To bee or not to bee

Beekeepers always happy to welcome newcomers to hive mind

Local beekeeper Sidney Brown poses with his beehive.
Local beekeeper Sidney Brown poses with his beehive.

Some hobbies may bring a sting, but sweet rewards are worth the momentary pain.

 

At least that's true for beekeepers, whether they have small, homegrown hives or larger, commercial operations. In addition to the satisfaction of nurturing and herding bees in the apiary they manage, beekeeping can provide beekeepers and others with a delicious treat: honey. Beeswax and pollen are other gifts.

For those who are uninitiated and yet interested in getting involved in the pursuit, many resources offer assistance and inspiration, including websites, classes and organizations. Here in Texarkana, the Texarkana Beekeepers Association strives to educate local beekeepers, from the novice to the experienced, and inform the general public about the honey bee.

At a recent meeting, for example, the evening agenda was simply creamed honey with an expert from the Little Rock area demonstrating how to make it with all sorts of flavors, such as blueberry. Jars of it were given away at the meeting, no doubt delicious to taste.

Recent meetings also taught beekeepers about rearing queen bees or managing pests like mites and beetles. The organization, founded by Pam Rayburn, runs a Facebook page where notices are posted about bees that need to be removed. Rescuing colonies can help the beekeeper and the people needing them gone.

For bees, after all, home is where they hang the hive. For new beekeepers, what are some ways to get involved? What should they consider as they get started managing that home?

Passionate about beekeeping and the kind of beekeeper who's given her colonies away to help others, Rayburn shares words of advice for prospective beekeepers. Among them is to consider location because laws are different in Texas versus Arkansas.

"Usually it's free to rest your hives in Arkansas, whereas in Texas if you have so many hives they (the state) charge you," Rayburn said, noting most amateurs have between one and four hives. Most beekeepers are middle-aged to older, she says.

"You don't usually have real young beekeepers. They're scared," Rayburn said with a laugh. At the meeting of her organization, there were a few who appeared to be in their 20s or 30s, though. For older beekeepers, it's something to do, she said, and they're also learning more about proper nutrition and what to eat or not eat.

"We want our own local honey for allergies, because it helps build your immune system against allergies because of the pollen," Rayburn said. Ingesting small amounts of it helps build an immunity.

Another consideration for new beekeepers is where to get the hives. You need to have the equipment before you get the bees. There are different parts to a bee hive: bottom board, brood chambers, frames. Building a bee hive is an alternative to buying one, she said.

There are also types of hives to consider, Rayburn said. There's a nuc, for example, a five-frame box. There's even a 10-frame hive. Some can get heavy. It depends on how much you'd like to carry and how often you'll move it.

What to feed the bees is another aspect of bee management to consider. They need plenty of food, particularly at certain times of the year. As a beekeeper, how does one stay safe from the bees and their stingers?

"Bees, there are some more aggressive than others, and a lot of that depends on the temperature, the weather," Rayburn said. "You don't really want to mess with them with a real heavy overcast or a storm coming in because you've got more bees in the hive."

When it's hot and dry, bees also want to protect what's in the hive, making them more aggressive if the beekeeper opens it.

"You've got a smoker and you use smoke, which masks the pheromones that the bees or you put off," Rayburn said. "It kind of covers up the scent."

Tools to get started: a smoker, a hive tool, a bee brush. "That's the first three main items that you need," she said. When ready for the bees themselves, a beekeeper can actually order them. They come in a box, the queen captured in a little cage.

"You go to the post office and pick them up because the post office don't want to keep a bunch of live bees, so they call you and let you know your bees are in," Rayburn said. She suspects bees are one of the few livestock items that can be mailed.

"Or you can go to a local beekeeper and buy packaged bees or a nuc of bees or something like that. I give a lot of mine away," Rayburn said.

Starting in the spring, be sure to inspect the colonies because the hive can build up and overflow with bees. They may swarm, which is another way to give bees away. Rayburn receives many calls about swarms to get. How do you recognize the queen?

"She's usually two to three times the size of other bees because she has a big bottom end," Rayburn said. She stands out because of the color, too. "You train your eyes to look for that bigger bee."

Safeguarding the hives for pests and diseases, such as hive beetles, mites and ants, is also important. Burning a hive or antibiotics are sometimes used when there's a bad disease, she said.

