade pails right now.
I have commissioned a talented friend of mine to assist in my label design.

Bee sure to vote!

2007-09-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

I need to name my honey...be sure to vote on a name by clicking your choice!
See window on right side of this page to vote.

Technology Review: Is a Virus Behind the Honeybee Plague?

2007-09-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

Technology Review: Is a Virus Behind the Honeybee Plague?

Virus becomes new suspect in bee die-off - Science - MSNBC.com

2007-09-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

Virus becomes new suspect in bee die-off - Science - MSNBC.com

60 lbs!

2007-09-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

on Saturday, Tim and I visited my hives with the intention of "pulling" some honey, meaning, we would remove any frames that had capped honey. I was glad for this as the hive was getting a bit too tall for me to maneuver opening it.
We opened the "good hive" and noticed that the last box I put on( two weeks ago) was entirely full, and was full of knotweed honey- it is really dark, like molasses. We removed each frame and used the bee brush to remove bees that were guarding it. These capped frames (21 of them) were placed in another box nearby that we had staged so that we could carry them easily.
We stored them in the garage with a plastic bag beneath them and on top, to prevent other bugs from sneaking in. Each box weighed about 30 lbs, Tim said I could bet on getting 60 lbs of honey out of what we removed!
We replaced one of the boxes we removed with a new set of frames that the bees could work on. Tim and I will extract the honey from the frames once he has pulled honey from his hives and we can make one big mess together- he says it gets everywhere, but I think I can deal with that!
The next step is to order some bottles and create a name/label for the honey.

hive update

2007-08-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

My last check was on wed 8/15...
I added another box to the good hive, bringing it to 6 boxes high. I officially need a ladder now to tend to this hive as the hive stand is about 12 inches off the ground and there is no way I will be able to maneuver a heavy box that is head height. I didnt go too deep in the good hive for fear of disturbing a good thing.

The second hive, I was more interested in how my experiment went- whether the bees used the eggs I moved there to create a queen. I saw no evidence of such. In fact, I saw more evidence of that silly laying worker bee- multipe eggs in cells. Oh well. I guess this hive will doom themselves.

Experiment in process

2007-08-06T17:21:00.001-07:00

well, an experiment within the existing 'beekeeping' experiment for me...

On saturday I went over to check the hives again, The "good"hive was still doing great, I only checked the top three boxes, the first two were mostly full of honey (and were heavy!). In the third box down I saw some eggs and no queeen on a frame, so I thought I'd do what my mentor said and move a frame of them over to the problem hive. This would give the problem hive the opportunity to create a new queen which would save the hive.
This switcharoo entailed me having the good hive broken open and then turning around and opening the second hive at the same time to steal an empty frame to replace the frame of eggs in the good hive. I was sucessful, so I will see what the problem hive does with this little boost of eggs.
When I inspected the problem hive further it appeared that the laying worker was at it again as the brood was only drone brood. This probably doesn't fare well for my experiment as it is likely the existing bees think this laying worker is in fact queen bee and will protect her and not recognize the need to create a new queen. But, I am guessing at all this. I will need Tim's insight to understand the "as the world turns" of these bees that have gone awry.

I finished painting the hive equipment (4 more boxes) and am in the process of prepping the frames and wax...it is very time consuming so it becomes my evening activities.

Weekly hive check

2007-07-26T10:59:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Tim came over and checked my hives with me. See pics (courtesy his wife Leslie).

Tim did alot of rearranging within the good hive. Basically he took some frames full of honey from the lower boxes and moved them up to the top..and moved the empty frames to replace them...giving the bees something to do. He was very approving of their work so far and seemed confident that I would get some honey off of this hive this fall! yay!

The other hive he agreed is basically dying. He said I could experiment and try to move a frame w/ eggs from the good hive into the problem hive and see if they would create a new queen from them. We did see a supercedure cell in this hive. I will see about doing the experiment he suggests...but I must be absolutely sure that the queen is NOT on the frame that I move from the good hive, or else it will die too.

The white part is capped honey!

A bee's life

2007-07-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

here's a picture showing the lifecycle of a bee. Click on it to see it up close.

I particularly like the day 21 activities of.."clean cells and loaf".

This diagram was provided by Jerry Mixon, who also made my hive equipment!

