Portable Observation Hive

[WannaBee1]

I give beekeeping talks several time a year, usually to elementary school aged children. They are fascinated to see the components of a hive and learn a little about bees and how we keep them but it's the actual insects that really spark their interest. I would like to borrow a portable observation hive for those classroom visits when the weather is warm enough to pull a frame to place in the hive. Does the club own a portable observation hive to loan? If not, I wonder if other club members would be willing to budget to buy one we all could share for teaching purposes. Perhaps this could be discussed at our next meeting. For now, I wonder if anyone has one they'd be willing to loan me for a talk on Friday, 3/5/19.

[Jacobs]

I have possession of one I believe Kurt Bower donated to the club. It has room for 2 frames, 1 on top of the other. The lower will hold either a deep or a medium (or even a shallow) but I think ONLY a shallow will fit in the upper slot. You are welcome to use it. I just did decline a request for this week to bring bees to an elementary school class. I wouldn't risk chilling brood looking for a queen and wouldn't want to risk the frame of brood I would pull and put in an observation hive given temperatures and the relative weakness of most of my hives at this point.

[WannaBee1]

Thank you, Rob, and I agree that I wouldn't take the risk of harming the hive if the weather isn't warm enough. This talk is on the 15th, (not the 5th as I wrote mistakenly), and I will make that call closer to that date. I will contact you to make arrangements. Thanks!

[WannaBee1]

And I also wanted to say thank you to Kurt Bower for generously donating the observation hive! It's a great teaching tool to offer the club members. The more kids learn about bees, the more they care about them.