A Big Thanks To Our Guest Beekeeper

Last night's class was a big hit.  Terry Wierman came in for a special session on honey bees.  Both children and parents enjoyed the evening. 

The evening started out with a show and tell.  The evening finds included a black cricket, bearded dragon, leaves, squash bug larvae, and red aphids. 

The children then started coloring different bee pages as Terry started to talk.  He passed around a piece of honeycomb.  It was amazingly light.  The goal is to build the most structure with the least amount of material. 

Terry showed us a bee hive box with frames, beekeeping suit, and smoker.  These are just some of the essential tools of a beekeeper.  The suit would be a good protection from mosquitoes.   The only problem is that it gets a bit hot inside the suit.

  

 

Beekeepers harvest honey in the summer.  In the spring, they check the hive to make sure there is enough room to grow the hive.  Honey can be harvested as long as the bees are there. 

 

Next, we built our happy hive, learning about the different types of bees and stages of bees as we went. 

 

 

We learned about the three types of bees: queen, drone, and worker. 

 

 

The queen has a long pointy abdomen. She has a retinue of workers around her. Her job is to produce eggs. She only flies to mate or swarm.

 

The drone is a male bee. He doesn't have a stinger. Drones die when they mate. 

 

The worker goes through a cyle of jobs.  Her first job is to clean her own cell since the cells are reused.  She then feeds her sisters in the cells next door.  She does this from glands in her head.  Some other jobs that she will do while she is developing include builder bee, fanning bee, and guard bee. The builder bee builds more honeycomb to make the hive bigger.  The fanning bee moves air to dry the nectar and cool the hive.  The guard bee is stationed near the entrance of the hive and protects it from danger and attack.  If a bee isn't bringing anything into the hive, then this bee is considered dangerous.  Some bees actually steal the honey from other bee hives.  The guard bee will fight with other bees as a defense.  When a worker bee is more mature, she becomes a forager bee.  She brings in pollen, nectar, and water. 

 

Pollen is used by the bees as a protein source.  Bees will visit only one kind of flower on a trip.  This is how they pollinate. 

 

Honeybees are the only bees that lose their stingers because the stinger has a barb at the end.  They only sting to protect the hive.  They don't want to sting you. 

 

We also had a chance to taste four different types of honey.  Some of us loved the experience, others found the honey not as enjoyable.  But we all enjoyed trying it out.

 

To finish off the evening, we visited the hive exhibit.  Here, Terry pointed out the different types of bees, cells, and activities going on. 

 

 

 

The highlight was when we found the queen. It brought us back for a final look. 

 

Thank you Terry for sharing your knowledge and involving us all in the learning.