Kollekt apiary

Kollekt Parties are centered around a group of themes that unit humanity. Each time a theme is explored, like bees in two social species united, an more specific application of the theme to the Kollekt Project is explored.

To incorporate real bees into Kollekt Project is a dream I do not believe I'm allowed to have yet. So I'm just going to explain the dream and see what happens.

The primary goal is an apiary of warre hives. Warré hives are lower maintenance, more natural to split. designed based on some very awesome (and free to read) bee research done by the hives' namesake: Émile Warré (he is not so famous, eh? even his french wikipedia page has not been translated into english).

Son but était d'obtenir une ruche la plus proche des conditions naturelles de l'abeille, tout en étant pratique pour l'apiculteur. Il préférait faire des bénéfices plutôt que des profits et recherchait les économies à la place de la productivité. Sa ruche reposait donc sur un faible investissement financier pour sa fabrication et son exploitation. Il souhaitait que tout un chacun puisse avoir une ruche et récolter du miel sans pour autant devoir s’équiper de nombreux outils d’extraction.

So this is my beekeeping philosophy too.

The next part of the dream is to build a structure that houses the apiary. It is necessary to protect the hives from the rain and wind that are a definite force to be reckoned with on this part of the planet. It doesn't matter to me how it happens, I just really care about protecting the bee hives from the elements.

Once bee hive parts are made, they are modular. I want to design and build warre bee hive bases that incorporate a way to measure the temperature, humidity and sound inside the hive. because I am really curious about it. Older beekeepers say they can understand what is going on their hives by listening to the bees in them. I have never found any data to back this up or not. But it seems an obvious thing to try an quantify. Plus, I love listening to a hive of bees.

The hives have to be made from wood. untreated, just the guts of a tree shaped into rectangular prisms of multiple shapes and sizes. I believe I have to build them because the only bee hives I can buy (as far as I know) in this country are Langstroth hives. The Warré hive selection may even complicate things with the local bee keeping association. Which, of course, before I even start an apiary, I would want to develop a relationship with them. For advice on the apiary and also for the opportunity to have demonstrators come to Kollekt Parties.

Bees would be a great demonstration to have at the Kollekt parties (that I am working to make happen once a month. Feb 6 down, march5 here we come) In my previous time volunteering with asylum seekers, I have found bees to be a very wonderful topic of conversation. Many people outside of the western developed world still understand bees as their partner in agriculture for the last 9000 years- with a perspective much like Warré.

Beyond actually creating a Kollekt apiary. I have thought of smaller, simpler ways to incorporate bees into the activities at Kollekt Parties. The only real dream I have in this category is: View Masters. and image wheels that are filled with pictures of flying bees. View master does not already have a "pollinator" themed picture wheel, as far as I can find, so they would definitely have to be made.

And I want to try to catch natural swarms too.