Bee update: We have new bees!

Bee update: We have new bees!

In my previous post I discussed how one of the two beehives located on the MaRS rooftop died over the winter due to starvation. It’s always sad when this happens and especially so for new beekeepers like ourselves.

We decided to obtain a new colony of bees from a local beekeeper and we installed the colony into the empty hive a few weeks ago. Here are a couple of photographs of the occasion:

Installing the new frames
Shaking the remaining bees in

After two weeks we are happy to report that despite the damp, chilly days we’ve been having, the new bees are booming and we’ve already had to add another box to the hive. Once they fill this box up, we can add smaller boxes called “shallow supers,” which means that all of the subsequent honey produced by the bees is available for harvesting. Yum!

For more pictures of the installation process, check out our Flickr page and our Pinterest board.