Busy as a Beekeeper
Jack Reilly and fellow members of the Douglas County Bees are playing important roles in helping reduce the potentially dangerous effects of a continued decline in the world’s bee population
Story by Sarah Smith Photos by Thomas Boyd
On a ridgetop in Umpqua Valley, in the shadow of oak trees, Jack Reilly spends a quiet afternoon inspecting his beehive. It’s a peaceful distraction and a hobby Reilly has enjoyed for 20 years, but it’s also important work.
Bees are among the hardest-working creatures on the planet. Their powers of pollination are essential to the reproduction of many cultivated and wild plants, which is crucial to food production, human livelihoods and biodiversity. Without bees, it would be a serious challenge to sustain the world’s population of 7 billion humans.
Yet the world’s bee population faces serious challenges of its own.
"Bees are under great threat from the combined effects of climate change, intensive agriculture, pesticides use, biodiversity loss and pollution," writes José Graziano da Silva, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, on the group’s website. "The absence of bees and other pollinators would wipe out coffee, apples, almonds, tomatoes and cocoa to name just a few of the crops that rely on pollination.”
Americans have bees to thank for one in every three bites of food we eat.
Despite an alarming report published by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service that estimates America is losing one-third of the nation's 2.46 million colonies each year, bee conservation is blooming. The world is taking notice, thanks in part to 2007’s Bee Movie (an animated tale that follows a honeybee who sues the human race for exploiting bees), scientists (like Thomas Seeley, the world’s leading expert on bee behavior), Save the Bees campaigns and local beekeepers like Reilly.
Beekeeper Jack Reilly tending to his hive.
Reilly is president of Douglas County Bees (DCBees), an organization established in 2014 whose mission is: “To educate about bees, have a local connection for people with bees, and to show all just how fun being a beekeeper can be.” The 100-person group is composed of those who have never had bees, or newbies (pun intended), beginners and experienced.
A bee master and past student of the Oregon State Master Beekeeper Program, Reilly is tending one hive this year after installing a “nuc” (for nucleus) colony in early May. Nucs are small honeybee colonies created from larger colonies.
“Nucs are a much better way to start a hive than the two-pound bee boxes sold at some locations. They already have comb and the young are already being raised,” says Reilly. “I only have one hive because of where I live. Bees will travel up to three to five miles for nectar and pollen, but the further they have to go, the more energy (honey and pollen) is used. Bees need a local food source, so you can’t put too many hives in a poor location.”
Like Reilly, most of DCBees’ members have a single hive; however, some who live on farms that require bees for pollination have multi-hive apiaries.
When bees break off from a hive, they sometimes find shelter in places they’re not welcome, like chimneys, trees or dumpsters. Instead of spraying the bees with pesticides or hiring an exterminator, a local beekeeper may be able to safely relocate them. Annually, DCBees receives 24 to 30 or more requests for bee or swarm removals.
Extracting bees from buildings is considerably more difficult than collecting swarm clusters (most are transitory and generally don’t need to be managed). A well-established colony may have up to 100 pounds of honey, bees (adult and developing) and beeswax combs, making its removal challenging.
The first step is to determine the exact location of the combs and size of the colony. Dressed in beekeeper suits, club volunteers vacuum the bees into a box and spray any remaining bees with a sugar solution to calm them down. The box is left overnight, and the next morning the beekeepers pick it up and relocate the hive to a suitable space.
Americans have bees to thank for one in every three bites of food we eat. Because of their importance to food crops, the efforts of local beekeepers and organizations like Douglas County Bees are more important than ever. Here are five easy ways to help support those efforts and help the bee population, courtesy of #savethebees from Heifer International:
Allow dandelions and clover to grow.
Avoid using pesticides and herbicides.
Plant a bee garden.
Shop responsibility.
“Bee” informed.
For more information about Douglas County Bees, call 541-375-0393, visit its Facebook page or go to www.douglascountybees.org.
