Bees are truly incredible creatures. They have complex communication and social systems. They are hardworking, intelligent and organized. They pollinate our flowers, fruits, trees and plants. Without their hard work our gardens would not grow. They make delicious honey- a natural antibiotic and delicious vaccine for pollen allergies. We literally could not live without them.

At Olsen Farm we started keeping bees last year because of the importance of supporting pollinators and our drive to practice natural farm and gardening techniques. We have a responsibility to protect native bees by planting healthy gardens- free of chemicals and pesticides, as well as a responsibility to care for our domestic bees like any other pet.

Our colony survived the winter last year but was not able to survive the unfortunate February early thaw and sudden temperature drop. Bees are powerful and delicate, with our quickly changing climate and growing use of toxic pesticides their world is in great danger- and in consequence so is ours.

This year we have added a second hive, and are continuing our hope for the bees and all they share with us.

Here are some photos of the hive-filling process:

 

IMG_3255
Prepping the smoker, dried grass makes great smoke!
IMG_3261
Chris puts on gear to protect his hands, face and arms while filling the hive
IMG_3262
Prying the lid off to remove the queen’s cage
IMG_3263
Removing lid to expose can of sugar water queen’s cage is attached to during travel
IMG_3264
The queen’s cage is attached by a strap that has to be pried off for removal
IMG_3266
Pulling out the can and queen cage
IMG_3267
This can is covered in bees! As soon everything else will be too…
IMG_3269
Detaching the queen’s cage from the can
IMG_3271
Chris gently brushes bees off the outside of the queen’s cage and into the hive box, setting queen’s cage aside for placement later
IMG_3272
Holding the bee package upside down over the brooding box, Chris gets ready to shake them out
IMG_3274
The most exciting step- shaking, or tapping, three pounds of live bees into their new home. No stings to date!
IMG_3279
Chris carefully places the queen’s cage between two frames so the colony can get used to her pheromones and she can be released in a day or so
IMG_3282
Giving the colony some smoke to calm them
IMG_3283
Chris carefully stacks the super on top of the brooder box
IMG_3284
Stacking on the inner narrow lid
IMG_3285
Placing on the hive lid, or outer cover
IMG_3287
Weighing down the lid cover with a cement flat
IMG_3288
We use a ratchet strap to secure our hive boxes together, making it more of a challenge for a bear to break them apart if ever one gets through our electric fence
IMG_3291
Hive one is live!
IMG_3292
Happy bees, already getting to work cleaning up a honey drip in their new home