Have you ever thought about teaching your kids, grandchildren, a young family friend, or even a class at a local elementary school about honey bees? Well, I have! I love going into elementary classrooms and teaching the youth about honey bees. They are our next generation of bee keepers, farmers, scientists, and researchers so we need to get them excited early. When I go and talk to a classroom of students I make sure to always bring a few things with me: My bee suit – it gets their attention and gets them involved because they love to put it on. Honey – for them…
Month: April 2014
The Pygmy Shrew: A little mammal that is causing big problems in Canadian overwintering colonies
Typically when critter infestations come up into beekeeping conversation these common mammals come to mind: bears, skunks, mice, opossums and raccoons. Just like their size, pygmy shrews often fall under the radar. However, Fletcher Colpitts, Chief Apiary Inspector of New Brunswick, Canada, is working to make information about the pygmy shrew more available. He recently posted an info sheet about the pygmy shrew that every beekeeper should read: http://www.nbba.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/shrew_screen.pdf The pygmy shrew is the smallest mammal native to North America. It can fit through a hole in a honey bee hive as little as 1 cm, and surprisingly only weighs an average of 3 grams.…
Transferring established packages from the USDA to our rooftop hives at The University of Maryland
Sadly we lost 2 of our three rooftop colonies this winter, and the third is very weak. So we decided to establish some new colonies as replacements. Usually when you are starting new colonies in the spring you buy packages, or nucs, but this year Bart Smith from the USDA generously offered us three of his new hives that he had established from packages a few weeks earlier. Left USDA hives with several week old established packages. Right rooftop hive bodies. We brought our hive bodies over to the USDA, and removed 3-5 new frames from our hives to make room for the 3-5 frames…
My Bee Adventures
It all started when I was registering for fall semester of my freshman year of college. I was scrolling through the list of General Education courses, searching for a semi-interesting class that would fulfill as many General Education requirements as possible. Given the fact that I was adjusting my schedule towards the end of the registration period, my options were very limited. In the end, I had to choose between a geology class and a pollination class. After years of involuntarily studying earth science in the public school system, the thought of taking yet another geology class filled me with dread. I signed up for…