Students in the Merle-Smith Campus Green Team visited the apiary last week to check in on honey production!

We found several frames full of honey and the bees calmly working hard to process the nectar and pollen they collected. The apiary is doing great this spring - with four thriving hives that have already produced two extra colonies! This happens when the bee population is too big for the space, and the worker bees create a new queen. The old queen leaves the hive with a group of workers to find a new location. Often they will have already scouted out and started preparing a new hive when they swarm. Head of School Ms. Finely Odell noticed this moment when one of the hives swarmed onto the apiary fence post a few weeks ago.

That swarm was collected by Susan Parent, Director of Annual Giving & Special Campaigns, and offered a new home in one of the Parent's hives, as some of her bees did not survive the winter. 

Brian Elstein, Moravian's very own beekeeper (and Downtown Campus art teacher) will be leading the spring honey harvest at the end of this month. Check the spirit store for some MA Gold honey to sweeten your summer!