ALL THE BUZZ
OKC Zoo adds bee swarms to its collection
When James Lowrey talks about his hobby, it can create quite a buzz in casual conversation at dinner parties or family get-togethers. Lowrey, who by day is the Oklahoma City Zoo’s security manager, is a beekeeper in his off-time. But now, those worlds have collided as Lowrey is bringing his favorite pastime to work.
With his help, the zoo has added four beehives to its collection. It’s an idea that had been discussed before, but nobody around the zoo knew anything about how to create a hive. When word of his unusual hobby got around, asking Lowrey to put a plan together seemed like a natural fit.
“It just came up in conversation and went from there,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
He’s used to people doing double takes when they find out he loves bees.
“A lot of people are fascinated when you start talking about it,” he said. “It catches people’s attention because it’s not very common. But that’s changing. We’re seeing a whole new generation of beekeepers doing it. It’s not just a family friend out in the country. It’s becoming an urban thing where people are doing it in their backyards.”
For the zoo, it’s a benefit to the plant life spread out on its 120 acres.
“I came from a zoo that has bees, and I knew it works well,” Oklahoma City Zoo conservation director Rebecca
Snyder said. “It’s a good thing to teach guests about, and it ties in nicely with our efforts to increase habitat for pollinators in Oklahoma.”
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.
“They’re good for crops, for making the ecosystem healthy,” Snyder said. “What I like about it is people are often afraid of bees. I think the more people learn about them, it helps everyone understand they’re important and not something to be afraid of.”
For Lowrey, it’s the best of both worlds. He said it’s not uncommon for beekeepers to pull up a lawn chair and watch their bees do their thing. There is a certain Zen quality to it.
“You open up the hive and you hear the hum of the bees, it’s just really cool,” he said.