Class attracts swarm of future beekeepers

Club, extension promote DIY hives

Wearing a protective jacket, Patrick Edwards shows a frame in a beehive outside his store, Preppers Bee Supply, on Thursday in Garfi eld. This hive will be filled with bees in the spring and will be put on the grounds at Crystal Bridges museum in Bentonville.
Wearing a protective jacket, Patrick Edwards shows a frame in a beehive outside his store, Preppers Bee Supply, on Thursday in Garfi eld. This hive will be filled with bees in the spring and will be put on the grounds at Crystal Bridges museum in Bentonville.

ROGERS -- Apiculture instructor Jon Zawislak stood in front of a couple hundred potential beekeepers at Southside Church of Christ during a recent beginner's course on beekeeping.

"You're going to get stung. You're going to get hot. You'll be lifting heavy things. You're in for a good time," Zawislak said.

More than 200 people took the class to learn about the cost and use of beehive equipment and tools, bee behavior, honey production and keeping a colony alive. The course was given in three installments of three hours each by the University of Arkansas System Agriculture Division Research and Extension Office and organized through the Benton County Beekeepers Association.

Zawislak leads the class to fill newcomers in on the history and basics of beekeeping, the breakdown of a hive, the options people have in building a hive in their backyard and fostering a greater appreciation for beekeeping and bees, which have had a population decline in recent years, he said.

Zawislak and Patrick Edwards, president of Benton County Beekeepers and regional director of the Arkansas Beekeeper Association, have seen an uptick in regional and statewide interest in beekeeping in the past few years and suspect good environmental stewardship is the primary motivator for most people.

"Beekeeping is noninvasive, eco-friendly, sustainable, healthy and family-oriented," Edwards said. He said the hobby has grown in popularity since he and his wife formed the Benton County club in 2013. The club attracted 25 to 100 people to meetings in its first few years. It had 67 regular members until the beginner's class began two weeks ago and now has more than 100. In the past year, Edwards' business, Preppers Bee Supply in Garfield, sold as much as 20,000 pounds of agricultural sugar, which locals use to make bee food.

"People are looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable," Edwards said. "They're more educated and know you can use everything in a hive -- honey without chemicals in it and with beneficial enzymes, pollen that helps allergies. It's health conscious."

"The general trend right now is toward local food and reducing your carbon footprint, being greener," Zawislak said. "A lot of people are doing backyard gardening and backyard poultry for urban homesteading."

Beekeeping fits in with those practices, Zawislak said, because it supports floral and food gardens. Even small-scale beekeeping can yield lots of honey. A single hive requires only an area of 8 square feet and yields an average of 60 pounds of honey annually, but yields can range from 20 to 100 pounds, Edwards said.

Fayetteville allows two hives on any single-family lot. One additional hive per 2,500-square-foot area is permitted on lots larger than 5,000 square feet for a maximum of four hives, according to the city's urban agriculture ordinance. Bentonville allows up to four colonies based on lot size, determined by how many quarter acres the property is, and hives must be 200 feet from all property lines.

Common standards of Bentonville and Fayetteville are that hives must be registered through the Arkansas State Plant Board, keepers must abide by apiary laws and provide access to water, and the more commonly aggressive Africanized bees are prohibited.

Rogers and Springdale don't have ordinances regarding honeybees.

Allan Skogen, a retired Rogers firefighter, began picking up beekeeping skills last summer through similar meetings, guest lecturers and diagnostic workshops organized by the Benton County club. He was harvesting honey by fall. Most beginners don't see their hives produce honey until the second year, Edwards said.

Skogen said he was interested in the craft because "bees are threatened, I'd like to take care of the environment, benefit my garden and help neighbors pollinate their gardens to get a larger yield on their crops. I think a lot of folks like me are interested in protecting the environment and taking care of where we live."

A garden pollinated by bees will often produce one and a half times more fruit or vegetables than it would otherwise, Edwards said. Skogen and his neighbors did see an increase in their vegetable and raspberry production, though the yield does come at a cost.

At $50 for individual boxes to make up a hive, $200 for a protective suit and gloves, or a full suit for $300, it doesn't take long to invest hundreds of dollars. The average beginner beekeeper will spend $300 for initial hive startup costs and a total first-year expense ranging from $600 to $800, Edwards said. The major expenses are up front and can vary based on a beekeeper's style or needs.

Beehive styles Kenyan Top Bar and Tanzanian Top Bar are popular right now because each is relatively cheap and easy to build, Zawislak said.

"They're simple and economical to build [because] there's no real standard design, no critical dimensions," Zawislak said. "You can build it out of any scrap of wood you've got. It's a good method for small-scale do-it-yourself."

Skogen started with a hive tool, a smoker, bee brush, a suit, veil and gloves, brood chamber and hive feeder. Once he had firsthand experience with bees, he found them gentle enough to not need the full bee suit. Joining a local club helped cut down on expenses by allowing the shared use of an extractor, which normally costs from $850 to $1,000. The club also provided demonstrations of the more difficult processes, such as harvesting, and gave him the benefit of others' experience dealing with pests, diseases and other beekeeping challenges, Skogen said.

New beekeepers will have to confront parasitic mites, bacteria, diseases and the approximately 20-30 viruses that can afflict bees. Varroa mites and small hive beetles are the most common in the area, Zawislak said, but the European foulbrood bacteria and an Asian strand of the Nosema fungus are also possibilities. Pests such as skunks are common disturbances to beehives in Arkansas.

"These make beekeeping more challenging to deal with than it was years ago," Zawislak said. "Some people will finish this class and say that they're not quite ready, they didn't realize it would cost this much or take this much work, but some will stick with it, and others will gain a greater appreciation for beekeepers and honeybees."

Metro on 02/06/2017

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