Eden Prairie, Minnesota & New Ordinance with the Keeping of Bees

Beekeeping is fun!

 Eden Prairie, MN has finally joined other cities allowing residential beekeeping in their city. The City Council voted on Tuesday, January 21, 2014, to amend the City Code Chapter 9, by adding a new section 9.73 related to keeping honeybees within the city limits, and amending then section 9.08 and 9.11. The ordinance incorporates City Code Chapter 1 and specifically section 9.99 relating to penalties.

This ordinance will take full effect when it is published in the EP News.

The ordinance gives a complete understanding how one can start the process of having honey bees on their residential lot.

1. Mandatory registration of hives at the EP police Department every year.

2.Regulations to where bees can be kept, how many hives

3. Notification of neighbors, and the right of those neighbors to file written comments

4. Keeping equipment well maintained

5. Treating the honey bees well

6. Fruit trees and flowering plants on the site shall not be sprayed when in bloom!Very important aspect!

7. Have a fly away barrier, so bees fly up

 And more!

I think  the ordinance is well written , and clear and resemble many similar ordinances like in Stillwater, and Minneapolis or even other suburbs. 

You can view the City Council discussing the matter at :

SECOND READING OF ORDINANCE AMENDING CITY CODE CHAPTER 9 RELATING TO THE KEEPING OF HONEY BEES AND RESOLUTION APPROVING PUBLICATION OF SUMMARY ORDINANCE

I have also  attached the documents so you can get familiar with the new Ordinance, and be prepared!

Memo & Attachments

Happy Beekeeping! Love you bees!

Another Worry for the Bees: A New Virus!

As if we did not have enough worries for our bees:

A viral pathogen on plants has been detected in honey bees! In the journal of the American Society for Microbiology, scientists from the U.S. and Beijing, China after routinely screening bees for rare viruses found a new one! This one is called Tobacco Ringspot Virus (TRSV). They decided to investigate further to see if this plant infected virus could also cause systemic infection in honey bees.
Yan Ping Chen from the USDA, ARS laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, and colleague Ji Lian Li from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science in Beijing are suggesting: " The results of our study provide the first evidence that honey bees exposed to a virus-contaminated pollen can also be infected and that the infection becomes widespread in their bodies".

It is already known that bees can transmit a virus from plant to plant. Many honey bee viruses are known causes of honey bee vital disease.

When the researchers investigated further, they noticed that colonies classified as "weak"; TRSV and other viruses were more prominent than in the "strong" ones.
Another important aspect found is that colonies with a lot of viruses in the fall dwindled rapidly and were dead before February! The strong colonies with fewer viral problems survived the entire cold winter months.

Finally Chen and Li concluded that "The increasing prevalence of TRSV in conjunction with other bee viruses is associated with gradual decline of host populations and supports the view that viral infections have a significant negative impact on colony survival"

Signs of Life!

No beekeeping class at this time...

Thursday January 22, 2014

I was reminded today how lucky I am to love bees!

I learned Monday 1/20 that I won't be teaching the backyard beekeeping class in Eden Prairie and that was after knowing the faith of my own bees... I was really sad because I love talking bees, beekeeping, new ideas and so on. Maybe at a later time, when people are more interested. After all we are in the middle of our second Vortex, no one is thinking about spring.

However, I received an email today about someone who was also bummed not to be able to attend the  beekeeping class. That made my day! I knew it, there are some people who love bees like me :) and want to know more. Thank you for your uplifting note Josef :)

I went to see my bees this past Sunday 1/19

My hive in Shakopee is alive! It was about 38F, and I walked in the snowy field. I was huffing and puffing, sometimes I was walking on top of the snow and sometimes I was dropping all the way to my hips! What a walk!

Then I collected myself, and a curious bee flew on my red winter coat as to welcome me. I put her delicately on the telescopic metal top cover. She stayed there while I was looking/ peeking into the hole of the hive. 

