Going Commando

Things are a bit lonely around here without the bees in the backyard, I'm finding I have lots of time on my hands in between shifts. No longer can I sit out on my lawn chair and watch the hive of activity. The animal control officer didn't stop by yesterday or today. I'm not sure if they'd actually talk with us or just walk around back to check that it was gone. In all honesty, I was very tempted just to box it up throw it in the garage for a day and then put it back out in the yard. If I changed the location I bet my kooky neighbour wouldn't even notice, however if she did I can't really afford the $500 fine.

It's been about 2 weeks since I hived the nuc package, the bees should be almost at the point of needing a new super to be put on. Tomorrow I will be heading out to check how they are doing, and to do a quick inspection. I want to see if they are drawing any comb on the Mann Lake foundation and maybe move a few things around. Today I made up some foundationless frames. It was a quick procedure and I took some pictures so you can follow along.

Foundationless frames are exactly what they say. They are wooden frames that don't have wax foundation installed into them. They only have a small piece of wood at the top and the bees take it from there. Wax foundation is somewhat frowned upon by natural beekeeping because the template stamped into it make the bees draw a larger cell size than they normally would. Also, most commercial foundation is made from wax that comes from large commercial bee yards where they "sheep dip" their hives regardless of what diseases they have.

I started off by assembling the frames with wood glue and nails, standard procedure and you can't really do it wrong. I then took some paint stir sticks I obtained for free from the hardware store and stuck them into the upper grove along the top bar. The stir sticks are the perfect size as they usually require you to hammer them into place, this very tight fight negates the use of any wood glue. Some frames do vary, so wood glue can be use if they are pulled out easily by hand. It takes about 1 and a quarter stir sticks per frame. Here is what they looked like.

Next I took some of the burr comb I had saved from my first inspection, this wax would hopefully be less contaminated as it was freshly made since I installed the nuc. I melted the wax down in a pot I had purchased from goodwill, I didn't want to ruin any of my good pots, and then painted the wax onto the stir sticks. This little bit of wax will entice the bees to draw the comb starting from the top. Voila! Foundationless frames.

Burr comb in pot

Melted burr comb

Application with paint brush

Coating the entire stir stick

There are a few things a beekeeper has to be aware of when working with foundationless frames. First, new comb is very fragile so when you inspect your hive you must keep the frame vertical while holding it up to look at. If you turn the frame horizontal, the weight of the wax will break the comb off at the stir stick. This isn't an issue for frames with foundation because it holds the weight of the wax. Secondly, you must ensure that your hive is level both front to back and side to side. (a little forward tilt won't hurt to ensure rain runs out of the hive) When bees festoon, hang in a ball by joining limbs to drawn new comb, on foundationless frames the direction in which they are pulled by gravity will affect the direction of the comb. So if your hive was tilted to the left, all the natural comb would be angled to the left inside the box crossing frames and causing a mess. Ensuring a level platform will ensure the comb is drawn straight down.

Also, I've made a few changes on the right side. I now have an email setup so everyone can contact me. I've also put up an inspection schedule. If you live in Edmonton or greater area and want to come out with me to check out the bees feel free to send me an email and we can set up a meeting. If I get a high amount of interest, I will go out and purchase some extra gear so you can get up close and personal.

Smooth Move

Just a quick update to let everyone know that my bees are successfully in their new location. Bright and early this morning, 6am, I headed out into my backyard before the bees had a chance to wake up. I taped a piece of screen mesh over the top entrance and stuck the entrance reducer on the bottom. The bees didn't even seem to notice, except one or two of the guard bees that were confused by the screen. My bee friend Bea showed up and we packed the hive into the trunk of the car with the cinder blocks and headed out.

It was a short trip to the new site because it is just outside the city limits. It was also a bonus that the road was paved all the way there which is great because I can hop on my motorcycle to check on the bees when I don't need to bring hardware. Mario was already up and about in his greenhouse tending to his tomatoes. In farm fashion he just had us follow him across the lawn in the car until we got over to the bee yard. Mario threw out some corrugated sheet metal and topped it with a piece of plywood. I setup the cinder blocks and we arranged the hive on top just like it was in my backyard. Mario then showed us around his hives. Taking the tops of various ones to show us how they were doing, all without a veil or gloves, he'd just gentle pop the top off and have a look. I found it funny that when he had a look in mine, one of my girls took exception and stung him.

