A Gathering of the Hives at the Bee-In

As friends of mine who have shown kindly interest in my newest hobby of beekeeping, I thought I'd share my progress these few final days before the two hives I'm hoping to tend are up and roaring. Yesterday was our last beekeeping class up in Sonoma and this was my first hands-on experience with a working hive. Today, we'll finish the 'bee-yard' -- the garden plot in our community garden that will be fenced and then locked. (Beehive thievery is quite common in the area, especially during almond growing season.) Our two hives are now painted in Miami blue and Cape Cod grey and are just hanging out here in the living room, waiting for their tenants. The package bees will arrive on April 26th.

Yesterday's class was part lecture inside and then part demonstration outside. At the first break, I went out to look at the hives and found myself talking with a mother and son team who were assessing the set-up of hive platform and windbreak and considering how they would adapt for their own space. "We'll be doing Bill a huge favor," said the son. "Our bees will fly straight into his crop." "Oh?" I inquire kindly. "Bill grows vegetables? Or flowers?" (But not grapes, I know. Bees don't interact with the wine industry. A vineyard is a 'desert' to them.) Mother and son chuckle. "Bill's our neighbor. He grows pot."

A moment to consider this and the whole concept of Sonoma County as epicenter of the bee industry made a fundamental shift in my comprehension. "Do you think marijuana needs bees to produce? No wonder people are motivated to save them!" "Yeah, cannabis honey." And then "Can you imagine that? Those would be some lazy bees." "But think of the amount of nectar they'd consume." and so on.

After the full class, it was time for all of us to go out to the hives. The crowd was mostly older, local gentry in their fifties. My husband being amongst his own with the greying ponytails and silvered beards. The women all looked like they knew a thing or two about homemade bread and may have even harbored aspirations for homemade canning. (as I do...someday I'd like to make rose-petal jelly) so there was a congeniality there as well. A young kid in his early teens and braces also on hand, and he and I were the first to get up and personal with the hives. He also was the first to try his own hive inspection.

The first hive opened by the instructor was a wild swarm recently coaxed into its new home. With a young queen, we were told. And no mites. A good colony for genes.

After you pry the various lids and feeders off the top, you find yourself staring down at what looks like a file folder drawer with eight or so pendex hanging files. Except your office desk drawer probably doesn't have the hundreds of fuzzy little things crawling around in it. There's also an amazing odor of what I'll describe as hot-buttered carmel corn, like being by a popcorn machine and candy counter in a movie theatre.

By far the most disarmingly sweet thing is to see a whole line of bee-faces staring up from one of the cracks between the frames. There's a sense of genial curiosity from the hive, as long as you behave yourself like the houseguest you are.

The things looked for are

open brood -- little baby bees in their earliest visible stage (eggs are too small to see)
capped brood -- baby bees now covered by wax and on their way
pollen -- different colors from the different flowers and such, stored as food near nursery
nectar -- open cells with the liquid that we think of as honey
honey -- capped cells of nectar, color will indicate age of stores, or possibly season

Other things to consider

mite count -- mites are manageable but bad. There's medication (which Sonoma doesn't recommend because they're all about the natural) and there's dusting the bees with confectioners sugar. Sounds way cool to do that!
crazy comb -- wax combs on top or bottom of frames, indicates overcrowded hive. You either add another box or split the hive
spotty brood cells -- the queen is not laying eggs in a patterned formation. She might be on her way out.
old, tired queens -- cue the office jokes! "So Dave, the hive kicked you out, eh?"
wax moths/ants -- bad but somewhat unavoidable. A strong hive will make short work of honey-hunting ants.
foul brood -- bad. very bad. Some states require you to burn any infected hive.

So there it is so far. I've done one presentation to the neighborhood and the husband wants me to do another once the hives are installed. It was then I decided to call my presentations "Bee Ins" and intend to take an old Fillmore Ballroom poster and do some groovy psychedelic thing with honeycomb patterns and all. The husband, now tolerant of my need to bring music into everything, asked with a sigh "Okay, what will you do at this 'bee in'" "Are you kidding?" I said, "I'm gonna train the little suckers to hum Ina Gadda da Bee-da!"

Or maybe that Blind Melon song that's all hot again.

til next time!

Lora Lee