Jeremy Rose isn’t entirely sure why he’s always been so fascinated by bees. He said he first got interested in the practice when a beekeeper removed a hive from a neighbor’s house. Or maybe it was the time in fourth grade when a swarm chased him and his friends off the playground.
“I thought that was pretty cool,” he said with a chuckle.
Whatever its genesis, Rose took his interest and turned it profitable; he started the California Bee Company and took time off from working on his master’s degree to write a book titled, appropriately enough, Beekeeping in Coastal California.
Rose, along with local groups like the Santa Maria Beekeepers, is trying to get the word out: Bees need people, people!
“We need more hobbyist beekeepers, people with two to three hives in their backyards,” he said.
“There’s not a lot of people my age getting into it, but a lot of people are getting out of it [because of their age],” said 21-year-old Isaac Miller, a beekeeper in San Luis Obispo.
Miller explained he’s “on the cusp of both worlds.” For him, it’s a hobby project, but, at least right now, he’s also making money at it.
At the other end of the spectrum is Ron Gromak, who’s been keeping bees for “oh, probably 60-plus years.” Gromak is head of the Santa Maria Beekeepers, and while he’s not ready to retire from beekeeping just yet, he’s as determined as the young guys are to see new beekeepers enter the fold—or hive, as it were.
“The products of the hive—whether it be stings, pollen, honey or wax, or propolis—are all beneficial to you,” he said. “If you’re not allergic to bee stings, I don’t know of any down side.”
How exactly does this work?
If you’re really serious about beekeeping, there’s the classic The Hive and the Honeybee. The thing is, Hive is one of those tomes you could measure in pounds rather than pages. It’s that big. Rose’s book, as he puts it, is intended for people who already have some experience with beekeeping.
So what’s a newbie to do?
Everyone the Sun spoke with said the best thing a new beekeeper can do is get a mentor. Check with the Santa Maria Beekeepers; they’ll be happy to help.
But if you’re not sure beekeeping is for you and want an idea of what goes into it, here’s a basic (and we do mean basic) overview of what goes into keeping your own hive:
The swarm
Sure, you could buy a prepackaged hive, but where’s the fun in that? Gathering your own swarm is not only cheaper, but you could be doing your part to help control the Africanized bee population. (More on that in a minute.)
When beekeepers talk about collecting a swarm, they’re talking about the large cluster hanging from branches or bushes that bees form when they’re looking for a new home.
“I ask people what the size of the swarm is in terms of ball sizes: volleyball, football,” Rose said.
Once you’ve located your swarm, place your nuc (short for “nucleus” not “nuclear bomb”) box under the swarm, give the branch a good shake, and in they go.
Regicide
The most important thing you have to do in this world of beekeeping—and this was unanimous from everyone the Sun spoke with—is re-queen the hive. Otherwise, Miller said, you could end up with a highly aggressive swarm.
“Swarms are more docile when they’re out in the open, but once they have a hive to protect, they’re much more aggressive,” he said.
Re-queening means going in and killing the swarm queen. After that, Miller said, you wait two days for the hive to realize the queen is dead. On the third day, goes the new queen in an introduction cage, a device with a wire top and a bottom made of “queen candy.”
The queen stays inside her cage for the next three days, during which time the hive gets used to her pheromones. On the third day, the keeper pulls the cork out of the bottom of the introduction cage, the bees eat their way through the candy, and the queen is introduced into the hive under “favorable circumstances,” as Miller puts it.
There are other methods of re-queening, but for the newbie beekeeper, this is the simplest method.
Check back in a week or so to make sure the queen is laying brood.
Think small
After the new monarchy is established, so to speak, you’ll want to peek in at least every two to three weeks or so. You’re checking for mites—there will always be a few, Miller said—and making sure the little pests aren’t spreading. Rose and Miller both said they prefer to stay organic when it comes to their hives, using treatments like powdered sugar sprinkled over the bees to suffocate the mites.
You’ll be smoking bees as you remove frames to check them, but be careful not to oversmoke.
“Smoke is absolutely necessary,” Miller said. “If I have to pull out frames, I smoke where they’re standing so they’ll move. Smoke is like a cattle prod, but if you prod the bull too many times, he might get angry.”
Speaking of angry bees: Yeah, you’re going to get stung.
When Miller first started beekeeping, he said he got stung a couple of times a day. Since then, he’s learned being gentler makes all the difference. The fewer bees you kill, he said, the less you’ll get stung.
“It’s a matter of thinking about what you’re doing,” he explained. “Sure, you can pop open the box and shove a frame aside, but you’ve got to realize there’s 10,000 to 20,000 living creatures in there that don’t particularly want to die.”
I’m getting stung for what, exactly?
So why, the Sun asked local beekeepers, go through all this trouble? Their answers ranged everywhere from the material to the health benefits to helping counter Africanized swarms. Plus, the Central Coast is ideal for beekeeping.
“It’s kind of unique. It’s Mediterranean,” said Archie Mitchell, California director of the Western Apicultural Society, referring to the Central Coast’s ideal climate for beekeeping. “You can keep bees year round. Commercial beekeepers from around the country come out to California to winter their bees.”
The products
A good starting point for the benefits can be summed up as “one-third.” That’s to say, Gromak explained, one third of all the calories we eat comes from the products of pollination. Squash, almonds, apples, cherries, and citrus fruits are just a few of the crops that depend on the bee-driven process.
Then, of course, there’s Pooh-bear’s favorite treat. They’re called honey bees, after all. But did you know that local honey is good for more than just tea?
