What can you do in this project with local Beekeepers as mentors?
- Learn about bees as pollinators and the important role they play in our food supply as well as the plants and trees on which they forage.
- Learn about the amazing honeybee, their anatomy and how they function as a colony with complex communications, social interaction, teamwork and much more.
- Learn about hive placement, legal and environmental considerations and the cost and time commitment for “beecoming” a beekeeper.
- Experience how to assemble various parts of a hive, use a smoker and hive tools and determine what bee-proof clothing to wear.
- Experience the opening of a beehive and observe bee behavior while locating eggs, larvae, brood, honey, pollen and nectar within the hive.
- Experience starting and managing a 4-H beehive at the Mequon Nature Preserve Apiary. This includes the harvesting of honey.
Grades: 6-13
Cost: $25 due at first class. Fundraising efforts may also be necessary to purchase wooden hive parts, tools, supplies, bees and bee suits for participants.
Location, Dates and Time:
The Countywide Beekeeping Project meetings take place at the Mequon Nature Preserve, 8200 W County Line Rd., Mequon WI 53097.
Thursdays from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. as noted below:
- Thursday, October 17, 2019
- Thursday, November 21, 2019
- Thursday, January 16, 2020
- Thursday, February 20, 2020
- Thursday, March 19, 2020 (CANCELED)
- Meet as needed Spring and Summer to tend the bees.
For further enrichment, participants may wish to attend local monthly Bee Club Meetings.
For more information, please contact:
Donna Baldwin-Haut at djhaut2006@sbcglobal.net
