Oklahoma beekeepers are deciding whether to keep their hives at home this year.
Apiarists have two main ways to make money: They can keep their bees home to make honey, or send hives to California to help crops such as almonds.
Oklahoma doesn’t have enough flowering crops to keep hives commercially viable if just used for pollination, The Journal Record’s Brian Brus reports:
Canola fits the bill, but local farms are more likely to plant wheat, hay or corn. “It’s really sweet to have a lot of canola to build your hives up for the spring and ready for regular honey flow,” said Tommy Thornton, who owns the Beekeeping Etc. supply shop in Oklahoma City. “We just don’t have that enough here.” So the majority of Oklahoma’s hive operators, those with less than 40 hives, are considered hobbyists who focus on regional honey sales.
Beekeepers with more than 200 hives can head west and receive $200 or more per hive for six weeks of work. But the travel puts them at greater risk for CCD – colony collapse disorder, which has claimed 28 percent of bees nationwide.
Rick Hall, who runs OK Bees in Yukon, which has just under 200 hives, said that he has increased the number of lost bees he factors into his decisions about where to spend the season.
Brus writes:
Suzanne Govett, vice president of the Central Oklahoma Beekeepers Association, said a weak winter has been a mixed blessing for apiarists. She considered leasing out her hives for pollination services this year but decided instead to keep them at home for honey. Govett’s operation is down to about five hives. On one hand, she said, unseasonal blooms mean more work for her drones and more honey. “This is the first year I’ve seen hive beetles so early before the spring,” she said, referring to a destructive pest that burrows into colonies. “Hive beetles are normally a nuisance if your hive is strong enough, otherwise they’ll cause problems. And we’ve seen a lot of beetles lately.”
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