Bee Awareness

On Saturday, March 27 beekeeper John deGroot installed bees in Pacific Science Center observation hive. The annual installation went remarkably smoothly. There was one minor problem, which John corrected but which will draw attention.



You will notice that there are two types of frames used in the hive. The wooden frames fit perfectly into the space designated for them. The plastic frames were very slightly smaller and were not supported on one side. John placed pieces of chalk under those frames as support. You can see the chalk on the south side of the exhibit. It is yellow and is wedged in between each row of frames.

Other than that the bees went into the exhibit nicely. Over the years, we have found that different hives of bees display somewhat different behaviors. Some are more aggressive, some are milder, etc. This colony seemed very calm. In fact for almost an hour after installing them, we weren’t sure whether the bees actually had access to the tube that takes them outdoors. They clung to their comb and didn’t explore. But before long we noticed the bees going in and out, getting oriented and looking for nectar sources.


When we inspected the hive Saturday morning, we did not spot the queen. John was slightly concerned about this although we noticed brood (baby bees) in all stages of development.


Also, there are signs of several queen cells being produced on the north side of the hive. These are the large ‘peanut’ shaped cells that don’t fit into the hexagonal grid of the rest of the comb. Bees produce new queens either when the colony is doing great and they are getting ready to split in two (swarming), or when there is some trouble with the existing queen and they are preparing to replace her. Based on where the cells are located, it looks like the bees are raising a new queen to replace the existing one – or perhaps because they recently lost their queen. We will be watching the situation closely; if anyone does spot the queen please alert an Animal Caretaker!