Building comb!

We checked on the bees on Saturday and the queens had been released from their marshmallow prisons. They were also beginning to build comb! We were such proud apiculturists. This moment is not impressively captured in the picture above. We didn't want to disturb them, so right now there is just this birds-eye view. But if you look closely and use your imagination you will see the orderly hexagonal comb waiting for the queen to lay an egg in each cell. Or so we hope.

If you lived here you'd bee home by now.

It is helpful for bees to have signs to help them distinguish their hives apart. And to help them feel welcome.

End of the first day

Here we are at the end of the first day, the bees cozy in their hives. It was great weather for the first day, they appeared to be very active. Although the only bee we saw with pollen flew out of the hive. Maybee it is opposite day?

Installing the 2nd hive

Here Alex is installing the 2nd hive.

Video of installing the bees

Alex picked up the bees last night around 7:00 and this morning we put them in their new homes. Everything went pretty well. The queen comes in her own little cage inside the bigger bee cage. The queen cage is then hung on a frame in the hive, which gives the workers a chance to get used to her. Normally there is a piece of candy plugging a hole in the queen cage, which the workers slowly eat through to free her. This usually takes a few days. However ours just had a cork, so we quickly improvised, removed the cork and plugged the hole with an old marshmallow. The stuff Alex is putting in the feeder is sugar water.

Tomorrow's the big day!

We should get our bees tomorrow! We are both excited and a little nervous. The first and only time I ever installed a colony, a bee stung me in the back of the neck. It swelled up and gave me a nice little hump back- a look only attractive in whales. Of course that was without a full body suit. .. Hum other apprehensions...there are many. Our hives will be visible from the road, only if you stand on the bridge next to our house and stare into the yard, which of course people do. I am worried that someone will complain to the city that they are a nuisance even if they aren't. I know that there are many people afraid of bees, some for a good reason and some not. Ok, only two fears right now- that is sufficient.

Bee yard

Here's the little exclosure to separate the the bees from the chickens. The two hives will obviously sit on the cinder blocks. This fence of chicken wire is two feet tall. Tall enough to keep the chickens out, but not so tall it will disturb the bees' flight pattern.

Painted Hives

The hives are all sanded an painted. Only the outside is painted - the bees will protect the inside of the boxes with propolis (collected from tree buds). Shown here are two complete hives, working from the bottom up;

• The bottom board - where the bees enter the hive
• The brood box - where the queen lays eggs and pollen is stored.
  
• The brood box - where the queen also lays eggs, pollen is stored and honey is stored.
• A "Western" honey super - where the bees will store honey (for us to collect). To prevent the queen from laying eggs in the honey super, we will install a queen excluder to keep her in the bottom two boxes. Basically this is a screen that only the workers can fit through.
• A Feeder box - which we'll put sugar water into, to give the bees a good start, until the nectar really starts to flow.
• An inner cover.
• Lid.
  

Two hives

These boxes are for two hives. Two deeps, two westerns. All that needs to happen now is to sand and paint them.

Building frames

Beekeeping is a lot of work! We spent a full three-day weekend putting together hives and frames. Jim even had all of the boards cut and ready to nail together, and it still took us that long, but it was a lot of fun. In this picture Jim is nailing frames together. The next step is to add the wax foundation, on which the bees will make comb.

Son and father

Alex and Jim checking the hive. They looked really good. We gave them some sugar water and a super to work on.

Alex

We went up to Alex's parent's house to build the hive boxes. While we were up there we checked on Alex's Dad's hive, which is doing great!

Bee equipment

We got some of our equipment last night - Alex's early birthday present from his parents - Thanks! We decided to get a full suit, gloves and veil. We will probably get another veil and gloves so we can both work the bees together. Some people don't use any protective equipment, others use a veil and no gloves. Since we're pretty new to this, feeling comfortable and not worrying about getting stung will allow us to work slower, and bee more relaxed, which will translate into less stressed bees. A lot of seasoned bee keepers don't use gloves, saying that it allows them to be more gentle and have more dexterity - to each their own I suppose.

Other equipment that we'll need: smoker, frame lifter, hive tool

Introduction to Urban Beekeeping

Welcome to our blog about urban beekeeping. We thought that it would be fun to share our experiences from the very beginning about getting set up and maintaining bee hives in an urban setting. We are both novices, but have some experience working with bees. We hope that this blog is informative and interesting, and perhaps inspire people to start their own hives.

This first picture is showing my thought process about where to put the hives. We feel that our yard is an excellent place to raise bees as there are numerous fruit trees in our yard, and surrounding yards, our southern property line is Dixon Creek, which is loaded with Himalayan Blackberries, and there are numerous other flowering plants around. We have a fairly large back yard that is divided up into three areas; the garden (to the left of the chickens in this photo), the chicken area, and the people area (behind the camera). We wanted a spot that was mostly away from us, so they don't bother us and we don't bother them. We also needed an area that got sun, as bees are much more active and productive when the hives are warmed by the sun. So, this pretty much left the chicken area, where the arrow is pointing. Chickens are smarter than you'd think, so we're thinking that everyone will get along. So, the hives will have their backs against the fence, facing into the chicken area, south.

We are starting with two hives for many reasons. First is cost. The second reason is we just don't know how well they'll do. Third is space and available food. Lots of things can go wrong with raising bees, which I'll go into later.