Springtime’s here, and with it comes the cacophony of hacking, sneezing, and watery eyes associated with pollen allergies. One of the ways people can help build up their immune systems, Gromak said, is by eating small (emphasis on small, here, we don’t need anyone going into anaphylactic shock) amounts of local, unfiltered honey.
Propolis (the cement-like substance bees use to seal small gaps in the hive) is an antibiotic. And then there are the bee stings themselves.
Most people try to avoid them, but Gromak uses them therapeutically. The machinist said he first started suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome about 10 years ago. By administering bee stings over a period of some months, he claims he was able to cure himself.
Doing your eco duty
Africanized bees have become more of a problem over the years. First introduced into South America during the 1940s, the feared bugs have since moved northward and are now in this area.
After two or three cross breeds, the traits of the Africanized bees become dominant, and any hive that’s been crossbred will act like the original, aggressive bees from the 1940s.
Because they’re so prolific, Africanized bees tend to simply outbreed their more docile counterparts. So in areas without a lot of commercial hives—urban environments, for example—the more aggressive bees tend to take control.
That’s where citizen beekeepers come in. By producing colonies of docile bees—the only way docile bees can compete with their more aggressive brethren—beekeepers can do their part to help counter the Africanized bee population, Rose said.
“Cities tend to be an attractor for Africanized bees because there’s a constant source of nectar and pollen in backyards,” he explained. “It would be nice if there were more gentle bees in the cities to compete with them.
“All of Los Angeles says you can’t keep hives in backyards; it’s ridiculous,” he added. “It’s just inviting Africanized bees in.”
Re-queening and other practices employed by the dwindling army of beekeepers are the only ways to counter Africanized bees, both Rose and Gromak said.
The dark side
Aggressive bees aren’t the only problem facing beekeepers.
There’s been a lot of media attention given in recent years to Colony Collapse Disorder, which is mainly a fancy way of saying “the bees leave and don’t come back,” Miller explained. What’s causing the mass disappearances is still being studied by scientists. But even beekeepers who aren’t losing their hives to the mystery still face a myriad challenges.
“It’s getting more difficult to keep bees alive today,” Gromak said.
Part of the problem, he added, is because the United States has imported bees from all over the world, and with those immigrants have come a wide variety of parasites and diseases:
Varroa mites (Latin name, appropriately enough, Varroa destructor) are the Big Bad of bee bugs. Every one of the beekeepers the Sun spoke with said Varroa is one of the biggest problems they face. Varroa mites attach to the body of bees, weakening them and introducing a variety of viruses.
Not as widespread—but more deadly—are tracheal mites.
“They get into the bees’ trachea and suck their blood,” Miller explained. “Varroa mites are bad, but with tracheal mites we’ll see a whole hive on the ground in front of the hive, dying.”
Chalkbrood is a viral infection that causes the infant bees to dry out in their cells so they don’t survive the pupal stage of development.
Foulbrood is a bit more nasty: The young rot before they’re fully developed.
“You can tell as soon as you open the hive by the smell of carrion,” Miller said.
And as if bloodsucking mites and hive-decimating viruses weren’t enough to contend with, beekeepers also face challenges from systemic insecticides, genetically modified crops, and … oranges?
When a crop is sprayed with insecticide, it’s not just a matter of moving the hives out of the spraying area, Gromak said.
“Insecticides, which are systemic throughout the plant, also means they’re in the pollen and nectar,” he explained. “Bees store this pollen because there’s so much other pollen around. They’re not affected until they have a dearth of pollen and dig into their storage.”
Genetically modified crops that have insecticide capabilities can also contribute to bee death, but how do oranges get in on the buzz kill?
Okay, it’s not the oranges, per se, but the orange growers: Mandarin orange growers, to be exact.
“It used to be you could put bees just about anywhere in the Central Valley during summertime to get orange honey, and to pasteurize bees so they would regain their strength,” Gromak said. “With oranges, a pollinator can bring pollen from another species and introduce seeds into Mandarin oranges.”
That, Gromak explained, has led to conflict between beekeepers and large agricultural conglomerates growing Mandarin oranges. Calls from the Sun to several growers in the Valley went unreturned.
With great power …
“There’s a certain amount of responsibility that goes into beekeeping,” said Gromak, citing local Africanized bees as an example. “If you get an Africanized colony, you have to make sure it doesn’t do damage to your neighbors, make sure it’s not in a situation where it can propagate.”
Mitchell agreed: “The most important consideration is family and neighbors. In the interests of public safety and being a good neighbor, tell your neighbors if you’re keeping bees in case anyone is allergic.”
It’s not just common sense and being a good neighbor, either. If you keep bees, the law states that you have to notify the county as well.
“Part of it’s because of Africanized bees,” said Santa Barbara County Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Guy Tingos, referring to the requirement that beekeepers must register their hives. “Mostly, though, it’s because if someone calls and says there’s some bees, and they’re swarming or causing problems; or if a pest control company is going to be spraying pesticides, we need to know whose bees they are so they can take care of the problem, or move the bees if a crop is going to be sprayed.”
Go on …
Maybe it’ll be for cheap honey or the health benefits. Or maybe you just want to do your part against Africanized bees. Whatever the reason, the beekeepers need your help. Regardless of the reason, more beekeepers are needed.
Try it, Gromak said, and you might just be hooked.
“They’re a fascinating object to observe,” he said. “It’s something where you can put the rest of world aside. It’s a step back to communicating with nature.”
Contact Staff Writer Nicholas Walter at nwalter@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 22-29, 2010.