Page 4 THE BEACON October 2017

Continued from page 1 and bang it together - it sends waves through the air and disorients them . They ' ll settle to the closest thing because they ’ re confused . I ’ ve caught two swarms out of the sky that way and put them in hives and kept them .”

Marty Reynolds has been caring for her hives for nearly four years . She observes , “ It seems to me that the wild bees kind of have it over the ones you get in the packages that come mostly from the south ; the bees that you buy in a small nuc . They just seem to succumb more to the diseases – it seems like the mutt bees do better . That ’ s mostly what I have ; in fact , I would say that ’ s all I have at this point .”

There are many different varieties of honey bees , and according to Levi Plummer , “ I would say that as far as insects go , their brains work differently than other insects . They can respond to their surroundings a little better than some insects because they can see that there ’ s a predator - they even see the beekeeper as a predator - but they can see something that ’ s attacking them , and they ’ re able to communicate and respond to their surroundings . They ’ re pretty simple minded , but when you put them all together they ’ re pretty complex .”

John Miller the treasurer of

the Southeastern Beekeepers Association shares a glimpse into bee behavior , “ There are different times when the bees are reactive to you or not . If they have something to go out and get , the flow is on ; they ’ re not paying attention to you . But if they ’ re all home , and there ’ s nothing to do , and it ’ s dry out and you get in that hive and you take that top off and the inner cover has a hole in it ; and there are bees all around that hole looking straight up - you ’ re going to have a miserable time .

“ Now what the smoke does - naturally when the bees smell smoke , they think there ’ s a forest fire coming , so they go fill themselves up with honey because if it gets hot they ’ re going to try to

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Experienced and well-respected beekeeper Gary Reeves welcomes everyone to the monthly meetings of the Southeastern Indiana Beekeepers Association . ( photo by Susan Ray )

ASSISTED LIVING AND SO MUCH MORE

Avid beekeeper John Miller is the current treasurer for the Southeastern Beekeepers Association .

escape . When they are full of honey , their butts are distended , and in fact , they can ’ t use their stinger because they have to bend it around , but if they ’ re full , they can ’ t use it . And that gives them something else to think about , so instead of guarding , they will go about their business .

“ But in times of dearth , they ’ re defending ( robbing amongst bees is a popular

pastime ), because everybody ' s looking for honey , they ’ ll try to get in a weak hive … those guys will get in there and steal their honey . That ’ s why the guarding goes on - because you ’ ve got bees who haven ’ t got anything else to do because they all want to get nectar , but if there ’ s no nectar for them to go out there and get , they ’ ll

23947 Salt Fork Rd . · Lawrenceburg , IN

Bees swarm around a bee box at Levi Plummer ' s farm .

Beekeepers share ideas , suggestions , and concerns at a recent Southeastern Indiana Beekeepers Association meeting . ( photo by Susan Ray ) go look to see where they can steal some . So , when you get into the hive has a lot to do with how reactive they are .”

That interaction with bees is something beekeepers value . Mr . Clarkston says , “ It ’ s just a love of nature ; like some guys like to fish all the time , I like to mess with my honey bees … I just live and breathe my honey bees . I ’ m up to about twenty-three hives and next year I ’ d like to go another fifteen more - and that ' ll be more than enough to handle .”

Beekeeping practices vary depending upon the individual keeper , and range from an allnatural or balanced approach , to seeking out genetically altered mite-biting queen bees . Beekeepers might have two or three hives , or manage commercial enterprises responsible for over 1,000 traveling hives .

One hive will produce an average of sixty pounds of honey a year . Most beekeepers harvest the honey in late August to allow the bees time to replenish their stores before cold weather arrives . Often the honey gathered later in the year is a little darker than early spring honey , since the color is determined by a variety of factors , including what might be in bloom when the nectar was gathered .

Honey is the only food in Continued on page 5

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