Bee Club Members Observe Hives
Led by Finn Semling, on his birthday, the MC beekeepers club gathered at the hives during lunch on Thursday October 8th to learn from local beekeeper extraordinaire Bette Lombardi, examine the health of MC’s honey bees, feed the bees, and conduct a mite test.
The club members were able to view the frames where the honey bees lay their eggs. The students observed some of the honey stores, larva in the honeycomb cells, and the egg laying pattern of the queen bee. Members were able to place new top feeders into two of the hives. The top feeders were filled with a 2 part to 1 part sugar ratio to help the bees provide greater stores for the winter months. The supplemental feeding is due to the shortage of food supply caused by CA’s drought. In addition to feeding the bees, the club members conducted a mite test to try to estimate the number of mites in the colony. To conduct the test, about a ¼ cup of honey bees were placed in a mason jar with cheesecloth on the top. The honey bees in the jar were covered with powdered sugar. The mason jar was then inverted and shaken so that the sugar fell through the cheesecloth. In addition to the sugar small mites also were observed in the powdered sugar. The mites fall off because the powdered sugar makes the body of the honey bees slippery. The slippery body of the bees causes the mites to fall off. This demonstration showed the club an easy way to observe mites. The club then treated the hives with a formic acid strip to get rid of the mites.
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675 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Kentfield CA 94904 Phone: 415-464-3898 | Email: admissions@marincatholic.org
