Last Day to View Live Beehive Sculpture at the MoMA

Today is the last day to visit Pierre Huyghe's Untitled (Reclining Nude) at the Museum of Modern Art. I went on Monday to see this sculpture in person and it is a beauty. The sculpture is located in the sculpture garden on the first floor of the museum. I love the sculpture garden, it's a great place to get a cup of coffee and just soak in the art around you.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Aug 18, 2015 at 11:03pm PDT

I loved this sign that they had on the door right before you enter the sculpture garden. I must say, the beekeeper in me got super excited to see the colony!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Aug 18, 2015 at 8:42am PDT

The live colony of bees is meant to be the women's head and brain. The hive and sculpture is placed under a tree in the center of the garden. Can you see it? Look closely. The tree really hid it well, if it wasn't for the sign on the door, I would imagine some people would have missed this piece all together because you couldn't really tell there was a beehive under the tree unless you were looking for it.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Aug 17, 2015 at 11:24am PDT

Here is a closer view of it. The bees were so calm. There were a few flying around but mostly they were tending to the hive. I am so proud of the MoMA for taking the initiative of having a live bee colony on the premises of the museum's garden where visitors can see it up close and personal. In an urban environment like New York City, it's difficult to see a beehive this up close unless you know a beekeeper or know where beehives are located. As a beekeeper in Brooklyn, I have had many people complain about my bees being in close proximity to neighbors and the street. But honeybees for the most part are very docile. I know that some people are allergic to bee sting so it does concern certain people. However, honeybees won't sting you unless they feel like the hive is being threatened in any way, so as long as you keep a good distance away from the hive, they won't go after you.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Aug 17, 2015 at 12:29pm PDT

Here is a closer look of the sculpture. I was so impressed by it. It really is so beautiful how the honeybees created the wax comb as a perfect oblong head. It was beautiful. I wish this piece could be a permanent sculpture at the museum. See it today, it's the last day! Here is a link about the sculpture.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Aug 17, 2015 at 1:53pm PDT

The Queen is alive!

We're more than half way done with this beekeeping season and things are going as well as can be. Here we are inspecting the overwintered hive.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 25, 2015 at 4:02pm PDT

At our last inspection, I didn't see any brood, and was so worried that the hive could potentially be Queenless. But, I was so thrilled to see that the Queen is alive and laying perfect brood! Look at this gorgeous deep frame of brood. It's so lovely. We were literally jumping for joy because I feared that the Queen had died. But she is alive and well and doing awesome.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 26, 2015 at 7:04am PDT

Not only is the hive doing exceedingly well, they are making gorgeous frames of honey. Just look how beautiful these frames of honey are! I am getting so excited to harvest! I can barely wait!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 26, 2015 at 7:27pm PDT

At my second hive, the other Queen is also laying well! We found lots of perfect brood!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 26, 2015 at 12:29pm PDT

Here's a close up of one of the frames. The pollen on the bottom looks amazing, and they have capped honey on top. This is beautiful.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 26, 2015 at 5:51pm PDT

Even Oscar the kitty was in the beekeeping mood! He's not afraid of the bees at all!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 27, 2015 at 4:01pm PDT

Where's the Brood?

So during this weekend's beekeeping session, I am completely bummed because I didn't see any brood in the hive. I'm fearing the worst, that either I injured the Queen at the last beekeeping inspection, or she may have swarmed. At the last inspection, I saw frame after frame of brood, so this is heartbreaking.

A video posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 15, 2015 at 3:27am PDT

I did see brood inside the split that I made, so I decided to recombine the split to the original hive. In the split I saw 2 swarm cups and a supersedure cup empty, so a virgin queen was born and has mated. Hopefully, the hive will take to this Queen and she will be productive as the last one.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 14, 2015 at 8:57pm PDT

Despite all the disappointments, there was some good news, in the honey super there are 3 frames of honey! I can't wait until there are 10 frames of honey so we can do a harvest!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jul 14, 2015 at 6:36pm PDT

The bees are doing well!

Two weeks ago, I visited the beehive and it's looking amazing! I arrived at the first backyard and was blown away by the pretty garden! It is so lush and green!

Lilies are now in bloom!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jun 27, 2015 at 1:51pm PDT

The hydrangea are also in bloom! Isn't this so pretty!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jun 27, 2015 at 4:07pm PDT

The bees must be so happy living here. The beehives look great nestled in the flora.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jun 27, 2015 at 2:25pm PDT

At the second beehive location, the hive is doing extremely well. The Queen is laying perfect brood! I found 3 boxes full of brood, she is such a prolific layer!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jun 28, 2015 at 4:52am PDT

And the top box has frames of honey! I think we shall be able to harvest honey soon!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jun 28, 2015 at 8:28am PDT

Since the hive is very full, and I saw signs of swarm cells, I decided to split the hive and move some new larvae frames into a new box. I also added some honey frames. With any luck, they will raise a new virgin Queen and this will be a new colony!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jun 27, 2015 at 8:30pm PDT

