Beekeeping

Combining honey bee hives is sometimes the only option when two colonies are too weak to survive independently. We combined two weak hives by stacking one box directly on the other with a sheet of newspaper between them. The idea is that the bees chew through the newspaper slowly, giving them time to adjust to each other scent before direct contact. When Combining Hives Fails...

Urban beekeeping found a new home this spring: we are excited to have a location at the University of Washington Urban Horticulture Center. It is a fenced, out-of-the-way area on a 74-acre botanical research site — one of the best urban beekeeping locations we have found in Seattle. We hope these bees do well enough to earn their rent! The UW Urban Horticulture Center: A...

This is a bee hive inspection post I wish I did not have to write. We entered winter with 19 live hives. Fifteen of them died over the winter. After years of Seattle urban beekeeping, this was a hard reckoning. We spent the spring trying to understand what happened — and what to do differently. Understanding Winter Losses in Seattle Beehives Only one hive died...

We struggle with a large hive die-off and contemplate testing our hives for bee diseases in closing earlier in the fall to prevent Nosema.

Setting up new beehives in Seattle requires planning well ahead of the spring package deliveries. We are loading our pickup truck with new bee gear: 10 packages of bees ordered and parts for 8 new hives. Some of these hives will replace dead-outs from last winter. Others will increase our total count from 19 to approximately 26 hives. Expanding the Urban Honey Apiary The new...

One of the most reliable honey bee hive inspection techniques for winter survival checks is also one of the simplest: look at the landing board. In our backyard in Seattle, we have learned to read the state of the entrance before even opening a hive. The Landing Board as a Survival Indicator The photo in this post shows a hive entrance covered in a damp,...

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...

A honey bee documentary film worth watching: Colony. My husband and I saw it at the tiny Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill in Seattle — a 49-seat theater with old-fashioned movie seats and a pre-film crowd of local beekeepers, including a host of two of our own hives. There was lively bee talk before the screening started. What Colony is About Colony follows three...

Winter beekeeping in Seattle means less hive activity but no less to do. The bees barely fly when temperatures drop below 52°F, and right now freezing temperatures are in the forecast. However, the hives still need attention — feeding, monitoring, and preparing for the cold months ahead. Feeding Bees for Winter We are using a gallon-capacity feeder that sits on top of the inner cover...

Seattle urban beekeeping at Seattle Urban Honey means keeping hives across 8 backyards in the north end of Seattle. This log entry marks the end of our 2010 season — the supers have come off, the bees are being fed sugar water, and the last of the honey has been extracted. End of the 2010 Seattle Honey Season This season was a poor one due...