Keeping THE bee in Ballard? There's only one bee in Ballard? What the hell? There used to be millions of 'em!

I'm not drinking yet, I swear it.

Good luck! I think this is wonderful. I wish I could do it. I didn't think cities were very healthy places for bees.

@ 1 "Keeping THE bee in Ballard? There's only one bee in Ballard? What the hell? There used to be millions of 'em!"

WWII ended and so did the need for rations. That was the main reason why my grandfather kept honey bees.

So cool! Do you have jump through any hoops with the city to keep bees, like get a license, or can you just go ahead and start keepin'?

Be safe, Gillian! HAHAHA.

My Dad* used to have several hives out in Normandy Park. Our house had a semi-flat roof so he put the hives up on the roof. He'd go up on the roof with a ladder and sit there reading and watching his bees.

I've often thought of keeping bees down here in Sandy Eggo too . . .

*chairman of Boeing for 18 years. He liked things that flew, you see. :-)

@6 It didn't get too hot on the roof?

@4 Beekeeping is permitted outright in all of Seattle, but there are a few regulations about how many hives you can have (depending on your lot size) and how close the hives can be to the property line.

I expect plenty of posts about your progress. I might try this myself.

@6, what's the general status of urban farming in S.D.? I've been away almost ten years, before the movement really got started. I'm sure the OBeceans are at the vanguard, along with old PB and a few pockets (Golden Hill?) here and there, but most of the place I'd imagine would be all NIMBY.

Anyone keeping tabs on any wild swarms in Seattle, or are all the bees in the program imported--and if so, from how far away?

Hey, speaking of bees, here's a lovely story that just came to light: Blamed for Bee Collapse, Monsanto Buys Leading Bee Research Firm

http://cryptogon.com/?p=28675

Get mason and leafcutter bees. They're native unlike European honeybees. Mason and leafcutter bees also don't create hives and aren't susceptible to CCD. All you need is a block of wood and a drill to make holes in it - hang it outside your place and the bees will lay eggs in it.

I'd love to keep bees if I had the space. Hope it goes well for you.

I've been interested in it too the last few years - but I don't know that my neighbors would appreciate it. I just know I read those articles about all the bees dying and it scares the crap out of me and makes me want to help.

So far all I do is try not to run over bees with the lawnmower though.

Congratulations!
I myself kept bees for a few years, until the combination of me being off at college (and my mom being too busy to properly care for the hive) and a few gnarly Chicago winters did them in. I know you probably already know a lot of this, but I'd like to offer a few points of advice:
-Get a copy of "The Hive and the Honey Bee" by Roy A. Grout. It's a fairly old book, but it gives a lot of useful science on bees.
-Use wax, not plastic-core, foundation. It's a bit fiddlier to handle and slightly more expensive, but the bees take to it a lot more readily.
-Treat your bees preventatively for nosema disease, varroa mites, and tracheal mites. All three are prevalent among bees and will weaken your colony if not treated. Usually, you just need a dose or two in the winter and one in the spring. If your bees contract foulbrood, the colony will be dead within weeks unless you treat them. (And since foulbrood is caused by a spore-forming bacterium, you'll need to treat periodically for the rest of the hive's lifespan.) Keep some Terramycin ON HAND.
-Don't walk in front of the hive if you can avoid it; a bee that smacks into you in midflight will be a crabby bee and might sting. (And bees can sting through denim.) The best way to observe the bees exiting and entering the hive is to squat down directly to the side of the entrance so that the landing board is just below eye level. Avoid breathing on the guard bees, as they can smell elevated levels of carbon dioxide and may become agitated at the close presence of a large mammal. As bees come in for a landing, watch for bright yellow/orange lumps of pollen on their hind legs and listen for the audible "thump" of a bee with a full crop of nectar plopping onto the landing board. Get a feel for the sights and sounds, and you can gauge how good the foraging is on a given day.
-Keep a paving stone or other non-flammable surface near the hive so that you have something to set the smoker on.
-If stung, back the heck away from the hive. A crushed bee, or the left-behind stinger of a bee, releases an alarm pheromone that will attract other bees and encourage them to sting.
-Open the hive on sunny, dry, mild days. The more bees that are out of the hive foraging, the fewer you'll have to deal with. Rainy days keep the bees grounded and grouchy, while excessively hot or humid weather forces much of the foraging force to stay home fanning the hive.
-Keep two hive tools on hand, and don't open the hive alone. There are lots of two-man jobs in beekeeping.
-Don't get propolis (gunky brown stuff that the bees gum up the hive with) on bare skin if you can avoid it. It has a mild anesthetic effect and can cause numbness. Of course, smearing it on a sting is a good idea for that very reason.
-Learn bee space. Any gap wider than about 3/8" will have comb built in it. Any gap narrower will be sealed with propolis. Bees try to keep their bee space consistent, but they don't always respect it. Use your hive tool to shear off burr comb (comb encroaching on bee space) before it becomes bridge comb (comb connecting two frames).
-Observe the laying pattern of the queen. If you pick up an individual frame from near the middle of a hive body, you should see a nice semicircle of brood comb towards the bottom with a thin border of pollen-filled cells, honey-filled cells being restricted to the upper corners.
-Never add a super if the bees aren't ready to use it. Giving them more space to patrol increases the likelihood that a wax moth might slip past the guards. And once her caterpillars have taken up residence, they're hard for the bees to remove. Similarly, keep empty (unused) supers packed up indoors to avoid wax moths getting in and making a mess of the frames.
-After rain, look for damp bees crawling on the ground waiting for their wings to dry. I recommend picking one or two up, letting them sit on your hand, and watch while they groom. You will get a nice new perspective on bee anatomy and mannerisms.

@13 has it right. Honeybees are not native, they're an introduced species from Europe. If you want to "help the environment", find out what you can do to support populations of native bees. Planting a variety of native plants so that pollen and nectar are available season-long is a great start.

I can't wait to read about your Bee adventures. Be safe, and enjoy the hat.

@6 that is a great story about your Dad. :)

I'm a beekeeper in western WA. I don't use any chemical treatments on my hives at all, and so far they're just fine. My greatest sources of education and support have been this forum:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/
and this website:
http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm

Enjoy!

My parents kept bees when I was growing up in No. California and Utah, and my mom still does today. Her honey is amazing. Watching bees fly in and out of a hive is probably the most relaxing, meditative thing I've ever done.

I have a favorite memory of the day my parents moved their hives from one location to another in their ancient VW bus. They took the middle seats out so the hives would fit, and I sat in the very back while bees buzzed around my head. Somehow, the only time I ever got stung by a bee was when I was barefoot and stepped on one when I was 5 years old. It hurt, but I felt bad for the bee because it meant it died.

Shipwreck honey has been doing an awsome job of promoting bee awareness and producing locally hand made hives for a variety of clients. Keep it fresh, keep it clean, and keep it local!