Superior Court Justice Tina Nadeau became interested in bee-keeping two years ago when her in-laws purchased a farm three miles from her home. After going to local farmers' markets and meeting other beekeepers it seemed like an interesting hobby to pursue, and it is an important part of farm management. When bees go from flower to flower gathering nectar to make honey, pollen sticks to their legs and then falls on the next plant they visit, providing the fertilization many crops need to survive including almonds, alfalfa(a favorite of beef cows), apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupes cherries, cranberries, watermelon and many others. For the beekeeper, Justice Nadeau said, caring for the bees and their homes, which requires moving very slowly from hive to hive and paying very close attention to details, can be a very calming experience--perhaps not what you would expect! Here's what Justice Nadeau sent us about her hobby:

A Beekeeper's Work

I spend about three hours every other week during the spring, summer and fall inspecting each of the hives. I inspect the hives to make sure the queen is laying eggs, make sure there is no disease, check for mites and broken wings and make sure the worker bees seem otherwise healthy. In the spring, it's important to feed new hives sugar water until the first bloom in April when the bees can get nectar naturally. Hives that have already made it through the winter should have enough honey stores to get through to the first bloom. I also spend time attending bee-club meetings and reading articles about beekeeping. There are a lot of diseases that have been affecting bees lately, so it's important to stay current on the latest treatment techniques. I didn't realize it, but there are really no honey bees in the wild because of various natural and manmade problems, so it's important to keep the hives healthy. In the beginning I also spent a lot of time finding the right equipment and putting the hives together. It's amazing how many beekeepers there are (Superior Court Judge James Barry is an expert!) and how many resources there are in our own state. I've met many people who make the equipment locally, which is a great help.

I harvest the honey in late summer, but I'm always careful not to take too much, the bees need the honey and pollen they have stored over the spring and summer to eat during the winter while they stay in the hive. If you take too much, they can starve in early February. I can safely take 20-30 lbs. per hive for myself, as long as the hive is strong. It's fun to give local, raw honey away as Christmas gifts and our family keeps about 3 lbs. to eat throughout the year.

Over the years, I have been stung a few times, but that was in the beginning and it was usually my fault. The bees are very focused on their hive and if you walk and move slowly, they will not get worked up. I wear a beekeepers all white suit--bees cannot see white so they won't try to attack you. But they can see movement.

A Bee's Life

My favorite "bee-fact" is the way they can communicate. For example, when a forager bee leaves the hive to look for nectar, it can travel as far as three miles away from the hive. When it locates a great source of nectar, it returns to the hive and "dances" for the other bees. This dance actually conveys longitude and latitude so that the bees can precisely located the same source of nectar. The bees in the hive then travel in a straight line (thus, the term "bee-line") to the source of honey found by the first bee!!

Another interesting fact is that all the worker bees are female. There are several types, depending on the age of the bee; house bees, who clean the hive; attendants, who feed and groom the queen; guard bees, who protect the hive and alert the others to the presence of a predator; and foragers, who collect nectar and pollen from the field. The drone bees are male bees and they do nothing, except mate with a queen from another hive. About 20% of the hive is made up of males, the rest are female worker bees. In the fall, the females actually kick the males out so they don't eat all the honey over the winter!