"Keep them in full sun is better than in the shade," Rayburn recommends. Provide adequate ventilation if they're in the hot sun. Try to keep pesticides away from them, too. She won't spray pesticides around her house.

"There's a lot to learn about bees," she said.

One of those older gentlemen who's new to beekeeping is Sidney Brown, a Texas-side resident who started the hobby six months ago with a new spring. He's learned a lot by trial and error, he says. He has one hive that's strong, one that's weak.

Spring is the best time to remove bees and move them to a new location, Brown says, because they'll have plentiful natural food around. "They use honeysuckle and wildflowers," he said. There's pollen all around in the spring.

"All your vegetation is blooming, you know. You've got lots for them to eat. Because you know on your car, it's plum yellow with pollen," said Brown, recalling that when he was around 14 years old his father tended to bees at a time when bees didn't face as many pests.

For Brin Wisdom and Balm and Honey Farm, beekeeping is all about going natural and chemical-free. They're all plant-based, she said, with no chemicals used on their hives, roughly 20 of which produce honey. Hives for this Texarkana, Texas, business are situated in Bowie and Cass counties.

"It's kind of a hot button issue right now in beekeeping," Wisdom admits. The conventional wisdom suggests beekeepers must use chemicals to treat aggressive pests, but she doesn't agree. Also, she's concerned about hives being harmed by herbicides like Roundup being used in the environment by states, cities and others, she says.

"Our beekeepers nationwide are facing incredible odds to keep them healthy and alive," Wisdom said about bee colonies in jeopardy. She estimates most beekeepers would say they've lost between 30 and 40 percent of their hives this year.

Wisdom and her family who run Balm and Honey employ biological controls such as more pest-resistant bees and physical controls like traps to catch the small hive beetles. Or there's food to give a boost to vulnerable hives.

For people who want to get involved with beekeeping, Balm and Honey has five recommendations, said Wisdom, who teaches a "Beeginners" beekeeping class each fall and spring. The next one arrives in October.

First, check the laws and any ordinances that may apply to beekeeping. Second, make sure your family and neighbors are OK with it, particularly because bees love water and will be attracted to that, Wisdom said. You don't want your bees making a beeline for the neighbor's pool.

Third, consider location. "Make sure you're in an area where bees are going to flourish," Wisdom said.

Along with this is recommendation four: place the hives in an appropriate place. "Ideally, they need to be in full sun and they need to be somewhere where they can kind of be left alone," said Wisdom.

And recommendation five is to know going into beekeeping that it's a skill, it's agriculture and you're going to be stung. Invest in a suit and the right equipment. Then, go for it.

"We need more beekeepers," Wisdom said.

A similar Arkansas-side bee-product business consists of friends who got together a few years ago to recoup some of their investment after doing beekeeping individually, explains Scotty Watson. They sell lip balm, beard balm, candles-"and of course we sell our honey when it's available," he said.

Based out of Fouke, the appropriately named Boggy Creek Beehives operates about 15 hives, a small operation compared to the commercial beekeepers. They've grown by trial and error, Watson said.

"Try to do your due diligence and research as much as you can," he advises, recommending that people join the local beekeeping club, where many willing beekeepers will offer advice about anything from equipment to the health of bee colonies and what to look for when inspecting hives.

"They helped us drastically grow our numbers," Watson said. He advises new beekeepers to not take failures too hard. "Just keep at it and don't get discouraged," he says.

The majority of their hives are situated close to wildflowers, but they're not placed in agricultural areas. In the spring, this tends to bring a light-colored, light-tasting honey, very sweet, Watson said.

"We've noticed you get a lot of different honey flavors in our area," Watson said.

Back over in Texas, Cass County native Wisdom believes that the wildflower mix there makes for a superior honey with the flavor profile and richness. She doesn't think you will find better with bees, flower feeders that they are, dining on native plants.

"Seriously, East Texas honey is the best honey on the planet," Wisdom said.

The Texarkana Beekeepers Association meets monthly at 6 p.m. on the third Monday at the Texarkana Public Library. The group has about 80 members. Membership is $15 for one person, $20 per family.

 

(On the Net: Search for the Texarkana Beekeepers Association, Boggy Creek Beehives and Balm and Honey Farm pages on Facebook.)

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