Buzzing with the bees

On Wednesday it was the Biggies turn to work with Meik and the beehive.

First we got suited up: Trousers inside wellies, Fully zip head mask, no gaps, gloves.

A tip: Don’t push face mesh onto face cause a bee could sting you!

If a bee gets in the mask you stay calm and squish it with your gloves. 

At the hive we learnt about bees. We pulled the frames out to check on the bees and make make sure the queen was there. 

What we learnt

Meik told us a lot about bees, this is some of what we remembered:

• The different colour of the cell things on the frames you could tell the flower the pollen was from 
• If there was a new queen the queen would get some of the hive and swarm 
• You need to destroy the queen cells 
• If you take the queen away for 2 or 3 minutes and bring her back they will kill her and raise a new queen 
• They try to clean the queen after she’s in the cage on the hive 
• Only smoke calms the bees 
• There is a strap around the hive so it doesn’t blow over. 

Juliet

• We pulled out all of the frames to see the buzzy bees 
• To make honey bees take nectar the digest it vomit it up then an other bee takes in and vomits it up till it makes honey!
• He destroys the other queen been eggs so that they don’t develop to bees and take away the other bees to start a new nest 
• The nectar that is in the middle are different colours because it is from different flowers

Chloe

• Only one drone mates with the queen.
• The queen mates once in her life.
• Different colour of cell – different flower.
• The paint on the queen depends on how old she is.
• Drones don’t do anything but eat the food.
• Bees eat the nectar and vomits it up, another bee eats it. It keeps going until honey is made.
• The hive is really clean, you could eat your food out of it.
• If a new queen is born the queens swarm.
• Bees dance to communicate. 

Olivia Rose

• Different coloured pollen depending on the plants
• The queen will be killed if left for only 2-3 mins
• The queen bee cells grow on the side of the honeycomb
• The drone bee cells grow on the centre of the honeycomb

Harry

• I learned that the queen does not control the hive
• I learned that the different colours of pollen cells can tell you what flower was used.
• I learned that bees vomit into each others mouths to make honey
• I learned that they have to destroy the queen cells to make sure no more queens are born.
• I learned that bees dance to communicate.

Rory