There was also something that stuck in my head when I went to the EDBA meeting last Tuesday. They were talking about how San Francisco got started into urban beekeeping. It was the community gardeners that were actively seeking out beekeepers to put bees into their gardens. No one understand the role bees play better than a gardener and they wanted bees to increase the harvest. Apparently they use their community gardens to provide food to the homeless. That got me thinking if gardeners can actively seek out beekeepers, maybe it could work in reverse. So I sent an email out today to a community garden in my friends neighbourhood, and I'm curious to see what kind of response I'll get. Granted there will be a lot more leg work to do than San Francisco because they, like Calgary, had lenient bylaws regarding beekeeping. I'm hoping that if I can get support from a community I just might be able to get approval from the city manager to have bees in a non agricultural zoned area. I'll keep ya posted.

This is the hive in the back of the car. Screened on top, entrance reducers on bottom.


Here is Mario's yard. He started with 1 hive in 1999, is this my fate?


The new location of my hive, my girls are gonna love all that canola behind them.

Super Mario!

I have been spending the past few days pouring over the Edmonton zoning map online, it's actually a very cool little tool. Edmonton bylaw states that it is perfectly fine to keep bees on property that is zoned as Agriculture (AG), Urban Reserve (AGU), or Industrial Reserve (AGI). Sounded easy enough, I'd just look at the map and find some places to check out. Talk with their owner, bada boom bada bang, done. It turned out a bit more complicated then that. All the AGU areas on the map are most definitely owned by the city, they are parks and open area in which the city can change if they need to build something. All the AGI areas are primarily owned by large companies, oil and utility, and while in time I may somehow convince them, the time it would take getting through all the red tape would be too long. The few AGI and AG zoned lands on the southern side of the city that did seem possible, I drove out to and had a look. The outlook was bleak. Despite all my efforts in what little free time I had, I couldn't seem to meet up with any of the property owners or the land wasn't quite what I thought it was based on Google Maps. The farm manager from the U of A had called me back and unfortunately because of a canola project they were currently working on, that required minimized pollination, a hive wouldn't be allowed.

However, I am very glad that I went to the Edmonton and District Beekeepers Association, EDBA, meeting this Tuesday because I met so many other great beekeepers. Some of them have been keeping bees in the city for years and others, like me, were just starting their hives up in the city....obviously with more understanding neighbours. Through some contacts at the meeting I met up with Mario. He's a beekeeper who started with 1 hive in 1999 and has been growing ever since. He has a 26 acre plot of land which is literally on the other side of the road from the city limits. It fits perfectly with what I need and is less then 15 minutes away. On Sunday I will be making the move and I'll post some pictures of that venture.

As for my bees, they are doing great. I did a quick inspection today to make sure things were looking good before we move them. A new friend, Bea, from my Bust Into Beekeeping course came out to help and get her feet wet in the world of beekeeping. The inspection went well, I had a few concerns regarding getting the cover off and my Mann Lake foundation. The first hurdle I had to overcome was getting the cover off. The cover I purchased is a little different than the average telescoping cover, as it's basically a sheet of plywood cut to size with 1/4 inch rests stapled to the bottom. It's great because there is a little entrance at the top which allows for better ventilation. The issue was that it leaves a 1/4 gap between the top of the frames and the lid, an area perfect for burr comb. The bees had made nice lines of burr comb on the 3 inner frames that securely held the lid in place. I'm glad Bea was there because as I started lifting the cover off I didn't notice an entire frame was coming up with it. Had she not been there, the wax would have eventually broken and that frame would have landed hard on top of the hive with PO'd bees.

After we sorted the cover out, I started pulling frames to inspect. Full healthy brood pattern is all I found on the first, so I had pulled another because I was looking for eggs. Eggs would tell me that, up to 3 days ago, the queen was healthy and laying. I did find some eggs in the second frame, they look like small pieces of rice in the bottom of the honey cell. I also pulled out the Mann Lake frames closest to the brood nest and was disappointed to find the bees hadn't drawn out any comb on them. They did seem to draw out a small piece in the center, but it had turned into a piece of burr as apposed to the nice comb shape everyone thinks of. I may end up swapping those out for black frames on Sunday because Alvin, the bee supplier, said he really notices that bees will draw out black plastic foundation before white. It also could be that the bees are still building in numbers and have yet to expand outwards.

