Day One: The First Day of Beekeeping

Yesterday, I became a beekeeper in earnest. I've read books, talked to beekeepers, monitored email lists, and perused websites. But on April 29th it finally occurred: I picked up my bees and installed them in my two hives.

The day started normal enough, teaching my Political and Social Thought class at 8:50a.m. After class, I took a 45 minute drive down to Houston, Minnesota to pick up my two packages from B & B Honey Farm. It was a pretty uneventful drive except for the last mile or so. B & B is located on a narrow, winding, dirt road with trees and gullies on each side. I "white-knuckled" the last mile in the pick-up, just hoping I wouldn't run into another vehicle coming the other way.

I was the only customer at B & B's when I got there but they still seemed like they were scrambling. Houston had an inch or so of snow two days before. While the snow had melted, they must have been backed up filling their orders.

The man who waited on me was helpful and kind, giving me a "mini-lesson" in package installation and carrying the packages right to the pick-up. I panicked a bit when I discovered that the queen cages were simply plugged with corks-- no candy. I hadn't anticipated this eventuality and, while the bees seemed "enamored" with their queens, I was really concerned about directly releasing the queen into the hive.

I left B & B, not without having a near collision with another motorist on that dirt road. I could just imagine the accident report..."minor neck injuries and a thousand stings from the angry bees let loose in the cab."

When I got home, I placed the packages on the back porch, sprayed them with sugar water and waited for Monta to return from work to take some photos of the installation. In the meantime, I got all my tools, implements, syrups, etc. I had prepared and set up in "Beelandia".







I installed the first package in the top bar hive (Metpropolis). The feeder baggie and pollen paddie were already placed in the hive. I was unbelievably calm opening the package, extracting the queen cage, and then shaking the bees into the hive. I did have an adrenalin "high" working with this first package, though, which might have caused me to be a little too fast in my movements. One bee got caught in my hair and promptly stung me on the side of the head. I believe another got caught between my fingers and let me know that she was there with another sting. I calmly finished closing up "Metpropolis", took a deep breath, and assessed my wounds.








I am happy to report absolutely no allergic reactions to the stings. The stings burned for about 15 minutes with no swelling or long term pain.

I went through the same process, this time with the Langstroth hive, "Bee Glad for the Hum has no ending...". This time things went much smoother, I took it slower, and there were no stings at all.



After Monta went back to work, I spent an hour or so simply watching the bees behavior, as they began the process of adjusting to their new digs. I also began my adjustment to them as well. As if to prove Walter Brennan right (watch the movie "To Have or Have Not"), I found out that dead bees can truly sting, after I got on my hands and knees to observe the behavior at the entrance to "Bee Glad...". When I tried to observe the entrance of "Metpropolis" a little too close, I also discovered that guard bees can be pretty direct in their attacks. (A sting right above the eye!) In all, though, it was an exhilarating experience I will never forget. I look forward to many similar experiences.

Bees Come Today

I will be picking up two packages of bees this morning from B & B Honey Farm in Houston Minnesota. More about the installation later!

Beelandia's Borders Secured

With the snow and rain ending, Monta, Eli (our youngest), and I were able to finish 90% of the fence around our apiary-garden (affectionately named "Beelandia"). The photo above, facing southward, gives you a nice view of the apiary-garden's geography. Almost in the middle of the photo, you can see the finished "Metpropolis", our Kenyan top bar hive that Monta built using the plans provided by Phil Chandler. To the right and slightly behind it, there are some cinder blocks which will serve as the substructure for a Langstroth hive which we have named "Bee Glad... For the Hum Has No Ending." A "mad mixture" of "bee plants" will be located in the area in the foreground.



The second photo shows the fence from the street, facing northeast. The fence is high enough that the bees should not bother anyone walking passed the house, while hiding the hives from curious eyes.

In the next week, I will be tilling the soil a bit (still too early to plant much) and then we will all put the finishing touches on the "border" fence. It still looks like a week or two before I can install the bees. I hope to remain patient.

For further information about the fence, go and read Monta's blog.

More on the Bee Fence

Monta gives a few details on the current state of our backyard apiary in her blog: Always Swimming Upstream. Also read this as well.

Bee Activism

Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society that you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now!-- Paul Goodman, sociologist.

I've been monitoring various beekeeping lists and forums over the last few months as CCD continues to ravage bees all over the country. Recently, on one of these lists, some individuals called for "bee activists" to rise up out of the midst of the beekeeping community and lobby and fight for more public awareness, government funding and scientific research to find answers to the current "bee" crisis. It might seem presumptuous for a person like me to weigh in on this issue. I've read much about bees, spoken with beekeepers, monitored all these internet forums but, as of yet, have not practiced beekeeping myself. But I am also a student of social/political movements and the sociology of science and these areas are as much involved in the question of how to approach "bee activism" as the actual husbandry of bees is.

