Honeybees at Hartman! (Blog)

This past winter at Hartman Reserve some students were snowshoeing near the bike trail at Hartman and discovered honeycomb laying out on the trail.  This points to the possibility of feral honeybees being found near the Nature Center.

The staff was inspired to see if we could capture the feral hive and bring an observation hive back after a long absence.  Hartman staff, Americorps volunteers from Vinton, and North Cedar Elementary have been taking the GPS locations of hollow trees on the floodplain below the Nature Center where the bees might have their hive.  The coordinates of the hollow trees are being entered onto Google Maps so that clumps of trees can be easily identified.  

On warm days the staff and volunteers will put out bait stations to attract bees and then follow them back to their hives.  In the mean time a Cedar Falls resident had heard the Nature Center was looking for bees and contacted Chris Anderson; Program Coordinator saying he had a feral hive in his garage that he was going to tear down.

In the next few weeks staff from Hartman will be doing a "cut-out" of the feral hive and installing them into Warre' Top-Bar Hives that they have built from recycled and scavenged materials.  Keep checking back to see how things are progressing!  Also if you have scrap lumber or beekeeping equipment you would like to donate (or loan in the case of the beekeeping equipment) let Chris know at either chris.hrnc@gmail.com or cal (319) 277-2187.