A newbee's first rescue

Feral bees love to take up residence in buried meter boxes. The Bee Rescue Hotline gets hundreds of calls about them every year.

LA Backwards Beekeeper Ruth writes:

Brad had been given a deep box of bees and comb last year but they absconded after the huge windstorm we had on December 1st. He decided it was time to get in on the action and get his next hive himself!

We laid everything out so we could see what we had and how his old comb looked. We had tons of space; there was practically nobody in the parking lot of Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook State Park. His kids had painted his hive boxes for him.

The meter box had about 8 very nice, flat combs in it, that detached intact. Super easy! Lots of brood and honey, too. We even found some eggs.

But did they want to leave that meter box? No they did not.

Brad with the comb banded in to deeps. Brad was rightfully proud of his work.

We tried to allow the bees that were on the comb to remain on that same comb. Tried not to squish them with the rubber bands.

In the end there were bees left in the meter box, so we scooped and dumped them into the hive. It's always amazing to see how they just go in! I forgot my good milk-carton scooper so we improvised with a nail box.

It was beautiful sunset. There will definitely be more bees from this park, so if it's near you, come along on the next one!

—Ruth

Next Meeting: Sunday, January 29

Backwards Beekeepers meetings take place on the last Sunday of every month.

The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 29 at 11am. As always, we'll be at the Atwater Crossing arts complex.

If you ordered a Backwards Beekeepers hoodie to pick up, you'll get it at this meeting!

Topics to be covered:

• Getting ready for spring
• Questions and Answers from Kirkobeeo

Future meetings (mark your calendar!):

• February 26
• March 25
• April 29

Atwater Crossing
3265-3191 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039-2205

There is ample free parking in the complex parking lot  - PLEASE park in the lot so the residents of the neighborhood can park near their homes. There is also a cafe that sells beverages and tasty flatbreads if you'd like a snack during the meeting.

Please do NOT bring live bees to the meeting. We are guests at Atwater Crossing and they have a restaurant that is open to the public and other active businesses on site.

Map link

Closest freeway exit is Fletcher off the 2 freeway
Casitas is between Minneapolis St & Silver Lake Blvd…
1 long block SW of N. San Fernando Road (across the railroad tracks)
1 ½ blocks NW of Fletcher Drive
2 ½ blocks SE of Glendale Blvd

See you at the meeting!
Anne & Gwen

Editor's note: There will also be Backwards Beekeepers t-shirts (brown, gray, and green) for sale at $15 each!

Spring is coming to LA

Kirk says:

Ed in Kagel Canyon sent me this pic. The swarms are about to start.

Settling bees...and neighbors

Pasadena Backwards Beekeeper Deborah writes:

Re-stacked my hive that was upended in the Dec. 1st winds here in Pasadena. Wasn't sure what the end result would be with so many dead bees on the roof from the cold, but the hive is now thriving!

Just did my first honey harvest ever. Very first jar went to my next door neighbor who was stung in the face four times the day after the hive got tumbled. They have since settled down....(neighbors and bees!)

—Deborah

Another step forward for beekeeping in LA

In the ongoing march toward legalizing beekeeping in Los Angeles, last night the Griffith Park Neighborhood Council voted in favor of supporting urban beekeeping in Los Angeles.

And of course, the Backwards Beekeepers were there to support the effort.

UPDATE: Another victory at the South Robertson Neighborhood Council! HoneyLove.org keeps score.

Kirk's Sunday mentoring

Sunday's mentoring crew: Doug, Donna, Pheonix, Aya, Summer, and Emma

Kirk writes:

Went mentoring on Sunday—we had a full house.

Everyone got involved. Emma always spots the queen. I didn't have enough bee suits to go around, so me and Doug sat on the hill and took pictures.

Summer's big hive is so strong we moved more frames up to the upper boxes.

If anyone wants to donate any beekeeper's gear, let me know—I need some to loan out on Sunday.

—kirkobeeo

Simplicity vs. sensationalism in the media

Kirk at KPCC last June.

Kirk Anderson, co-founder of and chief guru to the Backwards Beekeepers, was a guest on KPCC's Patt Morrison program last Friday. Kirk's done a lot of media appearances in recent years (such as this interview with KPCC's Madeleine Brand last June), and I'm always impressed with his ability to clearly communicate our group's philosophy while remaining his natural and charming self. It can be difficult to stay on message and still have a personality, but Kirk's an expert at it.

Yesterday's appearance came about because Patt and her producers wanted to discuss the recent publicity surrounding the phorid fly, which a researcher at San Francisco State University thinks may be causing declines in bee populations. They wanted a local LA beekeeper to weigh in on the topic.

