Mike Cober was in a store shopping for bee equipment and he read the slogan on one of the boxes.
Beekeeping is “a simple hobby with a sweet return” it stated.
But that isn't exactly true, says Cober, an award-winning local backyard beekeeper. While it can be very rewarding, it's not so simple.
Cober spent part of a sunny afternoon recently discussing the intriguing art of apiculture at his home in 108 Mile Ranch. His half a dozen hives are set facing the side of his house on Easzee Drive, standing behind an electric fence in a quiet area protected from wind but where they get sun all afternoon. As the bees leave the hives to forage, they fly straight up in the air over his two-storey house; the trajectory by design to minimize their interaction with neighbours.
Cober, the third in a line of four generations of beekeepers, talks about the pollinators with the knowledge of someone who marvels at what an incredible creation a bee is. He's grown up around them and done his research. His grandfather was a beekeeper, his father was a beekeeper, and his son is a beekeeper. Bees are truly remarkable creatures, he says.
“I love my bees. Every time I go into the hives I'm absolutely marvelled. You have to realize everything they're doing is in the dark, and it's perfect.
"We try to manage them, but they know how to manage themselves better than we do.”
Needless to say, there's a lot to know and a lot to do and a lot of time needs to be invested to run a healthy, successful operation. The rewards though can be great and plenty if you do it right, something Cober can attest to.
His Carolinian honey bees produced some of the best sweet stuff in the province two years ago when he took his honey and wax products to the British Columbia Honey Producers Association 2013 AGM Conference and Trade Show in Kelowna.
Cober won three first place awards – for best beeswax, best white honey and best white cream honey – and he also brought home the Premier Honey Exhibit Award for all around achievement.
This year, it's been “phenomenal” so far with respect to honey production. He's already drawn some 330 pounds from his hives, with several weeks remaining to harvest more.
“It's been an extremely warm, hot, long summer. You have crops and plants blooming earlier. It's incredible.”
There are approximately 2,000 beekeepers currently operating approximately 40,000 colonies in British Columbia, according to the most recent figures (2013) from the BC Ministry of Agriculture.
The Cariboo region had about 1,200 colonies that produced close to 117,000 pounds of honey, about $464,000 worth, that year. The province as a whole produced some two million pounds. The Cariboo also had the second highest estimated winter mortality rate in 2013, at 27 per cent, which is one of the big challenges for beekeepers.
While the Peace River area is one of the highest honey producing areas in Canada, averaging 400 to 500 pounds of honey per hive per season, the Cariboo region isn't really known for remarkable beekeeping, Cober explains.
But the climate has changed in this area, he adds. Winters are milder, summers are longer and hotter, and it's becoming very conducive to better beekeeping seasons.
“The diversity of what can be foraged here in the 108 is absolutely phenomenal. You got fireweed, you got Indian paintbrush, you got clover, and all the gardens and all the fruit trees. It's a pretty amazing area.”
For anyone looking to get into beekeeping, Cober says the most important thing is doing your homework beforehand. That means reading a lot to find out all the things that can go wrong, what the cost is going to be per hive, per package of bees and all your equipment and everything else.
“Then decide if you want to get into it.”
Cober offers a number of other tips for prospective beekeepers, some of the stuff that has worked well for him these last couple years:
• Get involved with a bee club. “People in the industry are more than willing to help.”
• Know the bylaws. Beekeeping in this area is managed by the Cariboo Regional District.
• Talk to your neighbours before starting.
• Have a secure, sunny area for your hives, away from the wind and behind an electric fence if possible.
• Good hive management is essential. “The biggest reason why colonies swarm is being too crowded.” But don't over-manage your hives. “If you go into the hive, you have to have a specific reason.”
• Don't be a greedy beekeeper. “Make sure you leave them a lot of feed [for the winter months].”
• What bees forage on determines the grade of the honey.
• Be meticulous during the extraction process. “The bees make the honey; I'm just the person that handles the honey. It's all in the processing. It's extracting it, filtering it, being very careful, very clean.”
• Bees are not like wasps. “Wasps are just plain miserable little things and can sting multiple times. A bee will only sting for two reasons – to protect the hive and if it feels there is danger coming to the hive. They're not at all aggressive. They aren't interested in stinging you.”