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LIMA — Jeff Exton learned about beekeeping from his father who had hives when Exton was young. After the family found out Exton’s eldest brother was severely allergic to bees, his father got rid of all the hives.
It was not until Exton was in college that his interest in bee keeping was reactivated.
“There was this old barn and the walls were filled with honeybees,” he said. “I came across a swarm, so I asked my dad if he still had his equipment.”
That rekindled Exton’s love affair with bees, and he kept several hives in the woods until he married and moved away. He did not get back into beekeeping until around 2000.
Exton, a self-taught beekeeper, also sells his honey. However, last year’s harvest was very small, so he will not have honey for sale until the fall. Check out www.extonapiary.com to find out when this year’s harvest will be available.
1. How many hives do you have?
Currently, I have four hives. The baby hives are the ones I keep up here, but once they get bigger, I put them out in the field.
2. How much honey do you produce each year on average?
It varies wildly, but I would say, on average, probably 40 to 60 gallons of honey. I have had as little as 20 gallons and as much as 120 gallons. It depends on the weather, what’s flowering, how long it’s flowering — it’s all about the nectar flow.
3. What kind of equipment do you use?
I use a smoker and a hive tool and personal protection. That’s all you really need to work a hive. There is a lot of fancy stuff out there, but those are the basics.
4. What do you use for hives?
Bees use logs and hollow trees for their hives — that’s their natural habitat. So, we use untreated wooden boxes. You have the stand and then the bottom board, which is like the doorway to the hive. Then you have boxes that have anywhere from eight to 10 frames in them. The frames are wooden with a wax foundation in the center that the bees build the honeycomb off of. Each of the boxes is called a super. You can have as many supers as you want. I’ve had hives that are taller than I am. After the supers, you have the inner cover. I use an all season one and then use some Styrofoam to insulate it to keep the heat in during the winter and then an outer cover.
5. What are the biggest issues that beekeepers face?
The biggest problem is the varroa destructor mites. We just call them varroa. They are the size of a pin head. When the bees go out to forage the mites jump on, and then they get brought back to the hive and can infest it very quickly. They, for lack of a better word, are vampires. They suck the juices out of the bees. They prefer the drones because they are bigger. They also attack the brood, particularly the drone brood — again because they are bigger. There are several treatments, but you can’t get rid of them all. You just try to control the infestation. Every hive has varroa. A strong hive with a big bee population also helps control them. The varroa also carries all 12 known viruses that infect bees. The second biggest problem is the hive beetle. They came over from Asia a few years ago. I saw my first one in 2012, 2013. They eat the honey, and what they don’t eat, they defecate in, making the honey foul so neither bees or humans can eat it.
6. What would surprise people about beekeeping?
Each hive has its own personality. There are some hives that you can handle rough and they don’t care. There are other hives that you have to be very ginger with and kind of walk on egg shells because they are edgy. I also believe bees are intelligent. They can recognize your voice. That doesn’t mean you won’t ever get stung, but even the whole concept of the honeycomb. Each bee has its own job, and they can choose their jobs — well, except the drones. The drones are the only males in the hive, and their only job is to mate with the queen. They don’t do any work.
7. Are there different breeds of bees and what kind do you have?
There are all types of breeds of honeybees. The most common in Ohio is the Italian. They have a fairly good disposition and are good honey producers. I don’t know how many types there are. I have Italian and New World Carniolan.
