Honeybee_ Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - C. Marina Marchese [41]
Margie had prepared us a perfect feast, and we all sat down and dug in. I was parched and starving. For dessert, we dined on homemade yogurt mixed with fresh honey from their hives. Elegant and simple, honey makes everything special. I could see how proud they were serving this traditional combination, and I indulged them by asking for another helping.
We discussed the events of the morning with Margie, who, surprisingly, was familiar with every single one of their hives, although she did not tend to the honeybees herself. After lunch, she invited me into her workroom to show me her handiwork. Fantastic beeswax candles shaped into honey bears and bee skeps lined the shelves. Along with candles, she mixed up luscious lip balms and hand salves using pure beeswax. I was treated to a sampling. The salves and balms were creamy and smooth, and I had never experienced a purer, more emollient moisturizer. After applying them, my skin felt like silk. The bouquet of beeswax and honey permeated the room. The idea of making honeybee products was right up my alley, and thoughts of making pure beeswax skin-care items appealed to my love of natural products. I was so delighted that I knew I would have to try making my own beeswax products at home. Once again I was inspired by the honeybee.
Now refreshed, I was ready for more work with the bees and headed back out to the yard, where William and I continued visiting the rest of the thirty hives. Most were healthy, and we removed the last of his honey shallows and prepared the hives for winter. I would learn much more during the day’s hive visits besides how to identify Varroa mites.
BEE PESTS AND DISEASES
There are several pests that can ravage your honeybees and even destroy your equipment. Mice, skunk, opossums, and bears are found in backyards and in most rural neighborhoods. In winter, while bees are clustered, mice will move right into a warm, honey-filled hive, eating the honey and burrowing holes into the wax frames. Skunk and opossums, attracted by honey or sugar-water drippings, will scratch the hive and annoy bees, making the bees nasty and defensive, while bears can totally devastate a complete beeyard in one fell swoop. Hungry bears looking for a midnight snack topple the hives and expose frames, which the bears then rip apart. Attracted by the smell of fresh honey, bears will also feast on bee brood for the protein. Bears have caused irreversible devastation to many beeyards and create many financial and emotional woes for beekeepers.
Honeybee diseases and parasites are all too common visitors to the beehive. Beekeepers quickly learn how to recognize, prevent, and treat signs of problems within their own hives, and many bee club meetings are dedicated to educating beekeepers. Each beekeeper has his or her own practices of monitoring and treating bee maladies. “Ask ten beekeepers how to do something, and you’ll get eleven answers,” is how I explain beekeeping to folks. There are approved medications available through bee suppliers, but many beekeepers are looking for alternatives to chemicals. Beekeeping clubs, bee suppliers, state bee inspectors, and state agricultural departments are resources where beekeepers can get advice on the care and health of their bees. After all, honeybees are considered agricultural animals that need to be treated as such. Here is a brief list of the most common diseases and pests a beekeeper might have to contend with.
VARROA MITES: Known formally as Varroa destructor, the Varroa mite arrived in the United States in 1987, and today mites are found all over the world. Female mites are parasites that look like tiny red-brown ticks. They crawl into uncapped cells inside the brood nest to feed on the blood of a new larva; they prefer drone larvae because of the longer