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.
Smoke can be used to calm down bees:
This page last updated on Sunday, August 14, 2005