A beekeeper's job is never done

2007-07-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

I am back to preparing more boxes and frames for expanding at least the good hive for now. I went to Tim's on sunday since he has a workshop with a nailgun, etc. Together in a couple-three hours we were able to crank out 4 boxes and 40 frames (no wax). I will do the wax foundation work at my place since it is so time consuming.

In order to have a box ready to expand in the good hive by monday (I felt I was already pushing my luck by waiting this long already to add a new box), I borrowed a box originally slated for the 2nd hive. For the frames, I cheated on my work, and inserted wax but instead of wiring them (to hold the wax in place) I used support pins instead. It will be interesting to see the difference in each type of frame once the extraction part comes into play.

Also, yesterday, when visiting my hives, I was called in to resuscitate a debilitated mason bee (small bumblebee looking bee). (I wish I'd videotaped this!) Apparently it had been sitting on the deck all day (it was rainy and cool yesterday in seattle)...barely moving. Unsure if it was injured or just tired or weak, I attempted a revival via feeding of sugar water. I took a toothpick and dropped a few drops in front of it. It fumbled around for a bit, but before long I saw its probiscus come out(long tube thing, normally inserted into flowers to extract the nectar). It slurped up the sugar water and fumbled around some more. I repeated the process a couple of times. Eventually, it started cleaning itself off. By this time, I went to go get my camera...but by the time I returned, it had flown off!

Videos

2007-07-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

These were from a hive visit on 7/19. Jin Lai (from work) is narrating and running the camera.
The first hive was still booming, ready for another box.
The second hive was still pitiful, few capped brood (worker bee), didnt see eggs actually, but the lighting was shady. Saw pupae. Didnt visualize the queen. Still only 4-5 frames in the first box with activity (found TWO swarm cells again, which I deleted). The upper (second) box had a couple of frames w/ activity/wax drawn.
I talked to Tim about this and he said we'll probably end up combining this hive with the good hive eventually.
On the way to the hive
On the way to the hives
smoking the entrance
opening the hive
opening the hive2
opening the hive3
opening the hive4
opening the hive5
opening the hive6
opening the hive7
opening the hive8
opening the hive9
opening the hive10
hive inspection
hive inspection2

This is the second hive, notice it is only two boxes high and a few frames of activity. It also sounds much louder than the "good" hive.

More equipment

2007-07-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

I have been scoping out the method/device that I will be using (in the Fall) to clear the bees from the honey. Basically the idea is how to get the bees out of the boxes that I will be pulling off of the hive in order to extract the honey. There are various methods from what I understand. These include fuming the bees out, which I dont think I like that concept- you risk contaminating the honey with whatever is used to fume them with (some sort of smelly chemical or natural component). I wouldn't like this if I were a bee, so I don't think I will choose this method. The other methods include:
An Escape Board - which is a specially designed board that is placed below the hive boxes that are to be removed...the bees in the box can leave, but they can't return very easily.
A blower - somehow rigging up a leaf blower or something similar to blow the bees out of the boxes being removed. (one of our club members uses this method, but I've never seen it in person).
Brush - a bee brush can be used to manually, and lightly, brush any bees off of each frame in a box being removed...this is obviously more time consuming.

In researching the escape boards, I found this site which has some pretty intricate designs. I think I am going to try to make the triangle escape
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/clearerboards.html

but, I won't need it till the fall. I first gotta get my additional hives and frames built. My mentor offered up his nail gun/garage and assistance, so perhaps this will go more quickly than last time, and my condo neighbors will probably appreciate it too.

checked the good hive last thursday

2007-07-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

This hive is booming! it is four boxes high now with the top most box having drawn comb activity on all frames (but not fully drawn out yet). There was honey, no brood in this top box. The Second box down was fully drawn on all frames w/ a small amount of brood in the center, but it was HEAVY...like 30 lbs heavy. I thought I was going to break my back lifting it to the ground and back to the hive...as the box is awkward to hold. The third and fourth boxes had more brood activity. I saw the queen in the bottom box, she was on the outside frame. I moved quickly to not disturb her.

