Author Topic: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive  (Read 1768 times)

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Offline Jen

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Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« on: May 17, 2017, 12:51:34 pm »
June 2 I'm doing a bee presentation for my grandson's preschool class. I have a medium frame observation hive I will take. I am leery of taking the frame that has the queen on it, although I would really like for the kids to see her. How many hours can I have her in the observation hive before returning her to the hive?
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2017, 01:20:39 pm »
I am interested in this, also.  What impact will this have on the bees left behind?  How do you not accidentally kill the queen or burn everyone inside the hive to a crisp?  What about the larvae and pupae inside the comb when the kids start touching and turning the hive?

We were asked to help another beekeeper present to 15 (yes 15!) classes at a private school nearby for Career Days.  He has an observation hive, and I thought about getting one for us, as well, assuming that the three of us would be split among the classes.  But with all those concerns about my bees, I've pretty much decided against getting one.

I think the students we visit with will just have to put up with two old folks showing off some empty boxes, and telling them that bees are your friends!
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Offline Jen

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2017, 03:46:37 pm »
That's funny Wman, but I have a good friend who is a huge bee advocate in our area. she has a portable observation hive and she takes it all over the place with her. Then, I know a beek here in town that sells his stuff at our county fair, and he shows a port obs hive at his booth as well.




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Offline Jen

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2017, 12:03:37 pm »
Let's try this again  :)

June 2 I'm doing a bee presentation for my grandson's preschool class. I have a medium frame observation hive I will take. I am leery of taking the frame that has the queen on it, although I would really like for the kids to see her. How many hours can I have her in the observation hive before returning her to the hive?
There Is Peace In The Queendom

Offline tedh

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2017, 01:35:32 pm »
Another one of those no experiance things But, if you leave a hive queenless for 24 hours (or however long you do, 5 or 6 for me) before installing new queen I'd THINK 24 hours in th OB hive might be pushing it.  If it were me, I'd have everything loaded in the car and ready to go, THEN pull the queen and put her in the OB hive, do the presentation, then but her back into her hive before unloading anthing out of the car.  No sense keeping her out longer than necessary.  Remember to cover the OB hive on the way to and from presentation so as not to cook her.  For what it's worth,  Ted
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2017, 03:01:35 pm »
3Reds and I went with another beekeeper for career days in an elementary school this morning.

He brought an observation hive with a five frame nuc underneath.  A few bees leaked into the classroom.  I'm not sure if they were hitchhikers or if they found an exit in the observation hive.

We told the kids they were flies.

They didn't believe us, but no one panicked and no one got stung.  It was a great opportunity to teach children not to swat at bees, and to teach them the bees will leave them alone as long as they aren't threatening the colony.

But, it was a little worrisome.  We gave our little demonstrations to several classes, Pre-K through 2nd grade.

So, my advice to Jen:  be sure to check out the observation hive the day before you leave.  Bring it into your house where you can see if any bees are escaping.  Once your assured there are not bee-leaks, make sure that you've brushed off all of the bees on the outside of the hive before taking the observation hive into the classroom.

I'm pretty sure we had a leak.  There were three or four buzzing around at the beginning.  Two or three died (from boredom?) during the half day of presentations.  And we still had three or four bees buzzing around when we left.

The guy that invited us to help him used this video to eat up about four minutes of time.  The kids seemed to enjoy watching it more than listening to us:



We did not open the observation hive for the kids to see for fear more bees would escape.  They enjoyed touching empty comb and melted wax in the form of bees.
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Offline rober

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2017, 08:08:47 am »
why not take a photo of the queen on a frame? the kids can see the difference & the queen is never at risk.

Offline Jen

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2017, 12:14:37 pm »
Hmm, that's a good idea  C:-)
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Offline rober

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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2017, 05:25:44 pm »
Hey Jen!

How did it go?  What did you say / show?
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Offline Riverrat

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2017, 08:04:45 pm »
If you remove the queen along with nurse bees for a few hours all will be fine.  It takes up to 24 hrs before they build  queen cells. Remove the frame just before you leave and return as soon as you get back.  By all means mark the queen and take her with you.  It will make it more memorable for the kids to see the queen.  After all they see bees on the playground but don't see the queen  you can say the same  about drones so make sure you have a few of them to.    Make sure everything is locked up tight and secure. If using glass make sure its safety glass or plexiglass.  My biggest worry about taking bees to a school was a child accidentally getting stung.
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Offline Jen

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Re: Bee Presentation and Observation Hive
« Reply #11 on: June 04, 2017, 12:14:13 am »
Wman, will be making the presentation a week from now. I'll be making a practice run probably tomorrow with the obs hive, sans queen.

Rrat, all my queens are marked now, so that won't be problem, and the teacher consented to live drones in the classroom. So Cool!
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