It's unfortunate that the segment was so short, because while the other two guests (the above-mentioned John Hafernick of SF State and David Hackenberg, a commercial beekeeper) were articulate with their viewpoints, there wasn't time for Kirk to point out that while terms like "Zombie Flies" and "Colony Collapse" make great headlines and stimulating talk radio, they're kind of beside the point.

Food production over the last few decades has moved to an industrial model that plants mono-crops by the square mile and relies on commercial pollination services that deliver bee boxes to the fields by the tens of thousands. These beekeepers, in turn, are so economically squeezed that they're forced to breed for quantity rather than quality, to stress their bees through endless travel, and to supplement their bees' mono-crop diet with cheap junk food that leaves the bees susceptible to parasites and disease.

The industrial model gives us cheap food in the short term, at a high cost in the long term. The bees' plight is one indicator of this.

LA Backwards Beekeeper Ruth made this comment on KPCC's Patt Morrison web page (and, to her credit, Patt read it on air):

This is a tempest in a teacup! Bees have been around for 70 million years, and they will overcome this if we stop feeding them [high fructose corn syrup], loading them with antibiotics and antifungals, and otherwise weakening their immune systems. Bees get rid of all kinds of critters from their hives, from skunks to mice. They'll get rid of these too if we stop messing with their wild genetics.

At least we're getting this point of view into the discussion now. Little by little, we're making progress.

Link: Zombie bees: what’s really to blame for colony collapse? (KPCC)

Your Bee Rescue Hotline at work: Silver Lake

Ray and Sally in Silver Lake called the Bee Rescue Hotline about a hive of bees in one of their backyard trees. The bees had only swarmed there 4 or 5 days ago, but they had already drawn three small combs, started collecting honey, and had a decent amount of new brood going. Impressive!

I'm not good at identifying trees, but this one has the kind of fast-growing branches that feel like they can snap off without too much effort. And despite not being superstitious, I wasn't all that excited about being up on a ladder on Friday the 13th. But that's bee fever for you.


I borrowed a small kitchen knife from Ray and Sally to remove the very new combs from the branch.


Meanwhile, Sally modeled her new Backwards Beekeepers t-shirt for Ray.


Once I got the box down to the ground, the bees had already found the entrance and were exploring.


I gave the box a quick duct tape job and got them on the move so they wouldn't overheat. Yes, in January.


Here are the bees in their new home, sitting atop the hive I'll join them with if they decide to stick around.

Viewer mail: Charles Martin Simon

A reader writes:

Hello,

I have a question about Charles Martin Simon. I can't thank you enough for introducing me to his work. He's pretty awesome. Anyways my question is about how he was able to collect pollen with bottomless hives?

Thank you so much for sharing your work.

Sincerely,

Travis

Kirk replies:

Thank You for the question. Charles used a Pollen Trap. He placed it at top entrance of his hives. He got so he didn't care too much about honey.

kirkobeeo

"It's not about honey, it's not about money. It's about survival."

—Charles Martin Simon

Mentoring and making new beekeepers

LA Backwards Beekeeper Roberta writes:

I worked this weekend with David, a senior at Whittier High School. He contacted me and needed some hours for his beekeeping fieldwork as soon as possible. I put out a call to the group and within an hour Summer and Susan both said that he could take a look at their hives. Susan already had another high school student coming over too, and Summer was hosting a mentoring session herself. Thank you ladies.

We also happened to get calls on the LA Rescue Hotline about two feral hives: a tree hive in Long Beach and a fence hive in Hacienda Heights—so we were set with something to do.

The tree hive was spotted by a woman out walking—it was in the parkway with the bees' path right across the sidewalk. We could easily spot the bees coming from an opening on the side of the tree but it looked hard to set up for a trap out.

Luckily, there was a hole in the tree where a branch had died and was removed. Someone had put a plastic bag in the hole and we removed it to find a window right into the hive. It was great!

We could see lots of nectar so our new bee season is probably getting ready to take off. I still need to find a bee champion in the area before setting up the trap-out so they can keep an eye on it. It will be a little tricky because it’'s an area with all apartments. That means lots of people and landlords. I'll update after I get a plan.

Then we went over to Susan's place and got to see her wonderful hives. David got up close and personal and seemed very comfortable around the bees. Luke, also a high school student and David's partner on their project, came over.

We took a look in the hive and then Luke filmed a short public service announcement, “Give Bees a Chance”. The hive looked great and was ready for another box.

Then we did a consult at Eva's home in Hacienda Heights. Bees had moved into her wooden fence at some point. She had a bush trimmed back and there was the hive. She wanted to keep it but her husband wasn't keen on the idea so I'll find a newbee who wants to take them and we'll do the cutout this week. Shouldn't take more than an hour. We could see right in and it looks super easy. Hard part will be keeping new bees from moving right back in!

David got a good though kind of low-key exposure to bees. For a first time, not too bad.

—roberta