News

Our March class was later in the month due to rain but the rain was very welcome.  We had Reggie there for his first time in a hive.

After watching us open the hive and taking out a couple of frames he did the rest.  What a natural.  We found the bottom box full and the second box empty so we pulled up 2 frames of brood and a couple of honey to make some space.   In the process we saw a decent laying pattern and we even spotted the queen.  Great first day for a new bee.

Just a reminder, these are foundation less frames.  We just push the comb around a little bit to get it straight when it's first being made and they wind up pretty straight.  No starter strips either.

It was another nice morning for a beekeeping class.  Chilly but it warmed up pretty quickly.  Alyssa, new beekeeper, joined us.  She's already ordered her suit and is visiting LA Honey soon to pick up her equipment.  For our inspection she borrowed one of our Honeylove supported bee jackets.  She was a natural with the bees and did most of the inspection.  Pretty good for the first time in a hive.

We found all the brood in 3 frames in the bottom box.  The queen was laying in newly built comb but looked pretty slim.  There was a frame of just pollen which I hadn't seen before.   We took 4 frames of honey and put some empty frames here and there.  Next time I'll pay more attention of the positioning so we can put it on the blog.

The frames of honey will be shared at the Long Beach Organic community garden South 40 workday and their upcoming Valentine's day event.  I'm sure everyone will enjoy the treat.  After I take the honey, I'll put the frames back with a little strip of honeycomb left at the top.  I'm sure they'll build it out soon.

A couple of weeks  ago we went to check out the hive to see if it had started the January build up that happens when "Spring" comes early in the coastal areas.  We saw lots of honey and nectar and some pollen being brought in.  There was brood and we opened up the brood area to make room for new comb.  There were still some empty frames which is always good to see.  The honey stores was in the some cross comb so we'll plan on taking that out for our next beekeeping class coming up on Sat Feb 1st at 8am.  We'll cut out the honey comb, clean up the empty frames, move some brood up and inspect the hive.  The honey comb will need to be put into jars away from the bees.  And then we can share it with the garden at the next work day.

Last week I also took a frame to show the 4H Bee Club kids.  We identified the brood and even saw a queen cell.  It was quite a frame after throwing the bees off and into the hive.  I figured I would go ahead and take the frame since I so many new eggs being laid in new comb.  It wasn't capped so not sure if they were planning on replace the queen or not.  I took a quick trip to Spring Street Farm for an errand and found Kelli was working hard with her young volunteers.  It was a surprise for Sunday so I brought the frame out so they could take a break and check out the bees.

Carlos Sanchez with our gift of gourmet cookies for the crew

For close to a year EDCO Transfer Station has hosted the monthly meetings of the Long Beach Beekeepers.  Many thanks to Carlos Sanchez, Facilities Supervisor, who has opened the doors for us every first Sunday in the morning and has gone out of his way to make sure we have needed supplies and support.  EDCO is a family owned and run business located in Signal Hill but dedicated to providing support for the Long Beach community as well.  We are grateful to Vice President/General Manager Efrain Ramirez and hope our relationship with EDCO will continue for years to come.

Joan and Larry had some bees move into a box that they had on their porch.  It was quite a surprise and their first thought was, "Who can take them away?"  But after a little more thought they realized that the bees weren't that bad and maybe they should keep them.  Luckily I know Joan from work and we had a Long Beach Beekeepers class happening so they decided to come and see if were up for it.

I was pretty sure that they could do it since they felt comfortable enough to move the box of bees on their own to the backyard even though the box started to fall apart!  They were naturals and so open to the idea.   We inspected the South 40 hive, I lent them some suits, a smoker and a deep 8 frame box.

In just a couple of days they had the bees moved into the new hive and had attached the new comb to the frames.  Their son joined in the fun.  Can't wait to hear what happens to this little fall swarm.  It's a hard time for bees to establish themselves going into the fall but it can also be a good time to start beekeeping since their are fewer bees to work with.  These seem to be pretty busy bees since they've already made some comb.  Good luck! - roberta

It was a wonderful day to be out for the Children's Clinic's Beach Walk.  There were hundreds of teenagers and their family members walking around the Long Beach marina.  Before and after the walk, people came by and gazed out our observation hive.  At first the bees were huddled together because it was so cold.  After it warmed up there, they crawled around the frame of honey and brood.  It was great to see how interested everyone was and some were eager to come to our bee classes.

The Long Beach Beekeepers enjoy going to community events to educate the public about the importance of bees and the share how it is possible to have beehives in the urban environment.  On Saturday, October 19th, Luis, Megan and Mike worked our booth at the 7th Annual Gathering of the Gardens.

Teague, the organizer, had a great line up of presentations from biodynamic gardening to chickens and bees.  Luis gave a presentation to would be beekeepers and got a great response.  One of the big hits was Dick's observation hive that held a full frame of honey.  I wish our banner wasn't a little crooked....

Lee has wanted to have bees for a while.  We were able to rescue some bees from their backyard but they didn't make it the first year.  She was also having trouble with the hive being on her roof so we're going to add it to the South 40.  Thanks to Long Beach Organic.

We also did our monthly hive inspection.  After a month the bees have drawn a bunch of new comb and made capped honey.  Unfortunately, it crossed a couple of frames.  Boohoo.  We removed the perpendicular honey comb and put it in an empty box on top since it was filled with nectar and honey.  These bees are busy.  Fall isn't going to stop them!  The bottom box had nice and straight comb which we just admired.  We also added a new top board because our other one had warp a bit.

Last weekend we did a bunch to the hive including adding frames, moving frames up, using a medium box as a feeder box and I'm so happy with how it's looking.  Luis, Mike and new beekeeper Greg worked the hive.

We removed the feeder box where the comb had been sucked dry of nectar but there was a bit of capped honey still there that they were still transfer but we didn't want to leave the empty box there too long.  They had already attached the dish to the frames!

We looked through both deep boxes to see if they were building any new comb and we were surprised to find that they had built almost a whole frame and started on another.  And that was in just a week in the middle of the hottest time of the year, also called the dearth but here in an urban environment with people irrigating there is still a great deal of forage.

We saw bees coming in with a bunch of pollen but it didn't seem common and there wasn't much stored pollen.  We'll probably leave them along for the next month and come back for the new schedule of South 40 mentoring at 8am First Saturdays.  We want to start earlier to make sure that we don't disturb the bees when gardeners are working.  Thanks to all the supporters.  - roberta

This weekend we did another inspection and did some management of the South 40 community garden hive.  Despite being September, the dirth in Southern California, the hive is booming with new nectar and comb.

Next meeting this Sat at 7am!