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PAGE A-2. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2002.
Agriculture 2002
Beekeeping a sweet business for local teen
Not for everyone
John Storey with some assistance removes one of the frames from his bee yard. While the
sweet product is liked by many, the process of obtaining it is not a job for everyone. (Photo sub-
mitted)
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
Getting the most out of agriculture
has been a Storey family tradition
for many years. Ray and Barb Storey
of McKillop Twp., have made a
career out of diversified farming,
involved in everything from the
more traditional to raising chin-
chillas and maple syrup production.
With that upbringing it's little
wonder their 18-year-old son John,
has brought the same i,ngenuity to
agriculture. Involved in various 4-H
clubs and in farming all of his life, it
was in Grade 9 when Storey decided
he'd like to learn about honey pro-
duction. He worked for a summer
with Ernst Bayer in Mitchell, learn-
ing things like extracting honey and
splitting hives.
The next year, he bought 10 hives
from Bayer. That has increased to
number 50 today, with an average of
60,000 bees per hive. He has main-
tained contact with Bayer, he says,
for input and to help him with any
problems.
Though the winter months are fair-
ly quiet, with the hives having been
wrapped in tar paper, when spring
inches deep and one inch wide, to
each box. In winter there would be
probably three boxes left in the hive
with about 60 lbs of honey.
"I would never have less than two
but in the summer you can add as
many as you want."
While the foundations are pur-
chased from a place in Cambridge,
Storey makes all the frames and
boxes himself. He generally uses
pine because it's easier to work with.
Some hives will be exceptionally
productive, what Storey calls
"strong". As the bees need room, or
they will swarm, it is necessary in
these cases to remove the queen and
a box and take them to a different
bee yard. The hive then in need of a
new queen will "make one," says
Storey.
This is done by-feeding one of the
larvae "royal jelly" which the bees
produce. "They're all females in
there and they decide which one will
be queen," says Storey.
From this point on, the major work
is the removal of the honey from the
hives. This is generally done weekly.
The wax tappings are first uncapped
from the frame using a fork or knife,
then the honeycomb is put into the
extractor -which spins out the liquid.
A valve at the bottom of the extrac-
tor allows for the removal of the liq-
Continued on A-3
arrives Storey will get busier. Now ,
graduated from school, and working
full-time, he gets help with the bees
from his father, though he is able to
look after most of it on weekends
and after work, he says.
In spring, the hives must first be
medicated with strips to control
mites. There are also other medica-
tions used if specific problems
arrise, Storey says.
Then as the days get warmer,
"about dandelion time," says Storey,
he starts to unwrap the hives and add
more boxes. There are nine frames, —
which are 19 inches in length, 8 1/2
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