You may not be able to understand the joy, and happiness that I felt...the bees were alive and were greeting me at the door! (see pictures)

See the bees?

The one that welcomed me!

On my way back, I was thinking: Winter is not even over, very cold temperatures are still lurking. With -15F (-26C) today and schools cancelled again, one can only dream of spring.











In my apiary in Chanhassen,  I lost 3 hives. I have to wait until I can know from what they died..is it starvation or the frigid temperature or a disease? I will open the hive later in March or April. Liz was with me when we discovered the death toll, and that was really sad.

First there were no sign that the bees had taken their cleansing flight ( this is when the bees fly out to defecate, yes they hold it until it is a bit warmer, so they don't soil inside the hive...aren't they smart? or what?)

So, that gave me a clue (bad feeling), but one never knows. I had to see them, to make sure. I was knocking on the boxes, and nothing was happening...until the third to the last colony.

The Russian bees are alive!

They must have thought : " What the heck is banging on our door like that?" And I saw them with my own eyes...they were there, alive.

I did a little dance, and Liz was laughing! We decided to move the wall of hay that Liz had build to help with the wind, closer around the surviving hive. We felt that we had to do something to protect the little bees.

The lonely hive alive

Now after that horrific visit, I had to see my precious Russian bees. Liz and I hopped in my car and drove to the second bee yard . The bees were flying in and out! Incredible! What a sight!

But reality hit suddenly, now my 3 hives have to survive the next 6-7 weeks, which is not the most obvious thing to do. Their food is getting low, and we cannot feed them yet. We can only hope and Nature may surprise us again. In the meantime, have a thought or two for the beautiful bees.

Beekeeping Class in Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Happy New Year to All!

I am sorry that I have neglected my blog for too long...5 months! I don't know where time went. However I am back and ready to continue my updates for the coming season 2014.

I would like to tell you that I will be teaching a beekeeping class, starting January 22, 2014!

               The Eden Prairie Community Education is offering the class: 

            Backyard Beekeeping I

            From January 22 to March 5, 2014 (total 7 classes)

            Wednesdays 6:30-8:30pm

            Cost: $89.00

To Register go on their website: https://edenprairie.thatscommunityed.com

Look for Adult Enrichment then Hobbies, and find the class

You can always call if you have any questions @ 952-975-6940

That's the buzz in Eden Prairie! Join the first backyard beekeeping class ever in Eden Prairie! It is an introduction to keeping honeybees by learning the basic skills: The history, honey bee society and biology, hive products, honey bee health, rules and regulations, starting your own colony, colony management and more! I hope you can join me in this new adventure. I look forward to see you in class :)

Lazy Days of Summer!

Honeybee on Goldenrod

August 21, 2013

It has been a month since I wrote about the bees...During that period, we just looked and speculated how much honey were in the supers. It is always a good thing not to disrupt the bees. Inspecting too often slows them down, and "break" their bee-routine.

Overall, we will have a good harvest...if the bees decide to finally cap the nectar that is becoming honey! Last week-end, we saw that many cells are open, although full to the brim; the honeybees have not placed a little layer of wax on them yet. Therefore, we have to wait for them to finish their job, so we can do ours: harvesting.

In order for us to take the boxes full of honey, each frame has to be 80-85% capped. This how it works.

The foraging bees are still collecting some nectar, this substance has a lot of moisture. The bees inside the hive will agitate their little wings, fanning each cell. This activity will "dry" the nectar, and them when the water content is 18.6%,  other house bees will secrete some wax and deposit a thin layer of wax on each and every cell. this is called:capping.

Natural garden where the Russian bees are located

 We hope that this perfect very hot weather will encourage the bees to get busy. We hope to harvest during Labor Day weekend...but will they be done? We will see.

On another note, we had a misadventure with a hive in Shakopee.  Since Spring, this colony has been struggling. It had a very small population of bees, but nothing indicated that they were sick. Then the colony rebounded, and the population increased steadily. But in mid-July, the hive was quiet. We discovered that there was about only 300 bees! But the queen was still alive. However, a family of beetles (four spotted beetle), invaded the declining colony. In addition, a family of mice were happily lodging under the hive! These opportunistic pests had found a wonderful location...warm, cosy, full of food and safe from predators!

