June is National Pollinators Month, but Eric Burns, president of the Kentuckiana Beekeepers Association (KBA), knows that anytime flowers are blooming, honey bees are pollinating. For almost 50 years, KBA has focused on educating the community and providing resources to its members. Currently, it has 250 dues-paying individuals and is not only the largest local bee club in the state of Kentucky, but was one of the first organizations to raise awareness about bees and their importance.
“KBA began in 1976, and it wasn’t until the 2000s that many bee clubs got started. We serve the greater Louisville area; 70% of our members live in Jefferson County, 20% come from surrounding counties, and 10% are from Indiana. Our monthly meetings are geared to helping beginning beekeepers as well as sharing information of interest to more advanced members. We also do community outreach, such as speaking at schools and public libraries,” says Burns.
“There are many different reasons why people get involved with beekeeping. It’s different for everyone. Some people just want bees around as pollinators. They might start with a couple of hives, and it grows into 50 to 100. Some people get a hive because they consume so much honey and related products such as pollen. Others want to do it because it’s fun and interesting. I joined in 2013 because I saw an episode on urban beekeeping on Kentucky Educational Television,” says Burns.
Monthly meetings are held at the Louisville Nature Center. Topics are listed on the KBA website, and potential members can attend one meeting before deciding if they would like to join. Subjects covered include hive management, honey collection, candle making, and wax rendering.
“The primal fear of bees goes away with more experience. When beekeepers first start, they wear a full protective suit with gloves and a veil. But that personal protective equipment can get hot, and people tend to take it off as they get more comfortable working with honey bees and learn more about bee behavior during different seasons. After some years, stings have less of an effect,” says Burns.
Member Resources
Other resources are available to members. There is a monthly newsletter with tips and points on what to look for during different seasons. In April, May, June, and July, members take a field trip of sorts and meet at specific locations, such as Historic Whitehall or another member’s apiary or beehives. More experienced members mentor newer ones, and the club’s beekeeping equipment is available for borrowing. The KBE website maintains a Buy Local page for members to post their honey bee products for sale. Each month, there is a virtual question-and-answer session on Google Meet. This online discussion usually centers on a specific topic, such as hive removal, selling and marketing honey, or bee swarming.
Honey bee swarm removal is a free service KBA performs for the community. Bee swarms usually occur between March and June when a queen bee and a group of bees leave their old hive, and scout bees are looking for a place to build a new one. The group huddles around each other and hangs in the open air on tree branches or posts. Since they don’t have a hive to defend, it’s easy for a trained individual to capture the swarm, but it must be done before the group finds its way into a tree or building structure.
KBA participates in other community outreach programs as well. On August 16, “Intro to Beekeeping” will be offered at the Louisville Southwest Regional Library. KBA Day at the Kentucky State Fair Honey Booth is August 22. Additionally, the organization has a goal to educate the public on how important honey bees are to our ecosystem.
Honey Bee History
“Honey bees were brought to the United States from Europe. In the 1400s, they came from Spain and Portugal. Tons of bees were brought in the 1700s by colonists. Bees imported from Italy were popular in the 1800s,” says Burns.
Immigrants from other countries also brought plants that require bee pollination to produce their fruit. Plums, apples, peaches, blueberries, citrus, watermelon, and pumpkins all depend on cross-pollination. They can still produce without honey bees by relying on other bee species, but the yield would be much less. Some crops, such as the almond trees of California, can only be pollinated by the honey bee because of their European origin.
“Bees are connected to the environment. When they are out in it, they collect chemicals and bring them back to the hive. Most years, there is a 20% to 40% loss due to pesticides and chemicals. This was a bad year for bees; in commercial production, 70% to 80% of hives were lost. The Varroa Mite, which jumped from Asian honey bees to European honey bees in the ’90s, is another thing that is hurting the population,” says Burns.
Burns shares that although Asian honey bees coexist with the Varroa Mite, European honey bees haven’t had time to develop protective genetic traits. It is thought that the mite was passed when the two species commingled at the Russian, North Korean and China borders. The United States Department of Agriculture is researching the development of bees with mite-resistant genes.
“The best thing people can do is get rid of their pure grass lawns. People are obsessed with perfection, but it’s a monocrop with very little diversity. The chemicals dumped on it run off and get into our water supply. Once people stop treating their lawns, they are surprised at how many flowering plants arrive. Converting lawns to flower beds of any kind would help,” says Burns.
Dues to become a member of KBA are $15 a year. All members over 65 years of age benefit from a lifetime membership after 10 years of paid membership. Those interested can sign up on the KBA website, kyanabees.com, as well as make donations and ask for swarm removal aid.
