If you’ve seen my recent posts on social media, you know I recently became a backyard beekeeper – ha, sounds a bit funny, doesn’t it? I have wanted bees for a few years now, but couldn’t seem to get into any beekeeping courses, finally last year after nagging Dustin Bajer for dates of his upcoming classes, I was able to register for a class with him last September (they fill up fast!) – remember the snowstorm we had in September? That was the weekend I took the course, which meant we couldn’t see into a hive. I was so excited, fascinated and a bit nervous too – but after completing the course (and getting a certificate ;)) it all started to come together… Until this spring six months later — it’s like I had stored all of that bee information in the back of my brain for safe keeping and had to find it again.
After the course finished, I started to get organized so that this spring I could get bees. With the help of my friend, Penny who has had bees for the last two years, I ordered what I needed to get set up – not a cheap start up, so you do have to be keen. Ordering a hive, the bees of course, and getting all of the gear (bee suits, tools, brushes, smoker). Step one this year was picking up the hive, which I did a few weeks ago. I have had a lot of questions and comments on my hive since I posted it on social media. Dustin, who I took the course from has designed a hive called the Beecentric Hive, he builds them in his garage right here in Edmonton. They are quite lovely to look at, but more importantly they are a happy home for the bees. Dustin took the design of the two most common hive types and created this hive, taking the features he likes most about both – the biggest thing is that the boxes are smaller, which means that when they are full, they will be a lot more manageable to move. You can read more about Dustin and his Beecentric Hives (who is doing wonderful things ALL over the city, not just with beekeeping) on his website.
Here is the hive all ready to go at the top of the garden.
On Friday morning it was time to pick up the bees – with the advice from Penny, I decided to order a nuc instead of a package. The package of bees is literally that, a neat little tube of bees (you know like the package you’d put a poster into, like that!), with a queen in a cage. You open the tube and tip the bees into the hive and introduce the queen. The nuc came in a neat little box with five frames (frames are what is inside the hive, what the bees live on, the queen lays eggs on, where they store honey and pollen, really, where it’s all happening). The nuc is a colony including the queen, worker bees, brood (eggs, larva and pupae) and storage honey on the frames. When we got back to the house with the nuc, we put it up in the yard beside the hive. I put on my bee suit and went up to pull the tab to let the bees out of the hive to do their orientation flight. As I started to pull the tab, I could see one, two, five, ten, thirty bees trying to come out and I started to scream – ha! Saying to Penny, who was further back without a suit, “Ah, they are coming out!” — Obviously they would come out, I just didn’t realize how eager they would be. Penny put on a suit and tried to pull the tab, without the screaming, I should mention, neither of us could manage to pull the tab off all the way, but the bees were out – quite loud (I really can’t believe how loud they get when they are agitated), and doing their thing. The part I wasn’t quite prepared for (remember I had never seen into a hive before), was the noise, even knowing I was protected, that buzzing noise (think of a mosquito by your ear, now imagine an agitated bee!), it was still slightly worrisome. They settled down over the next few hours, coming and going (back in the box we had picked them up in), bringing back pollen and nectar. It was quite fun to watch from the top of the garden (a few feet away from the box) over the afternoon as the bees at first came out just to do their orientation flight essentially to see where they were. They would then have gone back into the hive to communicate to other bees (through a little boogie, shaking their bums!), the action around the hive for the first bit was quite noticeable – you could even see it from the house. Over the next few hours, slowly you could see the bees leaving the yard, and they quickly had found their path in and out of the yard using a section of the iron fence that doesn’t have any plant growth in front of it. Quite fascinating, really. Equally as exciting to see their busyness slow as the bees headed into the box – their home – for the night.
The white box with the bees busy around the entrance is the box we picked them up in!