My nice neighbour stopped by yesterday to update me on the hot tub situation. Apparently when he pulled his filter up for it's weekly cleaning he found 60-100 dead bees (this might correlated with the Mann Lake issue). I was a little shocked by this number, so I asked him if we could start monitoring it daily by checking the filter. I'll keep everyone posted on what the findings are. I wish I had more time to experiment with the placement/size of my water source to see if I could find a solution but the problem is really moot because my bees are gone on Sunday.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of my inspection. I did have a glorious plan to record some video on my camera and make an episode of "NewBee TV" but it didn't quite pan out. In a way I'm glad, because in all honesty I had too much to focus on with just the inspection. Once I get more comfortable I'll get the ball rolling on "NewBee TV".

I Fought The Law and The Law Won

Today officially marks the start of the one week countdown I have to move my bees before I start getting charged $500/day for every day I don't.

That's right, today an animal services officer stopped by to issue a warning notice because they had received a complaint. This took me by surprise because I had spoken with all my neighbours beforehand and none had brought up any concerns. The officer was nice, non-offensive, and very informative. I suppose she was just doing her job, but she seemed comfortable around the hive as she took pictures. Apparently she used to work with bees. I spoke with her about where I could move my bees within the city and she mentioned that she had a friend who had a place, but then wouldn't provide me with any contact information. I'm not sure if she was trying to be nice to soften the news or if she actually did have somewhere I could move my bees to.

So I started contacting people. The first on my list was Medhat Nasr, the provincial apiculturist; he provided me with the name of Edmonton and District Beekeepers Association president and was very curious about these "sites" the animal services officer spoke about. Next I started scouring the UofA website for contact information of anyone who might be connected with UofA farm land that is within the city limits and less then 10 minutes away from my house. I just heard back from one of the professors and it appears to look promising but I need approval from the farm manager. Hopefully I will hear back from him soon.

Next on my agenda was finding out who the complaint came from and talking with them to learn what could be done differently to avoid any issues in the future. Because heaven forbid once beekeeping becomes legal they start calling the city every day about my bees to the point where the city has to make me move them again. So I took a very educated approach. I started off with the neighbour I knew hadn't phoned in the complaint, the one who was standing in my backyard as I hived my bees, sure enough it wasn't them. Next was the neighbour who I am pretty sure is straight shooting enough that if he had had any issues he would have come and talked to me in person. Again as predicted they weren't the culprits. Although they did have an honest complaint about some bees that were hanging out in their hot tub cover, we discussed it and went on our merry way. That left the third, who I was 95% sure had phoned in the complaint. As soon as I started talking to her it became apparent that my initial evaluation of her was completely wrong, turns out she's a few bricks short of a full load. Highlights of the conversation included that she found out keeping bees in the city was illegal from a lady at the market and a dream she had about bees in her BBQ so she had to go out and check. Which brings me to the pinnacle of my complete disgust. In an effort to figure out if my bees were causing serious problems I asked, "So have you been having any issues with my bees on your property?" to which she replied (and I am not making this up) "Oh yes, they are buzzing all over the place in my garden and are on all my flowers."

Excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall.

Flight School

As I spoke with my father on the phone yesterday I was stopped in my tracks by what I saw outside in the yard. I sat down by the patio doors and continued to watch things develop as I finished up the conversation with my dad. I hung up the phone and immediately went outside to monitor the situation. What was it I saw that concerned me? Also if such an incident was concerning me, how would my neighbours react to such a situation if they happened to step out on their patio.

By my estimation, I would say there were 100-200ish bees all flying around the front of the hive. My inexperienced thought process immediately jumped to swarming, but after thinking the situation through it had to be something different. They hadn't possibly overcrowded the hive in such a short time, 3-4 days, and they couldn't possibly be honey bound (no more room to store nectar) for the same reason as previously listed. That lead me to the only other thing I could think of, absconding.

