Building Buzz! A Welcoming Return of Honeybee Hives to our Nature Center
What’s that buzzing in your ear? Most of the time it’s probably just your phone vibrating. But if you are taking a nice walk at the Rye Nature Center, it might just be one of the 20 THOUSAND new Bees that now call our park home.
The Rye Nature Center has a longstanding history of bee keeping. Up until a few years ago, we had multiple outdoor hives and an indoor observation hive. Our former caretaker and keeper of these hives was a lover of our yellow fuzzy friends, Henry King. Sadly, we lost our beloved beekeeper last year at the extremely impressive age of 84. He is remembered very fondly by all staff who had the chance to watch him fearlessly work with hives (Often with just a smoker and no suit) or had a chance to get a handful of honey-soaked honeycomb after the seasonal harvests!
The photos below were lovingly provided by our very own Education Director, Allison Rogers. Over the years she developed quite the close relationship with Mr. King. When asked about her memories with Henry she had this to say: “Henry was always bringing in articles for our staff to read about the bees he cared for. Sometimes, if I wasn’t in my office, I would find a Post-it stuck to a magazine listing various page numbers. I knew what this meant - please make copies for everyone. I always enjoyed learning from him, but my favorite conversations always started with me asking “How’re you doing?” and him responding with “Oh, fantastic.” I was so lucky to learn from such a master beekeeper, but even luckier to call Henry my friend.”
While hives are generally comprised of around 90% female bees, referred to as worker bees,10% male drones, and one queen who is the mother to all! Our two new bee hives have a father as well, and that proud dad is Henry Myers! If you’re up to date on our Nature News articles, you already know that Henry Myers is our resident creepy crawly expert, and he has a special affinity for bees! When it comes to the excitement of a new hive and his plans for keeping them happy and healthy, Henry had these things to say:
When I’m checking on the bees, there are two main things I look for. The first is the queen—she’s the most important bee in the hive (no offense to the workers and drones!). To make her easier to find, our queens are marked with a bright dot of colored paint on their thorax. Even with that, she can still be tricky to spot!
The next thing I check is whether the bees have enough space. If a hive becomes too crowded, the bees may swarm. That’s when about half of the bees, along with the queen, leave to start a new colony. But don’t worry—the original hive won’t be left queen-less. Before she departs, the queen lays eggs to ensure there's a replacement.
If I find the queen and the hive has plenty of room, I know they’re healthy and I’m happy!
There’s Over 10,000 Bees in that Box!
A Proud Father Releasing His Bees!