Canfield bee buff carries on family tradition

Travis Watson is not the first “bee man” in his family, but he is continuing a legacy.

Watson’s grandfather, Bob Chmelik, is a local legend. “Bob the Bee Man” learned beekeeping from his wife’s great uncle, who was born in the 19th century.

“My grandpa got calls from people to take care of their honeybees, and he’d find yellowjackets or hornets, so he saw an opportunity to treat all the different stinging insects,” Watson said.

Watson said Chmelik was a machinist at Delphi Packard and considered bees a side job that kept growing.

Watson graduated in 2017 from the University of Akron School of Law, but realized he didn’t want to be a lawyer. He had worked with his grandfather since he was a teenager, so he became an employee. In 2018, Chmelik retired, paving the way for Watson to take over as The Bee Man.

Watson said his education was not a waste of time, as his legal background helps him write contracts, pay taxes, understand workers’ compensation and unemployment law and comply with pesticide regulations.

Watson employs two permanent technicians, four seasonal workers and two receptionists. He has expanded to other cities, subcontracting work to the appropriate sources.

The exception is “my one technician I stick in a Prius and he drives to Cleveland every day.” During his first year, Watson made 800 house calls, but now he spends more time running the business and only goes out when training a new worker.

“We’re specialists. I just know a lot about stinging insects, like nesting seasons, patterns and behaviors. There’s a lot to learn, but having your grandpa teach you for 15 years, you pick things up and you continue learning.”

It can be tricky to distinguish between species. Honeybees are as small as yellowjackets, but are honey colored instead of yellow. People also confuse yellowjackets with the larger carpenter bees and the even bigger European hornets. Of all these, Watson said yellowjackets are the most dangerous as “they might sting you just because they’re in a bad mood.”

“The biggest threat to getting stung by honeybees is being in their beeline — that’s where the term comes from. They have pathways to and from their entrance, so if they run into you sometimes they accidentally sting you,” Watson said.

That’s why flyover fences around hives keep people safe.

Usually, the type of bees a homeowner has depends on the month. Honeybees swarm by late June because they need time to produce honey for winter. Yellowjackets come out after July as it takes them longer to build their nests.

Watson relocates honeybees. When they invade a house, the first step is to cut the wall.

“The customer has to be OK with that,” Watson said. “That’s the biggest hurdle.”

If given consent, the technician marks the edges of the nest with an infrared camera, opens the space with a circular saw and vacuums out the bees. While that adds expense and inconvenience, “If you’re going to kill them, I don’t want to be the company that does that. I try to push people whenever possible to get them out alive.”

Watson also explained swarms.

“In the springtime, the queen lays a ton of eggs. Whenever their hive is full, they make queen cells. A new queen emerges, and the old queen takes half the hive and leaves. It looks like a cloud of bees flying down the street. People are scared, but you really don’t have to be. The queen sits in a tree branch to rest and they all clump around her to protect her. The cluster is what we call a swarm.”

Watson said scout bees then search for a new home, whether the hollow of a tree or inside someone’s wall. They return and the swarm follows them. If Watson takes a “swarm call” in time, he brings a hive box, “shakes them in there, you get the queen, the workers flap their wings and spread their pheromones telling the others ‘the queen’s in here’ and they all march into the box. It’s a cool thing to see.”

Watson keeps only two hives at home, so, as a member of the Columbiana-Mahoning County Beekeepers Association, “once my hives are full, which happens pretty quickly, I pass swarm calls around to local beekeepers. Cutting them out of walls is fun, but this is making the most environmental impact.”

Watson said while there was significant colony collapse a decade ago, honeybees have rebounded because of the efforts and increased knowledge of beekeepers. But it is important to remain vigilant, and to avoid unnecessary pesticides that harm honeybees and the surroundings, he said.

Watson, a 2008 graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, for several years coached speech and debate at Fitch. He pursued a doctorate degree in political science and while attending Kent State University, he taught courses as a graduate assistant, but with the growth of The Bee Man, he settled for a master’s degree.

He also stays active in winter, “It is easy to get down when you’re not busy,” he said.

He said he drives for Uber and takes his guitar to open mic nights. He played clarinet in high school and is considering joining a community band.

Watson said he enjoys cooking and, of course, does things with honey, like making mead. He uses the freshest ingredients and drives 90 minutes to Clarion, Pa., because a mountain spring there “has the best water he has ever tasted.”

“I love being outdoors, and I interact with people all day,” Watson said about his profession. While it can be overwhelming during the busy season, “when you take a deep breath and a moment to reflect, we’re helping people, and there is a lot of reward in that.”