I talked w/ my mentor and I need to get with him to create more hive equipment which I think I will receive tomorrow from the beekeeping supply place.

weekly hive check

2007-07-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

I went in the problem hive quickly on monday to see what was going on.
There was still very little progress, two boxes, perhaps 5-6 frames with comb drawn between both boxes, few eggs, some brood, and some capped brood, and some capped honey. I also noticed what appeared to me to be a swarm cell in the lower box...a queen (peanut shell looking cell) was in the making. I learned from Tim that a queen cell found on the lower third of a frame is a swarm cell, whereas a queen cell found on the upper portion of a frame would be a replacement queen - as in the old queen was ailing or dead. Well, since this hive was nowhere near being over crowded or in need of swarming, I was a bit confused by this finding. I went ahead and "deleted" this swarm cell, hoping I was making the right choice given what I was seeing. White goo oozed from the cell and I had to banish from my thoughts the loss of bee life that I'd just inflicted.
I later called Tim and he said that since this hive consists of bees that had swarmed previously, that perhaps they were obsessive compulsive bees and just had swarm behavior on their minds. (see, this is the sense of bees that I just don't grasp yet) In his infinite wisdom of how bees behave, Tim reassured me that I'd acted appropriate to the situation.
I didn't have time to go into the other hive...will go back on thursday to check on it.
I ordered more hive equipment as Tim said I should be prepared to have up to 6 or 7 boxes max on each hive. Four of the boxes would be left on the hive all winter and the rest (2-3 boxes) would be my bounty of honey (I think there is ~ 25lbs of honey per box). That problem hive has alot of catching up to do.

Pollinator Partnership Home

2007-07-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

Pollinator Partnership Home

Swarm patrol

2007-06-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Tim called and said he'd received a swarm call...and I got to go along for the adventure!
We drove to burien, which is about 20 min south of seattle and found in someone's front yard a soccer ball sized swarm of bees. It looked like a big pine cone as it was in a conifer. Thank goodness it was at eye level, so we didn't have to climb any ladders or anything.
Tim came prepared with his bee vacuum and a plastic bucket that he'd put vents in the sides. I held the bucket under the swarm while Tim attempted to shake the branch so they would fall in. This apparently didn't go as planned, according to Tim, as we only got about 25% of the bees this way. The bee vacuum came out. The 5 gallon container was quickly filled...we knew we had the queen when other bees were glomming onto the out vent of the vacuum...her pheromones were being emitted from the 5 gallon jar. We had to take a couple of breaks to change batteries on the vacuum and to let the bees calm down again so we could catch as many as we could.

Once we'd ran out of batteries, we piled everything in tim's van and headed back to his house where he planned on putting the bees into an empty hive. Or, so he thought.
After maneuvering down the steep hillside in his backyard to the hives, he opened the hive that he intended on using, only to find that some other bees had taken up residence! Surprised and wondering where to put the swarm, he injected it into a "weak" hive and said the queens will duke it out. Tim is very rich in bees now.
Swarm season is coming to an end, so I am glad I got to tag along on this one.

saturday hive check

2007-06-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

Checked the hives on saturday

Hive #1 had alot of traffic of bees coming and going. Saw eggs and pupae and the second box I'd added was filling out nicely. I added a third box to it just to be safe...the second box had 7 frames with comb on it already and from what I've read that is the sign to add a new box. I am thinking I need to order more hive equipment now...will check with my mentor.

Hive #2 still seemed to have low traffic comparatively, but I was successful in seeing the queen and eggs and pupae...all very very good things to find, considering the shape this hive was in before the swarm was injected. The bees seemed quite loud, and the second box had only one frame that had been drawn upon, thus I didn't see any need to provide additional space just yet.

pictures- finally!

2007-06-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

one of my co-workers, Sean, offered up his photography skills (and curiosity) to brave a visit to my beehives! thanks sean!
(i'll need to correct the positioning of the pictures later...)

The smoker preparation

The beesuit preparation (this is when the kids in the neighborhood start looking nervous)

Getting ready to open the hives...this is hive #1, the "good" hive, with a second box on top for expansion.

Give a few puffs of smoke to warn them...

Here's the feeders of sugar water- now empty. More smoke to warn them.

the top of the inner cover of the hive, with some wax.

Removing the feeders and inner cover

Inner cover removed, this is the top box. Smoke them some more...

Removing the first frame (near the wall of the hive). This frame doesn't have comb drawn upon it yet.

I noticed some eggs already in this upper chamber (second box). The queen is expanding the brood chamber.

Looking for more eggs...its hard when your head is so big (in the suit) it creates a big shadow!

Blurry closeup- something you might see in your nightmares?

See how the bees fill in any extra space (bottom of the frame) with wax? the "bee space" rule has been offended. If bees see a space bigger than ~ 1 cm they fill it with wax. If less than 1/8", they fill it with propolis.

