Finishing The Hive

Today Bee Space members got together to finish our first handmade Warre hive!  Early this morning we sanded and cut notches in our wood, and this afternoon we worked at the Yale Sustainable Food Project to varnish our wood with linseed oil to make a suitable home for our bees.  Once the pieces dry, we’ll assemble the hive and be ready to adopt another hive come spring!DSC_4859 DSC_4867 DSC_4866 DSC_4862

Big Plans

Yale Bee Space has some big plans under way discussed at our last meeting.  The team is hoping to start a research project looking at temperature, weight, and humidity in our hives come spring and possibly starting projects with bee vaccinations against plant diseases and tracking bee movement using RFID chips.

Today at 4:30 in CIED, the club is holding an open google chat with the organization Open Source Beehives to get ideas for innovating and testing our own hives

Hope to see you there!

First Bee Space Workshop

Today, the members of Yale Bee Space were busy as bees preparing for the rest of the semester.  All day, members attended workshops run by Glen.  Members learned  to use software like Solidworks and Arduino to create virtual representations of potential hive designs, write code and practice building sensors to gather data from within the hives.  At the end of the day, we began constructing a Warre hive to house our bees come spring!IMG_8023 DSC_4850 DSC_4828 DSC_4839DSC_4852DSC_4819 DSC_4806

Yale News Article

Yale Bee Space just had an article published about the group in Yale News.  Check it out!!

Yale News Article on Yale Bee Space
Yale News Article on Yale Bee Space

 

The End of the Beginning

Tonight, Yale bee space had its last meeting of its first semester  as a club!  But just because it is the end of the semester and the bees are bundled up for winter doesn’t mean things are slowing down, the members’ minds were abuzz all night with ideas for designs and specs of “smart hives:” beehives that will gather data (and honey) and serve as educational tools.  The group is looking forward to next semester and are planning on building, designing, and installing hives as well as caring for our existing hives through the next few months!

The exciting plans for Yale Bee Space "Smart hives"
The exciting plans for Yale Bee Space “Smart hives”

The Big Move

Today, just after sunset, a team of eager beekeepers headed out to Yale West Campus to move our hives from their old location by the Molecular Innovations Center to their permanent home at the Yale West Campus Urban Farm.  Now they can warmly and safely pass the winter nestled in their grove of growing dogwood trees!

Bees' New HomeHappy Wintering!!

 

Winter is Coming

Last week, Bee Space paid a visit to Yale West Campus Urban Farm to get our bees ready for winter.  We fed the hives with a sugar solution, insulated the boxes to keep them warm as the temperature drops, and planted dogwood trees to protect the hives from the elements.  Next week, we will move the hives into their new grove and they will officially be ready for winter!!Bee Secrets Planting Dogwood Trees The Crew Insulating the Hives Inspecting

CEID Orientation and Meeting Thursday October 10th

1375979_164434377096113_701824061_nThursday October 10th at 4:00pm, members of Yale Bee Space will be attending an orientation at the Center for Engineering, Innovation, and Design. We will be learning how to use the laser cutter and other fun tools in the center so that we can start building, designing, and innovating beehives. The orientation will be followed later that night at 9:00pm by our weekly meeting in the CEID!  Feel free to join us!

Bee Workshop

Yale Bee Space just had its first workshop!  We went out to the Yale Sustainable Food Project to talk to local beekeeper Ben Gardener about basic hive upkeep and care.  Photos by Tim Le993419_164434347096116_1623651851_n 1237498_164434323762785_2031884343_n 1375973_164434393762778_72887853_n