So I sat in my lawn chair next to the hive for the next 20 minutes watching the bees do their thing. The sound was very similar to the bee yard where we had picked up the nuc from, the yard was no longer quiet like it had been for the past few days. The only saving grace I had was inorder to hear it you had to be within 5-6 meters. Suddenly it became clear as to what was going on. I began focusing on all the bees that were gathered out on the landing board. There were dozens that were just hanging out, inspecting other bees, and grooming themselves or others. Most of them would eventually take flight, however some of those who tried failed to get sufficient lift and landed in the creeping thyme below. They would then continue to groom themselves and eventually successfully take wing.

After these bees took wing they would hover back and forth in front of the hive for a few minutes and then slowly start making larger circles around the hive and yard. It was clearly apparent that these bees were taking their first orientation flights. A new generation of foragers land marking their hive so they could go out into the world. Why they all decided to do this at once I'm not sure, maybe it's like a change of guard where large groups of foragers are replaced at once. Within 20 minutes of when I noticed the build up everything had returned to normal, quiet and tranquil. Thankfully my neighbours didn't happen to show up, but once I had figured out the issue I could have spoken with them to alleviate their fears. I would also assume my presence of sitting in a lawn chair only 2 meters from the hive would generate some relief. "They aren't stinging him, why would they come sting me."

The most important lesson about this situation though was the power of observation. I would encourage any new beekeeper to simply sit down and watch their hives. A lot of information can be obtained in this manner, besides it being thoroughly fascinating.

The First Sting Is The Deepest

The first sting is the deepest, baby I know, the first sting is the deepest. And when it comes to being lucky I'm not.

Yup, yesterday on accord of my own stupidity I was stung by one of my girls for the first time. Here's how and why it happened. The weather was beautiful yesterday, it had been the first really nice day since I had transferred the bees into their new home and they were out in full force taking advantage of this. When my wife and I got home from some errands I noticed that the entrance reducer was causing much trouble for the bees. There were too many bees trying to leave and too many bees trying to get back in. This was causing a large amount of bees to fly around in a "holding pattern", for lack of a better description. So I decided to remove the entrance reducer and this is when the gong show started.

Stupidity, cockiness, arrogance, or audacity. Call it what you will, but I decided that I could just reach in with some sort of flat utensil and pry it out....without using smoke, first mistake. So I scoured the yard for something to use and found a 5 inch piece of pointed mulch that I thought would work, second mistake. I then proceeded over to the traffic jammed entrance without concern for the amount of bees that were around what I was trying to remove, third mistake. The first nudge went well, but when I walked around the hive to the opposite side to get a better angle one of the bees discovered my shenanigans, she landed on my ear and stung my ear lobe.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, no worse than a needle at the hospital but with some added throbbing. I think everyone associates bee stings with wasp stings, but the truth is wasp stings are much worse. If not for the simple fact that they can sting you multiple times. I took this sting as "Listen up dummy, use proper procedures when dealing with us!" So I retreated to the garage, fired up my smoker and grabbed a frame rest that was both thin and long. I gave a few puffs at the entrance and had no issues removing the reducer. So remember, no matter how simple you think a task might be, use proper techniques and you won't have any problems.

The Cats and the Bees?

So everyone has heard of the birds and the bees, but what about the cats and the bees?

Yesterday my wife and I stopped into M.E.C. (Mountain Equipment Co-op) to pick up some materials to make a new cat leash. One of our cats, Avro, was a stray cat that I had found in the parking lot of our old apartment. With our new large backyard she loves to come out and join us when my wife and I are doing yard work. She stands at the back door and meows pathetically until we finally give in and bring her outside. The problem was the only sort of outdoor leash set we could find at our local pet store was for small dogs, medium gauge wire with large stainless steel buckles. Avro didn't really seem to like the weight of the line and buckle that attached to the top of her harness, she would walk around strangely and has on a few occasions escaped the harness because the wire got caught on something. I looked around to see what I could find, but short of cutting off the leash from one of those retractable dog leashes there was nothing to be found. After looking at her harness an idea finally hit me, her harness looks like a little climbing harness so why not attach a little climbing rope and carabiner. M.E.C. was the first place I thought of, it is the most awesomest and bodacious outdoor goods store I know. Best of all, the rope and carabiners cost less then anything available at the pet store and they are exteremly light weight.

