After our first year of success with honey bees in the garden we decided to add a second hive. Undergraduate student, Nick offered to lead a workshop on building our new 'Warre' bee hive.
A small group of students joined us to help in the construction.
The Warre style beehive is different from our existing hive design. The Warre design is lower maintenance as it only requires a beekeeper to check in at the beginning of the season (spring) and then in the fall to harvest the honey, (our current model requires weekly check-ups). With the new design the bees make their own comb, which requires a lot of energy on their part and there may be slightly less honey production. But this design is healthier for the bees as they are disturbed less frequently, are less exposed to potential disease, and the boxes are added from the bottom which mimics the natural way bees build hives. Working with the bees preference means less work for humans and happier bees :)
Voila! The final design!
Did you know that the queen bee can lay up to 1,000 eggs a day during the height of the summer?
Stay tuned for more bee highlights!
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