Top Bar Mentoring at Farm Lot 59

Shannon, new beekeeper

LA Backwards Beekeeper Roberta writes:

Shannon and I took a look at the top bar hive at Farm Lot 59 in Long Beach. Farm Lot 59 is run by Sasha Kanno and is a chemical-free farm with fresh fruits, veggies and eggs. She is opening her new farm stand this week. We hope to be adding honey to the bounty soon because their top bar hive is booming.

There is a lot to the story about how this hive came to be. It’s a handmade hive by Steve at BuBees, made of reclaimed wood from the shelves of a beloved Long Beach bookstore, Acre of Books. It was provided by Larry Rich of the Long Beach Sustainability Office.

I can’t remember exactly where the bees came from but Barbara, Henry, Dick and Jaimie of the Long Beach Beekeepers helped transfer the bees to the hive and now they are booming. Now Shannon, a new beekeeper, will be taking care of this hive. I’ll be honest, I’ve never managed a top bar hive but it looks simple enough.

We took a look through the window and the bees were jam-packed and definitely needed some more room. That window is really helpful. We closed it up and gently smoked the hive. The bees were super calm and didn’t mind us at all. We took off the lid and removed the follower board to the right to give them two bars more, in retrospect I probably should have given them 4. They didn’t mind this either.

We could see a bar complete with capped honey but we had two problems: (1) No bucket for honey and (2) No knife to cut the comb away from the hive. Oh well, gives us something to do next time.

We moved the bars over and things were going so well we figured we’d mess with the other end. We took that frame out and this, they minded. We got a great picture of Shannon with the bees and then we closed everything up.

Shannon is a natural with the bees and has the right demeanor to be a great beekeeper. We’ll be harvesting honey for the farm and giving them more room in a couple of weeks.

—roberta

Getting a new beekeeper going

Michael is a new Backwards Beekeeper in LA. He and his wife Vinh have a great urban farm setup in Glassell Park with lots of happy chickens, vegetables, fruit trees, and now a bee hive.

Michael's bees have a nice spot on the hillside where they get plenty of sun. He had been a bit concerned that the hive hadn't expanded in the last few months since it arrived, so we opened it up to take a look.

The queen is laying in a nice pattern and the bees are storing honey, so this hive is ready to grow like crazy once our LA spring arrives in the next couple of months.

If you're ready to become a new beekeeper, make sure to get your gear ready soon. The swarms will be arriving before you know it!

Urban beekeeping is expanding fast

Sebastian and Kirk with Michael (center) from Green Tree Landscaping.

Kirk and Sebastian have been hired by a local landscaping company whose clients love having bees in their yards. Money quote from Kirk:

I just keep getting amazed at how many people want to have bees in their yards…you can be an urban beekeeper in Los Angeles and maybe start making a living at it!

Sebastian checks a healthy hive.

Hear more from Kirk below:

Roberta grabs a swarm, revives a hive

LA Backwards Beekeeper Roberta writes:

Shannon and her family have been very gracious by allowing me to keep my two hives at their place. The bees have been there for about a year now, and the family feels that their fruit crops have had a big boost from the added pollinators.

I got a few frantic calls about a swarm that had landed on the front yard fence, because Shannon didn’t want anyone to run into it by accident. There had already been some bees and honeycomb that had fallen from a palm tree hive elsewhere in the neighborhood, and that created quite a stir on the street. Shannon thought I should go after that one too but the homeowner already contacted their beekeeper friend to come and rescue it.

The kids are pretty used to the bees being around, and everyone’s been stung at some point since they spend a lot of time outside with bare feet. Shannon swears by her plantain-and-rum poultice that she applies after a sting—she says the pain and swelling just disappears. One of the younger girls, however, once was stung between the eyes and they swelled shut. It’s a great story that they like to tell, and they have pictures of her smiling and sticking out her tongue.

I was going to whisk this swarm off, but we took a look in one of my hives and it was empty, so I put the bees in a box (as the kids watched from a car) and then dumped the bees into the empty hive. All done.

