bee keeping

my friend sarah, who gets mentioned a lot on this blog, works for blue bottle coffee in oakland (try the new orleans iced if you go) and when a beekeeper came and asked if he could put some hives on the roof she said, "heck yes!" or something along those lines.

that beekeeper, who is also a sailor and carpenter and all around good guy named brian, and his partner terry, of urban bee sf, installed three hives a few months back and added two more yesterday.

after all the gear (including two heavy cardboard boxes that made sounds like pop rocks but were, in fact, full of 20,000 bees a piece) was hoisted to the roof, brian went to work assembling the new hives while terry, brad (a blue bottle employee) and i suited up. unfortunately, i didn't have my camera. but sarah had hers. since brian and terry only had 3 suits and one net hat, sarah braved her camera duties sans protection (and did get the only sting of the day).

here terry explains to brad and i the different features of the comb of one of the hives that was placed a few months ago. lots of drone brood (that's baby boy bees) and not very much pollen or honey suggest that the continuing shitty weather has left the hives a little stressed out and hungry. the drone brood suggests that the hive may be prepping to swarm, sending half the hive off to search for more food and to establish themselves elsewhere.

it was amazing how little the bees seemed to care that we were there. though they brought a smoker along, there was really no need to even pull it out. which is for the best, anyway, as the smoke doesn't really "calm" the bees. it just interrupts their ability to communicate and leaves them all kinda wonky.

after checking up on the old hives, b&t set up the new ones.

the cardboard box'o'bees is called a nucleus or "nuke" and contains 5 or so frames. it seems like the nuke method is a way to buy and move a somewhat established hive. sarah described that when the first three hives came, they were in "package" form. a package is just a box full of bees (no frames) that is opened and dumped into the hive. i guess that's more like buying bees in bulk.

beekeeping is very interesting, very complex and just a little bit freaky. though not a project that i wish to take on myself (what with the keeping things alive and happy and probably getting lots of bee stings), i am very grateful to have the opportunity to participate peripherally.

now let's all pray for better weather.