Mike the BeeKeeper



The Bee Smoker

So one of the biggest deals around our house lately is the addition of two beehives behind our backyard and one in the yard of my Aunt down in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago.  Mike has taken up bee-keeping!

Bees carrying pollen

Now, for the most part, he isn't using the traditional Langstroth hive that everyone thinks of when they think beehives. And he has a very good reason for that.  "Because I don't want to!" To be honest, he does have one Langstroth hive in Bridgeport, it's easier to handle from far away.  Not that he can work it from far away, but that he can leave it for longer periods without checking on it. 

The hives behind our house are Kenyan style hives. These hives look a little like coffins on sawhorses. The bees build their own comb and do with the hive almost what they want. A Langstroth hive usually has a foundation or "strong suggestion" built into it that tells the bees where to build.

We haven't gotten a lot of honey from the hives yet, but Mike has gotten a lot of enjoyment from it AND my garden has been happier.

Honeybee on one of my Clematis Flowers

Basically, two or three years ago, our garden wasn't producing any vegetables! We planted veggies, but we got very few beans or cucumbers or tomatoes! The reason? No pollinators! So Mike decided to bring in pollinators. He spent a good six months reading EVERYTHING he could about beekeeping. I think we now have over a dozen books about beekeeping, honey, apiculture, etc.  He then spent a good long time researching online the different types of hives and whether or not he wanted traditional vs Kenyan style.

Brood comb

One of the reasons that he chose the Kenyan Style hive was the fact that checking the hive has less of an impact on the bees.  When you check a Langstroth style hive, you literally take the whole hive apart.  With a Kenyan style hive, you take out one "bar" at a time with less impact on the bees. You also get the opportunity to harvest smaller batches of honey. With a Langstroth hive, you have to harvest a whole box at a time, usually several dozen pounds of honey at a time.  With a Kenyan style, you can harvest as many bars as you want.  We recently harvested a half full bar and got about a quart of honey. 

Mike inspecting a bar of comb

This opportunity to be selective means that if you time your harvesting right, you can harvest "varietals." Meaning, if you know that the lavendar is in bloom right now, and there is a lot of lavendar around, you can harvest a lavendar honey! A few weeks later, you can harvest a mint honey, or some other sort of honey based on what is in bloom.


At first, I was completely against the bees. I thought there would be swarms in my backyard and that it would be unusable. I'm so glad that I've been proven wrong!  They're hardly around and not only is my vegetable garden producing bumper crops, but all the flowers in the neighborhood are looking much better now that the bees are tending to them.

How Mike inspects the hives

There have been a few other side-effects to having the bee-hives. Especially the one in Bridgeport, Chicago.  My Aunt has reported that there have been fewer people jumping over her fence and using her yard as a highway. She's also enjoyed watching the bees come in and out of the hive. She calls them "her girls." She's reported seeing more bees in and about the neighborhood as well, not only at her house (obviously) but a few blocks away at my grandmother's house too.

When he first put in his first hive, within a day the city code enforcement had shown up.  One of our neighbors had called the city inquiring if it was legal to have beehives. It was (Mike had checked), but the code enforcement man interpreted the inquiry as a complaint and told Mike that he would have to get rid of his hive.  Mike said "No" and called the man's boss. This gentleman said "as long as we don't get any complaints, keep it."

We took a jar of honey over to that neighbor and allayed his fears. We've since seen the neighbor's kids peeking over the fence at the hives, watching the bees.  We've also made it a point to talk to all our other neighbors about it.  Most of them are happy that there are bees pollinating their flowers and vegetables. The rest are content to just leave our backyard alone.


Yes, this is our honey! I took this picture with my lightbox. :)

There have been other bee-related stories that have happened, however this blog post has gotten far too long, so they will have to wait until later!  Until then, sweet dreams!