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News What's the buzz? News & Observer Reprinted by permission of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina.
RALEIGH -- A crowd gathered in a circle around Will Hicks Saturday morning as he knelt on the lawn of N.C. State University's honeybee lab and lit a handful of pine straw in a tall metal can. Once the straw was burning, Hicks flipped the lid shut and squeezed the compressor, sending a thick cloud of sweet-smelling ivory smoke toward the people looking over his shoulder. Starting with the essential smoker, Hicks, a state beehive inspector, walked the future beekeepers through some basics before they took home free hives. Hicks and other bee experts in the state are hoping that the 500 free hives may be a shot in the arm to North Carolina's bee population. Since the mid-1980s, parasitic mites have been devastating the honeybee population across the country, including North Carolina. The number of kept beehives in the state has dropped by 44 percent, and about 95 percent of wild bees have been wiped out, said David Tarpy, apiculturist for the state's cooperative extension and an assistant professor at NCSU. The loss of honeybees is posing a threat to farmers, who rely on them for pollination of everything from cucumbers to cantaloupe. Bee experts, including Tarpy, have been experimenting with Russian bees, which seem to be more pest-resistant. With his results, Tarpy decided giving beehives away, including some Russian bees, would be a good way to boost interest in honeybees, the number of beekeepers and the population of Russian bees throughout the state. He applied for a grant to pay for the distribution of two hives each to 250 people across the state. The two beehives and bee colonies that each new beekeeper received were worth about $300, Tarpy said. The Golden LEAF Foundation supported the project, with the idea that even beekeeping as a hobby increases the natural pollination of crops. The foundation funds agricultural projects in counties economically distressed by a longtime dependence on tobacco farming. And some beekeeping hobbyists may eventually decide to become full-time pollinators, Tarpy said. When word of the program spread, more than 2,800 people applied for the beehives. Applicants were selected from 86 counties. Half of the hives were distributed Saturday in Raleigh. The hives for the western half of the state will be distributed in the Wilkesboro area later this month. Beekeeper associations in the Triangle area think the initial results look promising. Enrollment in spring beekeeping classes and the number of new members joining the associations are way up. A recent Chatham County class had more than 60 students. About 80 came out for classes in Wake County. The state association's roll has jumped from 1,200 in December to more than 1,600. The emergence of so many new beekeepers all at once has been a little overwhelming for beekeeping association chapters, said Bill Herndon, who is active in the Wake County group. His association's membership rose from roughly 40 to 100. "I'm personally responsible for four people, but I get phone calls from about 20 more," Herndon said. "The people I talked to said it was something they had always wanted to do, and the free bees and setup was a good chance to get started. "By the third or fourth bee class, they realized they wouldn't get any [free] but decided to get bees anyway." On Saturday, Hicks stepped inside a six-sided screened platform, set a wide-brimmed hat covered in netting on his head and tied the strings across his chest. Using a metal tool like a paint scraper, Hicks pried open the top of a hive in the enclosure and pulled out slender wax-combed trays that were spotted with stored honey and bee larvae underneath a clinging group of bees. "Will the bees always stay on the frame like that?" someone asked Hicks. Others, excited and nervous about getting started, wanted to know how to get their pre-packaged queen bees into the hive for the first time and whether they could set up a hive of Russian bees next to a hive of Italian bees. "As far as I know," Hicks joked, "there's no international conflict." Staff writer Cheryl Johnston can be reached at 932-2005 or email. # # # For additional information, please contact Email: info@goldenleaf.org
Golden LEAF Foundation |
