The buzz on beekeeping
Published Saturday August 16th, 2008
Don and Marlene Price have carved out a little piece of paradise on their eight-hectare property in Gagetown - a substantial vineyard, a healthy garden and more blueberries than they can pick.
The Prices thank a hobby for the state of their garden and berries. They're beekeepers, and bees are the ticket when it comes to fertile, healthy crops.
The interest in beekeeping came from a friend of Marlene Price.
"She kept beehives," Marlene said. "I always said that if we ever got out in the country, we'd keep bees."
Don Price said he and Marlene both grew up in farming country, in Belleisle.
"Beekeeping is a type of farming, so it was a natural thing for us to do," he said.
Like all good operations, their bee yard is dry, wind-protected and close to water, with lots of nectar and pollen sources in the immediate area.
"The queen lays up to 2,000 eggs a day," Price said. "The workers (all female) essentially work themselves to death during the summer."
That's a lifespan of about six weeks.
The male bees (drones) are kept around for breeding with the queen, but they otherwise do nothing. Selected drones mate with the queen, sometimes hundreds of metres in the air.
Eventually, the drones are kicked out of the hive.
The worker bees' days are unrelenting - feeding larvae, making wax, building cells and venturing out for pollen and nectar. Pollination lasts about five weeks.
The result is a harvest of honey and beeswax for the beekeeper.
"On one level, it's purely mercenary," Don Price said. "But it's just amazing to watch their social network and how they operate. A bee can fly three kilometres away, return, then do a little dance that tells the other bees the direction and distance and food at that location."
A scout bee's figure-eight dance uses the sun (the top of the hive) as a vertical marker. Left or right movements and distance from the top of the hive communicate direction and distance to the other bees.
Beekeeping has its rewards. The Prices bottle honey and sell some of it each year at Gagetown's Christmas In the Village. They also make mead and use the beeswax for ornaments, candles and plaques.
Getting that honey and beeswax is labour-intensive. A honey super, a part of the beehive used to collect honey, can weigh from 23-32 kilograms.
The Prices remove frames from the hive, scrape the top layer of wax from the combs and then place the frames in an extractor, which spins and extracts the honey by centrifugal force.
To ensure healthy bee populations and a supply of honey, beekeepers have to check the health of the hives regularly.
"We need to make sure that the queen is laying," says Marlene. "We go in often enough to make sure that everything's OK, but not enough to stress the bees."
At one time, the Prices had 13 hives, but these days they try to keep swarming to a minimum and maintain a manageable apiary of seven hives.
"Anywhere from two to 15 hives is a hobby," says Don. "Fifty hives and you're considered commercial."
Commercial beekeeping does happen on a large scale, with beekeepers travelling long distances at night to provide pollinating services for agricultural enterprises.
Claude Hachey owns Nectar Valley Apiaries in Bathurst. He said he believes there's a demand for New Brunswick beekeepers.
"There's definitely a future on the pollination end," said Hachey. "12,000 to 15,000 colonies are brought into New Brunswick from Ontario every year. All that money is leaving the province."
Hachey has been in the business for 25 years. He raises his own queen bees, keeps 800 colonies for pollination and produces 6,800 to 9,000 kilograms of honey a year.
"Pollination is our mainstay and our cash flow," said Hachey. "It's difficult to do both well.
"Beekeeping is a type of farming. It's a steep learning curve and it's not for everybody. Beekeepers are a very independent crowd."
Hachey said apprenticeship is the best route for aspiring beekeepers.
"Get hired on by a beekeeper. Learn the ropes and know what you're doing before you start."
Hachey estimates that the layout for a beginning commercial beekeeper runs from $400 to $500 a hive.
That figure includes vehicles and transportation.
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