The original hive looks like a skyscraper compared to the new box!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jun 27, 2015 at 9:34pm PDT

I'm so excited with how well this hive is doing! I can't wait to do the next hive inspection!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Jun 28, 2015 at 6:56am PDT

Installing a new bee package for 2015

Two weeks ago, I went over to my friend Amy's house to check on her beehive. She installed a new bee package on her rooftop hive and it was looking good. Her kids help her beekeep too! I love that. Teaching a whole new generation of beekeepers!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Apr 12, 2015 at 11:59am PDT

Then I went over to my hives to install a new package since one of our hives did not survive. My friend Amy picked up the bee packages from Beehive Barn in Cranbury, NJ. This year, I decided to do the gentle install of the bee package instead of pouring the bees out of the box.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Apr 12, 2015 at 5:16pm PDT

To do this, you remove the Queen box and put it in between two beehive frames. Then you leave the open bee package box next to the frames in the deep. The bees will come out of the box to find the Queen. This is a more gentle way of getting the bees out instead of pouring them out of the box. Here is the Queen at the top of the Queen box.

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Apr 12, 2015 at 6:45pm PDT

Here is the hive all installed! In 3 days time, I come back to check that the Queen bee is released from the Queen box by her attendants. They will eat the sugar plug to let her out. We named this Queen George Lee. Long live the Queen!

A photo posted by Mimi (@meemsnyc) on Apr 12, 2015 at 8:29pm PDT

Urban Beekeeping in Brooklyn!

Every Saturday, when I see this bridge, I get excited. Only blocks from this bridge lives our Brooklyn honeybees.

This is one of the locations where our hives are located. How pretty is this? Idyllic if you ask me! The fragrance alone is dreamy!

 

The magnolia tree was in full bloom last weekend. Just gorgeous! Can you see Oscar, the beekeeping kitty in this photo? He likes to watch us every weekend when we inspect the beehives.

At this location, we installed a new package of bees 2 weeks ago. So our goal was to see how well the new Queen is laying. It's important to make sure she is laying well in order to have a strong hive. We need the numbers of worker bees to increase.

I look forward for the week to go by, just so I can do this. There are so few things in life that make me happier and more calm than when I'm beekeeping.

We had to use all new deep frames in this beehive because we had to throw away all the frames from last year due to mold. The worker bees haven't had enough time to build out new wax comb on the new foundation. Sometimes when there is too much room between new frames, honeybees will build out burr wax comb or "wild wax comb" to fill up the space between the frames. Honeybees will try to fill up as much space as possible, they don't like open spaces in their hive. Check out this beautiful burr comb that they built in one week!

 

We carefully removed the burr comb. Dave took this picture of us, but he got his finger in the frame. hahahaha

 

We saw that the Queen was laying pretty well. As fast as the worker bees can draw out wax comb, she is laying on that comb.

Here is a closeup of the capped brood. We can tell she is laying well because she is laying in every cell, one after another. That is a perfect pattern. When you see a Queen laying spotty, all over the frame, that is a sign that there is something wrong with the Queen.

After we finished this hive inspection, we went to our second location which houses 2 hives. They were brimming with activity! I didn't get any photos this time of the inside of the hive.

But I took this quick video of how active the bees are! Pretty amazing! I love watching them returning to the hive. Pretty cool! So far the green hive is doing really well! They are booming in numbers of bees because this hive survived the winter. We are doing so well in fact that we put a Queen excluder on and have put a honey super on top! Woooo! Excited!

Raising a new Queen

Three weekends ago, we had a hive inspection. It was a perfect sunny clear day. A great day for an inspection. We pulled frame after frame of the top honey box and saw that they were FULL of honey. Usually, this is a happy sign for us, but we just harvested this box in July. So this was more of a warning sign for us since we knew that if the bees were this busy making honey, it's likely there was no Queen inside the hive. When the worker bees are busy making lots of honey, it's usually because they are not tending to any brood / baby bees.

We looked for the Queen in the brood boxes and frame after frame was clear of brood. Not a good sign at all. The Queen was gone.

Our other hive had success with the worker bees rearing their own Queen, so we decided to give it a try. Worker bees know right away when a hive is Queenless and naturally, they will try to raise a new one. We pulled some frames full of brood from our other hive, making sure that some of the brood was uncapped. When a hive is Queenless, the worker bees will transform a uncapped brood into a Queen cup and start feeding it royal jelly to turn her into a Queen. We placed 2 frames of brood inside the brood box and waited a week for the bees to do their job.

We came back one week later for another hive inspection and pulled the brood frames that we placed. We spotted it right away in the middle of the frame. A replacement Queen cup!  Woo hoo! It worked! We actually saw 2 Queen cups, usually a hive will produce more than one replacement Queen in case one of them doesn't hatch / survive. If both Queens hatch and survive, they will fight to the death until one survives. Only one Queen reigns a hive. We'll come back to the hive in 2 weeks to see if the new Queen has mated and started laying. Excited!! Nature rocks!