4-H Beekeeping - Any experience?

[HomeBru]

Ran into an acquaintance of mine at the county fair this week. He was manning the beekeeper's booth in the expo hall, I didn't know he was a beek. We got talking and we both have children involved in 4H at various levels and lamented the absence of a beekeeping group. He's looking into it and considering overseeing the program and I may volunteer to help out.

Anyone here work with 4H kids in beekeeping? Experiences to share?

J-

[indypartridge]

There's not a 4H beekeeping club in my county, but I've helped 4H'ers with beekeeping projects. Had them over to my place to go thru my hives, been to their homes to go thru theirs, answered questions, etc.

Purdue extension has a 4H Beekeeping Helper's guide:
http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-576-W.pdf

[Pink Cow]

My daughter and I are involved with 4H and she is a member of the beekeeping project. I lead a couple of projects, though not beekeeping. I do help with it a bit though, and it's really something I enjoy. Some of the kids are quite serious about the hobby and it's great to be able to help them grow in it. We sometimes bring them on swarm collections and they always find that very exciting. This is a project that the parents get very involved in usually, so it's a good group activity for families. I would definitely recommend starting a beekeeping project if there is enough interest, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions or I can be of any help.

[annette]

This is exactly what I am doing this season. Teaching the 4H club of Placerville's beekeeping club. It started with about 10 kids ages about 7-17.  It has been a very relaxed program. They have a project coordinator (a women named Shawna who has become a good friend of mine now). We started by ordering equipment in the winter to begin 2 beehives.  The hives are kept at Shawna's house.The kids came together to assemble the beehives, and the frames and paint. I had them all over to my apiary one day and we got into my hives. The kids were so excited seeing those bees walking around on the frames. They wanted to hold the frames.

We had some kids come out with us to do a cutout in an old oak tree and to catch swarms.

It has mostly been show and tell, but one kid started his own hive this season as well. It was destroyed by a bear, but we were able to get him another swarm, which he helped to catch. Now several of the kids want to start their own hives, so we will be ordering equipment all together this September.

I guess each club works differently. I basically make suggestions to my friend Shawna, the project coordinator on what I think we should do with the kids, and then I leave it up to her to decide. She coordinates the kids coming together for the various projects.

Next on the agenda, is extracting some honey and making a solar wax melter.

It has been great fun for me. No pressure, easy stuff.

OH I forgot to mention that Shawna did all the book stuff with them first, Like learning about the bees,etc. I came in to do the hands on mostly.