Before posting about our summer progress, I thought it would be(e) beneficial to briefly write about our progress made throughout this past fall and spring!
Fall 2014
Last August we conducted our honey extraction, and we are happy to announce that our bees produced 700 lbs of honey!
The fall semester at GW ensued, and our researchers studied the effects of pesticides on honeybee cognition, as well as honeybee immunology and cell culture. We conducted Varroa destructor checks until October.
Unfortunately, we lost nearly all of our hives to the chilliness of winter. Two of our hives survived and are still happily and healthily buzzing about!
Spring 2015
We replenished our hives, resulting in a grand total of twelve honeybee hives at GW. All of our research concluded, so our researchers worked on statistical analyses, presentations, and their theses.
Summer 2015
We currently have six teams dedicating most of their summer days to their research. Our current research topics include pesticide, immunology, venom, queen rearing, 3D printing, and sound. We also have our two diligent beekeepers, Mehreen and Liam, tending to our hives’ needs daily.
Some of our most exciting endeavors in beekeeping of the summer so far include:
- giving an apiary tour to Professor Doebel’s students:
- expanding hives,
- removing filled frames from a classroom observation hive,
- and completing our first round of sugar treatments.
As for the rest of the summer, research is still underway, and we will be constantly maintaining our hives to make sure our bees are happy at GW!
Stay tuned for more photographs and updates!
-Gabrielle
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