Bryon and I recently buzzed into new territory with the addition of two bee colonies at Star & Sparrow. While we had hoped to include bees in our urban oasis in San Leandro, city restrictions deemed we didn’t have the proper spacing from other dwellings. Here, with 45 acres at our fingertips, our main concern is figuring out how to keep the bees as healthy and happy as possible.

In January, we joined the Lewis County Beekeepers Association for their monthly meetings, though we only got to attend one intro class and three meetings before the Stay at Home order went into place. We also signed up for a mentor but haven’t been able to connect, likewise thanks to crazy times. Therefore, we’ve been relying on our bookshelf, YouTube videos, and other online resources.

We purchased one new Langstroth hive locally, and a neighbor gave us a hive they no longer needed. Used equipment can be problematic, since disease and pests can be transferred to a new colony. With that in mind, I sanitized the boxes with bleach water and repainted all outward facing wood, this time a bright yellow. Then I froze the individual frames for a couple of days, after which I scraped and sanitized them. I painted the new hive orange.

On the second Saturday in April, Bryon and I headed to Rochester to pick up our first nuc. Unlike a package of bees (which contains only bees: workers, drones, and a new-to-the-colony queen), a nuc, or nucleus, is more established and usually includes the colony’s own queen. It comes with five frames already filled with wax, brood (baby bees), and honey. While it costs a little more, you’ve got a head start on the process. Which means you are closer to getting honey!

Being a little eager, we transferred the first nuc to our yellow hive as soon as we got it home, though you can wait up to a week or so. With a 10-frame deep, we added the five full frames from the box, each one covered in bees, along with brood and honey,  along with five empty frames. Nearby, we placed a supply of fresh water—the chicks’ waterer with rocks in the bottom to keep the bees from drowning. I also placed a quart jar of sugar water in the feeder Bryon made. In early spring, until more flowers and trees are in bloom, bees need supplemental nourishment, especially when they are building up their colony.

Now, at this point, I have to admit I am still pretty nervous during the interactions. While I’ve always been happy to see a bee or two or several flying around the garden, it’s quite another thing to open a box that’s home to thousands of bees. During our second inspection of the yellow hive, the bees showed agitation by loudly buzzing around my veil. I stepped away from the area a few times for some deep breathing, as they respond to your fear. 

Our second nuc installation into the orange hive at the end of April went smoothly. But then, a few days later, we had an incident with the yellow hive. I was in the greenhouse tending my seedlings, when a raucous buzzing started. Turns out, it issued from a dark cloud of bees flying around the yellow hive, with a large clump of them on the nearby fence post. I darted into the house—yelling for Bryon,“I think the bees are swarming!” From our previous research, it seemed a little early in the game for the colony to create a new queen and split into two colonies. Plus, we hadn’t noticed any queen cells, which is usually a sign that will happen. But no matter, something was amiss!

Bryon did some quick YouTubing and then headed out to the hive with a broom and the plastic box in which the second nuc had been delivered. He brushed the bees off the fence post and into the box. After an initial sense of panic, I calmed down enough to assist Bryon, from arms’ length at first and finally closer. Then we added a second deep box on top of the first one, with a queen excluder in between the two. The excluder has gaps big enough for worker bees to pass through, but not the queen, which encourages more honey production. Finally, Bryon emptied the bees from the nuc box back into the hive. Mind you, we were just doing our best guesswork at this point, but things seemed more normal when we checked back.

Later, after hearing from our mentor and our friend Lori, who also keeps bees, the consensus seemed to be that the bees just ran out of room. We had been waiting to add another box since there were still three empty frames available in the first deep. But Lori pointed out that her outer frames hardly ever get used, maybe due to colder weather here. The Lewis County Beekeepers’ discussion group warned me they might try to swarm again, but that hasn’t happened. Just to be safe, we plan to get another hive in case our bees try to swarm again or a wild swarm crosses our path.

In the meantime, I am doing my darnedest to keep the bees happy by planting all kinds of veggies, herbs, and flowers. Plus, nearby are lots of fruit trees, flowering blueberry bushes, strawberries, rosemary, wild flowers, flowering brassicas (kale, broccoli, and such), and the raspberries and Marionberries should bloom any day now.

I’ve been keeping track of both hives in separate journals to note patterns and have a record of any abnormalities. Hopefully, we will keep doing our part to protect the bees.

And fingers crossed we don’t spot any of those “Murder Hornets” that recently arrived in Washington. That is the last thing we need!