The Bee Keeper and the basics of bees The adventures Of Rose and Bud Directions: Print page 1 on card stock and cut on the solid line. Print the rest of the pages and cut in the middle on the solid line. Put the story together and add 2 card stock pages to the back and staple. Discard instructions when finished. Read the story and do the activities, and paste or double stick tape the finished products into your flap book as you see fit. Be sure to cut the story out, staple or paste onto the front of the flap book. So you will always have it to remind you, what each piece means. The more your kids read the story the better they will remember. Authors Note: This lap book was inspired by the first book The botonist Each one is created with the mission to help children remember the main issue of one bit of a topic. Written and illustrated by: Teresa Clifford Photography by: Nancy Schrull Published by: BITS to Supplement 2011 August All rights reserved Created By:
Hi, I m 11, and my name is Rose. Cut out the pants. Answer the questions according to the story. Assemble the pants like a notepad and staple above the line. Be careful not to staple the card stock together. BEE STINGS Today my neighbor, Bud, my family and I are going on a field trip. I m so excited because we are going to visit Mr. Hive! He is a beekeeper. Bees are very important for the flowers to make seeds. I love flowers! I need to go next door to get Bud. It s June here, and walking to Bud s house, I saw a bee crawling all around a blue flower. Worker bees can only sting how many times? Who has stingers? Draw what the workers stingers look like? I rang the doorbell and Buds mom answered. Bud is almost ready, Rose. Thank you for taking him with you; he enjoys learning with you. His mom said. Thank you, I like the company. I said. Bud came down stairs bounding with excitement in his summer shorts! Bud maybe you should wear jeans, they re thicker and there will be a lot of bees. I suggested. Oh, I didn t think of that, I ll go change. He said. Page 1 How many times can Queen bees sting? What do you do if you see a bee?
Ma am, did you know honey bees have barbs on their stingers? That s why they can only sting once; the stingers can't be pulled out. I said. Cut out the bee history shapes. Answer the questions and staple at the top. She seemed surprised and asked, What about the queen? The queen has a stinger too, but it doesn t have barbs. She can sting as many times as she wants, like a wasp. Stinging is only a last resort; that s why they don t bother anyone unless they feel threatened, I answered. BEE HISTORY draw a bee that a Roman May have drawn Where did the Egyptians keep the bees? What did the Ancient Greeks do? Just then Bud appeared with jeans on. Great, let s go! I said. Bye Mom. Bud said. Bye honey, follow directions. She said. Who were the first beekeepers? (that we know of) When? When? Paint Recipes 1. Yogert and food coloring 2. 1C. flour, 1C water, 1 ½ tsp salt, food coloring mix well 3. 2tsp cornstarch, 2 tsp white vinegar, 20 drops food coloring Bud waved and nodded. Bud, I have a book that you can read it s called The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco. It will give you some questions to ask Mr. Hive, I said. While we were on our way to the beekeeper, Bud read the book. We re almost there, Bud, are you finished reading? I asked. Page 2 Paint Recipes Suggestions for containers use plastic bottle caps and glue to a plastic lid. There are also some little plastic sample containers out there. I ve seen them on mygirlfriendshouse.com Paint Recipes 1T white vinegar, 2T baking soda mix when stops bubbling add 1T cornstarch and ¼ tsp glycerin (or maybe bees wax) mix well, pour mixture in containers and add several drops of food coloring. Let dry overnight.
