Helping bees survive more than just a job

The first time Raeann Stead visited a honey house as a teenager, she was terrified by the cloud of bees outside.

Today the 22-year-old works with bees every day and is in awe, not in terror, of them.


Hives of different colours are used so bees can find their way back to their own hive.

Treating hives for pests such as the varroa mite and monitoring them for diseases like American foulbrood is all part of the job, as is ensuring hives are up to strength for pollination or honey production, or to survive winter.

“In autumn the drones, whose only job is to mate with queens, are usually forced out of the hive by the female workers because they would gorge themselves on honey stores and possibly put the hive’s food supply at risk.”

Queen bees are the egg layers, which keep the colony supplied with workers, drones and new queens. But queen bees also influence hive behaviour through the pheromones they excrete.

Raeann says most queens and workers are quite “placid” and easy to work with.

“Occasionally, we get an aggressive queen and the rest of the hive might be the same. They are not so good to work with.”


Early morning starts and long drives to honey sites are part of a beekeeper’s life.


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