My husband a.k.a. The Renaissance Man became very enamored with the idea of keeping honeybees. I thought it might be a passing phase, but when he signed up for the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program to become an apprentice beekeeper, I knew things were getting real!

He then came home with the supplies to build three bee boxes. And so we built and painted, and built some more. Soon enough my kitchen table was covered with honey frames, and my garage became paint central.

 

We built three total Pacific Northwest 10-frame Starter Kits which are comprised (from bottom to top) of a Screened Bottom Board with Sloped Entrance, two Hive Bodies (brood boxes – where all the baby bees are kept and grow), a Queen Screen to keep the Queen from laying eggs in the honey super, a Honey Super (this is where the honey is stored), the Vivaldi Board which stores the Round Swienty Feeder – this is where you feed the bees sugar water before the nectar is flowing.

Per typical, I started overwhelming The Renaissance Man with questions…problem solved; he got me a book called Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley. Fantastic book so far, I’m about half way through it. Honeybees are amazing little creatures!

We got our bees on Friday night, The Renaissance Man picked them up from his Beekeeping Mentor’s house. I am totally impressed that he drove them home in the cab of his truck. I would have been terrified! The bee starters came from Ruhl Bee Supply in Gladstone, Oregon.

 

The Renaissance Man wore a bee suit and we managed to get all the bees into the hives! To be honest they were much more docile than I ever anticipated, honeybees are pretty laid back. We started them off with just one brood box a piece so they can start reproducing as a hive before they start making any honey.

The Renaissance Man put the bees (please excuse the lighting…it was starting to get dark!) in each box. Until we get a strong flow of nectar, which is when the blackberries start to bloom we feed the bees sugar water (carbs) and pollen patties (protein).

The bees have been out and about exploring all weekend in between rain showers. It certainly is fun to look out the window and see them buzzing about. I’m excited to finish reading my book and to see the progression of the bees over the summer. I’ll do a honeybee update from time to time to keep everyone posted! I’ve told The Renaissance Man that we need to name our hives and he said “They need personalities first dear.” Bee hive names to be determined…