Here you can see capped brood, the flat yellow cells. Soon more bees will emerge from here. These are worker bee (female) brood...you can tell since it is flat with the surface of the frame. IF it were drone brood the little cells would look like there was a bubble protruding from the frame.

Uh, Do I really have a handful of bees in my face??

This is hive #2, with a newly injected swarm. YOu can notice that these bees are darker than the first hive's (probably carnoleans vs the italians in the first hive)
Also, there are more drone bees in this hive, since the laying worker (that I hope quits laying in light of the queen that came w/ the swarm) can only lay drone eggs.
I did see some capped brood in this hive that was not drone brood, that is good, and shows that the new queen is laying.

Hey, I just noticed a cell on this frame that looks like a swarm cell, see it? Just a little left of center bottom, half a peanut shell looking thing with the end opening toward the bottom. Hmmm, I hope I caught that/cut it out when I was there...else I'll have a swarm on my hands.

make your yard pollinator friendly

2007-06-05T10:24:00.001-07:00

pollinator protection

2007-06-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

I got a swarm!

2007-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

I received one that is...
The last couple of weeks have been somewhat busy and seattle is finally seeing some truly warm weather (85+). On memorial day weekend I spent most of saturday afternoon with my mentor as we visted another of his hives he has on another guys property. We also visited another one of his mentees- who had about 5 hives going and had already had a few swarms already this year- he seemed a bit overwhelmed and was looking to consolidate a couple of his hives- one of which we did not find the queen or eggs. We finished up the day at the elliot bay brewing company where we sampled the brew that was made from my mentor's honey!

On memorial day tim went with me to check my hives. Hive #1, the "good" hive, was doing so well (had 7+ frames with drawn comb) that I added a new box on top for the girls to expand into. The second hive was still pretty pitiful- drone brood only and barely had 4 frames with comb (2 of which were supplied when I started the hive). Tim indicated he would watch for a swarm and inject it into this hive at the next opportunity.
Well, that came yesterday- I was out paddling and upon my return, had a vmail from my mentor saying he'd left me a gift! A swarm, not huge, but hopefully enough to breathe life back into hive #2. I will go back and check on them later next week.

Both hives have used up the majority of the sugar syrup I'd original provided (4 1quart jars for each hive). Tim said to not replace them as we want the bees to make honey from nectar, not the sugar water...and blackberries are in season now.

I am still attempting to get some pictures of my hives while they are open and I am doing my hive checks. I tried this on my last visit but it was impossible with just one person and gloved hands (not that brave yet to take them off). I want to try to figure out how to do one of those helmet cam things...or perhaps I should just start with a tripod setup. more research.

last hive check on tuesday

2007-05-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Went back to the "problem hive" on tuesday afternoon. I'd accidentally left my regular beesuit at home along with my hive tools, etc, since I'd cleaned out my trunk...so instead I used the XL version that I bought for visitors. Found two screw drivers to use as hive tools. Turned out to be good enough for my short visit.

I got my smoker goin' and headed into hive 2- giving them a few warning puffs at the entrance to the hive and under the top cover. Again, they seemed quite lively/loud as I took off the cover. Noted that one of the sugar water canning jars was empty. the other three had about half to a quarter of syrup left.
My goal for this visit was to check to see if the new queen that the hive was rearing had emerged. She had...the little peanut shell-like cell had been eaten through on one end. I continued to look to see if I could find her, but given the lifecycle of a queen (3 days as an egg, 9 days as larvae, 4 days as pupae till emerging= 16 days), it was unlikely that she had gone on a mating flight yet...which happens usually about a week after emerging...I think.
So backing out the last time I saw the closed up queen cell on sun may 6th, at best she was probably prepping for her mating flight by now.

So, I am learning that not only is a beekeeper a landlord of thousands of bees...s(he) is also a detective...determining what is going on with only a snapshot of activity at hand.

I continued to look thru most of the frames and saw more double eggs and larvae, presumably from the laying worker bee, as well as some capped brood, which was drone brood (you can tell this by the way the capped cell protrudes from the comb.) Laying worker bees can lay only drone brood...so this fit with my mentor's assessment of things.

I emailed Tim with my findings and he said to just keep watching it, but likely he will catch a swarm (he is on the local "swarm list"- a bee catcher per se) and install it into this hive. It is probably better to have a queen that is not reared from her own hive- for some reason such instances cause a hive's production to be weaker. Guess it is genetic or something.

