A hive has been part of my menagerie for almost a year now. Our bees were transferred from a friend’s chimney (where the bees had been pretty happy for a while) to a couple of bee boxes under an olive tree. Kirk Anderson, a.k.a Kirk O’bee, did the job, and has been our bee guide ever-since. Kirk leads the the Backwards Beekeepers, a group of Los Angeles area bee enthusiasts. Monthly meetings are open to the public and they’re quite informative. The last few meetings have been held at Farmlab, and that’s a place that is cool to see.
Since positioning the hive on the hill, we have basically let the bees be. We figured whatever honey the bees had made, we would let them keep it for their winter food supply (which is what honey is). Commercial bee keepers often harvest honey in the fall, and then feed their bees sugar water though the winter. We sort of ignored ours all winter, just checking for activity (flying in and out) occasionally. Ever since it got warmer there has been so much action! Busy, busy bees.
At last month’s bee meeting I learned that Spring is swarm season. Bees swarm when they get too crowded in their digs and take off to build another colony. I hated the idea of losing my bees. Kirk advised adding another story, or box to our hive.
Martin has been our bee keeper. But he’s pretty reluctant. He gets stung each time he checks on the bees. (Which has only been twice since we got them...) I have been wanting to get closer and more involved, so despite the expense, I got myself a bee suit at Los Angeles Honey when we went to purchase the additional box and frames. L.A. Honey is in East L.A. and it’s a wonderful resource. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful. We got lots of great advice-- Like this:
If you open your hive and find that the top box is buzzing, and it weighs about 40 pounds, then it’s full of honey and honeycomb and you should make the new box the middle box. If not much is happening up top, place the new box on the top for piece of mind.
Got it!
So, check it out! After drinking a beer to calm us down and smoking the bees to calm them down, we found bees galore and a VERY HEAVY top box. With the two of us working together, we were able to re-arrange the boxes without making the bugs too angry. We checked one of the frames, and I couldn’t resist robbing a little comb and honey. The bees didn’t seem to mind, and neither of got stung. It was so cool to see the bees. The robbed honey was so delicious! I can’t wait to harvest the rest in June.
Jeanne Kelley is an established food writer, recipe developer and food stylist based in Los Angeles, California. Integrating locally grown produce with globally influenced flavors, Kelley’s approach to cooking is both simple, festive and fresh. Her recipes can be found in her latest book is Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden