The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming

Harvest time for the bees

According to the National Wildlife Federation, "Bees pollinate a staggering 80% of all flowering plants, including approximately 75% of the fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in the United States."

"I really enjoy them. I think they're fascinating," long-time beekeeper and lifetime Crook County resident Renee Brunson says, explaining why she has stayed with beekeeping for the last several years. She farms hybrid Italian/Carnolian bees, because "Italians are a lot gentler and they produce more honey and the Carnolians are a little hardier for the winter."

When Brunson began working with bees, she bought her queens from a keeper in California, but later started to "create" her own and currently runs 350 hives outside of Beulah. Her father, Dan, also began running hives from her colony on a much smaller scale with five to ten on his ranch a few miles north of Aladdin.

Both bee farmers are in the midst of extracting and storing this year's harvest after a couple very difficult years, with little product being made due to dry conditions.

The harvest began in earnest last weekend as the keepers opened each hive to examine the individual boxes. When a box is found with laden frames within, the box is taken to the area of the extractor (Brunson's machine is fully automated, but Dan's is manual).

As the boxes are gathered, another assistant uses a tool to scrape away the wax covering each cell before the now-open celled frame is set into the extractor to be spun until the centrifugal force deposits the honey onto the inner wall of the machine.

Lastly, a metal spigot is opened and the raw honey gravity fed into barrels as in the automated system or canning jars as in the case of the manually operated machine. This process is slowly repeated until all hives have been cleared.

Sadly, the bees have faced actual starvation during the last couple of years with few blossoming plants because of the extremely dry conditions.

"We had to feed them corn syrup all last year," Brunson says. "And the year before, they made very little honey. It's a lot like running cows: your weather really makes a big difference on the production and the health of your bees."

The weather is not the only danger to the hives; area growers can kill thousands of the industrious pollinators in a single day, thus wiping out multiple hives with the timing of the spraying of chemical herbicides and pesticides. When the individual bees are contaminated, they travel back to the colony and poison the entire hive.

Timing really is everything in this case. Brunson says that if they change the spray time to early morning, before the bees begin "flying" for their harvest work, the chemicals will have settled and dried. The chemicals also ride air currents over the hives, killing them.

"It's heartbreaking – discouraging," she says.

She attempts to keep an open line of communication with her neighbors, though, so they can let her know in advance of such work so that she has a day to move and protect her bees.

With that being the case, "You are constantly losing bees throughout the season," the pragmatic beekeeper notes. "You try for 15% [loss], but, for the last few years, I've been losing 30% of my hives..."

During the winter months, many bee farmers throughout the Midwest carry their hives to California, where these mighty little workers are hired out to pollinate large commercial crops, and Brunson does this as well. This, too, kills a number of hives as they do not travel such distances well.

Her admiration for these amazing creatures is evident.

"There's something to learn all the time. Ten years later, I'm still learning something new every day," she says.

Times are hard for these integral ministers to the harvest and a lot depends on the busy little body of a bee.

During the harvest season, remember that, while many people are afraid of bees, like so many things, there are general rules to help people understand what to do to make any encounter less problematic.

If there is a bee in the vicinity, do not flap around as this only aggravates the insect, increasing the chance of conflict. Forewarned is forearmed so be aware of your surroundings and when a bee is spotted, quietly walk away.

Again, from the National Wildlife federation, "Though all female bees can sting, they only do so when threatened. Honey bees, with hives filled with honey and larvae that need protecting, are generally more aggressive and likely to sting when disturbed."