BEElieve Beekeepers Group and Feeding the Bees

One of my most favorite projects with Transition Wayland is the BEElieve group. We sent out calls for beekeepers and bee enthusiasts in Wayland at the beginning of the year on our website and in the local media. Within two months, we had twenty people on the email list. We held our first meeting last month and twelve people showed up. The event made the front page of the Wayland Town Crier and of the Wayland Patch – I do love local media: they know what really constitutes front page news(*)!

In our next meeting, next week, we’ll cover Getting Started with Bees. Just in time too, because packages of bees are in ever higher demand and the local suppliers (who get them from Georgia, usually) run out earlier and earlier each year, so orders need to be placed very soon or you miss the boat.

I’ll bet that this Spring, Wayland will host at least ten more hives!

One of the way we beekeepers will support the beginners, especially those who are intimidated or have not made their minds up yet, is by inviting them to a hive opening. In anticipation of warm weather, I made some sugar fondant with some Honey Bee Healthy, and I’ll be opening the hive to assess and feed the colony either on Wednesday, when it’s supposed to go up to 55F, or on Thursday, when 60F is forecast.

Let’s hope the bees are not too defensive – not everyone has their bee suit yet!

I also like this insect hotel (thanks Root Simple!) and want to build one myself in Spring:

This was the winner of the Beyond the Hive competition in 2010 in London: Arup Associates’ Insect Hotel

click on the link for more ideas.

(The bee and flower on the logo was drawn by Amie. She got that proboscis just right!)

(*) And I say that without sarcasm!

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