Rich & Diane Byers Apiary …
Summer and Winter Apiary Views
City Dwellers and Beekeepers
Early Summer 2017 -
There is a quiet street in Hazelwood community of Waynesville, North Carolina where Rich and Diane Byers keep an apiary of honey bees. Currently, Rich is the Treasurer of the Haywood County Beekeepers Association and his quiet voice makes him a perfect beekeeper’s mentor . Besides working his colonies, Rich teaches his grandson about bees, guides him in building his own colony and on occasion, Rich receives calls to mentor new beekeepers.
I called Rich and asked if it would be okay to visit his apiary and conduct a little bee education to prepare for the apiary I was about to set up. He said, “sure, come on over.” When I arrived, Rich took me on the grand tour and we conducted some inspections management on the first two colonies (far-right). Several frames were extracted for inspection, where we found eggs and larvae in the comb. Next, Rich handed the frame of bees to this new beekeeper and I inspected it as I learned about identifying the various stages of bee development. Rich commented that he believed his third hive was without a queen, because previous activity was low and the bees were stinging him every time he opened this hive. As we progressed into the inspection process of this last hive, we found eggs and larva in many of the comb cells. Surprise, there is an egg laying queen somewhere inside. This discovery meant the hive could be thriving and healthy.
This beekeeper and his gracious wife made me feel at home, and after working the colonies we had some refreshment on the back porch. Rich brought out his “log book” to show how he tracks each inspection and his process is quite impressive. The Byers sell honey from their apiary- whenever it is available.
Finally, by the time my bee packages arrived in April 2017, Rich’s apiary grew to six active colonies. He conducted a “split” of one healthy colony and established two more from “swarms” that he captured, as the result of receiving earlier phone calls. I invited him to come over and monitor my first package installations, along with taking some video, and he graciously agreed to assist this week. That’s the kind of beekeeper I understand Rich Byers to “bee.” He is always willing to help new beeks who are getting started with their apiary.
Zach
HCBA, webmaster
The Byers grandson… quite proud of the hive he built for the Apiary
What’s going on here?
During the summer heat it is not uncommon for the bees to come outside and cool off! Let’s face it… If you did not have any air-conditioning in your hive box… you would be sitting out on the porch too.
However, this kind of activity may also indicate that the colony is about to swarm too. Thus, the beekeeper who verifies what they are actually viewing is the beekeeper who may be able to expand the apiary by splitting a colony. It will take a detailed inspection of the colony to answer this question!
