45F outside. Saw a big pile of dead bees in front of Hive B a few days ago, so I did a very quick check-in today when the weather is nice. Hive B had eaten up all the sugar. Hive A has only gone through half the sugar. This probably explains the dead bee pile…they may have starved. I was relieved to find live and warm bees in both Hives A and B. Severe cold weather is coming up soon and this may be the last chance I get to feed them. May they get through the winter!
Day after the hurricane 10/30/2012
The honeybees made it through both the hurricane and the snowstorm afterwards. When they began flying out again after all the snow melted, it was like witnessing a miracle.
Made shims out of square wooden dowels 11/10/2012
Fast forward 10 days — Decided to get the hives ready for winter. Made a shim out of square dowels to make space for Hive B, since all the shims got used up in Hive A to accomodate the freestyle combs…
Sugar for Wintering 11/10/2012
After the shim was done, I put it on Hive B, and put in dry sugar on top of paper and sprayed some “Honey B Healthy” (essential oils and supplements) diluted with water.
Sugar High 11/23/2012
Fast forward another two weeks: Today was a very warm day…48 degrees F, and the bees were flying out.
Hungry Bees 11/23/2012
…So I decided to take a peek, and the bees have been eating the sugar.
Boiled and Diluted Honey 11/23/2012
Just in case they weren’t taking the sugar, I had also prepared some diluted and boiled honey and stuck them in Boardman feeders, which I swore I’d never use, but thinking the bees might be really really hungry, I put it out there. I saw one bee and a few flies take to it. I may never use them again… 2 weeks later…They finally noticed the feeders, and sucked it try in three warm days…
I also took off the freestyle combs off the inner cover, because they’ve emptied out these combs. I now have enough combs to stick them to about 10 foundations to give them a head start in spring. Gives me something to do for the winter…
Ventilation holes up top, Pre-Duct-Taping
Duct-Taped Ventilation Holes. Ready to ride out the storm!
With the impending storm, I have finally gotten enough pressure to clean up the roof and tie down anything loose with a bungee cord. The hives have always been storm proofed, tied down to four concrete blocks with two cargo ratcheting straps. Along with about 100+ lbs of honey, the hives are not going anywhere.
Since Hive A had the modification from last check-in (where I doubled up on the top ventilation shims to accommodate the beautiful work of “freestyle” combs they created right off the inner cover), I sealed up all of the ventilation holes on the shims. The hive still has the main ventilation in the inner cover and bottom screen board has not been covered up, so I hope that should be enough ventilation but keep the water and wind out during the storm.
Freestlyin’ Inner-Cover
I confess, I still have not prepped the hives for the winter.
My main decision in making sure that the bees survive the winter, is to not harvest at all this year.
Kickstarter sponsors: Please bear with us as we are setting ourselves up for a good, plentiful summer harvest in 2013.
Before the first frost, my intention is to create a new shim for Hive B, so that there is enough space to insert a chunk of dry sugar in there. For Hive A, I’ll insert the sugar next to the freestyle combs, which are only covering about 50% of the inner cover. The freestyle combs look like the combs in a top bar hive or skeps. Next year, I plan to cut the combs out and tie them to frames, but for now, they look too beautiful for me to mess with them.
I laid out a whole lot of intentions and plans, but the bees usually laugh at all of them, and I usually have to invent something new…
May everyone and their bees stay safe.
Here’s a glob of propolis I scraped out in the last check-in. For good luck.
Gob-O-Propolis from last check-in for good luck
NY has been hit with a heat wave again! BUT (unlike what happened last year when they died off after the heat wave) we ARE prepared! Umbrella! – check! Plenty of water! – check! Fully open entrance! – check! Ample space and top ventilation! – check!
So I think the girls will ride it out this year.
On cooler days, the bees keep the hives warm, and I can feel the warmth when I open the hive. Now they don’t have to make so much effort to heat it up. They may have to cool it down, but if the outside temperature is 93, then that’s the target temperature for brood. I’m assuming they can just relax and “beard out” on the landing board, which is what they’ve been doing since the heat wave hit.
Also – got first squash harvest of the year – very yummy with basil and ranch dressing. Getting the Emsco SIPS container was the best decision for the roof garden. The sunflowers are getting taller by the minute. Thanks to the wonderful pollinators, backyard gardens around here will have great yield this year.
