It's been an exciting couple of months. We're now back up to 23 hives as one of our new-found neighbors wanted to keep the swarm that showed up on their property. Fortuitously, they have the most amazing garden of all Oak Grove, Oregon, and are inclined to trade us an almost-unlimited supply of beautiful organic produce. 

The top bar hives throughout Oak Grove/Milwaukie, Oregon are absolutely booming. The two top bar hives in our back yard are so full of bees that at night, when the entire population is home, there are at least 1000 bees huddling together outside the entrance. Out of the 30 bars they've been given, they've already filled up at least 26, meaning that harvest time is here! Yesterday I harvested the first bar of honeycomb from one of the backyard hives. Later this week, after acquiring 20 food grade buckets, I will be harvesting from the rest in preparation for the massive loads of blackberry nectar that are beginning to show up.

 Comb prior to crushing and straining:

From 6-2-09 Photos

Comb after crushing:

From 6-2-09 Photos

Here's are some pictures of one of the Warre hive swarms from our backyard last month:

From 6-2-09 Photos

From 6-2-09 Photos

As said before, the blackberries are beginning to flow in the Pacific Northwest. Being our largest nectar flow, I am excited to see how quickly the girls fill up their top bar hives. I am a tad concerned about the winery Warre hives as they haven't been inclined to build in the bottom box, thus likely making them interested in swarming as their populations begin to rise. I moved a few bars of comb down to the bottom box on all the Warre hives in hopes that they will begin building below. Next weekend I'll check them and plan to see gloriously-full boxes ready for a third. 

Here's a view into a top bar hive from a few weeks ago:

In the window:

From 6-2-09 Photos

Bee chains:

From 6-2-09 Photos

View from inside:

From 6-2-09 Photos

Bar removed:

From 6-2-09 Photos

The past few weeks have been incredibly hot for the Portland metro area, with temperatures reaching the low-90s, leaving the bees working overtime attempting to cool their hives and evaporate their honey. Here's a picture of one of the hives at Eleanore's house in Oak Grove attempting to stay cool:

From 6-2-09 Photos

Over the past month I've also had the opportunity to do a great deal of education of neighbors and the public on beekeeping and foundationless methods. Here's another shot of Eleanore's yard where I was giving a brief overview of top bar beekeeping to the neighborhood leaders:

From 6-2-09 Photos

Lastly, one of my favorite hives that has been most prolific swarmed a couple weeks ago and landed on the same tree all of the other swarms frequent. To my delight, dozens of bees were checking out the swarm trap on the back of our shed. I decided to let nature take it's course, in hope that the bees would find the trap to be a worthy home. Sadly, I returned from wine country to find the bees were gone and the trap was empty.

Swarm:

From 6-2-09 Photos

View of trap from swarm:

From 6-2-09 Photos

Trap being closely examined by scout bees: 

From 6-2-09 Photos

 Even the bumble bees don't like the heat!:

From 6-2-09 Photos

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What a week! After more than 6 months of planning and building, the first 10 packages in the 20 hive apiary expansion have been installed. 5 packages of Italians and 5 packages of Carniolans arrived at Ruhl Bee Supply on Monday, after a trek from Northern California's Oliveraz Bee Company. It was an unusually warm day -- almost 80 degrees in April!

My wife, a photographer from the Oregonian and I met at Ruhl, waited in line for 20 minutes to pay and then entered the holy of holies: The small warehouse containing over 10,000,000 honey bees -- 1000 packages. Our photographer was obviously taken aback by the sight and intense sound, but slowly began to adjust to the idea.

We got our packages, carted them to the truck and proceeded to strap them down for the 3 mile trip to our Oak Grove home where the first three packages were to be installed.  

Packages in truck bed:

From Hive Install 4-6-09

Upon arrival we quickly unloaded them, placed them in a shady spot, squirted each of them with some syrup and then I began hiving them, one at a time. 

Packages awaiting new homes:

From Hive Install 4-6-09

Our hives: 

From Hive Install 4-6-09

First, I gingerly procured the queen from one of the Carniolan packages and quickly replaced the can so as not to release too many unhappy bees. I removed the cork, covered the hole with my thumb and inserted a small marshmellow where the cork had resided.  After that I removed all but the bottom box from the Warre hive, placed the queen cage in the back corner and removed a few bars above her. I grabbed the package, slammed it down to get the bees to the bottom, removed the can, upturned it and began pouring them in on top of the cage. I set the package down for a moment as I got stung in the ear. After swearing, I replaced the bars and added the top box and poured the rest of the bees into that one. I leaned the package against the entrance, added the feeder box and top and walked away from the mass of frantic bees. 

Dumping bees time lapse:

From Hive Install 4-6-09

From Hive Install 4-6-09

From Hive Install 4-6-09

From Hive Install 4-6-09

From Hive Install 4-6-09

Replacing bars:

From Hive Install 4-6-09

Almost entirely in their new home:

From Hive Install 4-6-09

I then proceeded to perform the same process on the 9 top bar hives -- 2 at our home, and the remaining 7 split between two neighbors yards.

Mentoring soon-to-be-beekeeper:

From Hive Install 4-6-09

It was an exhausting day, but I'm glad we got it done. And I'm glad the Oregonian was there to document the process. The article should be in MIX Magazine in May or June.

This week I continue preparing the 10 Warre hives that will receive the next shipment of bees. It has been determined that 3 hives will be placed at Sokol Blosser Winery, 4 at Lachini Vineyards and 3 at Cameron Winery. I look forward to it! 

More photos and video to come. 

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