I will likely go back in this weekend to refuel their sugar syrup. Will take some pictures of both hives, since I've gotten some requests for such.

bees swarm spokane town hall

2007-05-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

This is what I want to prevent as a beekeeper...

http://www.krem.com/news/local/stories/krem2_050907_beeswarm.534e82b7.html

Last couple of visits

2007-05-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

Last sunday my mentor, Tim, came to visit my hives to make sure everything was ok.
I got to use the smoker for the first time on my hives...this warns the bees that you are about to visit. When they smell smoke (as in a forest fire) their instinct is to gorge on honey to prepare for leaving the hive. This preoccupies them while opening the hive.

Well, the hive that I was concerned about, #2, concerned Tim as well. At first he was able to see eggs, which is a good sign...but then he noticed a supercedure cell that the workers were preparing. This is a cell of wax (looks like a peanut shell) that the worker bees build for rearing a new queen. They do this if something is wrong with the existing queen. We left the supercedure cell alone and continued on a search for larvae and visual of the queen. Nada. Plus there were instances of TWO eggs in a single cell. Not good...this means that a worker bee has taken it upon herself to lay eggs, thinking she is the queen. These eggs are drone (male) eggs only and if a new queen doesn't show up soon, the hive is doomed.
Words of advice from my mentor were to return in a couple of days to look for the queen, eggs, larvae/capped brood.

Well, today I visited again...none of those criteria were found in hive #2. Only saw more instances of single and double eggs and then cells where there were just PILES of eggs. A real queen would not do this. I saw no larvae or capped brood, which should be there if the hive is developing properly. I left the supercedure cell in place with hopes that a strong queen will emerge and rectify the hive. If this doesn't happen, I am sure Tim will walk me down that path...which could include letting the hive die and starting all over (with a swarm that he catches from being on the swarm list) or trying to exclude the laying worker with various techniques...and introducing a new queen.

Just for comparison I opened up hive #1. This hive is looking lovely. Eggs, Larvae, capped brood. It is on its way. The bees seemed to make more sense in this hive...I dont know how to explain it but they acted more normally than hive #2.

Hive #2 checked on wednesday

2007-05-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Went back to hive #2 yesterday to see if I could see evidence of the queen. It wasn't overly warm, but the sun was out. I noticed about equal amounts of traffic in/out of both hives. However, I still was unable to see any eggs. Again the bees were pretty tight on the frames where I'd expect to see the eggs, so if there were some, I couldn't see them anyway.
The sugar water was down about an inch in each of the 4 jars, so at least they are eating.

I emailed my mentor to let him know the status and request his keen eyes for a visit to my hives soon. HOpefully this weekend will be sunny enough to check.

2nd visit to the hives

2007-04-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

Today it was pretty sunny and decently warm so I went to check on the queen activities...checking to see if both had started laying eggs.

I arrived around 1pm and checked hive 1 first. I worked from north to south in this hive, noting that the fourth frame in had started to have comb drawn upon it. I made it through the 5th frame (which my mentor had given me, with some honey in it- to help the bees get started) and I started getting worried cause I had not seen any eggs yet.
By this time I had a full audience with the neighbor next door and a couple of kids asking about how many bees were there. I don't quite get why these folks think I have time to answer their questions while I'm holding a frame with a few thousand bees on it. Although I recognize this as a perfect learning opportunity for a kid, at this stage, I am not coordinated enough to give a lesson while amidst my beekeeping chores.
I continued to the 6th frame and voila...I finally saw some little white specs in the bottom right hand corner of the frame. Evidence of the queen, yes! I spent most of my time looking for these instead of the actual queen since it seems to be an easier task to find eggs than the queen (for me anyway).
During this visit I am realizing how much is going on at once in a beekeeper's visit...holding hive tools, moving frames with them, picking up frames and gently picking each up and putting each back without disturbing the hive too much....and for me, remembering not to freak out because you are actually doing all this. I had to remove a bit of comb from the bottom of one of the frames, not sure what that is about...will ask Tim.
I closed hive 1 and moved on to #2. I worked south to north on this one, since I realized w/ hive 1, the sun would be behind me if I worked in this direction, making it easier to visualize the eggs.
Unfortunately, I did not see any eggs in this hive...but that doesn't mean they weren't there. They are really hard to see and the bees were covering pretty densely the two frames that I'd expect to see them on. This hive seemed a little more lively than the first and I noticed a chemical/banana smell partway thru my inspection. I think this is some pheromone they put off when feeling threatened..to signal to the others to attack. I reluctantly closed up the hive since I figured I was just pissing them off more and wasn't seeing what I wanted to see. I will go back later this week to check this hive again.