This morning I got everything all hooked up and took her into the yard while I went about watering the gardens and watching my bees. The length of her new rope, we bought 15 meters, allowed her to roam the entire span of the backyard freely. It wasn't long before she discovered the hive. At first I was a little concerned because I have seen our cats hunting and pouncing on bugs. However, a strange thing happened, once Avro was close enough to see the entrance she just sat there mesmerized by all the bees coming and going. I'm not sure if it was instinctual because subconsciously she knows they can hurt or if it's because she had dealt with bees before as a stray. She happily sat there for 10-15 minutes watching the bees, and then went about chewing grass in other places of the yard. I even managed to run into the house and grab the camera.

"I'm not doing anything bad, honest, just look at this face"

Mesmerized by bees, definitely Daddy's cat.

This is the closest she got.

The Bee Exchange: Part 2

In my last post, I left everyone hanging on the edge of their seat in anticipation. OK, maybe not. So without any further ado, the conclusion to "The Bee Exchange".

I lit up my smoker and unwrapped the hive box, it was like Christmas in June. I slowly pried the lid open and gave a few puffs of smoke, the bees obliged by moving down into the frames but there were a few large clusters that had made their ways to the top of the cover and into the corner of the box. I slowly and steadily started moving each frame into the center of new box, since the nuc only had 5 frames I had already inserted another 4 on the outer edges to fill the gap. With all 5 frames transferred over, I began the more difficult job of dealing with the large clusters of bees on the cover. I attempted giving the cover a hard shake to remove some of the bees, hoping they would fall like in all the swarm videos I had watched but they wouldn't budge. I finally reluctantly decided to put the cover on regardless of casualties and in the process crushed a few bees that were along the edge. In hindsight, I really should have used my bee brush to gently brush them off. With the cover securely on I positioned the original hive box and bottom board out in front. The clusters of bees would slowly start finding their way into the hive and I estimated by the time I was back from work they would all be inside. With just 10 minutes to spare, I got dressed for work and headed out. My bees were in their new home, AND I didn't get stung.

As this blog is meant to be somewhat of a guide for those who may be thinking of starting up I've decided that for every major inspection/hive procedure I will list some things that I thought were done right, and some things that I would do differently. So here goes:

Things that were done properly

1) Get to know your Supplier - Alvin and Judy, from what I could tell as a beginner, seem to run a great business. They were both extremely friendly and answered any and all of my questions. It was evident that Judy loved her job and her bees and it showed by how they behaved and their overall health. She was even mention that on Monday a provincial inspector had visited their yard and found zero mites with the new "shaker" testing protocol. Zero mites is virtually unheard of for commercial apiaries.

2) Keep Your Cool - By slowly working the bees and avoiding any sudden movements the bees remained extremely calm while I was moving them around. My wife and neighbour were no more than 4 meters away, and even during times when larger amounts of bees took wing I kept my cool and just slowly backed away. After a minute or two everything would calm down and I'd start from where I'd left off.

Things that could be done differently

1) Have Your Equipment Ready - Because I didn't have my frame rests in, I had to go through an extra transfer process. If I had already had them in place, I could have just placed the hive on the cinder blocks, unwrapped the hive, and put in a few extra frames. Saving me time and limiting bee exposure.

2) Practice lighting your smoker - I had read a few beginner articles stating that one should practice lighting their smokers before getting bees. I completely ignored these because, come on, how hard can it be to light a fire. Well as it turns out, even according to Judy, keeping your smoker properly lit is a difficult task even for a veteran. My main issue is that I didn't put enough material in which allowed for too much air flow and I ended up with more of a flamethrower than a smoker. You want a nice cold white smoke, not a BBQ.

3) Give Yourself Enough Time - While it seemed like a great idea to squeeze picking up bees in between my split shifts, I really should have done it on a day when I had more time. I didn't allot any time if something went wrong and had there been any issues after I had installed them I couldn't do anything because I was at work. This caused a little anxiety because had their been any issues with neighbours coming to complain and ask questions or if the bees decided they didn't like their new home my wife would have had to deal with it.

Unwrapping the box, however I did not shake it before hand like a Christmas present.

Lifting the lid and giving some smoke.

Transferring each frame.

Scrapping off the excess "burr" comb that was on top of the frames.

The bees would eventually figure out where to go if I left them out front. Look at that cluster in the lower right hand side!

