Busy Bees

The Francis Bradshaw Nature Center is home to both an inside and outside bee hive.  The outside hive is a back-up hive used in the event that the inside queen disappears.  The inside “Observation Hive” allows you to surround the hive and watch the bees through glass as they work.  There are two clear traffic tubes that connect the inside bees to the outside world.  You can watch the bees coming and going and it is easy to spot those bees carrying pollen to the hive.

The traffic tubes and outside hive are located on the back side of the Nature Center in the marked off wildlife viewing area.  All these photos were taken this afternoon of the bees entering and exiting through the tubes on the outside of the building.

You can easily see the pollen that the bees have collected and stored in their pollen baskets (corbicula) on their rear legs.  They typically take 10 pollen gathering journeys each day.

It is easy to view the bees in the “Observation Hive” as their life cycle takes them through a complete metamorphosis.  The queen will lay the egg and then the worker bees care for it through the egg, larvae, and pupa stages.

These honey bees should not be mistaken for the more aggressive yellow jackets that sometimes appear in the fall.