By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
During his three years as Wood County’s official beekeeper, Michael Horst has learned a lot about getting stung.
“The good thing about year three is that I get stung a lot less than year one or two,” Horst said. “It was pretty substantial that first season.”
As an apiarist, Horst keeps an eye on the health of honey bee hives in Wood, Lucas, Fulton and Henry counties. The counties contract with him because so many locally raised crops rely on honey bee pollination – like pumpkins, apples, tomatoes, strawberries, even soybeans.
Wood County has the most beekeepers – about 100 – who consent to Horst’s inspections in his region.
“Fortunately Ohio’s bees are in good shape,” Horst said during a recent meeting with the Wood County commissioners.
Horst inspects hives for mites, and looks for bacterial diseases, which are spread to healthy hives by bees raiding other less healthy hives. If diseases aren’t caught, the colony’s health may be threatened. Horst can also inspect commercial bee businesses, to make sure they aren’t selling sick bees.
“I’m out there to help folks have healthier bees,” he said.
Many farmers bring boxes of bees to their farms to help with orchards or other crops.
“Natural pollinators are out there, they exist in the environment. But sometimes, it’s not enough,” Horst said. “Every gardener, every park system benefits from the pollination.”
In this region, pollination benefits peaches, apples, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, peppers, melons, cucumbers and soybeans. Pollination is credited for more than doubling the size of berries, Horst said.
“Pollination is super important. So much of our pollination is dependent on honey bees,” he said.
But being a backyard beekeeper can be challenging.
“It’s pretty time-consuming,” Horst said. “It can look pretty cool, but being in a bee jacket in 90 degree weather can be tough.”
Many bees in Ohio are imported from Georgia or Florida. Horst inspects them when they arrive, and helps local beekeepers ensure their health. It’s not unusual for some beekeepers to lose half or all of their colonies during the cold months.
“We don’t want to import our bees from down south and then lose them in the winter,” Horst said.
Bees are most content when they are working, he said. They will travel up to 12 miles to do their jobs if necessary.
“A busy bee is just going to be happy,” he said.
But some counties don’t have apiarists, including some neighboring Wood County. So that can make local hives more susceptible to problems.
“Some of the old school styles are slow to adapt,” Horst told the commissioners.
Healthy neighboring hives are important – since queens can fly miles to mate.
“That’s why it’s important that my neighbor’s bees’ health is so important,” he said.
Since he started as the county apiarist three years ago, Horst has learned some tricks of the trade to minimize the chances of getting stung. Transporting hives to farmers can be difficult, but is best done at night or very early in the morning.
Bees prefer full sun, and tend to get cranky if their hives are located in wooded areas.
“Bees can defend when they have something to defend,” he said. So providing good living conditions is important.
Moving boxes of bees when they are full of honey can be difficult, since the boxes can weigh up to 100 pounds.
Smoke is a useful tool – not because it calms the bees – but because it tricks them into thinking there is a fire so their focus shifts to eating as much honey as possible.
White clothing is also a plus. Wearing black looks too much like the fur of bears or skunks – the biggest natural threats to their honey.
And Horst has learned the value of wearing bands around the bottom of his pants to keep bees from getting inside his pant legs.
Bees are vegetarian and most are “relatively docile,” he said. Some people confuse honey bees with yellow jacket wasps. Unlike worker bees, wasps and queen bees can sting a person several times. In non-technical terms, regular bees die since their stingers pull out the “bee guts” as they sting.
Many people confuse honey bees with wasps.
“A wasp will come and spoil the picnic,” Horst said. But honey bees provide the valuable service of pollination – and create a sweet treat in the process.