Tranquility of the hive when I returned home from work. The first person to correctly find the bee in this picture and point it out in the comment section below will get a free jar of honey from my first extraction!

The Bee Exchange

What a great day! After my morning shift I came home and packed up all my bee gear into my car. We negotiated the horrible construction on the Henday and after a short stop at the BeeMaid store in Stony Plain to pick up some additional supplies we arrived at the bee yard around 10:15. Unfortunately Alvin, the beekeeper, wasn't around because he hadn't finished his errands from yesterday. However, his wife Judy was around and she was already out doing yard work and came out to meet us.

The weather was sunny and the air fresh so we geared up and headed over a short distance to where a row of white nucs lined up against a fence. There was a calming buzz, calming to me but you might want to ask my wife, that filled the air. Thousands of bees going about their daily work, completely oblivious of us standing around their hives. Once Judy got her smoker lit, we cracked open the 5 frame nucleus hive and started the process of transferring the frames. We closely inspected both sides of each frame as they came out of the hive in search of the queen. Honey comb, pollen, and healthy brood patterns were all to be found on the first 2 frames. Judy's expertise was astounding as she scanned each frame in a matter of seconds while I tried to keep up. After a few seconds on the third frame, Judy said she had spotted the queen. As a test she asked me to find it, it took me a few more seconds but the size difference of the laying queen soon stood out in the lower corner of the frame. Once we were certain the queen was in my hive we quickly swapped over the two remaining frames. I was astounded by how docile the bees were during this entire process, even after having read countless articles and watching dozens of YouTube videos. I knew that bees were docile, but like everyone who hasn't dealt with bees I had a predetermined idea of what the experience would be like. The frames were then secured into a group using duct tape to prevent them from swinging around and accidentally squishing any bees. After adding the cover, we gave the box a semi air tight wrapping of saran to ensure no bees escaped into the car while we drove home. With time dwindling before I had to be back at work, we loaded the hive into the back of my car, spend a few more minutes talking with Judy and then hit the road.

An hour later we pulling into our garage at home. I quickly started unpacking gear and then began nailing some metal frame rests into an extra super. Frame rests help prolong the life of the wooden supers and I had totally forgotten to purchase some when I had picked up the rest of my hive hardware. The hive box that the bees were currently in didn't have any so I would have to transfer the frames out so I could put them in later. Just as I had finished moving all the gear into the backyard my neighbour pulled into his driveway. As he got out of his car he asked if I had my bees yet.n I mentioned that I did and he was welcome to watch while I transferred them, he was genuinely interested and tagged along. Going along with my agenda of working bees without equipment and from how calm I had seen the bees at the yard, I decided to work without a veil. It would be quite the gamble as the bees could be agitated from the ride home.

How will I do? Did I get stung? (Spoiler Alert: The Sting Tally will always be up to date) Was there anything I could have done differently? Check back tomorrow for the conclusion of The Bee Exchange.

One small step for bees. One giant leap for urban beekeeping. *Please note that stuffing my pants into my socks is not my normal state of dress. It keeps bees from crawling up your pants.*

Checking the first frame for the queen.

Judy has found the queen, now it's my turn.

Duct taping the frames into a group.

Wrapping the box in saran. I can do this well, many a practical jokes done this way.

Loaded into the trunk.

Judy and I. She's a great lady.

The Bee Pad

Hello Everyone,

So today's bee acquisition plans fell through. In the morning the weather was overcast, not the greatest of conditions to work with bees. Generally you want to work bees when it's sunny out because bees are very similar to us in that they get grumpy when the weather is bad. The beekeeper I am getting the bees from was taking advantage of this downtime to run some errands into Edmonton. We discussed arranging something for early in the evening, but I had some floor hockey to play and he lives about an hour outside the city. Plus with the advantage that I work split shifts, I am able to go out tomorrow morning after my morning shift.