On Saturday morning again, with the help of Penny – actually who am I kidding, she did most of the work, we put our suits on and went up to move the frames from the box into the hive. The reason we left them in the box we picked them up in for nearly 24 hours, was to let them get settled and figure out their new environment. Penny very calmly told me, “I am going to tell you what I tell my kids, you’re covered, they can’t sting you,” as she opened the lid of the box, I could see the number of bees. The frames were in the box quite tightly, Penny slowly and calmly pulled the first frame out – some bees and some storage honey. She gently slid this frame into the hive next to a new (empty) frame, pulled the second frame out of the box, much more lively, LOTS of bees (I mean LOTS!) on the frame, we took a quick look, but the bees were starting to get agitated and a louder, so she gently placed it into the hive. The next two frames were stuck together, and as she tried to pry them apart with the help of a tool, the bees started to roar (a good sign), the queen was likely on these two frames, these frames came out together and went into the hive together, as the fifth and final frame came out of the box, the bees started to calm down and were much quieter. Once the final frame was in tightly, two new (empty) frames were added, making eight frames in total and Penny gently and slowly pushed them all together – something about bee space (spacing that allows the bees to move, but not enough space that they will start to build on). We put the top screen on the hive carefully, and finally the roof and stepped back. There were still quite a few bees out and about buzzing around us (quite close to the hive), trying to figure out what was going on. We watched for probably 20 minutes and slowly they figured out where the hive was (just a few inches away from where the original box had been – but the bees that had been out foraging were coming back and trying to go into the box rather than the hive), and started to go in. You could see the guard bees checking the bees out as they came into the hive. Within a few hours everything had calmed down and the bees were coming and going freely.
The hive all ready with the bees after the move, we took the white box away Saturday evening once all of the bees had figured out that the hive was their new home. You will notice the hive is a bit shorter too, we took one box off because the bees have the three new frames to fill out, before they need a second box added with eight new frames. This will take a couple of week.
Saturday I was much calmer and content, and although when Penny pulled the first frame out and I saw the NUMBER of bees I did get a bit freaked out, the noise didn’t bother me as much – practice, I suppose. There is still loads to learn over the next few months (and years I am sure) but I am quite eager and excited. I head out to look at them every few hours, I am sure the novelty will wear off soon though. In a week or so (again with the help of Penny), we will do the first hive check to make sure things are looking good – try to find the queen, make sure she is laying (a sign she is in there even if we can’t find her), and that things are looking good. In a little while as they fill up those three new frames that are in the super (the box that the frames are in), we will put another box on top full of new frames and slowly they will start to fill those frames out.
A question I have been asked a lot when people hear I was getting bees is do you have to take a course? Yes, to have bees in the City of Edmonton, you have to take a course – there are a few different courses being offered around the city but do double check that the course is approved by the city before registering. Another couple of questions I have been asked quite a bit is – do you have to get a permit? Or tell your neighbours? The City of Edmonton is quite encouraging of keeping bees in the city, but there are a few things you have to do before you can apply for a bee keeping license with the city , you have to notify your adjacent neighbours – they can’t say no, but if you’re a good neighbour and they had a huge issue you would hopefully be mindful of that and educate them – really, you won’t notice anymore bees in your yard than you already do. You have to register your hive with the Provincial Apiculturist (annually) and register a premises identification account as well – more information about the steps can be found on the City of Edmonton’s website. It’s all quite straight forward, and all. All three forms you have to fill out are free, of course, you have to pay for the beekeeping course.
The most fascinating part of this. so far has been watching the bees, they just know what to do and how to do it, they work together to get it done. They are crazy smart, and every bee has a purpose. We haven’t noticed anymore bees in the yard, well that’s not true, because of course we can see them coming and going, but they aren’t really foraging in the yard, they have found the pond, which is a good sign because bees will travel quite far for water, which will impact their lifespan. I like to think that the bees add to our perfect little ecosystem in the backyard that is full of life and biodiversity. I can’t wait to continue to learn from the bees, learn about the bees and enjoy the process over the next few months.
I will keep posting about my beekeeping adventures – with shorter posts on the blog over the summer and will be posting photos and updates on social media as well.
Did you know – Alberta is the fifth largest honey producer in the world? Good Morning Honey posted an interesting bee fact this morning on social media – one third of all food we eat is the result of honey bee pollination. Dandelions are one of the first sources of food for honey bees!
Don’t kill these, they are an important source of food for honey bees in the early spring.
“Let’s acknowledge out little pollinators who do a big job in our world. Without them, we wouldn’t have the food and crops we reply on. Plant some seeds this spring to help them.” Barry Haughton – Hive World