Beekeeping isn't always easy

Yesterday Kirk, Pshairyn, and Pshairyn's dad went to retrieve a cut-out full of bees. Kirk tells the story of Pshairyn's determination to keep bees in the face of adversity:



Pictures from the cut-out retrieval:

Erik rescues some Public Television bees

Backwards Beekeeper Erik of Homegrown Evolution writes:

Beekeeper Phil called me this morning to say that there was a swarm in a tree at KCET. He arranged for me to meet the staff who hoisted me up in a fork lift (sorry no pictures of that moment, but needless to say, much easier than a ladder).

I sprayed the cluster with sugar water and held the nuc box up to them, but they were in no hurry to go in. Not wanting to keep staff member Raul waiting too long, I gave the bees a gentle bump and the majority of them went into the box--missed a few that were clinging to the other side of the branch, but I was able to give them another spray of sugar water and brushed most of them into the box.

Phil helped me get the nuc box into my car and I sped home. Gave Kirk a call and he hooked me up with new beekeeper Beth. Took the nuc to Beth's bee paradise in Mar Vista.

Thanks to Phil, Raul and KCET for making this happen.

Best,
Erik

Gallery of new beekeepers

Kirk writes:

This is Neil, a new beekeeper. He is looking at the trap-out going at his place.He is going to keep the bees.

This is Ceebs. She has chickens, she feeds the wild animals, she rescues dogs and is a new beekeeper. She purchased a queen, put it in a hive by itself, went to help her Dad, came back had bees in the box.

Jason and Trevor got bees—I helped them put them in the hive at Jerry's house in Eagle Rock.

New beekeeper report

New Backwards Beekeeper Marc checks in with his progress:

I attended my first meeting of the Backwards Beekeepers on April 25th...I captured a smallish swarm Easter morning and took a peek today, being only three weeks that the "girls" have been hive making. Wow. They have been busy.

Here is the swarm that landed late afternoon the Friday before Easter. They had swarmed on the stand of a bird feeder. At my daughter's encouragement to capture them I proceeded to discover the resources available to me. Very quickly I found the Backwards Beekeepers, LA Honey, and lots of information and other sites.

Okay, time to become a beekeeper. By Saturday night I had assembled a hive with one medium super and 10 frames. Sunday morning they plopped right in (having been christened the Easter Hive by my wife) and within a few days they were foraging and every fifth bee arrived with pollen.

Today (day 22) I opened the hive to swap out frames without starter strips and found two frames with drawn but empty comb and three like the picture below (mostly capped brood I think).

Below is a closeup of capped cells and larva. And maybe that is the queen on the extreme right. At this rate I think I have another three or four weeks before I have to put a second super on. I will also switch to a top entrance at that time. It's a very docile hive and opening it up was a non event for the bees. No doubt the light smoking helped. From the appearance of the (possible) queen my guess is that they are probably Italians, which the book "The Backyard Beekeeper" states are "not markedly protective of their hive" and "quiet on the comb"...

It's been a ton of fun so far and with little effort involved other than watching, reading, and planning. Honey is not a primary objective at this time, but if the hive grows really fast then maybe I'll collect a little this year.

Regards,
Marc

Working to legalize beekeeping in Santa Monica

Backwards Beekeeper Daniel Salisbury is a longtime bee rescuer and advocate for beekeeping. Now he's working to get beekeeping legalized in his home city of Santa Monica—and from there, we all hope, Los Angeles will follow.

The LA Times ran this profile on Daniel today:

Salisbury said that over the years, he has successfully relocated roughly 50 hives to San Luis Obispo. He kept hives for about a decade at his residence in a Santa Monica trailer park, until he got caught. "I didn't get cited," he said. "I just had to move the hives."

When he found out that city policy called for exterminating swarms of feral bees, he decided to fight for the little buzzers.

"Why would you exterminate these bees when farmers in rural areas are begging for beehives?" he wondered.

Repeal sought of Santa Monica beekeeping ban (LA Times)

Corey helps a downtown swarm move in

Backwards Beekeeper Corey, who operates out of downtown LA, sends this video of hiving a swarm on his rooftop. Thanks Corey!

Kirk finds bees in the pool floats

Kirk got a call to remove some bees that had built a hive among a collection of pool floats. He says:

This gal just had to help out—I lent her my suit. After we got the bees all set I helped her do her report on bees for her school. Kids and Bees, what could be better?

Bees from swimming-pool floats.

Swimming pool bees in the box.

The swimming pool bees, now serving as trap-out bees.

Viewer mail

Derek in Utah writes:

Hi,

I am a first-year backyard beekeeper. I ordered my beginning beekeeping material about a month ago. Since that time, I was introduced to the backwards beekeeping method; I like it. I have already prepared my starter strips (got some beeswax from a friend who is practicing the backwards beekeeping method).

My question is this, when installing my package bees, do I need to worry about the bees taking to the starter strips? Should I have a couple frames with foundation placed in the hive just in case? I'm a little nervous about installing my bees without any drawn out comb. My friend gave me one fully drawn out frame of honey comb, I plan on putting that in the bottom box when I install my bees.

What do you think? In your experience, do package bees generally take to the starter strips without any drawn out frames? My bees arrive on the 24th, so please help me!

Thanks,

Derek M.

Here's Kirk's reply:



If you're wondering what starter strips are, find out here.

Backwards Beekeepers TV: Treasure In A Swarm Trap

Kirk headed over to Leonardo's place last week to open a swarm trap that was full of bees, and I went along to shoot a video.

Here Kirk tells us why a swarm trap is useful, how to set one up, and how to transfer the bees to a hive once they've moved in.



You can watch the video in full-size HD here.

Next Meeting: Sunday, April 25!

April Backwards Beekeepers Meeting:

When: Sunday, March 25 at 11am
Where: Under Spring outdoor space at Farmlab in downtown L.A.

Some of the things we'll talk about (we'll definitely add more):

• How to become a backwards beekeeper
• Legalizing beekeeping in LA
• Swarm Catching/Bee Rescue Hotline
• Bee Fever!
  

Things that we definitely won't talk about:

• How to use chemicals
  
• When to use chemicals
• Dancing with the Stars
  

Everyone is welcome, regardless of beekeeping experience (or lack thereof). Please spend a few minutes with this blog before you come - it may answer a lot of your questions.

We'll also have Backwards Beekeepers t-shirts for sale. They cost $15 and are very fashionable.

Farmlab Directions

You want to follow the above directions most of the way, but park on Aurora and walk through the alley (under Spring) to the meeting.

Check out this view to see what it looks like from the street.