The next time I come, the kids are going to get suited up and will help with the hive inspection. They really wanted to help this time, but it was getting really late so we made it a quick one.

—Roberta

4-H group learns beekeeping and video production

LA Backwards Beekeeper Roberta writes:

Steven (a Torrance Backwards Beekeeper) and I meet with the 4-H Bee Club once a month and we talk about bees, beekeeping and honey.

Last month we did our first inspection of the year. We've also started shooting videos, so that the 4-H members can practice teaching other people about bees by explaining what they've learned.

4-H isn't just about animal husbandry and farming; it also focuses on public speaking to build confidence and improve young people's ability to advocate within the community.

I'm very impressed with these young ladies. It's also interesting to hear their perspective on what we discuss. Wait till you hear what they have to say about bees!

—roberta

Bees with a city view

LA Backwards Beekeeper Andrew writes:

I brought these bees to Reed's place in Mt. Washington in the late Summer of last year from Santa Monica. Reed had a custom platform built on a grade in his yard to accommodate the hive.

Essentially, these bees came from two nucs. Both had been struggling for some time so they were combined into one hive.

Reed, a neighbor over here in Mt Washington, was eager to have bees in his yard so a mutual friend made the introduction.

I pretty much left the bess to do their thing over the past 6 months. Reed called me recently to say that there was an immense amount of activity during the day of recent and the bees seemed to be getting slightly aggressive when he got too close to the hive. I knew it was time to take a look inside the hive.

Super Bowl Sunday seemed like a perfect afternoon. When I opened the hive it was absolutely brimming with bees! Almost every frame was completely filled with stores or brood.

I added a shallow super and within minutes they were already migrating up there. They must have felt cramped down below. I will be adding another shallow super in the next couple of weeks.

Will keep you posted on progress...

—Andrew

All photos by Reed Davis.

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

Handling bees in a sun dress?

Kirk passes along these photos from his recent trip to New York City. He writes:

hell who needs a veil. Emily Vaughn and Sam Comfort looking at Emily's bees

—kirkobeeo

It's worth noting, by the way, that Emily and Sam are dealing with package (i.e. factory-bred) bees here. We do not recommend this sort of thing when dealing with feral bees.




I personally call this "asking for a nasty surprise."

It's the queen!

Summer, Emma, Sadie and David (the hive sponsor).

Kirk did a hive inspection with some mentees, and made a rare queen spotting.

Summer and Emma inspect the three hives.

The queen! Emma spotted her.
You can see here in the middle—big beautiful orange queen.

Spreading the fun around

Kirk writes:

I took a bunch of newbies to inspect hives in Los Feliz.

Good times!

Kirk mentors Emma

Kirk writes:

Emma came to the last bee club meeting. She tagged along today—we went to take a swarm out of a trap at Leonardo's house.

This is Emma all geared up.

This is the top of the trap. It had comb attached, and there were 5 pizza-shaped combs in the trap.

Kirk mentors Summer on a Sunday

After Sunday's Backwards Beekeepers meeting, Kirk headed out with Summer for some hive maintenance and mentoring. Follow along with the photos as Kirk tells the story:


Summer runs her hand over the frames to test for meanness.







The acid in citrus helps neutralize the alkali in bee stings.

Kirk's mentoring marathon

Always bring your magnifying glass!


Kirk is making new beekeepers like nobody's business. Check out his latest audio message and follow along:



Summer smokes the bees.

Bingo! Eggs and brood.

Trap-out at Stephanie and Jeff's. Angry bees!

Stephanie and Jeff.

Bees for Summer

LA Backwards Beekeeper Summer writes:

I just had a great time with Kirk putting my nuc hive into its permanent hive! I wanted to share some pictures and the story.

Kirk and I went to get a beehive from a bird house in Del Mar.

We brought the entire birdhouse back to my sponsor's yard, but when we opened up the birdhouse, all the bees were dead! We came to the conclusion the bees were probably poisoned before we picked them up.

Poor little bees.

However, all was not lost. Kirk got a call the following week about a beehive in a BBQ! He cut out the hive and delivered it to me.