The Cowichan Beekeepers Society has been a buzz-worthy club in the Cowichan Valley since it was first founded in 1954.
The club’s mandate is to support local beekeepers, provide education, and assist them in the selling of their wares, while providing a way for like-minded individuals to connect, and share common interests.
“Sharing information and teaching other beekeepers is extremely important,” said president Marie Cairns. “Belonging to the club helps to find those sources of support. The majority of our members are new, which requires a lot of teaching.
“Beekeeping has become a trendy thing to do these days so we try to make sure that people are aware that it is more costly than just buying mason bees and sticking them in your backyard. There’s a very large learning curve and it costs over $1,000 just to get started. It is always recommended that newbies start with two hives because the losses are typically 50 per cent.”
It was bookkeeping to beekeeping for Cairns who has been both a beekeeper and involved with the society for just over a decade.
Her own beekeeping journey began around 2011 after a friend brought her bees to the Cairns’ property in South Cowichan. This catapulted the decision for Cairns to get bees of her own for their own pollination services.
Aspiring beekeepers can buy their hard equipment through Cowichan Beekeepers or Buckerfield’s as Cairns did, when she first bee-lined to her new hobby. Cairns loves all the different facets this pastime offers from tending to the bees, to making honey and a variety of other products using beeswax. She admits when she first got started she was a true new-bee.
“Sometimes the best way to learn is by diving in and getting involved,” said Cairns. “A few years ago I attended UBC and took their one week Bee Masters course. It explored the science of it such as disease, viruses, and genetics which was a real eye-opener; the more you learn, the more fascinating they become.
“We have a display demonstration hive so the best part for us with having community members come to visit is watching them experience the bees. People are always in awe by them, and their byproducts. I sometimes take bees with me to markets and they just draw people in.”
Cowichan Valley is home to the western honeybee and beekeeping season typically starts in March and continues until early fall when the winterizing process begins.
“I always call our bees here mutts,” said Cairns. “The only way to have a purebred bee is if you were on an isolated island, and that is all you had there. Bees are not native to North America, they came here in the 1600s. A virgin queen will go out and mate with 15 to 20 drones from who knows where so you end up with mutts.”
“The season essentially starts after the last large frost, typically in February, but the bees are already probably making babies by that time,” said fellow beekeeper and the Victoria Beekeepers vice-president Don Lambert. “We are up and running and into the hives in the first week of March.
“By the time we get into mating season they are already well established, and have already been making drones. That is when we start seeing swarms which is when a colony divides. Half of the bees will leave to find a new home, while the ones left behind will raise a new queen, then they start a new colony and everything goes full tilt at that point.”
Lambert and Cairns have been busy bees themselves getting their hives ready for winter, which includes wrapping them, and covering them to keep the water off.
“We have to make sure the bees have food, that they are treated, and that their mite counts are down, ” said Cairns. “There are all sorts of tricks like tilting the hive so that rain water runs out, not in. I wrap my hive in homemade wraps made out of construction garbage bags and insulation. They sit for the whole winter. I might go in, in December or January, and treat them once with a oxalic acid vaporization treatment which works well when they are brood-less.”
There are roughly 450 beekeepers throughout Cowichan Valley but out of that estimated number, only 200 are currently club members. Membership is $20 per person or $32 per family, and has many benefits including contacts for all those who sell bees, and ongoing resources and education.
Cairns said one of the most rewarding parts for her since becoming a member has been all the wonderful connections she has made. Folks who attended the Cobble Hill Fair and Cowichan Exhibition may have had the chance to meet and connect with members who decided to enter their products this year.
Only 30 members entered the competitions this year which included club vice-president Jane Wines who won first place for her white honey, and will receive her plaque on Nov. 15. Cairns said the club always advises new members not to enter their honey the first year as the bees need it to survive their first winter.
“Entering the fair is a wonderful way of promoting the bee club and beekeeping as a hobby,” said Wines. “Preparing the entries is great fun — making sure that there are no bits in the honey, and that it is crystal clear. Winning first prize is a lovely reward for the hard work of the bees and the preparation we put into the entries. We have a fun and friendly rivalry amongst all of the entrants and are so happy for each other when we see everyone getting a prize or recognition.”
“What is really rewarding to me is the joy of sharing the experiences of beekeeping and passing that knowledge on to someone else,” said Cairns. “The learning I’ve done myself has been fascinating. You can ask any beekeeper of any age and they are always learning. For instance the island never had mites until the 1980s. We have older beekeepers that never had to treat for mites, so now that is something we are teaching them how to do.”
“I like seeing the new beekeepers come on in the spring, and then watch them grow and develop as the season goes on,” said Lambert.
“If their bees have done well though the fall then they have grasped everything that has been thrown at them and when they put it into practice and their bees get through the winter it gives you a huge sense of accomplishment. It’s really great when you get your bees through the winter for the first time, and then see them come out in spring and do well. For a lot of us once we’ve done that, the big key is passing it on and teach others and hopefully they learn from our mistakes. Everybody wins.”
Society members are working on a project that is the bee’s knees. A trailer which was recently donated will be outfitted to be a mobile education unit and will tour schools from Ladysmith to the Malahat. The cost for this will be $20,000, and the society will be looking to the local Kinsmen and Rotary clubs to assist with fundraising.
“I’m hoping we can form a committee and do the fundraising part, and then find someone who is good with the electrical because it all has to be certified,” said Cairns. “I ideally would like this all complete before May.”
Former club president Ian Low, who is a math teacher at Cowichan Secondary, is already looking at ways to involve his students and has developed a program they can take, and for which they get credit that applies physics, biology, and math, while also teaching them about bees and beekeeping.
“Being a beekeeper gives you a sense of giving back,” said Lambert. “We are all looking for that holy grail like we are doing something for the environment, and this is one thing that we can do that makes us feel like we are giving back, and doing something right.
“We need bees, they pollinate and are part of the environment and our eco-system and by supporting that we feel like we are doing something positive.”
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