The roof garden has been watered solely on used bathwater to not add anymore to the water bill – which we hope makes the landlord happy. It’s a lot of effort (for Omar) who has been hauling the bathwater to the big plastic bin outside our kitchen window. I thought about rainwater collection, but the rain barrels are kind of expensive and I didn’t want to drill holes in the drain pipe. So we just got a plastic trash can at Home Depot, and a bungee cord to fasten a mosquito screen on top.
Check-In Log 6/21:
I checked the hives on Monday June 21. The third hive bodies with plastic foundations (the ones I added a few weeks ago) are now finally getting built up and getting filled with nectar. I’m still feeding then once a week. I’m not sure when to stop, because they always eat up what’s in the gallon bags every time.
I am reluctant to harvest honey this year – I have not put the queen excluder for harvesting, because they are so slow to build on plastic foundation and won’t stop eating the syrup. I plan to order 2 more medium hives with wax foundation next week, and then let them build these up fast for their own use.
Article in NY Times:
There was an article on NY Times about blessing of the bees. Today, I was on the crowded, hot subway platform, and I was thinking of the Great One who created the bees, then thought, wow, the subways are like hives with swarms of humans in it…
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/the-blessing-of-the-bees/
NYT was also asking for submissions from beekeepers across New York, so I sent in a photo – which made it into their slideshow:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/06/22/nyregion/cityroom-beehives-ss-18.html
Dear Kickstarter supporters and everyone,
I have been extremely busy since the new bees arrived on April 7th.
If you are one of the Kickstarter contributors, please feel free to reach out if you want to visit the hives. I am doing some sort of hive maintenance work every weekend, either on a Saturday or Sunday, weather permitting.
I have been inspecting the two hives on weekends, weather permitting. The two hives sit right outside our kitchen/dining window, which is also the entrance to our roof…
I made the entrances visible from the window, so that I can observe their comings and goings all the time from the kitchen.
…and I have been reading, reading, and reading…and learning from YouTube.
I began reading up on beesource.com forums, Michael Bush’s website (both goldmines of information), and beekeeping supply companies’ websites and catalogs like a fanatic. There is so much beekeeping information out there. The beekeeping methods and techniques are numerous, probably as many as there are beekeepers…
Here’s a “brief” timeline of Hive A and Hive B so far:
4/7: Hive Installation. Went to pickup the packaged bees at Hayseeds Big City Farm Supply. Hive A got 2 pre-drawn comb foundations from last year. Hive B from scratch with wax foundation. Got stung on top of the head, which got rid of headache. Bee acupuncture.
4/14: Went to Home Depot and began gardening on the roof. Finally planted saved seeds from last year’s “Save the Bees” seed mix as well as some of the Seeds of Change freebie seeds – basil. Also planted organic garlic from a grocery store that began sprouting so much that they really were asking to be planted. Planted sunflowers, squash, and amaranth in SIPs (sub-irrigated planters) they sell at Home Depot (no time to make them).
4/21: First check. Hive A had 9 frames drawn, 2 full with brood. Hive B had 8 frames, 1 frame with brood. Dealing with possible robbers. Got stung on thumb – swelled up for a week.
4/30: Put robber screen from Brushy Mountain on the hives, and added fresh pollen as feed. They did not like soy pollen substitutes at all. We assembled and placed cypress bases from Better Bee for the hives – for more ventilation and elevation. Finally got a spirit level at a 99 cent store – leveled the hives. Along the way, I’ve decided that Hive A will be moderately managed, and Hive B would be for more wild experimentation & micro-management. At this point, I had no deeps. Everything was mediums, which many people recommend in order to avoid back problems, but I wanted to try a deep anyhow and ordered one from Evan’s for Hive B. Began trying DIY ziploc bag feeding method, which I liked above all other types of feeders I tried.
5/6: Both hives are teeming with bees & brood, open and capped. Nice variety of pollen and uncapped honey. Some middle frames are stuck together tightly and further apart than ‘proper bee space’. I initially put the frames tightly together, but the bees seem to have pushed them apart and built burr comb below some of the foundations. Hive A got another medium on top. Hive B got a deep on top as an experiment – I wanted to put it at the bottom, but the original medium hive had so much burr comb between the bottom screen and the bottom of the frames, and I did not have the time to de-burr everything, I just put the deep on top.
