Adams County beekeepers form association
BY JUDY HULL
BIGLERVILLE - Inferring that
someone has “bees in their bon
net” is not usually meant to be
taken as a compliment. To
members of the newly formed
Adams County Beekeepers
Association, however, it is
probably one form of praise they
like to receive.
Organized within the last six
months, the association, according
to Herb Schroeder, Biglerville,
president of the grouo, invites
membership or visitation to
anyone interested in bees and
beekeeping.
“Some people come to our
meetings just because they are
interested in bees while other
members keep bees com
mercially,” he said. The number of
hives owned by some members
varies from a few colonies of bees
up to one member who owns 430
hives.
The association meets monthly
for programs and to discuss
concerns of beekeepers. Current
topics of interest to the group in
clude the problems caused by the
large amount of imported honey
into the U.S. Schroeder explained
that U.S. beekeepers must pay 27
Removing the wax cappings from the frames is the first step
in the extracting process. The bees place the cappings over
the honey to preserve it naturally. The wax must be removed
with an electrically or steam heated knife.
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cents a pound or more to sell honey
to other nations, while honey
imported into this country carries
a tariff of only one cent per pound.
“U S. beekeepers can’t com
pete,” he said, adding that while
the government does have a price
support program for honey, im
portation is such a serious problem
that some honey packers have
been forced to trim their
operations.
Hobbiest beekeepers in this
country number 200,000, according
to Schroeder, and they provide a
great majority of the honey which
consumers purchase. While most
people think of bees only in the
spring and summer, beekeepers
are busy year round maintaining
hives and extracting honey.
Beekeeping or bee hunting as it
was known historically, dates back
to 7000 B.C. in eastern Spain. The
art of keeping bees developed
haphazardly through the cen
turies, but finally got the formula it
needed to succeed in 1851. At that
time, a Philadelphia minister,
Rev. L.L. Langstroth, discovered
the secret to modern beekeeping -
bee space.
Langstroth found that by
building hives which provided the
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Herb Schroeder, Biglerville, president of the Adams County Beekeepers Association,
draws honey from the bottom of a settling tank. Because honey is a dense substance, it
settles to the bottom of the tank. Schroeder keeps his money is 60 pound plastic con
tainers.
necessary space for bees, honey
could be extracted m reusable,
movable frames. The standard
Langstroth hive consists of ten
frames placed inside the body of
the hive which has a brood
chamber and a number of supers
or additional levels which may be
determined by the size of the
colony.
Supers may also be used for
brood rearing or food storage
depending on the size and activity
of the colony.
In Adams County, many people
relate bees with pollinating or
chards m the spring. While it is
true that bees are needed to suc
cessfully pollinate the fruit crop,
the work of the bees is much more
widespread. According to
Schroeder, bees pollinate 90 dif
ferent crops.
“One-third of our total diet
comes directly or indirectly from
insect pollinated plants,” he said.
Honey, the end result of the bee’s
work, is a sweetener different from
what consumers usually think of as
sugar. “It’s a left-handed sugar,”
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Schroeder stated, “and in some
people it is more digestible.”
Beekeeping is a year-long and
rather involved process. And while
most beekeepers pursue the in
terest as a hobby, it is a serious
undertaking and one which
requires a good amount of time
and equipment to be done
properly.
In simple terms, bees gather
nectar and make it into honey or
wax. Beekeepers take surplus
honey from the hives, extract it,
and prepare it for consumer use.
Schroeder explained that August
and September are the prime
months for extractng surplus
honey, but it can be done at other
times if the frames are
mechanically heated. He noted it is
very important that only surplus
honey be removed from the hives
since the bees need honey to
survive during the winter months.
Once a beekeeper removes a
frame of honey from a hive, the
first step in the extracting process
is removing the wax capping which
the bees have placed over the
honey to preserve it. Uncapping is
done with an electricity or steam
heated knife by moving the knife
from the top of the frame to the
bottom. The wax falls into a tub
and the uncapped frame is placed
in an extractor.
Schroeder explained that the
extracting process is carried out
through centrifugal force. When
the basket of the extractor is full of
frames, a hand or mechanical
force turns the basket causing the
honey to be forced out of the
frames.
“The bees build the combs very
precisely and evenly so the honey
is forced out as the basket turns,”
he said.
Once the honey has been
removed from the frames, it is
moved by pump to a settling tank
where it is left for about one week.
“Because honey is a very dense
substance, it settles to the bottom
of the tank,” Schroeder went on to
say. It is then drawn from the
bottom of the tank and put into 60
pound plastic containers or 55
gallon drums for storage until
bottling.
Schroeder said honey can
remain on the hives indefinitely,
but once it is removed it should be
extracted.
“Honey readily draws moisture
which could lead to fermentation
and dilution of the honey,” he said.
Also, when the honey is no longer
cared for by the bees, it will
eventually granulate, he went on to
say. The bees work to maintain the
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