E.V. Hiving 1

At an undisclosed location in the East Village...
Four hives. Two cameramen (AP, some German outfit). One photographer (NYPost). One radio newswoman (public radio). I moved ahead quickly to get a shot before the crowd.
A package of Georgia-born Italian honeybees.
The queen cage. The queen is marked with a blue dot to help her stick out during inspections.
The cage is set up between the frames. The worker bees will eat their way into the queen, the delay allowing the queen's chemistry to spread around the entire hive. Without that time delay, the workers would kill the queen.

Plan...

Yeah, that's right, Plan B. We'll get the southern belle bees two weeks later. And we'll get a space. If you have suggestions, we're open to them. We need a readily accessible place that gets morning sun. There should be about ten feet of flyway in front of the hive. Ideally, we'd like a garden, but a roof will do. Or, hell, a roof garden... Accessibility for the beekeepers is key, and logistics include moving, if we're lucky, a 50-60 pound super full of honey in the summer and maybe the fall. Which means you'll be getting some of that.

Note that a hive just sits there, the bees do their thing, and you might not even notice it after a while. Although I can sit by one and watch the action at the entrance for a long, long time.

oh-uh

The garden that was to host the bees has just decided that they won't be hosting them after all. They had confirmed, but must have had second thoughts.

Bee-Based

If you're reading this delightful piece by Alicia Kachmar in Brooklyn Based, which I understand is read even by people across the big puddle, then welcome to this blog about bee-keeping to be in the big but not so bad city.

We intrepid Brooklyn-based bee keepers are actually planning to hive this weekend. That means we'll be pouring the bees into their new hive. That's right, pouring them in. Stay tuned! Although no two beekeepers seem to do it exactly the same way, this should give you a pretty idea of how some of them do it on the west coast:

This just in

OK, it actually showed up fairly recently. Scientific American on urban honey. Andrew Cote has the money quote.

Primed

Thank heavens for longer days. After working 9-5 today (I gotta get religion!), I just had time to prime the hive.

Framed

Glue.
Two nails at each top end, one at each bottom end. Brads to reinforce the edges of the top.
Ten frames, one with wax foundation.
The wax foundation. A thin sheet of wax reinforced with metal rods, imprinted on both sides with hexacomb. Smells really good.
Ten frames are ready for the hiving.