5/13: Hardly any bees or comb on top hive bodies, as expected. I did not make it easy for bees to go up there. So I sprayed syrup on the empty frames. In the full hives, I saw a bunch of bees connected together in a long chain. Turns out, that’s how they build comb. For Hive B, I decided to do burr-comb removal surgery, and as an experiment, reverse the hives and put the empty deep at the bottom, with the full medium on top. It was painful although they did not sting me. No matter how gentle and slow I went, some brood got mushed. Even though they did look like mostly drone brood, I still felt sorry and worse, they looked creamy and extremely nutritious. So I felt like a hungry bear and a queasy vegan at the same time. It was also nearing mid-day…bad idea. Note-to-self: Never inspect mid-day. Start early or wait until cloudy.
I read the recommendations on what to do with burr comb – throw them away, harvest/melt them, compost them, rubber-band them back in. Well, after I put the empty deep hive at the bottom, I decided to take an extra foundation out and put as much of the live-looking brood comb back in that space. My head was spinning from the heat and the operation and I didn’t think to rubber band them back into the frame. Probably bad idea, as that space may get totally burred up and bees have to do a lot of housekeeping, but it’s a ‘wild experiment’. I am willing to have that one slot go totally to the way of the bees, and just have the other parts of the hive somewhat inspect-able.
As soon as the operation was over, bees began doing triage – taking out dead ones, re-locating live ones. They can carry larvae like mothers. It pains me to see so much carnage — I will continue to look for gentler ways of beekeeping.
5/19: Spraying the foundations worked, and both Hive A and B have built up nicely in the upper hive. I popped out the entrance reducer for Hive A, so they get just the robber screen as entrance reducer, and more ventilation. I did not want to bother Hive B after what I’ve done last time – I just replaced their feed bag and added pollen. I see many more bees bringing in pollen from outside for Hive B, compared to Hive A. The cloud of bees are only showing up around 4 -6PM, which, as now I’ve found out, are not robbers, but newly emerged bees on orientation flights. So it’s time to open up the robber screen entrance a little more.
5/28:
They’re building up fast. I think feeding them with real pollen and baggie feeder with “Optima” supplement is really helping.
Hive B is bursting with bees – the deep hive is probably helping with the increase. I took the robber screen off and just opened up the entrance because it was 90 degrees outside and they were bearding. Added medium super with plastic foundations. (ran out of mediums with wax foundations. Will be ordering more soon.)
Hive A with just the mediums, are doing so-so. Still, the second medium is filling up fast, so decided to add medium super with plastic foundations. Still keeping the robber screen on this one, just in case.
I am still feeding both of them with syrup – the gallon baggie empties in a week or less.
Also baited the plastic foundation with sugar spray.
Some people say not to put the queen excluder until the comb is drawn and the nectar flow is on. I have no idea when the nectar flow is “ON” in a middle of Queens. I do see people’s front yard roses blossoming, and some random trees blossoming (I do not know the name of these trees…)
I suppose, by sometime mid-June, I can stop feeding Hive B temporarily as an experiment, and place a queen excluder with a shallow super for June, to harvest for summer (may be. can’t tell if it’s going to work…) When summer dearth hits, then I’ll start feeding them again. I might continue to feed Hive A for them to build up more.
I see my next door neighbor more often now, early in the morning. He has a chicken coop and a big garden. He is raising rabbits too. He told me when it gets hot outside, the bees come out to his garden to drink water. That sounds like typical bee behavior…He offered some bunnies but we’re not ready for big animals yet…the bees keep me busy enough.
Since it’s getting really hot outside, I placed ‘lean-to’ planks – hopefully, this will create some shade during the day until the outdoor umbrellas that I ordered arrive.
Don’t worry – The “air conditioner” you see in the photo has been broken/dormant for years.
This photo was taken around 8PM, and even with the entire roof in the shade, it was still near 90 degrees.
If the brood needs to be kept at 93 degrees at all times, then may be this is a good thing.
Things I’m learning — The bees create ‘micro climate’ inside the hives…Honey absorbs moisture…ventilation is key…etc. etc.
Because the roof tends to get hotter, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t getting ridiculously hot.
