The Rural Voice, 2005-10, Page 381
Harvesting honey begins with bringing the supers to the
honey house where the honey -filled frames (above left)
are taken out. The decapping machine takes the ends off
the wax cells created by the bees (centre). The modern
extractor (top right) speeds the loading of the frames into
the extractor, and draws the honey from the frames by
the centrifugal force of the spinning action. Honey is then
collected and piped to storage.
there are fewer bees being kept today
by more beekeepers.
There is a growing number of
people keeping bees as a hobby and
today hobbyists and commercial
producers are more likely to co-
operate than in the past. Fear recently
hosted a meeting of beekeepers of all
sizes belonging to the Huron -Perth
Beekeepers Association.
He's not quite sure why there
aren't more full-time beekeepers.
Unlike farming which requires a
huge upfront investment, a beekeeper
can start with 10 hives and in five or
10 years work up to earning a living
from producing honey.
He started small himself. working
with his dad. In 1982 he went west to
work with a Teeswater friend who
had moved west to get into honey
production out there. Beekeeping in
the west is much larger scale, he
says, with the average beekeeper
having about 1,500 hives. He worked
out there for several years and picked
up a lot of knowledge and
experience. His father, he says.
taught him how to keep bees. His
friend, taught him how to make
honey, teaching him techniques to
increase honey output from the hives.
Despite improved management,
"if weather or market turn on you it's
just like farming," he says. "It's a
cash crop of the worst kind: all your
eggs are in one basket."
Things used to be worse for his
father. It wasn't until the late 1980s
that crop insurance was available for
honey producers to even out the hills
and valleys, he says. Until then, if it
was a bad year for price or yield, he
had no choice but to try to find a job
to see him through the winter.
The last few years have provided
prime example of price variations,
both with last year's and this year's
contrasting weather, but also with
pricing. Typically, honey will sell at
90 cents to a dollar wholesale. In
2000-2001 it hit $2. Earlier this
summer it bottomed out at 60 cents,
recovering since to 80 cents or better.
The price crash has been blamed
on cheap imports from China and the
Canadian Honey Council is calling
on the government to take action.
The best money Fear can make is
through direct marketing to
Ada sew.—
Candles made of beeswax use a
by-product of the honey making
operation. These make up a
nativity scene.
consumers or wholesaling to local
stores. On an average year he'll
market 35-40 per cent of the crop to
his own customers. As well as selling
through the on-farm store. he delivers
to local retailers. though with chain
stores moving to require all products
to go through their central warehouse
before it goes to the store. the
number or retailers has been in
decline. He's not big enough. Fear
says. to put in the kind of packing
line required to supply a whole chain
of stores.
Some of the honey he doesn't sell
directly will be sold to other honey
producers who have more customers
than they have honey from their own
hives. The rest goes to wholgtsalers.
Selling comes only after a long
season of work that begins in early
spring when he makes the rounds of
the hives to make sure there's enough
food left to keep the hives'
populations strong until spring. The
visit includes taking a rough count of
the amount of bees who haven't
survived the winter.
Last winter was a hard one on the
bees. Warm weather in February
meant the bees started brooding but
then cold weather set in. The bees
were so busy trying to keep warm in
their clusters they didn't even take
the time to eat the food nearby and
the mortality rate was high.
April is the time to take the winter
wrapping off the hives and clean up
the dead.
May is the time to start raising
queens to replace the winter losses.
Sometimes he buys queens from
Ferguson or another provider to add
new genetics to the population.
In June new hives can he started
and the first flow of honey starts.
July, August and September are busy
months of tending to the hives.
taking away full supers and putting
empty ones back on again.
"Once we hit the first of May
there's no such thing as a day off
around here." Fear says.
By October the flowers have died
and the bees aren't making honey
anymore. It's time to check to make
sure the bees are prepared for winter.
providing sugar syrup for them to eat
and putting the winter wraps on the
hives.
The winter months are spent
building new hives and equipment.
It's not an easy job but "There is
nothing else," Fear says. "I enjoy
working with bees. I enjoy working
outside. I have an office with a blue
ceiling and green walls."0
OCTOBER 2005 33