The number of beekeepers is growing in the First State, but beekeepers say there is still room for more.
The Delaware Beekeepers Association’s Bill Leitzinger admits for first-time beekeepers the thought of getting up close to bees may be daunting.
That’s why he says there is a need to educate the public about techniques, equipment and the nature of honeybees, through events like the one the group held at Delaware State University’s Outreach and Research Center in Smyrna Saturday.
“I think the honeybee is a fascinating creature,” Leitzinger said. “It has a long history, it’s over 50 million years old, but [they] also have a very interesting social structure in the way they communicate and the way they work together to produce the food and to keep a hive together is just fascinating.”
And Leitzinger says a growing number of people seem to share that fascination. The Delaware Beekeepers Association’s membership hit 238 members in August. Eleven years ago, it had just 79 members.
Events like Saturday’s are designed to continue that trend. The Delaware Beekeepers Association, DSU and Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research Education taught the public about beekeeping and gave them a hands-on experience in a beehive on Saturday.
“You learn as a beekeeper to move slowly and gently working the bees and they don’t even try to attack you,” Leitzinger said. “Give the honeybees a break. They’re not the same as other bees and they’re very beneficial to our society both in helping food production as well as honey and other things.”
Kathy Hossler, the president of the Delaware Beekeepers Association, says allowing potential beekeepers to see a real hive up close can help pique their interest in taking it up as a hobby.
“Pictures are worth a thousand words. Actually looking at it and hearing it is so much more interesting,” Hossler said.
For Cal Hollis, a member of the DBA in Lower Kent County, the appeal of beekeeping is watching the bees mature. He began beekeeping for a 4-H project in 1954.
“I like raising lots of bees,” Hollis said. “I’m not a big pollinator moving the bees to the different fields and I’m not a big honey producer. But I enjoy making lots of good bees, trying to breed queens as best as I can.”
There are three types of beekeepers, according to Leitzinger: Hobbyists, sideliners and professional beekeepers. He said professional beekeepers are declining, but hobbyists are on the rise in Delaware, as shown through the DBA’s 238 members. The 238 members are as of August 2016 – a jump from June, in which the DBA documented 222 members. According to Dan Shortridge from the Delaware Department of Agriculture, there are 185 beekeepers registered with the state for 2016 and they are on record for 1,600 hives.
“There’s more of an awareness that the honeybee population is in trouble in America,” Leitzinger said. “ I think the publicity that came because of what was called the colony collapse disorder discovered several years ago that got a lot of media publicity, I think that really helped raise awareness of beekeeping and also got people off the fence. This is helping nature; this is helping the wild honeybee population. It’s a good hobby and once they get into it they enjoy it.”
With summer ending, it’s the last chance for beekeepers to get honey from the hive, Leitzinger said. It’s also an opportunity to prepare the bees for winter.
“So if you take in honey, you want to make sure they have enough leftover honey to get it through the winter and also make sure your queen is healthy and your hive is doing well before the winter.”
Leitzinger added that some ways to make sure a queen bee stays healthy includes checking how a she lays her eggs, if she is producing a healthy brood and if there are any issues with the quality and quantity of eggs she is laying.
The Delaware Beekeepers Association plans to hold another introductory course to beekeeping in the winter.