Providing county plenty of buzz

By Amanda Stewart

Published: July 26, 2008

The couples enjoying a bottle of wine near the lush green vineyard outside of Pearmund Cellars Winery in Broad Run might shoo away the occasional honeybee that buzzes past their picnics.

But a few feet away from them, past the picnic tables and behind a small clump of trees, Gainesville resident Keith Fletcher welcomes the bees.

Fletcher, a beekeeper who belongs to the Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association, maintains six hives on a small patch of land at the winery, marked by a yellow caution sign with the words "Bee Crossing."

For Fletcher, 43, who has a day job with the Air Force at the Pentagon, beekeeping provides an escape.

"This is kind of like my mid-life crisis hobby," said Fletcher, who took up beekeeping around a year ago.

About once a week he makes the drive out to the Fauquier County winery, just across the Prince William County line, dons a white, netted beekeepers' veil and goes to work feeding the bees and tending to their hives.

"It's selfish, in a way, but I just enjoy getting closer to nature," Fletcher said.

And he's not alone.

The Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association has about 50 members from Prince William County and surrounding areas, president John Strecker said.

"Interest has really grown quite a bit," Strecker said. "Part of it is the local green movement, local environmentalists. People are interested in helping the environment."

Once a year, usually in February, the club teaches a beginning beekeeping class.

Strecker estimates that around six or seven people took the class in 2007. This year, the class enrollment was up to around 25 people and families, Strecker said.

Another explanation for the increased interest in beekeeping comes from a concern people have about the declining honeybee population, Strecker said.

The honeybee population in Virginia has declined by nearly 50 percent since the mid 1980s, according to a 2006 report by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 

The population of wild honeybees in Virginia has also sharply declined over the past two decades. In 1996, more than 90 percent of wild honeybees and 60 percent in managed hives in the state died, the report states.

The report attributes much of the decline to honeybee pests and diseases introduced in Virginia over the last two decades.

Manassas area resident David Wright said he first noticed a decline in the honeybee population about two years ago, in 2006.

"I just started to notice that you weren't seeing many bees around like you used to," Wright said.

He is one of the club's newest beekeepers and took up the hobby just a few months ago.

Strecker came to beekeeping almost by chance, after he and his family moved to a house on Briarmont Lane in the Manassas area about 10 years ago.

"A neighbor said her recently departed husband had an interest in beekeeping and I said that sounds really, really interesting," Strecker said.

He now keeps six hives in a fenced off corner of his property that is overgrown by clover and alfalfa.

The hives consist of several wooden boxes stacked one on top of the other. They look like file cabinets.

Inside each of the boxes, live tens of thousands of honeybees.

"When you open up a hive and here you have sixty thousand bees in a box in front of you, you're just in complete awe," Strecker said.

Inside the boxes are thin wood frames, supporting sheets of wax foundation.

"This basically just mimics what they have in the wild. That's what we do as man, we try to mimic the wild," Fletcher said.

Most members of the Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association keep around 5 hives, either at their homes or at other sites throughout the county.

They, like most beekeepers in Virginia, are hobbyists. As of 2006, there were an estimated 2,000 hobbyist beekeep-ers who maintained about 15,000 hives in Virginia, according to state statistics.

Most of the beekeepers said they go into their hives about once a week to feed their bees or clean their hives. Once a year, they harvest honey from the hives.

Strecker said that in a good year he might get 20 to 30 gallons of honey from the hives he keeps at his house and at other sites in Culpeper, Orange and Opal.

"And on a bad year I've still learned something and still end up with enough honey for home use and some to give away," he said.

The beekeepers said that when they wear the white protective coveralls, veil and gloves they rarely, if ever, get stung by the bees.

Before going into a hive, beekeepers light a fire in a smoker, a hand-held device that allows them to spray puffs of smoke at the bees.

The smoke disorients the bees, who communicate through smell.

It also makes them think there might be a forest fire, so they should stick close to the hive, gather their honey and get ready to go, Fletcher said.

"It basically keeps them occupied and keeps their minds off you," Fletcher said.

In addition to helping each other with beekeeping, club members take on the mission of educating the public about bees, Strecker said.

"Our mission, it's strange to say, is altruistic," he said. "We want to educate and to assist people who are interested in beekeeping and just to educate the public about the benefits of honeybees and the plight of the honeybee."

One aspect of bee life that the beekeepers want to educate the public about is swarming.

If you see a swarm of honeybees around your property, don't call an exterminator, the members said. Call a beekeeper.

Members of the Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association volunteer their services and can help homeowners relocate a swarm of bees, Strecker said.

A common misconception is that a swarm of honeybees is dangerous, Strecker said. Really, when swarming, the bees are gentle, he said.

"They're dividing. It's a natural reaction to a full hive," he said.

When a hive is full, half of the bees will leave in a swarm with a queen bee to set up a new hive, he said.

Club members also often make presentations at summer camps, schools and other community groups.

"Most people see bees and they're afraid. They think 'Oh God, I don't want to get stung,' " Strecker said. "So we try to do outreach to change some of that."

For more information about the Prince William Regional Beekeepers, visit their Web site at http://www.pwsbeekeepers.com.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.