Vandals "Bite the Hand that Feeds Them"
A young beekeeper, just getting started, has been dealt at devastating
blow by vandals who destroyed about $20,000 worth of bees that he had
leased from another beekeeper to be his breeding stock. Losses could
total more, if he finds that the frames of comb are contaminated and
unusable for replacement bees.
Gary Ford of Newport in northern NY had hoped to start up his own
beekeeping operation. He had joined a group of beekeepers who brings bees
to South Carolina during the winter, to relieve the bees from the stresses
of winter, and to raise additional bees in the spring. Yesterday, he went
to his bee yard in the Deep Creek community of Georgetown County,
expecting to be a midwife to his 120 hives. Instead he found the three
story hives toppled and killed by vandals who sprayed some kind of liquid
over them, possibly diesel fuel. He was only able to salvage less than 30
hives.
Each of the 100 lost hives was like a fat, pregnant cow, ready to
deliver twin calves. A few weeks ago, he had added boxes to them to give
the queen brood space, and fed them heavily with sugar and corn syrup.
Since then, they had been gathering the plentiful pollen, which is their
protein source. The hives were full of young bees and ready to be split,
each one into three new hives.
Three hundred hives is half a tractor-trailer load of bees, which could
have been trucked into apple growing areas in May to pollinate a million
dollars worth of apples.
Apple and melon growers have been scrambling to line up bees for their
crops this year, and are finding the supply less than the need. As wild
bees have disappeared, farmers have been forced to increase the number of
bees they lease for pollination. New York, Gary's home state, requires
about 30,000 hives just for apples.
Despite a growing shortage of bees for US pollination needs, there are
few young beekeepers. There are only about 1600 graying beekeepers left in
America to pollinate the bulk of our apples, melons, almonds, and many
other fruits and vegetables. Who will pollinate the next generation's
food?
Now Gary is faced with the questions of the salvageability of the
equipment, how he will pay back the owner, and how he can establish his
own bee farm, with so much of his stock destroyed.
When he started his operation in January, Gary sought a place to put
his leased bees. He made an agreement with "Doc" Marsh, a local farmer,
who appreciated the need for pollination. Marsh has been worried over the
lack of bees in his own watermelons.
In his inexperience, and with only an old school bus to move the bees,
Gary made a mistake. Of the possible sites, he chose a site too near
people's homes. He looked over a more remote site, but concluded, "I
didn't think I could manoever the bus through the brush. And I was afraid
of bogging down."
After he placed the bees, some neighbors complained of the bee
activity, mostly of the bee droppings spotting vehicles and homes. Gary
had talked with neighbors after receiving some complaints, but the problem
of bee droppings had died down after the first few days. Bees in the cold
north had not had opportunity to fly and relieve themselves, but had done
so en masse, when they arrived in the sunny south.
Because of complaints, Gary had already decided to move the bees to a
more isolated site, provided by another beekeeper. But the vandals spoiled
that plan.
South Carolina and Florida are the main wintering grounds for
honeybees from the northeast. In Florida beekeepers are discouraged with
the very poor honey crops in the orange groves, due to the January freeze
damage to the buds.
Some are now on the way to South Carolina to try to salvage some income
from our blackberry blossoms, which make a high-quality honey. Then they
will move on north to pollinate apples, blueberries, and other fruit,
followed by a summer in the clover pastures to make honey again.
Most commercial beekeepers today are migratory, moving with the season
to pollination contracts and honey producing areas. It costs about $100
per year to maintain each beehive in this mode. Today's apple growers now
maintain high density orchards of dwarf trees on trellises, rather than
the old-fashioned, but marginally productive, big trees. Likewise,
beekeepers have had to switch to a high-intensity form of beekeeping to
survive.
Dave Green, of Hemingway, a local beekeeper who supplies bees for
South Carolina melon, squash, kiwifruit, and cucumber growers, notes that
vandalism has been increasing in recent years.
"Bees have become so scarce that people no longer accept them as
normal. Two generations ago, there were many farmer-beekeepers in the
area, and no one thought much of them, except to leave them alone. Today,
many people are fearful. And the Hollywood 'killer bee' hype has made
some folks panicky and hostile.
Green has had frequent losses when he places hives in the fields, from
vandals who burn hives, shoot at them, or run over them. "Some young
buck, probably high on beer and testosterone, ran a four-wheel drive
through one of my bee yards recently, smashing up hives and equipment."
Beekeepers are frequently up against a lack of understanding in the
community. A panicky woman from Center Crossroad community recently
stopped at Green's Hemingway workshop, complaining of bees "swarming"
around her home. Janice and Dave, went, expecting to find a swarm in a
bush or tree. Instead they found bees visiting the blossoms of her Chinese
holly hedge.
"She was spraying them with insecticide, trying to stop them!"
"Don't you want berries on your holly?" he told her. "That's the
natural order of things. Bees visit the blossoms and get fed. They
pollinate the blossoms, and the berries form, so the birds get fed too!
They aren't the least bit interested in stinging you!"
These bees are from a nearby apiary owned by a young couple who also
migrate to South Carolina for the winter. They are also beginning their
own beekeeping operation, with help from her father-in-law, who once had a
large bee farm.
"These bees are our livestock. They must range free to feed
themselves, and do their job, which is to pollinate our fruits and
vegetables, and the feed for a lot of birds and wildlife."
"Of course, the worst vandals are the insecticide applicators, who
fail to check for bees visiting the blossoms in the fields they spray.
Pesticides that are toxic to bees, have directions that prohibit
application while bees are visiting. A lot of blooming cotton is sprayed,
without any thought for the bees that are so badly needed. This kind of
vandalism keeps us in poverty."
"I feel sorry for Gary. He's invested everything he has in the bees.
He's a fine, Christian young man, and he has a young family to support.
Now he's lost most of his livestock."
Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green, PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC
29554 (Dave & Jan's Pollination Service, Pot o'Gold Honey Co.)
Business Phone 803-558-9598 or Home 803-558-0133
Pollination for lay people, students, teachers
....Of bees, beekeepers, and food
http://users.aol.com/queenbjan/primbees.htm
Pollination for the pros - those involved in doing it:
Practical Pollination Home Page Dave & Janice Green
http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
Jan's Sweetness and Light Varietal Honeys and Gift Sets
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm