Ideas?

[ELizabeth[buzz]]

HI! i am wondering if anyone has any suggestions about a beekeeping science fair project that i could do. So if you ever thought of any problem you had or an idea that could be solved doing an expirement i would like to know . Preferable a project that could be done for the summer. I have 3 hives to work with. Please list your ideas!

 

[Finman]

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You are not serious. You cannot do any research with 3 hives.

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[youngyoungs]

Agree with Finman - 3 hives won't give you a huge amount of information.

Thoughts.

You could chart your local pollen intake.
You could weigh each hive daily at the same time.

 

[For want of a better word]

You could chart your local pollen intake.



note the colour of the pollen as the bees bring it in and match it to one of the pollen colour books available ( may have to order from library as some now somewhat expensive as out of print!)

You could even take some close ups with a digi camera !
I think this would be a great Science Fair project... good luck!

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Drifting?

3 would be sufficient.

Dusty.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Drifting?

Mark some drones from one hive, see where they end up?

 

[REDWOOD]

I would like to know if bees actually lick mineral blocks and if so is there any change in the bees behavior, brood, life expectancy, honey production, but I agree 3 hives is not enough

 

[exmoorbee]

you could devlop a method for trapping out. you could end up with no honey crop and possibuly even killing a coloney off though. see [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDephTEiqnU[/ame] for some ideas.

put a cone on the front of one hive with a bait hive set up with a frame of eggs to collect the lost bees, they shoud rear a new queen from the eggs. experiment would be to see how to collapasing coloney behaves, do they swarm off or starve with no flying bees. how long does it take.

it might be too invasive for what you want, but still intresting to know. I'm trying to do this on a coloney in a chimney at the moment, It would be intresting to know what is going on inside.

best of luck what ever you decide

 

[Outlander]

you could devlop a method for trapping out. you could end up with no honey crop and possibuly even killing a coloney off though. see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDephTEiqnU for some ideas.

put a cone on the front of one hive with a bait hive set up with a frame of eggs to collect the lost bees, they shoud rear a new queen from the eggs. experiment would be to see how to collapasing coloney behaves, do they swarm off or starve with no flying bees. how long does it take.

it might be too invasive for what you want, but still intresting to know. I'm trying to do this on a coloney in a chimney at the moment, It would be intresting to know what is going on inside.

best of luck what ever you decide

Didn't the Germans do something similar during the last war.

 

[Finman]

.
About bee research:

- 20 hives is realistic amount to get data from hives
- 3 years serie is necessary to eliminate changes of different years.
- There are things which should be in laroratory because in nature there are too uch variabiles

- Real researcher knows what he do. She do not ask from forum what to do.

- A researher needs 5 years basic education in university. She learns to use other's earlier work and learn to make difference with knowledge, information and dad to son stories. And of course the stories of adults like "workers queen". She needs a huge amount of basic knowledge about biology, genetics and what ever.

- Lots of money to travel in other countries to see what others do.
- She must forget that everything in national contex is perfect and there are life too over 20 miles wide English Channel.

.

 

[The Cumbrian]

I can't help but feel we might be miss understanding what is required here.

Unless I am mistaken (and I humbly apologies if I am) science fairs are something that is run with people of school age following practical "research" projects.

To me the replies here seem more aimed at people who are wanting to push the boundaries of science or gain university qualifications.

THis may not be the case. More information from the OP would perhaps help.

 

[Drew]

I can't help but feel we might be miss understanding what is required here.

Unless I am mistaken (and I humbly apologies if I am) science fairs are something that is run with people of school age following practical "research" projects.

To me the replies here seem more aimed at people who are wanting to push the boundaries of science or gain university qualifications.

THis may not be the case. More information from the OP would perhaps help.

Good post Cumbrian!!!

But probably some of the over complication/awful patronising (delete as required) earlier posts have caused the OP to think "s*d this for a game of soldiers" and they have gone to ask in a friendly, helpful forum!

This place amazes me sometimes!!!!!

 

[Juststarting]

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She must forget that everything in national contex is perfect and there are life too over 20 miles wide English Channel.

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I think she should be able to do this - her profile says she's based in the USA!

The pollen experiment linking to local flora or hefting and correlating to weather&flora in flower would be interesting science fair projects.

 

[alanf]

I can't help but feel we might be miss understanding what is required here.

Unless I am mistaken (and I humbly apologies if I am) science fairs are something that is run with people of school age following practical "research" projects.

To me the replies here seem more aimed at people who are wanting to push the boundaries of science or gain university qualifications.

THis may not be the case. More information from the OP would perhaps help.

and also note the USA profile.

School science projects are about what the student learns in techniques, methods, analysis and linking to wider research. It is not post doc standard original data. A good starting point is - how does any given factor compare with here?

Basic info that's missing is timing, is this a vacation project for autumn? What age group, or what detail level is expected? Three hives are plenty for most purposes and can be compared or averaged but what sort of access is possible? Can they be opened daily for samples? Do we have equipment like a microscope? Pollen trap? Disease treatments? Can we risk reducing crop yield? What sort of time are we putting in?

