My brain has been buzzing recently. @Jesse and I are thinking about our spring season and would like to see what tallent is around.
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@kthutch has taught a class I believe. Several members know the bee keeper at Botanica and they will help you start a colony. We have discussed having one at the space but I think there were some road blocks we couldn’t get past.
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I have no experience but would LOVE to learn to tend to bees. I have been looking into it recently, as I would like to be able to harvest my own beeswax for candles.
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Thats too bad it would be nice to have a hive or two at the space for teaching purposes. I do have some small acreage 2 miles from the space that may work. Right now we are researching hive designs that use langstroth frames that we can easily build in the woodshop. Any input on that would be nice!
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Check your local ordinances. In Hutchinson you can only have one kind of Hive in town.
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On Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 14:52 Jesse Schlenker via MakeICT Forum <noreply@talk.makeict.org> wrote:
| Jesse
December 28 |
- | - |
Thats too bad it would be nice to have a hive or two at the space for teaching purposes. I do have some small acreage 2 miles from the space that may work. Right now we are researching hive designs that use langstroth frames that we can easily build in the woodshop. Any input on that would be nice!
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| Malissa
December 28 |
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@kthutch has taught a class I believe. Several members know the bee keeper at Botanica and they will help you start a colony. We have discussed having one at the space but I think there were some road blocks we couldn’t get past.
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Wesley Wolken
H:316-260-1386
C:316-350-5733
Is well known in the area for bee keeping and swarm retrieval. Im sure he’d be a willing and great resource.
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There is a bee keeper that works with the Great Plains Nature Center that has taught classes there also.
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Thanks James. I called central inspection and they said “do whatever you want” lol. I guess wichita has no rules on bees.
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Do you know the roadblocks? Do we just need a committee? It would be an awesome learning opportunity to have a hive at the space! I really don’t think there is any issue with insurance.
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I like bees. I am considering beekeeping at my home. I strongly promote bee friendly habitat here at MakeICT. Honey bees were huge fans of my zinnias and watermelon blossoms last year, in addition to the actual pollinator garden.
Bees present an allergy risk. Bee venom allergies occur in between 5-38% of the population, and the risk of first occurrence anaphylaxis in a person is significant. 60 people die every year in the USA of bee allergies. This has the potential to limit the folks who join or affect the safety of those who are present. First aid kits do not contain EpiPens and only those who already know they have an allergy may carry the pens. Additionally, EpiPens are frequently cost prohibitive ($600+ with a shelf life of only 6 months) which results in some folks not having access….which means they wouldn’t have a pen with them.
I am opposed to the keeping of live animals (bees are live animals) at the makerspace. Our organization is entirely volunteer and life events ranging from job changes to health issues to burnout results in turnover which is to be expected. This turnover would easily result in the animals being abandoned. Additionally, bees sometimes require medical intervention which can only be accomplished through a veterinarian (the Veterinary Feed Directive legislation requires prescriptions for medications delivered in feed to bees). Medical decision making is fraught with emotions that frequently lead to conflict in groups. Professional obligations would not allow me to ignore certain situations and frankly I don’t want to have to get in the middle of anything.
Hives benefit from an undisturbed space. The Garden does not have any suitable spaces. Vehicles, heavy equipment (tractor), and maker faires are examples of human activity in the Garden which would be detrimental to the bees and increase the risk of angering the bees (which would result in increased exposure to bee venom). The space on the east side of the building is the least frequented, but we still have pedestrian traffic nearby, and it is largely shaded which is considered undesirable in our zone according to my research. The south side of the Garden and the building is used for parking for larger events.
I do believe that beekeeping and pollinator supportive classes would be of benefit to our facility and the community. There are a ton of resources in our community we can access. Extension (including 4-H), Botanica, The South Central Kansas Honey Producers Association, and other local keepers are just a few examples. We should not, however, actually keep a hive at the space.
Additionally, if there were ordinances they would likely be in the animal ordinances, because bees are animals (food producing livestock, specifically) Honey Bees - FARAD's Species Pages The technical wording of the animal ordinances (specifically the wild animal section) would end up prohibiting them if the city took everything literally, but the city does not typically do so (their allowances of 100# sulcatas but not box turtles notwithstanding), based upon my experience working directly with Wichita Animal Services.
6 Likes