Recently on Bee-l, a poster mocked the users of small cell foundation for ignoring current scientific research that finds small cells as having no significant effect on controlling varroa mites and/or the resulting virus that weakens and kills bees. The poster compared small cell supporters to followers of a "religious cult" who continue to hold on to their beliefs even in the face of scientific evidence. I won't go into the difficulty methodologically of using one or two experiments for drawing definite conclusions or the whole question of how scientific change actually occurs. (I'll leave the reader to read the works of Geiryn, Kuhn, or Feierabend.) My issue here is with the total inconsistency of such a poster, for "small cell" beekeepers are not the only people in the beekeeping world who tend to ignore scientific research. Large-scale commercial beekeepers do this all the time but in the name of short-term profit, labor saving efficiencies, and the "realities of the market". When a commercial firm says, "I know my use of chemicals is creating a stronger, resistant mite, but I won't survive unless I use chemicals", they are also ignoring, in a very pragmatic fashion, scientific research as well. And if I was a commercial beekeeper, who must support a family and pay debts, I suppose I would argue the very same thing!

It seems to me that Phil Chandler is correct. Given the above "reality" for commercial beekeepers, the survival of honey bees as a species cannot simply depend on commercial beekeepers, and government funding for scientific research focused on keeping "factory" beekeeping afloat. Bee survival may also depend on getting more and more individuals to approach beekeeping as a "cottage industry" where labor-intensive, "inefficient", sustainable husbandry is possible. It is modeling and "evangelizing" this idea that might sustain the honey bee.

A "bee" social movement approached this way doesn't need the resources of the full-time professional lobbyist but of sideline and hobby beekeepers maintaining colonies, and having their activities visible enough so that other potential backyard beekeepers might join this "crusade" to save the bee. You do not need (or want) everyone in a community to beekeep, just a small critical mass of individuals who provide bees with an environment where these insects have a better chance of surviving and adapting. Perhaps these local beekeepers could even form a "Queen Rearing Cooperative" to lessen the ill effects of any inbreeding as well.

A colleague and friend of mine recently attended Dr. Marla Spivak's beekeeping extension course at the University of Minnesota. Spivak has 30 or so hives right there on the St. Paul campus where they are legal, but across the river in Minneapolis, these hives would be in violation of city ordinances. According to my friend, the illegality of beekeeping in Minneapolis didn't keep Spivak from urging that city's residents to keep hives there as well. It seems to Spivak that the keeping of even a few hives is a small but important step toward honey bee survival, and if this means violating the law, so be it. This type of apicultural, civil disobedience intrigues and inspires me.

Loyal Student

Sometimes I am surprised by people. Just when I think my cynicism is about to take full control of me, someone does something that restores my battered faith in humanity. Two days ago, just such an event happened.

One of my better students is a member of the committee that is determining what the senior class gift will be. This student has been through the ups and downs of my own sabbatical proprosal and, in the process, has really come to appreciate the present plight of the honey bee. So it really didn't surprise me when he convinced his fellow committee members to seriously consider a bee hive as the senior gift.

Last week he presented his idea for a gift to an administrative committee that included the provost, the college president and the vice president of the academic affairs (who was the individual who rejected my sabbatical proposal).

The meeting started out well but ended a little abruptly. My student asked the administrators whether they'd mind bees on campus and they assured him that they were completely supportive of the gift. He went further, though, and asked them whether they'd mind if the biology department were involved in this project. Again, they were supportive. But then the congenial tone of the meeting went sour when my student asked if the sociology department could be involved as well. The president and the provost laughed nervously while the VP frowned, stated that this wasn't possible, and ended the discussion.

This student knew I was hurt by my sabbatical rejection and risked alienating administration by going to bat for me. I wasn't aware he was even thinking of doing this either. He might have failed in getting my sabbatical reconsidered but he did succeed in making the rest of my week rather pleasant.

Abelisto Begs

The following is yet another email to an adminstrator.

I am not one to beg or be pushy but, at the urging of a colleague I trust greatly, I would ask that you reconsider my sabbatical for next year. A number of things are happening on campus right now that makes my proposed project very relevant, important and engaging to students:


a. Quite independent of my own interest in the topic, both ******* and ******** are seriously considering placing bee hives in the old orchard near Yons for the partial purpose of bringing the issues of sustainability and environmental concerns to the minds of those on campus. This project would be more effective if linked to a course that provided students with the social, economic, cultural and environmental factors connected to these issues.


b. The senior class is seriously discussing donating bee hives to ***** as their senior gift. This demonstrates an interest amongst students in the issues outlined in my proposal.

c. A Resource Analysis grad. student is seeking my help on his own research on bees.

d. One student is interested enough in the environmental and social issues surrounding the survival of honey bees to interview me for his journalism class.



All of the above indicate to me that a Bee focused Global Issues course would be both valuable and engaging to our students.