Clean Up

On Sunday afternoon, my husband and I trekked out to the bees and set to work getting the old hives cleaned up and cleaned out in preparation for a new package of bees in a couple of weeks.

The first step was to bag up all the frames that had brood comb in them.  Brood comb is the honey comb in the bottom boxes of the hive (hive bodies) where the queen will lay eggs.  Depending on what killed my hives over the winter, the brood comb could carry mites or diseases that would infect the new bees if I were to reuse that comb.  Similarly, if I were to just throw the comb away, it could be found by other bees out foraging and spread back to wild hives or other local hives.  So, the solution is to burn the material and start over.

After we got the frames packed up and ready to go in my firepit (I'm curious to find out what burning honey smells like...), the next step was to clean up the hive bodies that we will be able to reuse.  That involved taking my hive tool (looks like a heavy duty putty knife) and scraping out all the wax and propilis.  Propilis is the sticky stuff bees use to glue everything in their hive together.  Propilis is even found in many of your household items like toothpaste!

After scraping out all the gunk, we need to take a hand torch and pass the torch over all the inside surfaces to kill any potentially lingering diseases.  The torch I had, unfortunately, wasn't working, so we packed up the boxes to be torched, took the frames back to my house for burning, and left the rest for another day.

What's next on the bee prep checklist is torching the hive bodies (thanks to my husband for picking up a new blow torch for me!) and building new frames that will go in the hive bodies when the bees arrive.  I'll be building the frames at home and will put up a tutorial with pictures on the blog so you can see the process.  If you'd like to try your hand at building frames or torching hive bodies, leave a comment here or over on the Five Points Facebook page and I'll be in touch!

Hive Tool

Frames, ready for burning

Boxes, ready for torching

Unhealthy comb

Sunday Funday

I spent a few hours last night learning from the wisdom of local beekeepers.  One fellow learner came prepared with pages and pages and pages of printouts on the different hive styles, supplements, and medicines he'd researched for his bees.  I showed up with pen and paper.

I learned a lot and met a few other "local" beekeepers (local is relative when it comes to bees and farming I guess!). I was expecting an "old boys club" but was really excited to see several other young women, some getting started like me and others with well - established hives.  Nothing is better than gender equality in beekeeping.

After my meeting,  I've decided the next step is to clean up the mess from this winter and get the hives ready for new bees. I'll be heading out to Five Points Food Forest on Sunday from 2-4 pm to get started.  Feel free to stop by and help out.

The plan for Sunday is to scrap all the old frames and prepare them to be burned. This will involve breaking up the old frames and packing them into boxes for me to take home and burn. The next step will be cleaning up the hive bodies and supers. This means scraping out all the propilis and wax and giving them a sanitizing  pass with a hand torch. Finally,  we'll need to build new frames.  That involves some light hammering and wax placement.  Its like craft time :) There will be plenty of time for questions and checking out the food forest while we are there as well.

We won't have bees around (other than the occasional visitor) so no need to worry about gloves or bee-proof clothing.  It will be sticky,  messy work, however,  so come dressed for the mess! If you have any small hammers or putty knives (or your own hive tool!!) bring them along!

There is an event on the Five Points Food Forest Facebook page,  so check it out for location information or to ask me any questions.  If you're not on Facebook, feel free to comment you this post with your email address and I'll get in touch.

We have a barn and some dry indoor space so we'll be out rain or shine!

Plan Bee

Welcome to spring!
It finally feels like warm weather is on the way. I'm looking forward to getting the hives buzzing again. I'll be heading to a beekeepers meeting tonight to hopefully get some info on how to take care of my dead hives and get the pollinators back in business.  I'll update this page after the meeting with plans on what needs to happen,  when I'll be doing what, and how you can get involved!

Bee Funeral

Warning, graphic photos below of dead bees.  Proceed at your own risk.


Much like my efforts on this blog, my bees did not survive the winter.  Unlike my bees, this blog can be resurrected.  Luckily, my hives really can too with the reintroduction of a new package of bees.

As I've told anyone who has joined me on this journey, I have no idea what I'm doing.  I came into beekeeping with a naive enthusiasm for the idea of protecting our pollinators, a one day crash-course in beekeeping from my local community college, and apiary heritage (thanks Grandpa Carroll!).  I've got the enthusiasm and just enough knowledge to be dangerous.

