beekeeping and primary school

[hypostatic]

Hi all,

Just been asked to go up to my local primary school to advise on a hive on their school eco garden. There is also a nursery within 20feet of the eco garden which has 3 -5 year olds.

What kind of guidlines would you give as its over my head as i would be concerned in regards to bee stings.

Advise please

D

[Jon]

Sounds like it might be an unsuitable site.
Probably some teacher wants to 'save the bees' but has little idea about beekeeping.
The two problems would be children getting stung and some of the older kids clodding stones at it.
On sites like this you need incredibly docile bees which means that you need to manage queen mating as you don't know what you will get after a swarm with a new queen in there.
A hive in a situation like this would need a clipped queen and very active monitoring.

[Dark Bee]

We live in sue happy times and this being so, my first thought is you being held in some degree liable for any accidents. Whoever manages the garden has probably no knowledge of beekeeping and you will be involved to a far greater degree than you might anticipate.
My suggestion is that you advise on the risk of stings, being in flight path of bees, bees becoming agressive as the season moves on and as various flows stop. Over sensitivity to stings (anaphylactic shock) needs to be also considered. Enquire if their insurance covers them - I bet it does not and make it clear that in your opinion the hive is much too close to visitors and to the the school nursery. I suggest that you reflect very, very carefully before getting involved further than that.

P.S. Jon has posted while I was typing (elbow and two fingers), the fundamental message is essentially the same.

[Jimbo]

If the school want to look after bees. Why not advise them on making nests for red mason bees or bumble bee nests from flower pots etc. You can easily get plans for making nests and information on solitary bees from the web. Also can be a good excercise for the kids in making the nests.

[Neils]

I'd go with Jimbo's suggestion of pushing them down making nesting sites for solitary or Bumble bees. Far less hassle and potential trouble than honey bees I feel (and from a "save the bees" point of view, far more valuable I'd argue).