In lieu of obtaining bees, my wife and I took advantage of the extra day to put some final touches on the area where I'll be putting the hive. Our overall plan has the hives sitting on concrete pads just inside a garden bed. I figured we had better clear out the sod around the pads as doing this with a hive present would make the situation more complicated. Due to delays with our backyard construction plans, we are in the process of trying build a deck, my wife has been unable to start any garden beds. She has been itching to hit up the garden center, so I decided since we were digging the sod up we could also put some plants in. I also hadn't decided in what way I would be providing water to my bees. Water feature products, fountains and bird baths, at the local hardware stores are incredibly expensive and I had thought about using a 5 gallon bucket with wood pieces in it, but that would look extremely tacky in a backyard. Once we picked up all our wonderful goods we came home and set it up. This was the result.

My hive will rest on the cinder blocks to keep it off the ground and limit the amount of bending over I will have to do. My work area will be on the left side and access to that is provided by 2 stepping stones. As for the bird bath, it is constructed of a pot holder and a 15" glazed pot saucer. The stones we just found lying around the yard and they aren't quite right but we'll find new ones soon enough. The stones allow a place for the bees to land and gather water, without them the bees would drown.

For the gardeners out there, these are the plants that we have planted around the pads. Along the fence, at the far left corner, are 3 Delphiniums. To the right of those, starting at about the corner of the left pad, are 12 Sweet Peas. On the right side of the pads are 12 Snapdragons. In the front left corner are 3 Silver Mound. Lastly, directly in front between the Silver Mound and Snapdragons are 3 creeping Thyme. I will be sure to post some pictures later this summer when everything starts to bloom, it should look really nice.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will finally pick up my bees. I will also be interviewed by an Edmonton Journal journalist tomorrow. Patty forwarded on an email last week about a man who was looking for beekeepers within the city limits to interview for an article his is writing. Urban beekeeping has become quite the movement, especially with major cities like Vancouver and New York amending their bylaws to allow it. I will keep everyone posted on how that goes.

Finally, as it is a question that most people have on their mind or ask, "How often do you get stung?" I have added a "Sting Tally" to the right side of my blog. Please feel free to point and laugh as this increases. I will be honest by adding all stings and I will also be trying to keep it as low as possible.

Bee Registration

So I got home today and found my Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development package had arrived in the mail. As per the Alberta Bee Act, all bees must be registered annually with the provincial apiculturist. Also, if you own bee equipment you must register even if you don't have bees.

After I purchased my hives I sent an email to Medhat, the provincial apiculturist, to get registered. He mailed me out the package right away. From what I understand, the purpose of this registration is for the monitoring/control of diseases. Hence all the disease information that also came with the form, as seen on the right side of the picture. After a quick perusal the registration form consists of contact info, number of bees & bee yards, the location of your honey extraction, and the location of your hives. There is also a small box regarding wintering and surviving colonies for stat gathering purposes.

The possible fine for not registering bees, according to the Alberta Bee Act, is up to $2500. While I am not vain enough to think I am the only urban beekeeper within Edmonton, I am still somewhat nervous about listing my hive location within the city limits of Edmonton. However, ignoring any sort of legal breach of confidentiality issues, if for some reason this information was passed onto the City of Edmonton I am sure their bylaw fine would be less then that for not registering them in the first place.

For more information on registering bees within Alberta you can hit up this link. http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/general/progserv.nsf/all/pgmsrv107

Check back soon as tomorrow is the big day. I will be heading out to get my bees. My brave wife will be joining me to take some great pictures.

Starting Equipment and Costs

In this post I will cover what basic equipment a beginner beekeeper needs, and the cost of starting up.

Personal equipment

As a new beekeeper I have decided to start out with the follow items, from left to right.

1) Gloves. The gloves I plan on using are 15 mil Nitrile gloves. They are very similar to dish washing gloves, but slightly thicker. The authors of the Idiots Guide to Beekeeping recommend these compared with traditional leather beekeeping gloves because they offer higher dexterity and are far easier to clean. When a bee stings they emit a pheromone that promotes other bees to do the same. Being able to easily clean your glove should help reduce this.
2) Hive tool. This is a standard hive tool, with one end being a flat scraper and the other end having a hook so you can easily pry up frames.
3) Smoker. I purchased the cheapest smoker at the store. They do come with heat shields which are basically a wire cage on the outside. Some beekeepers like the shields because it allows them to hold the smoker between their knees while they work on the hive.
4) Veil. Veils have the most price variation of the basic equipment, they vary from $15 for a basic veil which just covers your head to full jumpsuits with pockets all over for $250. I picked up a cheaper version veil/jacket combo.