We "kicked out" all the intruders at once! However, I am afraid that this colony will not survive. It is very late in the season to "help" it, by giving them frames of bees and brood from our other healthy hives.

5-frame nuc

I am tempted to take the bees and queen and to place them in a very small box (called a nuc, or nucleus hive made of 5 frames only ), and to give them some pollen and honey.

                                                                               

This is what it would look like!

    Bring them back to Chanhassen, so the mini-colony is closer to me and I can keep an eye on them.  I will wrapped them in the Fall...and see. I have nothing to lose in doing so. I feel I have to do "something" but I am not optimistic. I love my bees. But sometimes, they are a headache .

Nectar Flow!

Hive in Shakopee, so tall! 

  We went to visit our 7 hives on July19, after a very hot and warm week. In Shakopee, we had to add another super on our best hive #1. There is a total of 6 supers already! This is going to be fun (not!) to carry all those heavy boxes across the field to our car. We will see maybe Peter will let us borrow his 4 wheeler.

  As this hive is magnificent, the queen is so prolific, the bees are healthy and very busy. We cannot say that about the other hive, which is really struggling. The queen does not lay more than a handful of eggs. We saw less than 20-25 capped cells of brood. There are plenty of nectar and pollen, but the colony is not going to survive. It is too small to sustain itself properly. Of course we could intervene (again!), and give them a few frames of eggs and bees but then there is a potential risk to disrupt our other hives at a very important time in the season. We have decided to do nothing and to wait and see. If it is not doing well, there must be a reason; but at this pint I don't know what is happening. Since the spring, it has caused us headaches...So, let it be.

Bees on the porch in Chanhassen!

Our 4 colonies in Chanhassen are doing well. This warm and hot weather encouraged everyone to bring back lots of nectar and lots of pollen. All queens are finally doing very well, and seem eager to lay many eggs! The honey bee population has now exploded. Drones are around, surveying the surrounding!

While  temperatures are climbing, the bees spend a lot of time outside the hive...resting and getting some "fresh air" (see picture).

The overwintering hive (#1) is doing well, we added another super, making in 4. Colonies #2 and #3 are progressing nicely, collecting nectar and storing it in the supers as well. They are also working on making new wax for the cells, this activity is called: drawing the combs. This requires a lot of energy and resources from the bees.

Fresh wax

The Russian colony

The Russian colony in Chanhassen remains calm, and very busy. Those darker bees are always in a good mood, bringing nectar and pollen like they are suppose to do at this time. It has five supers now, and the honeybees are filling the cells rhythmically without stress. Beautiful to watch the bees coming and going. It does smell very nice when we open the hive...warm honey...delicious!

That is all for now.   Farmer's Market in St.Boni today from 3-7pm!

The Bees and Summer

The hives are getting taller!

We finally can say that Summer is here! After a difficult Spring, and very wet June...the bees are happier. Our 7 hives are doing fine now. The queens are all healthy, and busy laying eggs. The foragers come back with loads of pollen on their legs! Now that we had few days in the 80's F (26C), they are collecting a lot of nectar. While driving, it is good to see that there are many plants in bloom for the bees. I hope the weather will stay warm and sunny for few weeks encouraging the foragers! Since mid-June I put many supers (box to collect honey). The hives are really tall...some are now as tall as I am!

I was so busy in June with the queens, and trying to save the colonies that I forgot to tell you that Nicolas and I are doing 2 Farmers' Market selling our honey! 

Nicolas and Karine selling honey!

We are in St. Boni (Wednesdays 3-7pm) and St.Louis Park ( 10-2pm) Farmers' Market once a month. In July we will be in St. Louis Park on July 9, and St. Boni July 24. If you have a time, come and stop by!

Happy 4th. of July!