Honey Bees in Your Backyard
Monique Dupre and Rory Bowman found a unique way to celebrate May Day this year. They spent late afternoon on May Day collecting a swarm of honey bees that alighted in the tree near Hi-School Hardware on Main Street. Ms. Dupre of Sustainable Living on a Budget was prepared for new bees and brought her hive so the queen and her workers could be placed directly into their new home.
Backyard beekeeping is becoming more popular and is a tremendous asset to home gardeners. Typically, it takes one acre of land to support one hive. If the flowering plants and trees on a city block are abundant, that would mean that one hive would be supported and pollinate the flowers and gardens on that block and nearby.
When a hive has reached the point that it is time for the bees to start a new hive, they swarm which is what happened for the cluster of honey bees to be in the tree at Hi-School Hardware. This typically happens in the spring when the weather has warmed up and the bees become active. The bees themselves decide when it is time to produce a new queen and prepare for her. When the new queen has matured and is ready, the queen and her helpers leave and swarm to a new site to establish their own colony. When collecting a swarm, the queen must be included for the bees to stay; their life purpose is to protect and care for the queen as well as nurse and raise more worker bees.
Clark County is home to several beekeepers, many of whom belong to the Clark County Beekeepers Association which meets the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the C.A.S.E.E. Center in Brush Prairie. They have a display at the Bee Barn at the Clark County Fair each August.
The prime purpose of commercial beekeeping is pollination of food crops. In the spring, farmers and orchardists hire beekeepers to bring in hives of honey bees which are the most effective pollinator for most crops and are critical to our food supply. Contrary to popular belief, the honey is usually a secondary product of the commercial beekeeper's operation. Most sell their honey by the bucket or barrel to others for processing for retail sale to such companies as Honey House Farms.
If you see a swarm of honey bees, contact the Clark County Beekeepers or C.A.S.E.E. Center so the honey bees can be retrieved for their new home. Because the attention of the honey bees is on the queen while she searches for a new home, they are primarily docile so just wait patiently for the beekeeper to arrive to transfer them to a more suitable location. As long as they are not disturbed, only the scouts will leave the cluster while they search for a new location and report back to the queen.
If you are considering keeping bees, contact the Clark County Beekeepers and attend their meetings, and be sure to take an appropriate class. Many are offered in our area.
For Further Information
- Washington State Beekeepers (Click on Area 2 for Clark County)
- Beekeeping at CASEE Center (The Center for Agriculture, Science, and Enviromental Education)
- Bee Barn at the Clark County Fair
- Apiculture Newsletters
- Subscribe to Bee Culture