Any Wild Bee Swarms Looking for a Dream Home?

Mark — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 19:02:25 +0000

You couldn’t do better than the interior lot of the Garden R.U.N. community garden if you were a bee, it seems to me. It’s an oasis on Monastery Ave. in the middle of Roxborough, with an array of fruit trees and 30 or so community garden plots just over a fence–presenting what must surely be a gourmet buffet of blossoms.

In fact, half a dozen bee boxes have buzzed with hives here in summers past. But Ed, one of the Garden R.U.N. beekeepers, says the hives had recently begun dying off after just two years. At $100 each to purchase a new swarm of domesticated bees, it’s just not worth it, says Ed, so he is taking a break from beekeeping–unless a wild swarm happens to spot the empty boxes in the little Garden of Eden and move in. Swarming season begins soon, in May running into June and maybe July.

I’m not sure whether the absence of thousands of such busy pollinators will affect productivity in the garden, where I’ve tended a plot for the past five years, or whether other pollinators can pick up the slack. Unless a wild swarm moves in, this summer we may find out.In the meantime, I sent a query about our beekeepers’ plight to Doug Sponsler, a Roxborough resident, postdoctoral scholar at Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences and an expert on honeybee foraging behavior in urban environments. He kindly offered these words of advice:

“Unfortunately, losing hives is par for the course. There’s nothing exceptional about the circumstances you describe. In fact, getting two years out of any given hive is pretty good these days. Getting bees through the winter hinges on effective varroa control. When you install a package (if that’s how you get your bees), the first thing you should do is hit it with an oxalic acid treatment. Then, monitor for mites on a monthly basis using either sugar shakes or alcohol washes, and treat all the hives in the apiary whenever at least one of them exceeds treatment threshold. During the brood-rearing time of year, the best treatment method right now is formic acid. Going into winter, when brood rearing has tapered off, oxalic acid is effective. Formic can kill mites in capped cells, while oxalic only kills mites on bees. Mite levels tend to skyrocket in late summer and fall, so that’s when you really need to keep on top of it with frequent inspections.”

Doug also suggested getting involved with the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild, which he called “a great place to get beekeeping advice, and a cool group of people.”

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Busy Calendar of Events for Urban Beekeepers

Mark — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 04:06:57 +0000

Who knew that Philadelphia is “the cradle of American beekeeping”? Not me, until now, thanks to the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild, and a press release the group has issued announcing its 7th Annual Natural Beekeeping Symposium, to be held on Saturday, Feb. 4, at Temple University.

The all-day event is “packed with beekeeping insight and scientific wonderfulness,” with a lineup of experts who will speak on topics ranging from protecting hives from varroa mites to providing them with a nutritionally optimal array of flowers.

The Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild began in 2009 as an informal group of local beekeepers. It has blossomed since then into a thriving nonprofit that “promotes urban beekeeping and raises awareness of the importance of bees to our environment.” The group maintains a busy calendar of events for both experienced and wannabeekeepers.

Other upcoming events include a two-hour introduction to beekeeping at Awbury Arboretum on Feb. 18, and a three-day course titled Getting Started with Honey Bees, that meets on three Saturdays in March, May and July, the first of which will be held March 4 at the St. James School, located at 3217 Clearfield St.

The guild holds monthly meetings that are open to the public, usually on the third Thursday of each month, at the St. James School.

For more about the guild and its upcoming events, check out the guild’s website and/or its Facebook page.

The post Busy Calendar of Events for Urban Beekeepers first appeared on Farming Philly.

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Any Wild Bee Swarms Looking for a Dream Home?

Busy Calendar of Events for Urban Beekeepers