Beekeepers group looks to educate public

More than 100 bee-curious people gathered Saturday to learn and experience the delights of an apiary.

An apiary, also known as a bee yard, is a place where beehives of honeybees are kept. In this case, it was off U.S. Highway 341 on John Hope Road. Rick Moore leads the group, the Heart of Georgia Beekeepers, a 10-year-old organization.

“We started with six members, and have about 100 now,” he said. “Today’s class was for beginners.”

Most of the people there, either club members or non-club members, have no bees of their own. A lot of them have been waiting for bees, which should be available the third week of April. They’re called nucs, pronounced nukes, which is a five-frame hive with a queen, like a starter hive.

Moore said Saturday’s class zeroed in on people who have no understanding of bees – what are bees, the parts of bees, why there are bees, why we need them, what they do, the parts of the hive.

“We talked about safety, about ecology, how bees account for 30 percent of the food we eat through pollination, maybe they want to keep bees, pick a reason. Maybe they’re gardeners,” he said.

The day was perfect, with blue skies and sunshine beaming down on the curious. Many said they wanted to start hives in their own backyard.

But as numerous as they are, bees are starting to vanish.

“Why? Well, flip a coin. Some surveys will tell you maybe it’s the neonicotinoids, or colony collapse disorder, and then there’s the generic ‘we don’t know why they’re gone,’” said Moore. “We have this theory, we have that theory, we don’t know.

“The situation has deteriorated in the last 15 years. They have changed the chemicals; the neonicotinoids, we believe, has affected the nervous systems of the bees and they’re unable to find their way home. That’s one theory. Another is electromagnetics. Who knows? All we know is that right at 40 percent of bees are lost per year.

“They’ve been around for millions of years, and we’re trying to keep them in this nice little box. They’re nice enough to stay in most of the time. We’re manipulating them and stealing from them. I can understand if they’re upset.”

Moore said Heart of Georgia is all about education. Saturday’s seminar was free, and the group is doing that because they want people to understand bees, how important they are, and to try to get people interested in beekeeping.

People are slowly becoming more aware of bees’ importance, he said.

“Think of all the food we eat directly or indirectly pollinated by honeybees: cucumbers, apples, watermelons, cranberries, most of your vegetables,” he said.

Bees aren’t the only pollinators, but they’re the only pollinators we harvest honey from, said Moore.

“It’s exciting to stand behind a hive and watch 60,000 bees come and go, the ones coming in the hive with the bright orange and yellow pollen bags on their legs – they’ve been out foraging,” he said. “It’s an addiction, a legal addiction watching the honeybee. And the honey tastes good, too. Then you’ve got the propolis you can use medicinally on yourself. Propolis or bee glue is a resinous mixture that honeybees collect from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources. Then you’ve got the wax, and it just goes on and on and on.”

The Heart of Georgia Beekeepers meets 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month at the FFA/FCCLA Center on Camp John Hope Road. For information call 478-238-8787.

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