After closing up the hives, I refilled the chicken watering device...it was practically empty- 2 gallons of water gone, since their install on tuesday.
I also removed their transport cages from sitting beside the hives, and the syrup cans that came with them, which were mostly empty.

The quart feeding jars I had in each hive were not noticeably empty, less than I expected to be gone. I did check to make sure the syrup was coming out ok and they were fine and I could see bees feeding from them, so I assume all is well there. Maybe the bees were all syruped out and just needed water instead.

the queen is in da house...

2007-04-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday around 5:45pm I returned to the hives to release the queens from their special cages.
This involved opening each hive, removing the queen cage from between the frames, and prying out a small piece of cork that was keeping the queen in. Then, I had to put my finger over the hole so as to keep the queen from falling out-I lowered the cage and my hand down in the hive and watched her walk out. I did this for both hives.

The bees were much more cohesive this time...less flying around and jumping on me - unlike the hiving day. Not sure if it was just because of the time of day, temperature, or just the craziness of the hiving day...probably all of the above.
I checked the water feeder and it had been used more than I expected, will likely need to return to fill it up soon (2 gallons). I removed a few rocks I'd placed in the water tray to allow the bees to get down to the water easier...I'd put them there so the bees wouldn't accidentally drown. The cages that I'd left near each hive still had a few stragglers in them, or perhaps they were just revisiting (it was pretty cool out so I doubt they would have lived overnight there). I shook out as best I could the rest of the bees in each cage, but still left each sitting beside the hives.

Hive 1 (closest to the walkway) was opened first, noted the grass I'd placed to block the entrance had been removed or was blown out by the wind. Hive 2 still had it's grass in place. Noticed Hive 2's feeding jars were not elevated enough for the bees to get under them, so I used two sticks to raise the jar holder up a little higher. Hive 2 also had a few dead bees that were around the feeding can/cage area, guess they didn't make it into the hive and died overnight due to the temps.

The hardest thing this trip was being able to put the inner cover on without squishing any bees. I tried the slide on technique, but noticed I caught a few on the end.

I sort of feel sorry for them...being tossed about on the long ride here and being de-caged...only to learn it is a cooler climate, with a new, empty home to furnish.

Tim, my mentor, said to check in on them on Sunday or thereabouts, to see if the queen is laying eggs- assurance that she is still alive. He also said not to use my smoker the first few times, as it could piss them off or make them leave...since there isnt a full hive to protect.

pics

2007-04-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

bee installation complete!

2007-04-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to pickup "the girls". They were in transit from california, destined for a fellow beekeeping club member's home in bellevue, wa. which is about 25 minutes away. The bee van had not arrived upon me showing up, so I had to wait half an hour...then this clunky chevy van pulls up, with ~120 packages of bees in the back...a partition between the driving section and the rear, and dryer vents stuck out the window to ensure good ventilation for the bees.
I mingled with the other seasoned beekeepers that were there to pickup their bees...discussing when the timing of installation of the bees into our hives, and plans for the journey home. I planned to put mine in the trunk...but one lady was driving a mini-suv, no trunk. She later donned her beekeeping suit for her drive home. This same lady also offered to carry the boxes to my trunk for me, so even though I brought my gloves and suit (just in case), I didn't need them just yet.
After they were in my trunk (~ 30000 bees!) I could hear this sizzling-like sound...
On the drive home, I kept looking in my rear view mirror, like a bad horror movie, halfway anticipating some mass of bees to be staring back at me.

Alas, no such incident occurred. I dropped off the packages of bees at their staging area (a garage) to wait until today, when I could install them.

THe pictures show the collection of bee packages being unloaded and the "bee vacuum" which was used to suck up the stray bees that had collected on the outsides of the cages.

Today's "hiving" went well...the mailman was out taking pictures of me, and a neighbor came over to check out my gear. Then, upon me getting ready to open the cages...everyone mysteriously disappeared... I heard mothers call their children in..part of me wondered if I should go hide too. Afterward,the bees were flying around... kind of crazy, I guess coming to a colder climate and being shaken out of their cages wasn't a great experience. After getting the hives all closed back up, I had to stand around quite a while so they would leave me alone...I had to do my little version of a bee dance to shake them off of my back as several....I mean, SEVERAL, had decided to ride along on my back as I moved back toward the car/garage area. I will go back tomorrow to release the queen as she is in her own little cage within the hive. This is done so the hive bees can get used to the new queen's pheromones.