Yes, I was just wondering when bee hunting first started? he asked. Oh, I read that the first known beekeepers were the Egyptians in 3000BC. They kept their bees in clay pots. Before that it was just taken from the bees. I said. Egyptians, huh, what about after that? he asked. Well the ancient Greeks studied new and better ways to raise bees, in 384BC. Then the Romans used beeswax for paint in their paintings in 50BC. I said. What does B.C. mean? he asked. Another preferred way to package honey is to whip the honey until it s creamed. This honey can be spread like butter or jelly. He said. Bud interrupted, So, how do you get the honey clear and creamy? What a great question! It depends on a few things, how you store it, how cold it is, where the bees got their nectar from, and whether we process the honey or leave it raw. He answered. The colder the air the faster the honey will crystallize, and processed honey will usually crystallize before raw honey. Let s say this year is 1900 then the next year is 1901. If you go to last year it would be 1899 and it would keep going backward until you reached zero. So everything before zero is called B.C. or before Christ and everything after zero is called A.D. or after Death (anno domini). Let me draw a time line, I said. Hum, we re here! Bud said. Mr. Hive came out of his house to meet us. Hi everyone, I m Mr. Hive. Hi, Mr. Hive, this is my curious clan. Mom said and introduced all of us. Great! What would you like to see first the hive or the honey? asked Mr. Hive. The honey! all the kids yell. Great this way, He said. First let me show you all the ways I package my honey, he said. The most common way is liquid honey. It is clear; there are no crystals or anything else in it. What s the difference between processed and raw? I asked. Well Rose, processed honey is usually pasteurized using heat or untrasonification then strained to make sure there is no bits of comb left in it. He said. What s comb? asked Bud The bees make the Comb to store the raw honey; the honey that hasn t been processed. The raw honey is squeezed or cut from the comb and processed or the comb is cut in cubes and sold in boxes or jars. He said. Sometimes they put a comb in a jar and pour the processed honey over it. Why is the honey heated? I asked. The heat will kill any yeast, and so will ultrasonification. Otherwise the yeast will grow and cause the honey to ferment, and we don t want that because it makes a fishy smell. Mr. Hive said. Bud and I wrinkled our noses and stuck our tongue, because a fishy smell in honey does not sound good. After seeing the honey in the combs, Mr. Hive gave us a small box of raw honey to take home. Page 3 Now lets go see the hive! said Mr. Hive. Page 4
3000 B.C. 384 B.C. 50 B.C. B.C. A.D. Egypt Bee keeping Ancient Greek invented new and better ways to raise bees. Romans paint with bees wax 1500 A.D. 1638 A.D. 1700 A.D. 1851 A.D. Straw Skeps Bees introduced to America! Pioneers trap & chase bees Movable Frame Invented 1950 A.D. 1984 A.D. 2006 A.D. Breeding disease resistant bees Honey bees went to space When Colony Collapse Disorder started making an impact Tape 2 sheets of paper together long ways. Cut out the time line color and paste in order on the 2 sheets of paper. Fold in half until the end; it should be 3 folds.
There are many kinds of hives, but I only have 2 kinds. The first is called a Langstroth hive. It is a box with removable square frames. They are over there under the big Oak tree. The suit I have on is a special suit so I don t get stung. I m going to bring a frame over here so you can see how the bees construct their comb in the box compared with the other hive I have, called the Top Bar hive. Mr. Hive came back with the first comb from the Langstroth hive and went back for the second from the top bar hive. As Mr. Hive was coming back with the second comb I asked mom What is the smoke for? The smoke by the hive? she asked Yes, I said. Oh, that s the smoker tool. When bees smell the smoke they eat as much honey as they can. Eating helps the bees calm down so they don t sting as much. Mom said. As we waited for Mr. Hive to come back Bud asked When did they start keeping bees in boxes? Mom said, In the 1500 s AD, that s called the middle ages, they kept the bees in straw skeps. They look like the kind of hive you normally see on the Honey nut Cherrios box only made with straw. It wasn t until 1851 or 52 when Lorenzo Langstroth invented a removable frame. Honey bees were brought to the United States with settlers in 1638. They would catch them and then chase them like in The Bee Tree book you read. Mr. Hive came back and said, Ok kids look at the different shapes see how this second comb has an upside down hill shape? This is the shape they normally make and fill with honey. The Langstroth hive has a square comb plastic or wax substitute. The bees accept the comb substitute and fill it up with honey, too. Mr. Hive said. Then Bud asked How do bees make babies? TOP BAR HIVE Page 5 Well there are 3 areas in the hives; the first part is usually the honey super. This is the extra honey they don t need. A hive can make up to 500lbs in a year and
