Hive Number Two

Lighting the smoker to calm the bees.

Beekeeping seems to require two hands, and often you're wearing gloves.  The smoker makes things a bit grimy, and of course what's stickier than honey and propolis?  So I haven't been very good with bee photographs.  But here's a bunch of text about my beehives and a couple photos you might have seen before...

Bee Hive Number One: Carlota soon to be overthrown by Maximiliana

Bee Hive Number Two: Adelaide

Do to the generosity of others I began my beekeeping adventure earlier than expected.  Felipe, a friend of a friend, gave me a hive about 7 weeks ago.  I don't think it's doing well, it seems to be without a queen.  I see bees collecting honey and pollen, but I don't see brood, honeycomb cells filled with baby bees.  I went out of town and checked just before leaving and the hive looked great and I though I saw the Queen.  Two weeks later something had happened and now the hive is in limbo, it is not growing in size but it is also not disappearing.  There is also the possibility that I am wrong and I am hoping I can get someone more experienced to come look at my hives with me.  Good news is that I have ordered a new queen in a group order from the local bee club I have joined.  She arrives on Thursday.

A bee feasting on the nectar of a newly blossomed wild cactus flower.

In the meantime I have begun to look for bees to inhabit my topbar hive.  I have been looking for opportunities in the bee club on-line forum and I have been looking a little bit on craiglist in the same way that I looked for the now seven chickens I have purchased since January!  I came across a post last week for free bees in topbar hive traps, just what I needed!  I drove out with my husband at dusk on Memorial Day, stopping on the way for some Indian Food that had been recommended to me by a student.  The home was on a low ridge top and dense with a secret garden much like my mom's, but bigger.  Roses, lilies, flowers everywhere!  And birdhouses, handmade, painted, unique, different sizes, hundreds of them!  It was amazing.  Hidden in plain sight among the birdouses were swarm traps.  The home lay between different agricultural areas, orchards, and with the 2 acre garden the bees just love to show up to his property.  He had three top bar hives he showed us, beautifully made by hand, located in a clearing under some bigger trees.

The trap he chose for me was located on a low lying roof of an outer building.  He climber up a ladder and closed the door and handed the hive down to Tim who carried it to the car.  We placed it in the trunk, covered it lightly in a sheet, secured it so it wouldn't roll over, and took the fast lane home.  At home we locked up the dogs and carried the trap up to its location on the roof.  When we opened the door there was a loud buzz and a bunch of bees came out and we scampered down into the house and shut the door behind us!

Topbar hives allow bees to build there waxcomb in a more natural way than standard box hives.

The next day at noon when the sun had come out I smoked the trap and transferred the 8 topbars from the trap into my topbar hive.  I left three empty bars at the front of the hive to promote the creation of brood comb at the front of the hive, I then put the eight bars in order from front to back with three more empty bars behind and then the false wall.  There was only room behind the false wall for about 5 bars and I could see that the other guys topbar hives were several inches longer, maybe 6 more bars.

Well if you've made it through this far, thank you so much and let me know if you have any questions or if you are a neighbor and would like to participate in a hive inspection.

A favorite flower of the bee and its namesake, the hummingbird sage.