Oh Honey!

Published 10:00 am Thursday, September 28, 2023

Last April, the Clements High School FFA and AG Ed received two hives of bees, and Wednesday, Sept. 27, the students were able to harvest the honey. The two hives were given to the program by Lionel Evans, Chairman of the State Bee & Honey Committee and the program received guidance from the Limestone County Beekeepers Association.

“We placed two hives of bees, and we had a little difficulty with it. You don’t want to take a lot of honey the first year, but we did a small harvest just so we would have something. We came out with 30 jars. It’s a limited release,” Clements AG teacher and FFA sponsor Jim Rogers said.

Rogers and his students had to combine the two hives into one large hive after one of the queens died. They weren’t sure if the plan would be successful.

“We lost the queen out of the hive, and it didn’t re-queen. We were able, through a little bit of a gamble, to combine the two hives to save those bees. We now have one big established hive, and it’s why we were able to get honey this year because of that mistake. We expected to build two hives and get no honey but ended up with one really big hive and a little bit of honey,” Rogers said.

Learning about bees has been enjoyable for Clements FFA president Lexi Evans and vice president Lane Williamson. Williamson said that beekeeping is something he would also enjoy outside of school. Although Evans isn’t ready to commit to full time beekeeping, the experience has been very positive.

“I knew nothing about bees other than they make honey and stuff. Nothing about actually harvesting honey or growing them or how important the queen is. It’s definitely been a big learning experience,” she said.

The students were required to wear bee suits when tending to the bees. They checked on them every 7-10 days, because it is best to let the bees do what they naturally do. Disturbing them too often can be detrimental to the hive.

Being stung is always a possibility, but the program has taken some precautions to protect the bees and the campus. So far, Rogers and Evans are the only two individuals to receive a sting.

“As long as they are not being messed with, going up within 10 or 20 feet is not really dangerous. Bees are defensive, not aggressive. We make sure we don’t have aggressive bees, and if we do, we will change out the queens and change the genetics. We do keep them in an area that is not high traffic. They cut grass right up to them and there’s not a problem. The risk on campus is no different than any campus because there are bees everywhere, but we keep them a little bit further away just so they are not getting high traffic or being disturbed. The likelihood of someone with a bee allergy being up on them is slim to none,” Rogers said.

The students did the extraction of the honey themselves and now have commemorative jars of honey to take home.

“They extracted the honey from the comb. They strained it, and they bottled it. Now we have our 30 bottles,” Rogers said. “The production of the honey has been done all through the AG classes, but the business side of it has been more through our FFA. It’s been a great experience and they have learned a lot about the bees.”

Next year, the program’s goal is to have more bees brought in, split what they have, and establish four hives. If they are successful, the plan is to have honey to share throughout the school and the community. The program has the full support of Clements High School principal Clint Legg.

“When I was in school here, we had Donald Wilson and David Wilbanks. We had one of the best Ag programs in the state. Now, Jim is trying to get that back and I think he will soon. He does a great job,” he said.