Honey turning bittersweet for Salinas Valley beekeeper
Life for commercial bee keepers has been a challenge the past five years or so thanks to the diminishing number of bees caused by a number of factors. No one knows this better than Dale Hillard who has watch his honey bee population go from 40 to 50 hives in past years to the low twenties where he was two weeks ago. If he collects some more swarms this month that number could increase a bit.
There are three basic reasons, according to Hillard, why the honey bee population has fallen off so radically. First, a mite that came from Asia about a decade ago has attacked the bees. The mites attach themselves to bee larva and this produces deformed bees.
What can be done to control the mites? Hillard said there are techniques that can be used to rid the hives of some of the mites but if you don’t get all of them the problem remains.
Because of commercial beekeepers who travel from one area to another with their hives, the mite problem has spread from the West Coast to the entire U.S.
To compound the ongoing problem of the mites is a second serious issue related to them. In the past five years it has been discovered that the mites carry a virus that can destroy a hive if its immune system weakens.
“If you see you have mites in a hive, there’s a good chance you’ll probably also have or get the Deformed Wing Virus and that’s a death knell for the bees,” Hillard said.
The 71-year-old beekeeper also believes that pesticides that the bees may encounter when they are out and about looking for pollen can also weaken their immune systems and make a hive more susceptible to the virus.
There is research being done trying to find a way of dealing with the mites and the virus they carry, but thus far that work hasn’t found a silver bullet that will eradicate the problem. Meanwhile, the honey bee population remains in jeopardy.
“I think we might be reaching ‘critical mass’ where this could really impact the commercial sector where bees are necessary for pollination,” Hillard said. “The loss of hives is getting quite high.”
Hillard taught at Gonzales High and was a counselor there until he retired in 2000. He became involved in beekeeping in the early 1980s when he purchased his first hive and set it up in his backyard as a hobby. The novice beekeeper or sideliner, as a hobbyist is sometimes called, was interested in both pollinating his garden and collecting honey.
“You get one hive and pretty soon someone offers you another or you have to deal with a swarm,” Hillard said, explaining how quickly his one hive became two and then more.
Since he owned property at the time on River Road, Hillard moved his hives out to the wide open spaces where they wouldn’t be a bother to neighbors.
During this formative period the self-taught apiarist attended a few conferences, read the professional journals and joined the state and national beekeeping associations to learn more from like-minded individuals.
With a chuckle, Hillard admitted that the trial-and-error method was a little painful at times, but the occasional sting goes with the territory of raising honey bees.
What began as a hobby and “summer thing” when he wasn’t teaching became a business as well. Hillard reached the point when he was collecting 500 pounds or more of honey a year so he began selling it at four local retail outlets. He also assisted people who were dealing with a swarm problem and, on occasion, made his hives available for some local crop pollination.
Hillard said there isn’t as big a need for commercial pollination in the Salinas Valley as in the San Joaquin Valley where there are lots of orchards.
Usually during the spring there are enough wildflowers and new growth that there is plenty of plant life for the bees to visit. But in May and June beekeepers usually have to relocate their hives to places where there is an abundant natural food source. This might be wild sage, poison oak and other plants.
Although he doesn’t sell poison oak honey, Hillard said that the product is popular with fire crews who believe consuming it can build up their immunity to poison oak. “Some people swear by it but I guess it depends on the individual,” he said. “I don’t know if it really works or helps with an allergic response to the plant.”
The beekeeper had enough honey to continue to sell it commercially until three years ago when production fell off considerably as the bees’ numbers began to wane. Now he has to wait to see if he has enough hives to have honey to sell.
Hillard said it is discouraging too see what has happened to the honey bee population but he plans to continue as a hobbyist. He hopes his small business can continue but that remains to be seen. There’s just so much he can do to protect his bees and then it is out of his hands.
• AGE: 71
• OCCUPATION: Owner of Hillard Hives and Bee Removal.
• WORK: Gonzales High, 1967-2000. Hillard Hives, 1981- present.
• EDUCATION: Graduated from San Jose State University with a BA in geology in 1967. Received an MA in counseling from San Jose State in 1988.
• PERSONAL: Lives on five acres off River Road south of Salinas.