I never thought of beekeeping as something practical for city living. I was wrong. Urban beekeeping has sparked a lifelong passion. From Rural Bees to Urban Beekeeping I grew up around bees. My dad had a few hives on our small rural farm, and my uncle remains an active beekeeper. Even my grandfather kept bees. But I Read more about Urban Beekeeping & EyesOnHives; a Foreword[…]
Situation: Pesticide is being sprayed in backyards with citrus trees all around Santa Barbara County starting this week. The pesticide is a broad spectrum synthetic cyfluthrin spray, and will be followed in June by soil drenching of systemic imidacloprid neonicotinoid pesticide. The initiative is being implemented by the Santa Barbara County Ag Department to control the Read more about Mass Pesticide Spraying for ACP in Santa Barbara: Dogs, Cats & Bees at Risk[…]
EyesOnHives Uses Data and Analytics to Combat Declining Bee Populations Monday, November 30, 2015 by SAM GOLDMAN A new project called EyesOnHives has beekeepers buzzing. Developed by Santa Barbara–based Keltronix, Inc., the technology uses video to monitor hive activity in order to keep track of its health. A rapid decline in the insects’ population in recent Read more about Saving Bees with Surveillance, Santa Barbara Independent, November 30 2015[…]
We wanted to let you know that you, our supporters, are awesome. Your encouraging support really has a big impact on our team. Whether you are online, or know us locally, your actions say you care about helping the bees, and that you believe in us. Thank you! Encouraging progress We’re excited that in Read more about Your encouraging support makes a huge difference![…]
By Gina Potthoff, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @ginapotthoff Santa Barbara-based Keltronix, Inc. have launched EyesOnHives, a cloud-based analytics platform that allows beehive owners, scientists and researchers to keep eyes on bees for early warning signs of trouble. A powerful camera and computer are placed at the beehive and connected to the internet, where beekeepers can Read more about Technology Aims to Save Struggling Honeybee Populations in Santa Barbara, Noozhawk, November 11 2015[…]
EyesOnHives gives Beekeepers and Researchers the Tools to Revolutionize Honey Bee Hive Monitoring. SANTA BARBARA, California — November 2, 2015 — Keltronix Inc today announced the launch of EyesOnHives™ a powerful analytics platform that helps beekeepers, scientists, and other researchers quantify and assess the activity and health of a beehive. With EyesOnHives, beehive activity data Read more about Keltronix Inc Introduces EyesOnHives[…]
Recently, a friend in Lompoc let me know both of her hives which were doing well, now have no bees. The hives had become what most beekeepers refer to as a Dead Out. I was able to have a quick look after the Lompoc Flower Festival on Saturday. Dead Out She said that she had seen Read more about Dead Out Bee Hive Post Mortem[…]
Wanted to share some pics I took this past Sunday in my garden. It’s a furry, silvery mystery bee with black and white stripes I hadn’t seen till after this recent rain. These bees were significantly smaller than my honeybees, moved faster, and also seemed more timid, and afraid of honeybees when they landed on the same Read more about Mystery Bee in Garden[…]
I have some crazy sized African Blue Basil growing in my back yard, which is covered in bees. My basil plants are now 3+ years old, over 6′ high and at least that wide. No hint of slowing down over winter – they’re covered in flowers and bees year round, lots of ladybugs in spring Read more about African Blue Basil – A Beekeeper’s Dream[…]
Continued from My first possible pesticide incident, and sample collection. Part 1 After discovering a large number of dead bees just down the road from the office, I collected a sample, preserved them and sent them in for analysis. It ended up just costing just $2.50 to mail off the sample to the laboratory, really great Read more about Pesticides vs Pests or Pathogens: Part 2 the Results[…]
My colleague and I usually walk around the block here off Hollister and Robin Hill in Goleta mid afternoon to enjoy some fresh air and give our eyes a break from computer screens and robots. Yesterday, I’d been impressed by just how many bees were visiting the bottle brush flowers, and the seemingly healthy indication Read more about My first possible pesticide incident, and sample collection. Part 1[…]
Drones started showing up in a big way after I put in a foundationless frame (with wooden comb guide) in the middle of my brood nest on 12/25/14. Over the last month I completely transitioned to foundationless too – comb production is going crazy! I have lots of healthy drones, as of about 3 weeks Read more about Transitioning to Foundationless frames, as the bees intended[…]
I call it the Zombeekeeper. Lil light hearted fun! Happy Halloween! Zombeekeeper Honey As nasty as it looks, coffee made for some pretty convincing Zombee honey. We had some fun entertaining colleague’s kids coming through the office. Too bad all the bees are dying in real life. Yep, that’s one of the robots I Read more about Zombeekeeper – Happy Halloween[…]
Why would anyone get into bee hive building? Well, because it’s really fun, hands on, satisfying and rewarding – a lot like beekeeping itself. My goal for building bee hives was actually to return all gear I borrowed from my friend by next spring, and have a full set of my own gear! The easiest Read more about Bee Hive Building – what to build, and not to build![…]
The final excitement I have to report was my first attempts at building a ventilated bottom for one of my hives, some novelty ‘runway entrances’, and this morning’s inspection which revealed 2 very healthy looking Queens. Here are the two colonies, the Dark Queen is on the left, the Golden Queen on the right. Here’s Read more about Honey Bee Hive Inspection[…]
Next day it was time to introduce the Beach Bees to their new home! There were a lot of bees packed together tightly, but their color was very similar to the other bees I am keeping. The real surprise was that unlike the Dark Queen, this colony from the beach turned out to have a Read more about Golden Queen of the Beach Bees[…]
Saturday I received an email from Todd saying he was out of town, and a swarm had been reported down on Cabrillo, and would I like to respond?! First chance to be a real Bee Rescue First Responder! Bees at the Beach Needless to say I quickly gathered up the gear I needed, and headed Read more about Bees at the Beach Rescue[…]
The next week I was privileged to meet again with Paul and assist him on a ‘bait out’ project, also pretty close to my place near the Mission. This one was right in the eaves of a really nice house that wasn’t currently being lived in. The bees had happily made a home on the Read more about Bait Out on a Roof Top[…]
The next day I was able to transfer the bees to a new deep above my doomed colony, combining the colonies – the Garage Bees would have a new Queen! Newspaper Technique for Combining Colonies I used the “newspaper separation” technique, so that the hives wouldn’t mix right away. The newspaper mostly prevents that by Read more about Combining Colonies and the new Dark Queen of the Bees[…]
Wow it’s been a busy 2 weeks for this new Beek, I’ve been part of a bee rescue twice, a bait out, 2 colony mergers and even started building my own hives! I’ll post each of the pieces of the epic story of all the fun if you’re interested – Better to Rescue Local Bees Instead of Read more about Bee Rescue from a Compost Bin[…]