What’s the Buzz at Wilson Central FFA?

Why bees? Bees are agriculture at its most basic Bees are pollinators Our diet would be bland and dull without the hard working honey bees

Why Bees? By teaching beekeeping in schools we encourage a new generation to keep bees Why is this so important? From winter of 2006 – 2011 annual honey bee losses averaged 33%! This means we better start breeding and keeping bees in order to continue to enjoy their benefits.

What can you teach by teaching Beekeeping? Ag Mechanics: building hives Land selection and preparation: creating your apiary Entomology: Bees 101 Agriculture Processing: collecting and bottling honey Agriculture Sales & Marketing: labeling, advertising, and selling honey and other products

What about SAE? Beekeeping gives students an opportunity to develop unique SAEs, especially those that need to use the school resources/labs to conduct their SAE

Bees make us look good! Positive publicity for our program, school, district, and especially for FFA Newspaper & television coverage Director of Schools & board Leadership Wilson Youth Leadership Wilson Wilson County Fair

Other benefits of bees New fundraiser: honey & products Great for programs like ours that has no land or facilities for expansion. Makes our program (your program) unique, while benefiting agriculture. Win-Win!

Bees 101 Bee society is unique and sets an example for humans In the world of the honey bee: if you don’t or won’t work: you die. Period There are only three types of bees: the queen, workers, and drones

Her majesty... The Queen Only one queen per hive A hive will die without a queen Lives longer than the other bees, with 2 or more years being possible She is the single largest bee in the colony She is protected and cared for by the workers who meet her every need

The Queen Develops from egg to queen in 16 days Is fed a rich supply of royal jelly (secreted from glands in the heads of workers) until she emerges from her cell Takes a virgin flight and mates with drones in a drone cloud in the air She only leaves the hive once or twice in her life in order to mate

The Queen Can be overthrown It is called supersedure The colony will choose to re-queen it’s self by supersedure when the current queen is old or ailing and the colony detects that she is not laying prolifically If more than one queen emerges from queen cells, they will fight to the death There can only be one queen

Noble Workers Literally work themselves to death with a lifespan of only six weeks during the active season; and four to eight months during the less active winter months Are all females Smallest bees in the hive

Workers Brilliant example of teamwork Are in compulsory cooperation in the hive Duties change as a worker ages: housekeeper; undertaker; nursery worker; queen attendant; forager; fanner; architect and builder; guard; field worker; and finally a noble death after literally working themselves to death.

Woeful Drones The only males Smallest population in the hive He cannot do any work The hive keeps them around and takes care of them in case they are needed for mating Only purpose is to mate Mate once... Then die Kicked out in the winter to die

Apiary site selection Face southeast so that the morning sun wakes and warms them early to begin their work day Easily accessible; with some wind protection; in dappled sunlight, not direct; with good ventilation; level; on firm, dry ground. Far enough away from school: yet close enough

Seasons with bees Bees work on days that the temp is above 55 degrees (+ or -) When nectar flows & pollen abounds: bees are in Heaven! If the weather gets dry, bees must be fed. Sugar water, much like hummingbirds Honey is collected in Aug/Sept, depending on your hives/weather/etc Winter is dormancy, they kick out the drones and form a bee clump to stay warm; eating honey

So, how did we start... Local beekeepers approached Director of Schools, a former beekeeper He called Pam Walker and said “I choose you to start this program” Community mentors got on board Planed a budget and timeframe Sent to Director: approved by Board Got vendor approval; placed orders

Include in budget Determine how many hives, what size, how deep, etc. Include costs for hives: cheaper if you assemble Wax – tools – suits to outfit a class in various sizes – gloves – smokers – books – sugar – bees/with queen Apiary site prep & fence

Our Budget We started with 6 hives: 3 Italian 3 Russian Our start up budget was $6,000 We included EVERYTHING we thought we would need; figuring we would receive less than we asked for, but we received the total amount requested from the county

Actual Costs, for a class of 30 and 6 hives Supplies to build hives: $ Other supplies: $1, Jackets/gloves: $2, Sugar (feed): $ Bees: $ UT Books:$ Apiary Set-Up:$ Initial Costs:$5, Labels: $

Other Considerations L I A B I L I T Y Meeting with county attorney to discuss a release of liability for each student to sign Worked with school nurse on medical releases Special considerations & paperwork for students with Epi-pens

Where to put it in the curriculum? We chose Small Animal Care as the initial class because all others were freshmen Then Honors Agriscience (best class) Then Wildlife Management Thursdays are Bee Days; mentors come every Thursday to work with class Start with Bees 101 – train before taking to apiary

Timeline Budget and initial order established in early fall Order bees by October Get all hive bodies, supers, frames, etc assembled in the fall Get apiary set up Train students how to do and what to do Expect bees around Easter Enjoy your new hobby: bees are the bomb!

Results Community awareness and appreciation of our program Positive publicity: which makes FFA very popular with administration New fund raiser: selling 1 pound jars for $8.00; sold 100 jars on initial rob WCHS to play prominent roll in the 2013 Wilson County Fair: The Year of the Honey Bee

Questions Ask away Contact me later if you need anything: Pam Farmer-Walker, cell