Back in September I wrote about a colony of bees that I saved from a downed tree. I subsequently saw the new queen that they raised lay eggs which were raised by the workers into new worker bees, thus establishing that the queen had successfully mated and that the hive was what we call queen-right — in other words, viable.

Yesterday, in Chapter Two of this story, I was able to move that colony into an observation hive as part of a new exhibit area that is being built at the Long Island Children’s Museum, called, Feasts For Beasts. It seemed clear to me that these bees were not able to, sufficiently, build their numbers up and put away sufficient stores to make it through the Winter outdoors, but in the warmth and protection of this indoor housing I do hope that I can keep them going through the next few months until Spring.

Starting in January, when this new exhibit opens at the Museum, we will share this observation hive with the public. I will keep you posted, and I will, then, describe, what I believe is a new approach to honeybee observation hive design.