As new beekeepers become familiar with the trade, they tend to shed equipment to make their jobs easier. Many longtime beekeepers work their bees with no gloves or veils. People are often intrigued by this asking why they don't get stung and what people don't understand is that when handled properly bees can be very docile. I myself will be trying to get to the point of working without a veil as soon as possible as I am trying to be discrete as possible with my beekeeping and quite frankly walking around in my backyard in a veil won't help.

Hardware

Here are the items which you will need to house your bees, from left to right.

1) Frames. Wood/White Plastic/Black Plastic. 10 Frames per hive body. Frames are what the bees build their honeycomb on. They are fitted with foundation and usually they are made of wood but plastic is available too. The white and black frames in the middle are plastic frames with integrated foundation. I purchased these from Mann Lake because they are 4.9mm cell size and virtually indestructible. They do however cost more than wood frames.
2) Entrance reducer (front). This little wood bar is used to limit the size of the entrance of the hive. It can be used for keeping pests out such as mice and skunks or for keeping the bees in.
3)Paint (back). Exterior Satin Latex based paint for painting the hive bodies. Traditionally hives are painted white, but I have chosen a light green to be discrete. To save money I purchased quart tester cans. They have more than enough paint, I painted all my supers and still have plenty left.
4) Frame Feeder. Bee feeders come in all sorts and sizes, this is a feeder that sits inside the hives and takes the spot of a frame. Bees need to be fed during spring and winter if their honey stores become low, they also need to be feed during any dearth. A period in which there are few nectar producing flowers in bloom.
5) Supers. In the picture is a deep/standard hive on the floor, and a medium/3/4 super stacked on top of it. I have purchased 3 deep supers and 2 medium supers. Deep supers are normally used for brood and mediums for honey, however in commercial beekeeping deeps are used for honey. A deep super full of honey can weight anywhere between 75-100 lbs, so many hobbyist beekeepers use mediums to reduce weight.
6) Queen Excluder. If you look on top of the deep super you will see a metal grate in between. A queen excluder is mainly used to keep the queen in the lower boxes so she doesn't lay eggs around the honey. I still haven't decided if I am going to use it, but it does have other uses.
Not Pictured) I am currently missing a cover, bottom board, and stand. Obviously a cover is what goes on top of the hive. A bottom board is what the hive sits on, it provides a small gap along the front of the bottom for the bees to come and go. A hive stand is what keeps the hive raised about the ground to prevent rotting and bugs from entering the hive. I will have pictures of these soon.

Total Cost

Overall I have paid $350 for all my equipment, $80 of that was the plastic Mann Lake frames. I did purchase everything new and if someone wanted to reduce the cost of starting up there is plenty of used equipment available if you know where to look. The only issue with purchasing used equipment is the possibility of diseases, so one must be careful otherwise you'll end up with sick bees. I purchased new to avoid this and if you are only going to be having a few backyard hives the cost isn't unmanageable.

And So It Begins

A little over a month ago I saw a small advertisement in the local Metro paper for a "Bust into Beekeeping" course. The ad peaked my curiosity because even as a small child I have always had a fascination with social insects, bees, wasps, ants, etc. So I went about getting in touch with the coordinator, Patty Milligan from Lola Canola Honey, and signed up.

Immediately I started searching out beekeeping videos and websites, I wanted to go into the course with a good grasp of Beekeeping so I could get the most out of the course. It was through this searching that I learned of the "plight" of the honey bee. Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. In the past few years, vast amounts of bees have been disappearing causing much concern throughout the beekeeping community. My research found that many opinions exist for the cause of this, however no solution has been found. Much like politics, every beekeeper has a way in which they do things and everyone believes that their way is the correct way.

I happened to stumble upon the Backwards Beekeepers, a group of urban beekeepers in L.A., because they had some interesting videos posted on YouTube. Their philosophy when it comes to beekeeping, which I have strongly associated with, is to leave the bees alone. Bees have been around for millions of years and they know what to do, you just have to provide them with the things they need to be happy; food and a sheltered hollow vessel for a home. This is the way I will be trying to keep my bees; after all I am becoming a beekeeper because I love bees, not because I need honey.

There is much to learn, so come back often and feel free to send some comments.