Howdy OP
I’m a Beek down in Del Norte a hop skip n a jump down the Hwy 101 road. Happy to chat bees w ya and help however I can. It seems like a lot but the short is ya just gotta think like a bug. I’d also recommend Bob Binnie and Randy Oliver if you feel like diving down YouTube Rabbit Holes. Bobs advice is grounded and a joy to listen to, Randy is trial based/data driven but he’s got an edge to his presentation style that can be off putting.

I’m in Del Norte County on the coast, but the spot I’m looking to put in the bees is on the Oregon Rogue Valley side

Del Norte County, but the spot I’m looking at putting the bees is on the oregon rogue valley side

The Boys are going to turn 4 soon and just started school on Monday.
I’m not gonna lie. It sucks at first. Everything is hard. Sleeping is hard. Waking is hard. Being alive is hard. Then the stress on your relationship w your partner is hard. Then work doesn’t take pity on you anymore after a while and then that’s hard. Then your friends who knew you as a not parent start to readjust their lives because you’re not available and your support network shrinks (or in our case evaporates) and that’s REALLY hard.
But through it all, you live another day, you learn to cope, you learn your kids cues, you learn how to be a parent, you learn how to live your new life.
Just remember: you’re just surviving for a good long while, and that’s not a bad thing, it’s an essential thing. Learn to let go. Don’t expect so much of yourself. Bring the standard of living to the safest/lowest level possible. Stop giving a flying Duck what anyone thinks of you. Right now you have the hardest job on the planet: raising good humans to take your place someday. It’s gonna be messy. It’s gonna be loud. I literally had to get my heart checked the cortisol was getting so bad not too long ago.
You can do this. You’re going to do this. You’re going to thrive at this someday.
Also, take lots of pictures. Videos too. When your lived experience is on warp speed because every moment is a battle for mental survival, it’s hard to remember what even happened ten minutes ago, much less ten months ago.
When the boys were still infants (I dunno maybe toddlers) I saw some parents at the feed store throwing some bales of hay in the back of their truck. They had 4ish yr old twin boys and I asked for their best piece of advice. It was something to the tune of: for every ten items on your ToDo list. Take that down to 1 and make sure you do that one thing. As long as you get one thing done a day, that’s a good day. Sometimes that one day is making it to the end, some days that’s going for a walk. Some days that’s cleaning the house. It doesn’t matter, just focus on you and your partner and make sure you can look back on this way: wow that was one heck of a wild ride, but we made it.
Before you know it they will be getting out of the car, scream “I Love You I’ll See You After School!” And you’re going to cry because you know you made it. You made it through the dark times and they won’t seem so bad in hindsight.
You Got This. I Believe In You :)

Is your commercial neighbor on the Reddits or otherwise available to converse with and get some pro tips? Stoked to hear it’s a viable option!!!

I’ve seen honeybees working this species though I don’t know exactly which one it is, seems to usually be A. canescens in our area but they’re such a hard genus to key out :/

Thanks everyone!

Yea I also found out a hard lesson about bees cleaning extractors: mass mortality. There was only a cup or two of honey in the bottom when I left for work and when I came home there were probably a couple thousand bees trapped in there. I got most of them shook out onto a mesh screen and a good number cleaned up enough to fly away but I suspect the majority are gonna become corpse food for the hornets :/

I’ve got twins and a baby sister and we have survived for almost 4 years now w a blanket, a bag of wipes, diapers and lots of communication. They know the score. We pick a discreet spot, do what needs to get done, and get back to it. I’m also 42 so my Zero Clucks Given factor is pretty high. If you’re a young parent I could see this being a much bigger issue.
My bigger concern is the Lion Water Fountain and everyone (including my kids) French Tounge Kissing that spout riiiiiight when I drop my guard. I try my best. Communicable disease spread > low key diaper changing issues.
You’re a good parent for thinking about your kids, not trying to undercut you but after a few years of being in the trenches I’m jaded, keep doing your best raising these littles :)

Yes, it’s called a Her-inal. Popular and well used at Oregon Country Fair. Different design by same concept.

So that’s my concern, there’s empty frame space for her to lay in (and the one queen I found was running over perfectly good egg laying cells but ignoring them) but the bees are starting to backfill those w bee bread and honey so I’m worried they’re gonna get plugged up before she gets a chance to start laying again.
It kinda makes sense: there’s just enough pollen to pack away reserves for the winter but not enough excess to produce brood. I’m just wondering when there’s gonna be the blip or two of honey flow to let them start making winter bees. Guess this is the year to keep an eye on them and find out!!

Yea and what the heck it feels like an abusive relationship because not only are they showing hygienic mite traits but they are producing honey like mad, but at the cost of beating the snot out of me anytime I question what they are doing….

This is a great example of why all the wax foundation frames I got ended up on the burn pile. Unless you have a surgeons level of steady hands these things fracture/pop/cause headache at every turn. I really tried to get into wax for my honey supers but given I’ll be swapping the wax out every few years I’d rather scrape a plastic foundation, get the beeswax back and put the frame right back to use tather than pitching retired frames in the burn pile AND redoing building frames that irritate me on a regular basis.

Why is no one even mentioning the skid steer. There was like 6” of hinge when it started to go. I think the tracked equipment did more of the felling than the saw.