Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 22, 1993 TAG: 9305270322
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"There's the next beekeeper," he says, proudly pointing to the curly-headed youngster playing nearby. "We've gotta keep this going."
The 40-year-old Montgomery County native worries about the advancing ages of many of his beekeeping colleagues and that the bee business, quite literally, may be dying.
Not only have some of his mentors died, so have many of the bees.
Outbreaks of a fatal parasite - the tracheal mite - killed 50 percent to 60 percent of Virginia's honeybee colonies last year. And Africanized bees - glorified in the mass media as "killer bees"- could one day overtake the more common Italian variety beekeepers raise.
"I don't think there's any stopping them," he said of the Africanized bees, which are highly productive but vicious and difficult to deal with.
"We're just going to have to learn how to manage 'em," he said. For now, the Africanized bees have been halted around Texas.
For Snider, who used to be a waste-water treatment plant operator, his Vicker Switch Honey Co. (or apiary) started with a swarm of bees on the side of his house. He collected the swarm, a wild colony from a nearby tree, and "one thing led to another and now I've got about 40 [colonies]."
He said young Wesley likes to suit up and help him work with the bees.
"He's not afraid of 'em," Snider said. Snider isn't either. "They don't bother me. I get stung right often."
Despite his company's name, Snider characterizes himself as more of a bee and bee equipment supplier than a honey producer.
"Honey is kind of a by-product for me," he said. Even so, last year his bees produced 1,000 pounds of the golden goo - that's about 300 quarts - and 1992 was a poor year.
He supplies bees to other beekeepers, too. Colonies are sent by mail, complete with a queen in her tiny isolation cage and enough food for the trip through the postal system.
Despite the March blizzard, which knocked over some of his hives, Snider thinks he could double or even triple his production this year. He said he's treated his hives for the tracheal mite and weather conditions this spring have been optimal.
"This is going to be an excellent honey year," he predicted. "The bees are strong this year."
Snider cites an increased number of swarms this year as further evidence. "They swarm because they're overcrowded," he said.
Snider hopes to benefit from the decline in wild - or feral - bee colonies from tracheal mites through increased demand for his managed hives for agricultural pollination.
Right now, he has 18 hives stationed on a bee yard near a Salem vegetable farm at $25 to $30 per hive. The farmer's crops get pollinated and he gets the honey.
Virginia's orchardists also rely on bees to pollinate fruit tree blossoms each spring.
A colony of 30,000 to 50,000 bees can cost more than $60. Add to that the cost of treatment for tracheal mites and bacterial diseases, hives, extracting equipment and protective gear, and it's easy to see why top-quality honey can run $7 or $8 a quart.
Snider picks up additional income by recycling the hundreds of pounds of beeswax his apiary generates during honey extraction. He melts down the excess in a homemade, solar-heated device, and puts part of it aside to be reworked into "foundation" inside the hive where the bees build their honeycomb.
The rest is made into candles and other craft items. Beeswax candles can burn much longer than a typical paraffin candle and don't produce soot.
Snider says people are unreasonably afraid of bees. He said honeybees won't sting anyone unless you disturb them or stand right in their flight path.
"Standing in front of a colony will get you stung, I'll guarantee it," he said.
Snider suggests leaving swarm removal to an expert. Swarms can be irritable, and trying to hose them down with water is a mistake.
"You never know when you're going to get a mean one," he said.
He said he often gets called in by law enforcement agencies and individuals who spot swarms and need help.
To capture errant bees, Snider uses a swarm trap, a fiberboard box that looks a bit like a picnic cooler. Inside is a small vial of pheromone, a chemical that attracts the insects.
Although Snider said he's still looking for another full-time job, he wouldn't be sorry to settle on beekeeping.
"I'd like to make this so I could make a living at it," he said.
For someone interested in getting a start in beekeeping, Snider offers a beginner's kit and a book - "Everything you need for a single colony," he said.
\ BEE FACTS\ \ The women do all the work in a beehive. All of the worker bees are females, and 75 percent of them in a typical colony engage in pollination and in honey production.\ \ Male honeybees are called drones. Their only purpose is to mate with the queen. The workers banish all of the drones from the hive each autumn and the hive produces a new crop in the spring. Drones cannot sting and they do no work.\ \ A queen bee mates just once - while in flight - and with a single drone. The queen can lay up to 1,500 eggs a day. The eggs take 27 days to hatch.\ \ The venom that a bee releases when it stings is the same venom as a rattlesnake's. A honeybee dies after it stings. It would take 500 honeybee stings to equal a rattlesnake's bite. Five percent of the population human is considered allergic to bee stings.\ \ Bees must tap nectar from 2 million flowers to produce a pound of honey. The average worker bee will make just a 12th of a teaspoon of honey during her four- to five-week working lifetime.\ \ Each bee colony contains from 30,000 to 60,000 insects - but only one queen. When bees swarm, it means that a colony has spawned a second queen and part of it has split to follow her.\ \ Honeybees can communicate through an elaborate dance that tells other bees where the nectar and pollen are and how to get there.\ \ Bees have five - count 'em, five - eyes: one on each side of the head and three on top of the head.\ \ A honeybee has four wings and flies about 15 mph. An average bee colony might cover more than 50,000 miles in order to produce one pound of honey.\ \ Bees get the same antibiotics that humans use in order to control bacterial diseases.\ \ Sourwood blossom honey is considered the top-of-the-line product in this part of the country.\ \ China is the top honey-producing country in the world. The United States' honey producers also face strong competition from Mexico and Argentina.\ \ Bears really do like honey and will they consume bees, wax and honey in a single gulp.
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by CNB