they only use about 50lbs to survive the winter. There s another part of the hive called the food chamber, where they store their food for winter and I leave that part of the hive alone. And the last part of the hive is deep in the middle it s called the brood chamber. That chamber is where the queen lays her eggs. She can lay up to 1500 eggs in a day! Wow, right? Yeah Bud and I said together. Mr. Hive continued, If she takes a break, the workers will take one of those eggs she just laid and put it in a queen s cell. They will give the egg more food than usual and the pupa will be a queen bee. What is a pupa? I asked. A drone is a male bee; the queen decides which egss are fertilized, which also means she decides how many male or female bee are created. When its not fertilized, the bee turns into a male and they are usually quite lazy. There are about 100 male bees to a colony until the worker bees kick them out in September to buckle down for winter. Let me put these frames up then we ll go look at my calendar inside. Said Mr. Hive. Mr. Hive, I see that your jars of honey on your office shelf have different types of honey like clover honey and peach blossom honey. How do you know what kind of honey it is? Don t the bees just find whatever flower they want to pollinate? Bud asked, while looking at the honey jars. A pupa is the last stage before becoming an adult bee. The queen lays an egg. When it hatches, it s called a larva, it looks like a little white worm. Then it will make a cocoon and turn into a pupa. A pupa looks more like an insect except they are usually white and soft. Now it will grow and harden to become an adult bee. Well sort of, as the first bees go out for the day they will find a flower source and come back to tell the hive. And the bees will go to that flower source until they have most of the pollen and nectar. However, some bees may stop along the way. It s like going to the grocery store for apples. You see peaches, bananas, and avocados, some people may stop to get some bananas and then head for the apples, and some may head straight for the apples. So most of the honey will be from the apple blossom honey then you can call it apple blossom honey. It can also be tested. said Mr. Hive. Bees are a very social and organized insect. They only travel as far as 3 miles from the hive. If the beekeeper knows the flower sources around his hives and when they bloom he can tell what kind of honey it is by taste and the color of the honey. Have you noticed flowers usually grow in groups together? One bee will find the flowers and give directions to the others by doing a dance. said Mr. Hive. How cool, a dance?! I said. Mom asked, How long does the process take? It depends on what they are hatching, a queen takes only 16 days, a drone takes 24 days and a worker takes 21 days. He answered. What s a drone? Bud asked. Page 7 Yes a dance! The bee wiggles, waggles and circles which gives the direction using the sun as a guide. said Mr. Hive. Ok kids it s almost time to go. Do you have any more questions? Mom asked. I do. I said We ve talked about the queen bee and drone bee. Do the workers do anything else besides gather pollen and nectar? Page 8
Mr. Hives Calendar January ~ bee keeper checks to make sure the bees have enough food. August~ collect honey bees start saving for winter September~ collect honey and drones are pushed out of the hive. Febuary~ queen starts laying eggs June and July~ Bee keeper collects honey October~ Bees continue to store honey for winter November~ queen stops laying eggs March~ bees collects pollen and nectar from early flowers Cut out Mr. Hives Calendar and add it to your book. May ~ New queen is born, old queen and half the workers swarm out to find a new home Then cut out the order of jobs in the hive and add to your book. December~ bee keeper wraps hive with paper for extra protection for winter Nanny Janitor Guard after hatching a bee becomes a nanny to the brood then a nanny to the queen larvae cleaning out the cell and rebuilding to prepare for a new egg if the queen is not happy with the cell she will not lay an egg in it and the workers have to clean it again. these bees get to stand at the door and keep watch for intruders next they get to pollinate
Great Question, Yes, they do. When a worker first hatches from the cell they become a nanny to the larva. They feed them from a special gland on, well, what we would call our forehead. The queen larvas are fed royal jelly while the worker and drone larva get fed bee milk from the special gland. From what we can tell, the gland only works for a small time. Once the gland stops working, the worker bee starts cleaning out cells then builds more cells. They have a few more jobs like putting pollen or honey in a cell to prepare for a new larvae and making honey. However the job right before collecting pollen is the guard bee. The guards protect the hive from intruders like wasps, bee raiders, some moths and other things. Then they go out and collect honey. I enjoyed my time with you and I hope you learned a lot. finished Mr. Hive. Thank you We all said and waved as we climbed into the van. What about the bees dying, I ve been hearing a lot about that? Bud asked. That is called Colony Collapse Disorder; it is when a large number of worker bees suddenly disappear. Researchers have been trying to figure out what the problem is; it has been happening since the 1800s, however, it is a lot more common today. They have narrowed the problem down to a virus or mites, Mr. Hive answered as we got in the car. Ma am can we eat the honey? Bud asked as we drove away Nope, sorry, I don t want a sticky mess in my car! Mom said. So what s our next field trip, Mom? I asked. Hum, we ll have to think about that. Can you name some more pollinators? she said. Butterflies, moths, mosquitoes, wasps Page 10 Page 9
Cut out word find and paste in book. Find all 13 words: Queen, Worker, Drone, Honey, Bee, Hive, Sting, Guard, Janitor, Langstroth, Comb, Top bar, Nanny Q A D R A B C Q R L F K M N P S T A U E F G U R W O R K E R B T X V D L E N D P Q F S L M A B K T O C F H I E J L R O P T U V X N Y Z P A D F H N J L H O N E Y N P A R T B V X Z B D F H J L N N P R T N V X A Z A C E G I K M B E E O B S N U WR Y Z B A H D R A B C B R L F Y K M N P C S T I N S T I N G D P B F S L M A O B K V T O C F H U I E J L R O P T M U V E X N Y Z J A N I T O R P A D B F H D F H J L N R N P R T N V X A Z A C E G I K M B D E L A N G S T R O T H