It’s Important
Carol Ann Harlos
I am a backyard beekeeper… three hives, and in my ninth year of beekeeping. Beekeeping has given me so many opportunities… learning and watching, taking care of, worrying about my bees and taking some of their honey. Perhaps my greatest joy is sharing not only honey and beeswax crafts with other people but sharing information and creating awareness with children. I remember one particular, beautiful June day when I was pushing my wheelbarrow through the yard. I had just taken several frames of honey from the hives and had replaced them with empty frames. There were a few bees following me, or I should say following the full frames of honey… My next-door neighbor’s five year old grandson was watching and ran over to see me. His grandmother in a caring tone said, “Watch out for those bees.” Without thinking twice, I said “Please don’t teach him fear.” I showed him the comb, the filled cells. I gave him a piece of comb to chew. He was delighted! (He went inside and brought me a candy bar.)
I had the opportunity to share beekeeping at a library near my home. In Spring, I captured some drones and workers in a screened jar right before leaving home. I wanted the children to observe and see the differences between the workers and the drones. Later in the season, at another library session elsewhere, I took some dead bees with me as well as magnifying glasses and asked a group of ten-year-olds some questions: How many eyes do you see? Can you tell which are drones? Workers? How many legs? Where are the bees furry? What do their legs look like? They loved it! Lots of questions and discussion followed. “How do the drones sting?” was my favorite. Some children already knew about ovipositors and wondered if the females still used them to lay eggs. They also asked if workers could lay eggs if the queen died. Many of the children’s questions were better than adult groups I have taught!
At a day camp, I set up a large empty box with one large side missing. I taped black cloth to the top so a person could stick their head inside to block out daylight. I gave the children flowers from the garden including blanket flowers, sunflowers, lavender and an ultraviolet flashlight. Since honey bees only see ultraviolet light, the children (and their counselors) could see what honey bees see. They said, “Way cool.”
The words “pollinators” and “pollination” are presently popular topics. People are told that pollinators are necessary for most food we consume. So, I brought some apples for a group of children… of course they asked if they could eat them. I said “Not yet! We are going to be scientists and collect data.” We cut the apples in half around “the equator.” I gave the children toothpicks. Their task was to dig out the seeds and to place these seeds on white paper next to each apple. I purchased bagged apples which tend to be smaller for their type and thus less expensive. We tallied the number of seeds per apple. Everyone noticed the “star” shape of the cross section but the children (and the adults that were present) were surprised to learn that a fully pollinated apple blossom will produce fruit containing ten seeds! The average number of seeds was five! This led to a discussion about apple size. Did better pollination mean larger fruit?
I also had the children make their own beeswax candles. I purchased the beeswax. We got in a discussion about how beeswax is made by honey bees, why I didn’t prepare my own, how beeswax candles are different from paraffin candles. We did this activity outdoors on a hot Summer day, perfect for nice, tight rolling of sheets of wax.
We had discussions about opening beehives. I dressed one of the children in my beekeeper outfit, (OK I am quite short). They asked about getting stung. I said “How would you like it if someone took the roof off your house to check it? “They said they would sting too! We discussed getting stung, why honey bees might try to sting a person, how to prevent it, how to respond to it. We talked about what happens if you are a bee and someone waves their arms around. They said they would get confused and mad. Truly these kids were now on the side of the honey bees.
I also had experience with a father who called our local extension looking for someone to teach his 10-year-old son about honey bees. The boy was scared of everything. The father called me, and I told him that I was willing to take his son to the hives but he must wear a beekeeping outfit. I would not be responsible for any possible bee stings. I thought I would not hear back but two weeks later the father called back. He had purchased two beekeeping outfits, one for his son and one for himself. We met. I asked the boy what the first thing was he thought of when he thought of honey bees. His answer: stinging. We sat and talked about honey bees for about half an hour. Then the three of us suited up, started the smoker, grabbed a pry bar and went out to the hives. We stood on either side of one hive. He just stood there with his head down… he was terrified! I said, “Please tell me what you see.” He looked up a bit. A honey flow was on. We could see filled pollen baskets on the legs of returning workers. He became fascinated with their landing and the handing off of pollen. Soon, he was standing up straight, watching and observing. I smoked and I opened the hive, removed a frame and held it up. He was fascinated! His dad told me that he talked about the honey bees all the way home and looked forward to telling his friends.
I also had my eight-year-old grandson come up from Virginia (We live in Western New York). He is planning to become an entomologist and an engineer. I bought him a child-sized beekeeper outfit. I had him smoke the bees and pry off the top cover. I smoked both the entrance and wafted smoke across the top frames. We waited and then removed a frame for an inspection. He observed the workers and the business of the hive. After setting the supers down on the top board we examined the brood chamber. It was so full of bees that the queen was not readily visible. No matter. He loved it.
The joy of sharing beekeeping to the next generation is truly beyond compare.
