Napa Valley Bee Company

And while your at it...

Check this out:

A little pixelated, but not bad for starters...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qrIafNZRfg

 

A still photo from just before the movie was made.

A day in the week of a Napa beekeeper - Day II

Bee day II - 3/27/10

* Met with John early to discuss the bees I'm keeping at his Carneros place. We mostly talked about art and drank coffee while Davis ransacked their toy cabinet. However, I did give him some of the honey from the bees that is absolutely amazing. On the Bonick Family Farm the bees first get eucalyptus in early February, then the organic Asian pears come into bloom, and lastly the blackberry bloom under the eucalyptus canopy -- a feast! 

* Met with Roger to look into the hives I am managing for him. One of his hives kind of circled the drain this winter so I married a colony of mine from a fan division I did last week. The teak hives look gorgeous, even after going through a wet winter. The observation hive is also just busting -- it's wonderful to be able to see into the life of the bees without opening the lid. I love that hive!

* Got a call from my sister-in-law KT. She lives in Oakland and was having an early Easter party when a swarm arrived. It appears the bees are moving into a PG&E box on the ground,,, how random is that? Curious, because both my wife and son were at the party too. I'm not assuming the bees knew that and were there looking for me..

* While at Roger's I got a call from a lady named Anette who was doing the Good Sam bee thing and looking after a swarm across town. I guess she called Luke who refereed me. Super excited because I have been watching the oak trees this swarm came from for about 5 years now. Patience will be rewarded, or...something like that...!

*  I got a call from Susan, her bees swarmed earlier today. I went by her place thinking we would dive into her colony and harvest some of the queen cells but got there a little late. Plus, her colony is so monsterous we'd probably be at it for hours. So we went for a walk around her block and happened to find an abandoned house with a feral colony living in the walls.

Hew-weee! Now that's some honey.

Johnny checking out his yum yum - Oh, incidentally, the back lit  honey photo was MY idea.

 

Crazy mustard out there at the Carneros apiary.

 

Edward Emery's hive drawing after a winter.

Roger's teak hives

Roger's bees. You don't see many in this image but they're loaded with varroa

My favorite - the observation hive

I love how the rusted metal compliments the wood

 

and you can see inside...

Here is the picture KT sent me of the swarm that interrupted her Easter party. My guess is they are going in the small hole of that cover. But what do I know? I'm no scout bee.

My car - Annette's bike

The Bees left this hole in the oak tree.

The bees ended up on this sign where the road splits on Trower about 15' away from their mother hive.

 

 They looked like this when I left.

Annette is a sweet as honey, but I'm not getting her shirt..?

Forest and Annette

 

Me and Susan in her gazing ball

 

Susan's monster hive

 

The abandon building with the bees

 

Perfect bee house

A day in the week of a Napa beekeeper - Day I

 

3/26/10

Okay, here's the deal. My intention was to chronicle each day's beekeeping adventure, but here I am 3 days later. So, I'm not getting off to a great start since I still haven't posted from yesterday-- oops, make that two days ago.  Working in flashback, here's what's going on..

* Met with Michael after dropping our kids at the Waldy School --  discussed trading bee work in exchange for Davis going to Spring and Summer camp at Connolly (flash forward to today when he actually was at the camp, when he got in trouble one time during the day and my wife was late for pickup -- good exchange). 

* Received a call from Anita on White Hall lane about a swarm, her husband Dave was a great help.

* Went by a "trap out" I am working on, also on White Hall Lane in Saint Helena.

* Cleaned out the bee stuff in the back of my truck.

* Hived the swarm from White Hall lane.

* Met  Nate regarding bees he has had on the property he manages. The bees have been there roughly 6 years now. They look really good considering they have not been managed in years. The weird thing is I pulled out the monitoring tray and there was drawn comb and nectar on the bottom. The hive stands are for sided wooden boxes on end, so it would make the perfect place for a second colony to live. Curious, more later...

 

Football sized swarm in an olive tree on White Hall Lane,  Saint Helena

TOUCH DOWN!

As a reference, I put football sized swarms on three frames. I offer some drawn comb. I do my best not to offer swarms honey and pollen unless I absolutely have to, not to say that you can't spread disease from sharing just drawn comb. I'm sure there are pathogens bees can pick-up from sharing any part of the hive that is sanitized by heat. I know in the last post I was going on and on about the "goodies" I offered the storm swarm but sometimes drastic times call for drastic measures. The two extra frames in the above picture are plastic foundation being used as follower boards. Not only is the hive body beat-up, but I'm needing followers too. Hey! It's all I had around alright?..

