Beekeeping

In a bee suit, on a warm summer day, you’ll have to set down your phone. Walk away from your other work. And focus completely on moving frames and watching the progress of your hive. Listening to the bees tells you about their mood. Holding each frame up to the sun to see any new bee brood, hatching house bees, the queen at work laying eggs — all so intriguing that it draws you in for those quiet moments. When I first decided to try beekeeping I was attracted by the idea of a home-grown sweetener, healthful properties of honey and propolis from the hive, and the promise of hosting and helping pollinators for the sake of my garden plants and orchard trees. What I didn’t expect was that weekly hive inspection duty is itself a meditative delight. With a hive inspection, you look for signs of unhealthy bees, out-of-place comb, a missing queen, not enough brood, or full frames to indicate more frames are needed for the bees to store more honey and pollen. It can be a brief process of pulling each frame for a quick look, or a more leisurely project if there is time, as bees are simply fascinating to watch. As a Palouse beekeeper it’s important to know that hive inspections should happen weekly when temperatures are above 50 degrees. During the winter months bees seal in the hive and it should not be opened in order to protect the bees from the cold and wet weather. On the Palouse, therefore, hive inspections might only occur between late April and late October. If you want to try your hand at beekeeping, a basic starting kit would include a hive box, which could contain 8-10 frames. (Fewer frames means less weight to lift when moving boxes to inspect the hive). After a water and bleach bath and some time in the sun, a reused second hand box is a great solution for a beginner beekeeper. Basic tools include some type of hive tool like a painter’s scraper to help with detaching frames from the box and neighboring frames if they get sticky with propolis, and then a beekeeper’s jacket and hood, and a smoker which most beginner beekeepers prefer to start with during hive inspections. With a hive and those three basics, a beginner beekeeper can get started with a package of bees (a queen and a nucleus hive of working bees). William Shakespeare is credited with the saying, “He is not worthy of the honey-comb That shuns the hives because the bees have stings.” A metaphorical principle for life, but a simple plea also — don’t shun the hives, there is sweetness to be had. Your best ally as a new beekeeper is a local bee mentor, and for those of us fortunate enough to live on the Palouse, you can find Dave Glasebrook of Sweet Taste who has devoted many decades to raising bees and spreading the joy of apiary to the region. He is an excellent resource and local supplier for bee packages (hive starter packs) to get you going on your first round of beekeeping. To find out more, you can contact Dave at SweetTaste@turbonet.com.