BEEKEEPING IS A BUZZ-Y JOB

BEEKEEPING IS A BUZZ-Y JOB

            "They're funny little critters" Ollie Westfall says about the thousands of bees in the dozens of hives scattered around his place in Ghent and on other nearby properties.  A talk with him reveals there is more to keeping bees than scooping out honey without getting stung.

            "About 35 years ago, I was working on a barn with a hive in it.  Vic Borghi took it out and asked was I interested in learning how to take care of bees and I said 'Sure'.  I did it for about 20 years, left them when I moved, and then got back in to it again", the Chatham area native related, adding "It's a lot harder this time around than 35 years ago."

            Things making it harder range from mites to bears.  Varroa Destructor, a parasite, is "A big problem - the mites weaken the hive so the bees won't survive the winter."  He has photos of a bear raiding his hives.  "They aren't after the honey (contrary to Winnie The Pooh), they're after the brood, the bee larvae.  They need the protein, especially when they come out of hibernation."

            Pesticides, a "real big problem", cause losses in the millions - big producers may lose 30% to 40% of their bees a year.  That's huge for the ones who pollinate crops so we can eat.

            Bees have a hierarchy, each has its own job to do.  Every hive has one queen who lays eggs at the rate of 1,500 to 2,000 a day for several years.  "She's what keeps that hive goin'," Ollie said, adding the queen is twice the size of the others and worker bees you see on flowers are undeveloped queens.  Drones "walk around the hive and eat honey", their sole purpose is to service the queen.  "Come September you see the workers driving them out because they don't want them in the hive over the winter." 

                  Speaking of winter, a hive needs 75 to 100 pounds of honey to get through the cold season.  If there is not enough, he makes a heavy sugar-water syrup to give them more to eat.  The bees form a tight nucleus in the hive, keeping the temperature at 95 degrees.  This group keeps turning as they eat the honey; the outer and inner bees work their way to and from the center to maintain their body temperature. 

            To keep cool in summer they sit on the front of the hive flapping their wings to create a breeze, or 'beard': hang in a group on the front of the hive.

            "I try to make my own hives", he said.  "It can be a lot of work.  Some people just let them 'do their own thing' but I like to see what's going on.  If you wait too long and something happens it takes a long time to bring them back.  Like, if a queen isn't laying enough eggs you replace her - the hive needs a queen to survive."  To create new hives, he tries to split a strong, established one in the spring. "If you put a queen with bee attendants to take care of her she'll go with them." 

            The hives repopulate themselves each spring.  "You have to get the queen to start laying - the faster you do that, the faster the workers bring in the nectar."  The most flowers are in spring and early summer, with only a few nectar ones now blooming.  Ollie said the past spring was 'lousy' for his bees because the rain and cold slowed flowers blooming. 

            The bees find flowers by sending out a scout who may go two to three miles to find blossoms.  They then fly back to the hive and do a 'waggle dance', walking in a figure eight pattern as they shake their rear to show they have found pollen.  The movement shows the direction the flowers are in, how long they waggle tells how far to fly to find them.

            To process the honey, which he sells along with his maple syrup and beeswax candles at a small stand, he takes the frames from the hives, puts 'bee escape' pieces on them to drive the bees out of the honey and then puts them into an extractor which spins the honey out.  The raw honey is run through a strainer to remove any debris and then is bottled for sale. 

            The flavor of the honey depends on the flowers where the bees gather nectar.  His is from a variety of wildflowers.  Clover, buckwheat or other types come from hives placed where acres of just that crop grows.  Besides being a tasty sweetener, honey is taken to ward off allergies and bee venom therapy is used to help with arthritis.

            Bees dying out has been in the news and is a big concern.  In a hard winter such as the one a couple of years ago he can lose a lot of bees.  "There's not just one thing - besides the mites there is colony collapse disorder where the bees just disappear and you can't pin a reason," he said, shaking his head.  African Killer Bees can ward off the mites; these come from a queen who has a mean streak which she breeds into the hive.  Cornell is doing extensive studies on bees and working on a queen that will produce bees that will knock the mites off the other bees.  The public can help slow the demise of bees by being aware of pesticides, being careful what they spray on lawns and gardens. 

            In a last comment, Ollie advises "The public needs to become more aware of what's happening with honey bees.  Put in bee friendly plants."  Good advice if we want to keep these 'funny little critters' buzzing around to help keep us fed.