Because of their role in our creating our food supply, the plight of bees has been the subject of much concern in recent years. The bee population in the wild declined by nearly 25 percent from 2008 to 2013, according to a study by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Lowrey came across a YouTube video about colony collapse in 2012 which piqued his interest in the subject. Colony collapse occurs when most of a hive’s worker bees die. Lowrey eventually joined a beekeeping club and he was hooked. A true bee-liever.
He bought his first hive in 2014 and now has six at his home, keeping friends and family well supplied with honey. It’s not as much work as people might think. With bees, less is more.
“It’s mostly about letting bees do their work,” he said. “The beekeeper interrupting the process interrupts the flow of the hive. During spring we get in there a little more to check if the cone is expanding, is there a queen and is she laying eggs.”
A swarm can contain between 60,000 and 80,000 bees and queens can lay thousands of eggs each day. When Lowry started he bought a package that includes three pounds of bees and a newly mated queen.
The hives at the zoo are known as nucs in beekeeper lingo. Nucs, or nuclear hives, are small colonies created from larger colonies.
“There are a few ways to do it,” Lowrey said. “You can buy a package, or you can capture a swarm when swarm season kicks off in the spring.”
The latter is part of the teaching mission of the zoo’s bees. The zoo hopes to sell the honey the bees produce, and will incorporate the hives in their education programs. They’re also expected to contribute to pollination of plants on zoo grounds.
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