I am officially a beekeeper now!

They're heeerrrre

2007-04-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

Just learned that my bees are in transit from california. ETA is ~7pm or thereabouts. I will go pick them up in my car- in the trunk that is. I will have about 9lbs of bees in my trunk! I am picking up two "packages" for myself (1 for each hive) and 1 for my mentor. I hope I make it home ok.

I finished preparing all of my hive 'innards' last night, enough frames w/ wax for 6 hive bodies. I will need more later...

So, wish me luck. Depending on the weather/daylight conditions tonight, I may "install" the packages tonight , but definitely by tomorrow around noon.

wish me luck!

busy weekend

2007-04-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend it got quite warm, which allowed a visit to my mentor's beehives for my "training" session. I also checked on the status of the bees, coming from california, and the guy bringing them will have to coordinate closely with weather conditions since beekeepers want a nice warm day for installing the packages of bees into the hives.

Here's a newspaper article featuring my mentor, Tim:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/137664_honey03.html

After navigating our way to his hives, on a steep hillside behind his house, Tim explained that he had the fortunate experience of capturing a swarm in his neighbors yard on Friday and he wanted to see how they were doing. We also were on a quest to ensure his other hive was "queen right" meaning, the queen is alive and laying eggs.
We were all suited up with smoker in hand to intoxicate the bees. At times during this visit, I had to fight the instinct to start screaming and waving my arms when the bees were swirling around my head and darting at my face, which they will do to protect their hive. ahhhhmmmmm...I did my best to remember to be calm and cool. I have a bee suit on, ok, focus on the hive- wow isnt this amazing and crazy?...that's what kept going through my head.

Tim showed me how to identify the eggs that the queen was laying (good sign) and I could see the progression of life from egg to pupae and then could see the capped over cells where a new bee would emerge. It was amazing.
I later got to handle the frames and maneuver with the hive tools (crow bar looking things) which Tim made it look so much easier to maneuver with than it actually was. Imagine: leather gloves, a metal tool in each hand and a frame full of honey bees 10 inches from your face and thousands more below in the hive, just ready for you to disturb them with one wrong move. After a few times of picking the frames up to inspect, I started getting the hang of it, but it will require much more practice before I look as comfortable as Tim did.
I did have the fortunate experience of spotting the queen! Tim was about to give up hope in seeing her, and I'd already pointed out so many drones (male bee, which is a little larger than the worker bee) that I was losing hope too. BUt, at the last minute zowee...there she was! Her body was much longer than any of the other bees, it was kind of weird looking, actually.

We checked on the other hive, containing the swarm bees, and then retreated back to the work shed. A few bees followed us, but soon departed back to their hives. We had to do a "bee check" to make sure there weren't any on each other's suits. I kept my suit on until I got all the way to the top of the hill, just in case.

Tim then showed me how to assemble the frames, and wax foundation, etc. He had these cool jigs that enabled "mass" production of batches of 10 frames. Very cool.
He let me borrow them and I finished my initial set of frames for each of my hives last night. I am sure my condo neighbors appreciated my hammering, but I have to be ready in case the bees come this week! I will finish the remainder of the frames for the rest of my hives over the course of the next few days.

Pics show the frame assembly.

me in my hive suit and frames (that the bees draw comb upon)

2007-04-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

Pics of hive site and me painting hive parts

2007-04-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

What's this about?

2007-04-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, my new hobby...beekeeping! Hence, it is not a blog, but a beelog. hehe.

Wanted to start a log of events as I progress down the road of tending to the two hives of bees that will soon be arriving!

So far:
Attended a few Puget Sound Beekeeping club meetings- joined so I could be part of the mentor program.
Met with my mentor and learned there are as many or more ways of tending to bees as there are beekeepers.

Purchased:
2 beekeeping books
Beesuit (#1 priority!)
gloves
hives (3 westerns per hive right now)
bee brush
smoker and fuel
Frame making materials, wood and wax foundation - this is what the bees draw their comb out on...eventually storing brood (new bees) and honey.

Painted:
bottom boards and top covers of hives, to paint the rest tonight.