I cut and removed the entire limb the swarm was hanging on and lowered them in a 5 gallon bucket perfed with 1/16 holes. I easily slid the entire colony and the olive branches out of the bucket into the hive.

I added an empty deep on top of the bees giving them the space and privacy to get started on their wax production.

About 7 hours later the bees shifted to the far right side of the hive -- most likely the side the queen decided to go towards. Tomorrow I'll go in and gently move the bees to the center. So much for my theory that bees will automatically jump on drawn comb. 

In this "trap out" we are trying to re-route the bees from coming around the post. Their hive is behind the pole occupying the space between two interior walls. The owner, Tom, has made a plywood cover that will act as a hallway for the bees to go an extra 4' towards a hole closer to the end of the porch.

Steel wool helps to fill the space around the pole and the plywood. Think of the steel wool as our propolis filling the space we don't want the bees to occupy.

The hole the bees will be using as their new hive entrance. I may even end up running a piece of PVC from the hole to route the bees even further around the corner.

 Cleaning out the back of my truck meant taking my bike out. Check out my rack...

More later on our zero emission honey bee tree removal last week.

Nate and Davis hangin' by his hive. You can see how a swarm might move under the existing hive, maybe?..

Check out this salamander we caught by Nate's bees. Gorgeous but slimy, Davis loved it.

SEE BEES - FEEL BEES - THINK BEES

Hey now!

There is a great class quickly coming down the pike, starting this Thursday.
It's a beekeeping/ bee garden class through the Napa Adult School held at Connolly Ranch in Napa.

The class is only 4 sessions: Sept 10, 17, 24, and Oct 1st. 

It's short, sweet, and one of the best bee deals in town.

One of the classes is dedicated exclusively for personal hive checks. We can accommodate two, MAYBE three, hive inspections that night.

Another class will cover an in-depth/ get-your-hands-dirty -garden demo. This session will focus on plants you can incorporate in your landscape that will help offer the bees a year-round pollen/nectar source. I just finished the curriculum with Michael Lauer, who runs the ranch, and he will be heading that aspect of the class.  He said there will be plenty of take-home plants and seeds to get you started.

One night will be focused on canning where we will open the Connolly kitchen to everyone to bring their bounty to can or make preserves. A great opportunity to trade-up with other students and get a wonderful cross section of preserved fruits and veggies from around the valley.

 
Lastly, after we have done all the hive checks and assessed how much available honey will be left over for us, we'll go back to the ranch kitchen and have a honey extract-a-thon. We'll bring in a number of extractors, uncapping knifes and tables, filters,  and buckets. All you have to do is
bring your full honey frames and jars.

 Call the adult school today! (707) 253-3594

 Beekeeping: Have you noticed fewer bees in your garden recently?

Participate in planting a demonstration bee garden, while investigating the flora that supplies local bees with nectar and pollen year round. Learn about hive construction and management, correct handling procedures at all hive stages, mite resistance, and disease control. Discover the role of bees in local pollination of food and flowers. Materials list will be given on the first day of class. Students bring their own supplies, including protective clothing. 4 weeks

               9/10 - 10/1

5:00 pm -8:00 pm             Th             Connolly Ranch             Keller/Lauher             $85

SEE BEES

 

FEEL BEES

 

 

 

 

 

 

THINK BEES

 

Yapping about relocating some bees

This is a short video of me yapping about relocating some bees from Napa to St. Helena.

Feral Colony in Downtown Napa

This is an interesting hive because long before I ever saw the bees people were telling me about it.
it mostly came up over coffeee at ABC, always described as being over there behind the large lavender Victorian. It's in the garage behind the house in the alley way.  Joe Newman, who used to own the car detail shop on the corner,  actually walked me over a couple months ago to see it.

I imagine it's a pretty strong colony by the size off the space they occupy. Honestly, I'm amazed no one has removed them, their flight path is about 4 foot up directly behind a popular parking lot.

All I had was my cell phone, so the image is kinda crappy but you get the idea.....
bees thriving in a garage in Downtown Napa gentle, not bothering people, probably of decent genetic stock.