Honey Bee Hive

Animal Summary

The zoo’s honey bee hive was built by Hank’s Cabinet Shop from Denmark WI in 2009. It is designed so that visitors can see the inner workings of a honey bee colony. The Brown County Beekeepers Association helps the zoo maintain the colony. The female workers, male drones and queen can be seen all year long. They stay inside the hive during bad weather and the winter months but as soon as plants start to bloom the bees are out finding food.

Facts
The honeycomb’s cells are used to house the colony’s developing brood and to store food in the form of pollen and honey. Worker bees build the comb out of wax, which is secreted from glands in their abdomen and manipulated with their mouthparts.
Bees communicate location of nectar-rich flowers by means of the waggle dance. The way in which the dancing bee moves communicates both the direction and distance of the flowers from the hive.
Each plant species has different nectar which gives each crop of honey its differing flavor, color and consistency.

Conservation
Honey bees are key pollinators for many plant species. Between 60%-80% of the world’s crop species are pollinated by honey bees. The reduction and disappearance of honey bees due to colony collapse disorder and other threats have made the honey bee an endangered species.

Threats

Threats to the honey bee population are habitat fragmentation and loss, some agricultural practices including pesticide use, disease, and predators.

Brown County Bee Keepers Association
The Brown County Bee Keepers Association is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting beekeeping and the honey industry in northeastern Wisconsin. The association provides assistance to both the hobbyist and commercial beekeeper in their efforts to become educated in the area of beekeeping and to enable them to become more efficient and productive.

Join the Association
By joining the Brown County Bee Keepers Association you can receive the following membership benefits:

Ability to rent the club's teaching hive to use as an educational tool
Access to monthly meetings where ideas are exchanged
Latest information on local beekeepers' colony conditions
Members-only video tapes and DVDs
Product sale opportunities
Reduced rates on some equipment
Reduced subscription rates on national beekeeping magazines

To join and begin receiving your benefits, please complete the Bee Keepers Association Membership Application. Membership for one year is $10 per person or $15 per family.

Contact Us

For further information about the Bee Keepers Association, contact Club President Randy Younger at (920) 619-3920.