Seattle beekeeping in winter means checking on hives during the few warm days that allow us to pull lids. We found the marker commemorating the 200th anniversary of Lorenzo L. Langstroth (b. Dec. 25, 1810) on a trip to Philadelphia — Langstroth developed the modern movable-frame beehive that all of us use today.
Winter Hive Checks and Losses
The darkest part of the year is behind us and already there have been days warm enough for the bees to fly. We visited all of our hives except one and removed the sugar feeders that were left on late last autumn. We poured granulated sugar around the top of the inner cover as emergency feed for any hives that might be running low on stores.
We know we lost at least 5 hives out of 19. However, we cannot count survivors until it warms up enough to do a proper inspection. Winter losses are a reality of modern beekeeping — in part due to the varroa mite, which has made hive survival much less predictable than it once was.
Finding New Hive Locations in Seattle
We are actively looking for new host home locations in Seattle. Our Bellevue site is being sold and we need to relocate those hives. We also have a new location near the University of Washington and are looking for another north Seattle spot.
One prospective host home was surrounded by townhomes. The homeowners were enthusiastic, but we realized that any bee event — a swarm or a robbing incident — would likely alarm neighbors in such a dense setting. We turned it down reluctantly. In addition, we will not be returning to Bellevue now that the floating bridge toll has been added — it simply makes the logistics too costly.
If you’re still looking for a beehive home, perhaps we can work something out. I have a large backyard in a nice location. Let me know if you’re interested and we can exchange information.
We live in West Seattle with a hill side behind us covered in old fruit trees. We would love to host a hive