You
have heard by now that Lincoln received an innovation grant from the
Rochester Public Schools to explore having a bee hive on our property so
that students can learn about
pollinators, bees and honey production. The hive we proposed is from
Australia and different that the hives you usually see around here. It
is called a flow hive (
www.flowhive.com
With this hive we do not have to take it apart to get the honey, just
turn a key and it flows out. The following have been accomplished:
1.
A honey bee
group has been formed at Lincoln with teachers attending classes on
beekeeping and we have joined the Southeastern Minnesota Bee Keepers
Association.
2.
We have two
bee keepers that are providing information and guidance - Chris
Williams Lincoln parent and bee keeper and Andrew Pruett who is a bee
keeper and runs the bees at Quarry Hill
3.
The hive has
arrived and has been assembled. It will be in the foyer for a couple of
weeks until the bees arrive and then it will go outside
4.
There will be
a temporary fence around the hive to keep PE equipment away from it.
Students will not be able to get close to the hive due to the snow fence
and eventually a permanent fence.
5.
The hive will
be located on the far southeast corner of the playground 10 feet from
the fence bordering hwy 14 and 10 feet from the fence on the east side
of the playground.
6.
For the month
of April the bees will be fed in the hive because there are not many
flowers out. Once the flowers bloom the food source will be remove and
the bees will travel about 5 miles from
the hive to find flowers.
7.
Difference between bees and wasps and hornets
Bees are
fuzzy pollen collectors that almost always die shortly after
stinging people (because the stinger becomes embedded in the skin,
which prevents multiple stings). Bees don't die each time they sting,
though; the primary purpose of the stinger is to sting other bees, which
doesn't result in the loss of the stinger. Honey
bees are not aggressive unless provoked.
Wasps are
members of the family Vespidae, which includes yellow jackets
and hornets. Wasps generally have two pairs of wings and are definitely
not fuzzy. Only the females have stingers, but they can sting people
repeatedly. They can be extremely aggressive
