Bees Aren’t The Troublemakers

DAYTON - Susan Hosticka always wanted to do a "bee beard" to prove the hard-working insects are really quite gentle and harmless despite their reputation to the contrary.

Late last month, during a field day for the state's beekeepers association at Washington State University, she finally had her Fear Factor moment when 4,000 bees crawled and buzzed around her shoulders, neck and head.

"Not a single sting," said the co-owner of Octopus Garden Honey on South Touchet Road near Dayton. "It kind of felt like a scratchy wool sweater."

When bees are in a natural swarm they're the most docile, said Hosticka, who moved to the Dayton area with her husband Paul from Kitsap County in 2005 to start their beekeeping business. "They'll only sting in defense of their colony."

Hosticka wanted to share her experience at the national bee laboratory in Pullman (one of four in the nation) to educate people in the Touchet Valley about the bees' personality during the summer season when they might encounter them outdoors.

Unlike hornets or yellow jackets, the last thing on a bee's mind is a desire to use their one-time weapon, which means almost instant death. Only when they are trapped, riled or rallied to protect their queen, will they resort to deploying their single arsenal.

"They're not interested in stinging because it kills them," Hosticka said. "So, when you're outdoors, don't get your can of Raid out and start spraying or swat a bee when it lands on you. Just blow or brush it off."

If you do get stung, remove the stinger immediately to remove the venom to which some people may be allergic, she said.

The importance of bees to the ecology and to farming has received renewed attention in recent years because of a phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder."

Starting in 2007, bees began disappearing mysteriously from their hives and sites in orchards and other areas where they are placed to ensure proper pollination. Honey bees play a role in the one third of the nation's food production.

"I lost 1,000 of my 1,500 colonies in 2008," said Matt Hutchens, owner of Northwest Queen Bees on the Tucannon Road, whose story was the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary called "The Last Beekeeper."

Hutchens has since nursed his bees and business back to health with about 2,000 colonies, using a combination of eight essential oils that include lemon grass, tea tree, peppermint, thymol and eucalyptus. But the challenges remain.

"Half the time, I pull my hair out and wonder why I'm doing it," he said. "Every winter, I cross my fingers."

At least three conditions are now suspected of being the cause of CCD: poor nutrition related to the loss of habitat, monoculture and the use of herbicides; pesticides and pathogens in the form of mites that can carry more than a dozen different viruses.

Scientists are still studying the effects of certain new farm chemicals on the health of bees. The cause of CCD is suspected to be a combination of factors. Research shows that wild honeybees have dropped 25 percent since 1990, and more than 50 pollinator species are threatened or endangered.

Hosticka, whose Octopus' Garden has 50 bee colonies (each with about 40,000 bees), said small operations aren't affected as much by CCD as larger commercial beekeeping operations with thousands of colonies hired to set up in huge sprawling orchards for pollination, such as the almond groves in California.

This winter, commercial beekeepers reported up to 38 percent losses of their colonies to CCD. Hutchens, who helps pollinate almond orchards in California and orchards in eastern Washington, including Warren Orchards in the North Touchet valley, has reduced his losses to 15 percent using the natural remedy.

The dominant crops in the Touchet Valley are wheat and peas, which do not require the assistance of bees. Bees assist the pollination of 90 fruits and vegetables, including apples, melons, cherries, nut crops, and alfalfa and clover for cattle feed.

The Hostickas occasionally assist in crop pollination, but their main focus is honey production.

When it was her turn to do the bee beard at WSU, the bee lab's Dr. Tim Lawrence adorned her with the necklace of a colony's queen in a small cage to attract the worker bees (all females) through her release of pheromones.

"I was a little nervous," she said. "Then someone said "smile" and I got into it."

At this point, Lawrence himself was a swarming hive. As soon as he stamped his foot, the movement released the bees from him and they swarmed onto Hosticka.

Paul Hosticka, an experienced beekeeper, proceeded to take her photograph, then embrace and kiss her for someone else's camera.

That did provoke a sting from one of the bees looking out for her queen.

Or, as Hosticka speculated, "perhaps the girls got jealous."

The Hostickas sell their pure natural honey in jars, bears, wax candles and cream cartons. It will also be available at the new Coppei Coffee Co. store on Main Street in Waitsburg. For more information, call 509-382-8939.