The Bee Barn

We have several observation hives at the orchard. There are two in the check-out building and there are two in the bee barn. The hives in the check-out building are always open to the public. The hives here in the bee barn are reserved for school tours and are in a classroom-like setting. They're right at kid-level, as you can see in the picture. The queen in each hive is marked, so she's quite easy to find.

Bees play a major role in our school tours. All tour groups will spend 15 minutes with the bees. They are taught the basics of pollination and how it helps our orchard. We also talk about some bee facts and bee behavior. The famous "bee dance" is being taught below. When bees get back to the hive, they dance in a certain pattern (do figure 8's, circle around so many times, etc) to tell the other bees where the good flowers are. Back to school tours