A Roof Full of People

Yesterday I hosted a beekeeping presentation to the Leadership Program, a group of educators, at the Epoca Restaurant around the corner and at the apiary on my roof. At the restaurant they viewed "Rooftop Bees" a documentary about me by filmmaker Melissa Lohman Wild and I did a PowerPoint presentation on bees and beekeeping. . There was a lot of discussion about CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) accompanied by a short video on the subject. They also tasted a large variety of honeys. Then 30 teachers and educators, in two waves, braved their way up the ladder to the roof and several donned bee suits and veils to help inspect the hives and show the group honey and brood in the making.
It was gloomy chill day, but the sun broke out in a half-hearted sort of way and it warmed up just as we were going up to the roof, then turned drear again just as we finished. The Great Bee was with us! A good time was had by all!

Wow! It's been a while since the last post!

April 2008
My two remaining hives are alive. Hive A is less populated than Hive B. It needs to be requeened. It's a matter of finding the current queen and killing her, then replacing her with a new one. I haven't been able to find the queen yet , thus being spared the (for me) moral dilemma of killing her. (I'm sort of a Buddhist in many ways). Meanwhile Hive Bee is really buzzing with action.
We inspected and supered the hives yesterday. Hive B is chock-a-block with honey in the hive body.
I ordered new cypress woodenware from Rossman Apiaries, since my four 7 year old hive bodies are getting dilapidated. Cypress is the most weather-resistant wood on the beekeeping market and your best bet if you don't go polystyrene.
I hope to restore my third hive when the Rossman equipment arrives
Also fed both colonies a bee patty, which offers both protein and carbohydrates.
Last summer was sparse pickin's for honey because I had to introduce new packages, but I hope that we have jump-started the honey storing by supering early.
The meet-up has been very active in helping me, which I need, having undergone a total knee rplacement in February. It's gradually healing and I'm able to climb the ladder up to the roof.
Last week we cleaned up the roof, gleaning the good stuff from the rotting junk and chucking the junk. It looks fabulous! Thanks to all for the help!
I hope to harvest in August this year. Stay tuned.
Best regards to all,
John

bee on spice bush in the garden at Brooklyn Bee

My honey bees are after the flowers on my spice bush this year.
In past years, foraging on it was dominated by bumblebees. They have disappeared this year!

Summer '07

We now have TWO apiaries. One on my roof (The Brooklyn Bee) and one on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (Green Oasis Garden). They hope to mainly pollinate their fruit trees. Honey production is only a secondary bonus. Shown are some Meetup members hiving the bees and the package they are going to hive The bees come from an apiary in Georgia.

Below: (top to bottom)

The package of bees (6,000 workers and a queen) ready to be dumped into one of the two hives at Green Oasis

Meetup members putting the inner cover on the just-hived bees

THe two hives are perched on a ten-foot high platform

Winter Crafts Workshop

candle and soap making

We had a lot of fun while the bees were clustering in the February chill

Baby, it's warm outside

This winter has been tough on the bees. They have been flying all December instead of clustering and thereby consuming more of their valuable winter honey stores than if they were in cluster. I made them a 2 to 1 sugar syrup in November and put it in the top feeders, but it has all glazed over. The surface was covered with a sheetof crystallized sugar and they hadn't been able to get at it. I broke up the surface except on one which had crystallized almost entirely. and we'll see, but it's a major hassle making 2 to 1 in my cramped kitchen and getting it up to the roof, plus I don't understand why it crystallizes. Everybody recommends 2 to 1 and nobody mentions this problem.
I can only hope for seasonable weather or face a major death unless I can manage to nurse them through somehow.

The Harvest is Over; the Honey is Gone

Today I sold my last jar of this year's harvest.
We (the Meetup) extracted honey from three supers. Two yielded a pale gold honey; the third, mysteriously, was a deep, rich amber, thick and creamy. Yum! I'll miss it. (I sold it all because I'm on the South Beach diet and honey is a no-no).
I sold it in 1 lb. jars for $8 and 1/2 lb. bears for $5. The bears were very popular.
Noiw it's getting time to settle the bees down for winter: inspecting for pests and diseases, treating for tracheal mites giving sugar syrup as needed, and wrapping the hives. against the fierce winter wind up there.