It was quite a drizzly June day, but lots of you turned out to welcome our bees on to the campus...
Before we released the bees into their new home, we first had a talk from Martin Kenny, our beekeeping expert, about the practicalities of beekeeping. It was so interesting to hear about the dynamics of a hive, and the bees social lives.
Next, we spent some time knocking together some brood frames, which the queen will use to lay her eggs, and some super frames, which is where the worker bees will create their honey comb. Many hands made light work, and we were grateful for all the help - it would have taken us a lot longer if we hadn't had so many volunteers to help!
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| A gang of volunteers building hive frames |
The rain stopped for just long enough for the spectators to catch a glimpse out of the classroom window as Tina and Martin placed the bees into their new hive on the Kingston Hill terrace. Some brave volunteers actually slipped into a bee suit to get a close up view of the action!
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| Martin and Tina transferring the bees |
Are you keen to bee involved?
Tina is currently looking for assistant bee keepers to help her with the hive checks. During the summer she will visit the hives once per week, with checks taking no more than an hour to complete. Email us to sign up as a volunteer bee keeper!
Bee grateful
Thank you to everyone who came along to welcome the bees to Kingston Hill and helped us to build hive frames!
We are also very grateful to Wates Construction Ltd who helped us to raise money for the project. Wates is also helping to tidy the bee hive area, planting some bee-friendly plants and building the frames for the second hive.
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