So I went to the 99 cent store nearby to pick up thermometers. Turns out, they sell “beehive thermometers”!
To be continued..
.
Just in case you have not read the ‘bad news’ last year – you can read what happened to our first hive here:
https://queensapiary.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/the-amazing-three-community-hive-inspection/
Here’s the good news: After a long, quiet winter, I am happy to announce that 2 packages of Russian/Italian hybrid bees are coming this Saturday, April 7.
If you are interested in participating or seeing the hiving process (putting the queen and bees in the hive) in Astoria, Queens, please contact me at 646-209-4565.
I don’t have the exact timing worked out yet, but this will most likely happen in the afternoon.
From lessons learned last year, we’re starting earlier with two hives this year. Last year, we started on May 17, and that was waaay too late in the season. We will also have access to a new Queen Breeding program at Brooklyn Grange. Just in case we lose a queen, there will be a source of locally grown queens readily available. Read more about the program at:
http://backwardsbeekeepersnyc.blogspot.com/2012/03/big-apple-apiary-beekeeping.html
Happy Beekeeping Season!
Ventured all the way to Brooklyn and attended the Backwards Beekeepers NYC party. Great food, honey, and people.
Still finishing up the logo for “Queens Apiary”…It’s a work in progress…
My landlord, Mr. Burian, gave me a copy of the article about his (great)uncle, Mr. Anton J. Veselak. Here’s the article, and I’ve typed what I can make of it, as well as added more info I could find on ancestry.com.
Article From:
[SPRINGFIELD] UNION, SPRINGFIELD, MASS., TUESDAY…[sometime in 1967]
At Work on His 90th Birthday
It was business as usual for Anton J. Veselak of 106 Meadow St., dean of Westfield bakers, as
he observed his 90th birthday Monday by running his bakery as he does every day. In addition to his bakery, Veselak also is dean of local beekeepers. He has operated nine hives for the past 45 years. He has eight children, 14 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.
Additional info from Ancestry.com
“Anton was born in Bestvin, Austria-Hungary now Czechoslovakia. They were married 10-7-1899 in New York City . Anna died 1956 but Anton lived to be 102 years old . Died in Westfield, Mass 7-20-1979. learned the bakery trade in Prauge. Then came to America and started a bakery in a little shop in West Springfield and then in 1904 build a large bakery in Westfield He worked until his 100th birth day.”
Imagine that! 9 hives and 8 kids! and a bakery!
When did having just one kid and one hive become so complicated? Does it become easier as numbers increase?
I went to the community hive inspection organized by NYC Beekeeping at Randall’s Island 5 Boro Green Roof. This green roof is a testing ground for various green roof systems, and includes a green wall.
The community hives got the package of bees and queens at the same time we did from the same source, but only a few of them were thriving. It seems that we had a shipment full of “bad queens”, and most of the queens will need to be replaced. As a result, we might be able to get a “split” from a thriving hive and a new queen.
During the inspection, Jim was very helpful in pointing out various tricks and basics. There are so many things I don’t know! I had an “a-ha” moment inspecting a thriving hive here – I realized our hive was totally under-performing even back in early July, and we should have re-queened a lot earlier in order to have saved it.
I recommend NYC Beekeeping for anyone who is trying to start beekeeping – most classes and events are free and there is co-op hive equipment and bee ordering.
Here are some photos from the hive inspection:
Afterwards, I went home and I opened up the hive, expecting everyone to be dead, but I found three (yes, 3!) survivors…and one frame full of capped brood and one frame full of honey. But the hive is already attracting ants and flies…Out of respect for the “Amazing Three”, I have cleaned out the carnage (sob…), made a grave for them, and left the hive still assembled.
After the bad news last week, at least there is one good news.
The footage of the last remaining bees can be seen in a beautifully edited short documentary about urban beekeeping, featuring Phil’s teacher Tim, and Yours Truly.
The documentary was created by Adrian Bautista, Martha Glenn, and Brooke Tascona for the Design and Technology: Sound and Vision course at Parsons during the summer semester 2011.
The video was also covered by Tree Hugger (yay!)
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/07/short-film-shows-the-joys-of-newly-legalized-beekeeping-in-nyc-video.php
Also posted on NotCot.org:
http://www.notcot.org/page/931/
Queens Apiary 