Wichita Falls community celebrates ‘Bee Awareness Day’

On August 10, the community of Wichita Falls celebrated Bee Awareness Day at the local farmers market.

We talked to a local beekeeper about what it’s like keeping these bees and the honey they produce.

“It’s a pretty busy job. You know, a lot of people think I’m not getting it. I have a bee and set them on the backyard and be done with it. You have to check Bees Weekly. You have to feed them in the wintertime. You have to make sure they don’t have any pests or anything that gets inside the hive. You have to make sure they’re getting plenty of water. You have to have set your hive location, location, location. You have to make sure that they’re setting where there’s water and and food for them. Well, I’ve never counted the bees, but my mentor has been doing this for 50 years, John, he, he told. Tell me that a large hive will have up to 100,000 bees if you don’t take care of the bees, they will leave you if you put them in a place where there are no resources, they’re going to go find resources, they’ll travel up to three to four miles to get food. Just we’ll put one in your backyard. That’s awesome. You know, but you need to take care of them. You got to get the equipment. This is a hive right there. A dormant hive. That’s three boxes. You’d have to have. And that’s a smoker. And you have to have protective gear, a veil and and A and a bee suit to keep the bees from from hurting, well, stinging you. A hive can make 100 pounds of honey in a year, but if it’s sitting, I have some. That said, on an irrigated field they’re not farming it, and so the the flowers bloom there almost all year round. I get a lot of money off of those, but the average I think in Texas, the average high gets about 60 pounds of honey. I take my honey down to a place in the Metroplex and they. And they will infuse it with dehydrated fruit. So I have Raspberry honey and lemon honey and blueberry. I’ll come down and support the local farmers market. We’re all we’re all local. We’re all we have. So. Many products to offer from fruits and vegetables to plants to you name it. We have so many so many items out here, so I’d like you to, you know, encourage everybody to come out. And support your local businesses.” Local Beekeeper Ernest Terry explained.

The day also highlights the challenges that bees face, such as habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change.