I was visiting with a local beekeeper on Saturday who strongly encouraged me to get out into my hives.  I've been out of the country for most of February and March and apparently missed quite the warm spell.  I dug out my beekeeping suit, my tools, and headed out to my hives on Sunday.  Much like I feared, I found [nearly] empty hives.

I've heard from local beekeepers that these "clusters" of bees were found in many dead hives after this winter, so my next step is to do some research to figure out what might have happened and what I can or should do differently this year.  I'm still committed to chemical free bees, but I'm sure there is more I can learn to help the hive.  I'll keep posting what I learn here, so you can learn along with me!

My next steps are to figure out how to dispose of the damaged frames and contaminated comb.  I'm assuming I'll need to burn all the old material, but that's on my "to-be-researched" list.  Then I'll clean and sterilize the old hive bodies, build new frames, and get some new packages of bees in.  I'll be starting with the cleaning and sterilizing this weekend, for anyone who may be interested in joining me!

I mentioned above that my hives were [nearly] empty.  I found mice living in both.  Can't say I blame them.  It is a warm place to spend the winter.  I chased a mouse out of the first hive.  I was about to do the same for the second when I noticed she was grabbing her babies to move them too.  I couldn't evict a single mother.  Guess that hive will stay up for a few more days.  It's the circle of life?

Keeping Cool!

It's been a hot week, but the bees aren't sweating the weather!

I went out to the hives today to check in on how the bees are doing.  With the heat index creeping upward of 100 degrees F, it's important to not just check on the health of the hive, but also how the hive is handling the heat.

Bees keep their hive at around 95 degrees F.  In order to help them do this, beekeepers should place a hive near a source of water.  At our DCCG bee location, we have a small stream.  If you don't have access to a local body of water, a birdfeeder makes a good substitute!

When it gets hot in the hive, you might notice something called "bearding":

(Pictured: bearding on the first hive, summer 2015)

Bearding is not a cause for concern and it doesn't mean the hive is going to swarm (split in half and leave to form a new hive).  It just means the bees need a little more space to keep cool.

If you are interested in learning more about bee bearding, there is a great hands on opportunity to connect with the bees:

(Just kidding.  This looks terrifying to me.)

Could your beard use some extra beeswax?  Would you run away from this as quickly or more quickly than me?  Do you have any other questions about how bees keep cool?  Maybe you've seen a worker gathering water from a puddle or kiddie pool in your yard.  Share your stories, questions, or comments below!

Introductions

I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and 160,000 (or so) of my closest friends!

My name is Lynnea Erickson Laskowski and I've been keeping bees for just over a year.  I remember learning from my grandfather that he used to keep bees and when I had the opportunity to follow in his footsteps, I jumped right in!  I'm 100% a hobby beekeeper, but I love learning about apiary life and everything it entails.  As part of the DeKalb County Community Gardens (DCCG), I love to share my learning journey and offer an opportunity for anyone else who is interested to get up close and personal with our fuzzy fliers!

Pictured above are our DCCG beehives.  The colorful beehive on the left is the older hive.  It was installed in April of 2015.  The bees in this hive are Italian bees (Apis mellifera ligustica).  Italian bees were introduced in the US in 1859 and the hives are typically gentler in temperament.  The white hive on the right is the newest hive, installed as we expanded to include bees in the DCCG mission.  These bees were brought in from a local beekeeper (Charter Grove Honey in DeKalb County, IL--find them on Facebook!) and installed in June 2016.  These are an Italian-Carniolan hybrid.  The Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica) is native to Eastern Europe and tends to also be a less-aggressive species of honey bee (which I love!).

I'll be sharing details about beekeeping basics, how bees help our community and our planet, what is happening in our personal hives, and ways to get involved!  If you have any questions or topics you'd like to learn more about, sound off in the comment section!  

Welcome to the Buzz!

My name is Lynnea Laskowski and I am a new beekeeper.  As part of the DeKalb County Community Gardens, our bees are a window into the pollinator world!  Follow this blog for information on how our hives are doing, resources and insight into the world of beekeeping, and opportunities to get involved!