Beekeeping: Sweet Pollination

By Gloria Morris

I have long had an orchard and garden at our current home, and intend to greatly expand these areas on our farm. In recent years I have noticed a reduction in the numbers of honey bees visiting my orchard and garden and have been concerned about the potential decrease in yields due to lack of pollinators. When trying to produce even more food for sale, the issue of pollination becomes very critical to success. This concern, an enjoyment of honey, and a general interest in bees, lead us to consider beekeeping as an adjunct to our farm.

We began exploring the concept of beekeeping only recently, but quickly discovered the great wealth of information concerning beekeeping that is available online. A good starting point for learning about bees is http://www.beemaster.com/honeybee/beehom... which presents an entry level beekeeping course with pictures, links, and information about what is entailed in the enterprise. More detailed information is contained in the abstract of Beekeeping in the Midwest, a book available for about $3.00, or free online: http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~vista/abstracts/... While the book is available online, it is inexpensive to purchase, and we have already found the book form to be quite useful in looking up answers to our many questions. Another helpful site has been the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research And Extension Consortium at http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/Beeinfoindex.h...

A major concern of mine is to produce food without using poisons. Like any other livestock, bees are subject to certain illnesses and problems. I have begun researching organic treatments for their various problems. I found what appears to be some promising research regarding the natural treatment of mites in honeybees: http://rnoel.virtualave.net/2000/index.h... This research suggests using mite screens, grease patties, and essential oils to help prevent mite infections, and we intend to follow this course of prevention with our bees. For foulbrood, one can do what people did before antibiotics (and antibiotic resistant foulbrood): inspect hives, never exchange equipment that is not scrupulously clean, scrupulously clean feeding equipment, avoid open feeding, and select for resistance amongst bees. For more on the issue, see: http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/api...

The equipment needs for beginning in beekeeping are not great. A hive is obviously needed, generally consisting of a bottom board, two deep brood chambers, an excluder, two to four shallow hive bodies (also called supers), and a cover. The starting tools are quite simple: a bee brush, hive tool, and smoker. While some brave people handle their bees without special protective gear, those like me with less courage will probably want a helmet, veil, jacket, and gloves. There are a number of equipment suppliers, including Dadant, Inc. http://dadant.com/ and Bee-Commerce.com http://bee-commerce.com/ among many others.

We were able to quickly connect with a local beekeepers' organization. To our delight we have discovered that beekeepers are as social as the bees they keep! We were warmly welcomed and encouraged to pursue our interest. Offers of help and offers to visit local apiaries were immediately extended to us by the members of the local organization. Their enthusiasm for their hobby is contagious. They have recommended that we plan on starting with two or three hives this spring, which means next month. Certainly, based upon our discussions with local beekeepers, we will be starting with at least two hives.

We do not expect to get rich off of our beekeeping endeavors. Rather, we expect to have all the honey we want to eat, have some honey to sell, and most importantly, have plenty of pollinators for our fruit, nut, herb, and vegetable crops. Given the reduced numbers of bees in the wild, it seems to be an environmentally sound activity to keep bees, particularly if you are able to do so without the use of toxic chemicals. From our warm welcome into the beekeeping community, I expect that we may also have stumbled into a new group of friends as well! You can expect future reports on the successes and failures of our new and interesting endeavor.

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