Nursery school visits
I plan on making a small and portable observation hive (like the one in the photo below) that I can remove one or two frames containing lots of bees, cells containing eggs larvae and capped brood cells, capped honey cells as well as uncapped honey along with the all-important queen bee.
The plan then would be to take this along to nursery schools as an education show and tell aid.
It would be fully enclosed with Perspex viewing windows so the children can watch the bees in safety.
The one shown here is a miniature working hive as a hose can be connected to the hole on the right of the hive in the photo to allow the bees to fly in and out of the observation hive. The hose can then be hung out of a window to allow the bees to fly off looking for nectar, pollen or water. The hole is sealed before the hive is taken to show the kids.
This is something I hope to build over the winter ready for spring when the bees start being active again for another honey season.
I have still to talk it over with my partner Kathryn as I would like to install it into our garage with the hose near the garage roof which would keep the bee’s high enough that they wouldn't bother us or the neighbour's as bees tend to fly in a direct line away from the hive when the exit it for at least a few hundred yards.
One or two bees would not make that much difference when we have loads of wasps, attracted by the apples from our apple trees.
When they return to the hive they tend to fly directly to the entrance where the guard bees sniff them as each hive has a unique smell and the guard bees can tell if the bee at the entrance is from that hive or if it is from another hive looking to rob some honey.
