An “apiary” is defined as a yard or location where bee colonies (hives) are kept. My first colonies were located at my house, which is on the banks of Clear Lake in Desoto Parish, Louisiana, and that is where the name “Clear Lake Apiary” originated.
I got my start with bees capturing swarms with my dad. My dad has been keeping bees for over 30 years. The paper mill where I worked seemed to attract the swarms when spring arrived. My dad usually kept the swarms to add to his colonies. In 2004, my dad was out of town and I had captured four swarms by myself. I got some of his old bee boxes and set up the swarms in regular bee hives. When my dad returned from his trip, he noticed the bee hives set up in my yard. “Those look like my bee boxes” said Dad. “Well they are full of my bees and possession is nine tenths of the law, so I guess they are my bee boxes now”. That is how I got started. I bought my own equipment, continued to capture feral swarms of bees and removed bees from houses and other old structures. In 2007 I tried making splits with a few of my colonies with an 80% success rate. I retired from International Paper in April of 2008, after nearly 21 years at the Mansfield Mill. I again made some splits in the spring of 2008 and ended the year with over 90 colonies. I am looking forward to 2009. I will continue to capture feral swarms, remove colonies from buildings and make spits of my existing hives. I am planning to raise my own queens this year to add to the colonies that I split.
I harvested twenty gallons of honey that first year. Each year the number of colonies has grown and so has production. In 2008 I harvested four hundred gallons. As the number of colonies increase, honey harvest increases, and so does equipment and operating costs. The more I learn about raising bees and harvesting honey, the more I realize how much I have to learn. The big thing is that working with the bees is a relaxing “sweet” deal and there is a growing market for good quality honey.