Tag Archives: urban beekeeping

The one thing all the books I read and even the class I took didn’t prepare me for was squishing bees. No matter how careful you are, some girls are just going to get squashed in the process of inspecting your hive. You can certainly minimize the damage by moving slowly and carefully, but as bees are in constant motion, causalities are always an occurrence. It makes me sad every time it happens though.

My fears of Large Marge’s untimely demise were quickly put to rest after this week’s inspection. I found plenty of capped brood, larvae in various stages, and cells full of eggs in the 2nd super. The girls have decided that supers 3 and 4 are just going to be honey which makes the whole debacle with the queen excluder even more absurd. I didn’t bother checking the 1st super as I want to start minimizing my time in the hive, and I need to trust that the girls know what they are doing.

After lifting supers filled with honey the last two weeks, I decided my back was never going to last unless I implemented some bee yard ergonomic improvements. A card table next to the hive eliminated having to put the supers on the ground.

I was pleased to see a lot more frames that had capped brood with empty cells already containing eggs or larvae.

I think I also finally found a good angle and position of the sun to see eggs more clearly. You definitely want the sun hitting the frame directly so the cells get illuminated. Having the black plastic foundation also has been an advantage.

With supers 3 and 4 almost all honey, I decided I could safely harvest some. I put an escape screen between supers 3 and 4 to clear the bees out the 4th super. An escape is designed to let bees go down into the hive, but prevents them from moving up. The fewer bees you have in the super you are trying to harvest the better for obvious reasons. I’ll check back tomorrow afternoon to see how many bees are left.

I was a little concerned with all the open cells last week in the first two supers of the hive. As a new beekeeper, I still have a hard time finding just the right angle to hold the frame to see eggs so I’m hopeful that Large Marge is still going strong when I check the hive tomorrow morning. Since it has been a week and if all is well in the hive, I should see a lot of capped brood or at the very least, larvae ready to be capped to complete their final metamorphosis.

Beehives are communal affairs inside the hive and the same goes for all the folks outside the hive. I’m lucky to have so many people interested in this beekeeping adventure, and who are willing to lend their support and cameras to document this effort. I have not one but two camera crews plus an ever rotating group of friends and neighbors interested in the entire process.

Setting up the tripod because bees are constantly moving around and closeups require a steady hand.

Gitanjali smartly dressed in her best bear colors taking some shots from afar.

Everyone pitching in to check for blasted beetles.

Even Chicken and Ostrich like being out during the beekeeping activities and do their part to eat potential pests.