Forage based studies should be good. Pollen identification by colour and microscope samples maybe? It's finding out what your bees are bringing in and will vary for any location. Sampling week by week is possible, or if time is short does it vary over a day? By weather? Other possible questions are is the same plant providing pollen and nectar by checking what's in the honey? Does the direction they go in change? Photos of bees on the plants will always liven a presentatiion.

Quantitative data such as weighing is possible, but might result in one graph that looks a little thin. Marking drones might be fun, one colour per hive, a hundred marked and observing where they turn up. How many still around in a month? Another good opportunity for photos. Plotting colony size, counting eggs, open brood, sealed is possible but will have missed the early build up. Progress of a split or smaller unit could be interesting.

Try some queen rearing, grafting, mating nucs. Lots to learn. Compare techniques, success rates?

Varroa building up and plotting your counts are possible and might be compared with research elsewhere and general threats and disease problems. Treatment comparisons? Hygienic behaviour? Treatment resistance? Nosema assays?

Morphology studies, what is the local bee population? Dissection?

Lots of possibilities from a few photos to fairly advanced lab techniques, analysis and practical skills like microscope and handling that you can demonstrate. Good luck

 

[jackbee]

I can't help but feel we might be miss understanding what is required here.

Unless I am mistaken (and I humbly apologies if I am) science fairs are something that is run with people of school age following practical "research" projects.

To me the replies here seem more aimed at people who are wanting to push the boundaries of science or gain university qualifications.

some people are just too far up their own . . . too often on here. They seem to take more pleasure in having a go than trying to help.

Obvious from the OP that it's a science fair project, they actually say this in plain english.

Good luck with the project - pollen studies seems simplest to me - just sit, enjoy the bees at the entrance noting pollen colours, then take samples from board below OMF and pictures of pollen stores - Visually attractive and colourful

 

[Finman]

The pollen experiment linking to local flora or hefting and correlating to weather&flora in flower would be interesting science fair projects.

Good heavens... and then...

Bee plants are well known among beekeepers. You see when you look flowers where bees vistit. - if you know flowers..

 

[Finman]

and also note the USA profile.

School science projects are about what the student learns in techniques, methods, analysis and linking to wider research. It is not post doc standard original data. A good starting point is - how does any given factor compare with here?

Basic info that's missing is timing, is this a vacation project for autumn? What age group, or what detail level is expected? Three hives are plenty for most purposes and can be compared or averaged but what sort of access is possible? Can they be opened daily for samples? Do we have equipment like a microscope? Pollen trap? Disease treatments? Can we risk reducing crop yield? What sort of time are we putting in?

Forage based studies should be good. Pollen identification by colour and microscope samples maybe? It's finding out what your bees are bringing in and will vary for any location. Sampling week by week is possible, or if time is short does it vary over a day? By weather? Other possible questions are is the same plant providing pollen and nectar by checking what's in the honey? Does the direction they go in change? Photos of bees on the plants will always liven a presentatiion.

Quantitative data such as weighing is possible, but might result in one graph that looks a little thin. Marking drones might be fun, one colour per hive, a hundred marked and observing where they turn up. How many still around in a month? Another good opportunity for photos. Plotting colony size, counting eggs, open brood, sealed is possible but will have missed the early build up. Progress of a split or smaller unit could be interesting.

Try some queen rearing, grafting, mating nucs. Lots to learn. Compare techniques, success rates?

Varroa building up and plotting your counts are possible and might be compared with research elsewhere and general threats and disease problems. Treatment comparisons? Hygienic behaviour? Treatment resistance? Nosema assays?

Morphology studies, what is the local bee population? Dissection?

Lots of possibilities from a few photos to fairly advanced lab techniques, analysis and practical skills like microscope and handling that you can demonstrate. Good luck

Just from heaven...Lets prey

 

[ELizabeth[buzz]]

Thank you everyone for your ideas. The pollen idea sounds really great! Also this is just a high school science fair project my only question about the pollen thing is how does knowing what kind of pollen i get help me as a beekeeper?

 

[scuttlefish]

Thank you everyone for your ideas. The pollen idea sounds really great! Also this is just a high school science fair project my only question about the pollen thing is how does knowing what kind of pollen i get help me as a beekeeper?

Well, for starters the diversity of forage available in your local area, and depending on where you are possibly an indication of foraging range - if there's oilseed rape 3km away and you see them coming in with that pollen, then you can demonstrate that they're travelling at least that far. Or if you know certain flowers are in bloom but you don't have that pollen coming in, it could indicate that the bees aren't foraging those plants, which leads to the question of why not?

A pollen trap on the hive might help & be easier than constant observation.

 

[Finman]

ITo me the replies here seem more aimed at people who are wanting to push the boundaries of science or gain university qualifications.
help.

To me you sounds like 2 hive professional.

Everybody push his boundaries where he/seh wants. Are we independent adults?

Best boudary here is that only lack of money forces to extract honey= poor. "Catch and releese beekeeping".

Like that guy in USA. He says himself "scientific beekeeper". I have not noticed that if he had made any scientific research but he just write wide and long. And what he writes had bee carefully published by different universities.

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