Cathedral Bees Updates—Summer 2020

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Cathedral Bees Update

The cathedral building has two beehives on the roof of Bloedel Hall. Thanks to beekeeper Rob Reid, our bees are thriving! Scroll down to view pictures.

Your prayers for the health of our hives are welcome. For more information about protecting pollinators, visit this link.

If you are interested in helping out with the bees, contact the cathedral and we will put you in touch with Rob.

Sundays & Beyond Update August 30, 2020

The bees and beekeepers have been hard at work. In July, one of the hives lost its queen. However, wild bees are able to create a new queen with remaining larvae, so apiarists Rob and Jaime moved eggs from the healthy hive to the queenless one. Once the queen was established, she then started laying fertile eggs. We're happy to report the success of Rob and Jaime's work - both beehives are now thriving!

Sundays & Beyond Update July 19, 2020

The active honeybee hives on the roof of Bloedel Hall have been busy. And, apparently, they have a sense of humor: Q: Why do virgin bees mate in the air? A: They can’t get any privacy in the hive. Consider planting pollinator-friendly plants in your own garden or window box. And reduce or eliminate pesticides on your plants.

Sundays & Beyond Update July 12, 2020

Did you know St. Mark’s has two active honeybee hives on the roof of Bloedel Hall? Installed on May 10, they include thousands of residents. Recently, our apiarist Rob Reid suspected one of our hives had lost its queen because, when inspecting the frames, he was unable to find eggs. But wild bees are able to create a new queen with remaining larvae. To assist our bees, Rob and Jaime Rubio moved eggs from the healthy hive to the queenless one. Now the bees can create queen cells and feed them “royal jelly.” If all goes well, in less than a month, the new queen will mate in mid air with drone bees and start laying fertile eggs. There’s lots of miraculous science involved. You can see where the expression “the birds and the bees” comes from.

Sundays & Beyond Update July 5, 2020

This week’s thought: The world is facing a mass extinction of species, including pollinators. Bees are critically important to our global food production and nutritional security. Estimates suggest that pollinators directly contribute US$235–$577 billion to global food production each year. Without pollinators, many of the foods we depend on would become scarce, putting life on our planet at risk. When planting your flower garden this summer, consider planting pollinator-friendly plants. Take Earth Day Network’s Pesticide Pledge, and learn about additional actions you can take to help protect pollinators.

 

June Update from Beekeeper Rob

The bee population in our hives is increasing rapidly. We have added a second deep hive box to both hives. I may try to split an existing hive and create a third hive. Providing another queen can be tricky though.

Some of you have joined me in caring for the bees already. Thank you for your company, Jaime, Keiko, Yoshi, Barbara and Steve, and Nancy.

May Update from Beekeeper Rob

Penny and I picked up bees from the Snohomish Bee Company at the Monroe Fairgrounds last Sunday afternoon. Then, we “installed” two “nucs” of bees into two of the existing hives on the roof of Bloedel Hall. I ordered them several months ago and they were shipped here from Northern California a week ago. Each nuc comes with 5 frames and a working queen and thousands of worker bees. It was quick and easy to move the 5 frames, one at a time, into our hives. In fact, miraculously, I saw the queen on one of the frames as I was moving it from nuc box to hive.

 

 

Bees update June 2020

Bees update August 2020

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