In the Apiary: Billie Hinton
Billie Hinton, the CCBA Board of Directors Secretary, kicks off a new series of monthly interviews with CCBA beekeepers in this interview with, um, herself!
How long have you been keeping bees?
I’m in my second year of actual beekeeping, after attending the Chatham County Bee School in 2016 and then sitting through it again as a volunteer in 2018. Life got in the way, but it was exciting when I finally installed the first two nucs.
Tell me about what drew you to the idea of beekeeping?
I was a writer-in-residence at Weymouth Center For the Arts and Humanities a number of years ago and during my stay there, a huge colony of bees began to emerge into the mansion’s downstairs dining room. They were living inside a wall and looked to have been there for a long time. A local beekeeper came to remove them to his own apiary, and his gentleness and obvious affection for honey bees were very appealing. He told the writers staying there that we were to simply walk slowly and they would not bother us. It worked. We were all amazed.
Describe the day you got your first package, nuc, or full hive?
I got two nucs from Jamie Miles in western NC. He drove them to the CCCC parking lot and after helping distribute the other nucs, we put mine in the back of our truck and I drove them home. After letting them settle a few hours beside their new hive boxes, I installed them with the slow-motion movement of a zen master.
Someone in bee school had told me to move slowly and I took it completely to the extreme! My husband recorded this on video and it looks like he has used slow motion but it was me moving that slowly. And it worked. The bees were gentle and calm and the installation was successful.
Do you name your queens and/or colonies? If so, share the names and how you came up with them.
I decided for simplicity to name the colonies based on the hive boxes they inhabit instead of the queens. I started with Echo and Artemis, and now have added Hegemone. My apiary is named Arcadia.
Tell me about your current hives, including hive style and apiary set-up.
Right now I have two hives, Artemis and Hegemone. Echo was robbed either before or after absconding by Hegemone this past fall. We managed to intervene in the robbing but by the time we did, the bees in Echo hive had gone.
My hive boxes are 8-frame triple-thick cedar treated with pure tung oil and painted with non-toxic milk paint. The bottom stands have mesh screen built-in and I put a thick layer of leafy, woody soil mulch I got under nearby trees on top of the mesh screen. The hive boxes each have small circular openings and the top cover has mesh openings they can seal and unseal with propolis as they like for airflow. The hives are spread about 100 feet apart. Previously they had top covers with panels I could open to feed without taking the hive boxes apart, but this fall I added inner covers that have mesh screen circles on one end and solid glass across the rest of the way. I can feed syrup in inverted jars or make small candy patties and feed through the mesh without having to expose the hive boxes and frames to cold weather. I can also get a good idea of what’s happening in the top box of frames without letting any cold in.
For now, I really like these inner covers – we’ll see how it goes through this winter and into spring.
What is your favorite thing about keeping bees?
During the years between bee school and first nucs, I became obsessed with putting in pollinator-friendly native plants on our farm. (Thanks to Debbie Roos!) By the time the honey bee nucs arrived, I had added 50 native species, enrolled in the NC Botanical Garden Native Plant Studies certificate program, and I was absolutely thrilled to see the bees from my own hives finding the plants I had put in. At this point, I’ve put in 75+ native species. Spring through late fall the entire farm is full of both native and honey bees, as well as butterflies and birds. Now and then a few honey bees come inside and visit and I get a big kick out of seeing them. Mostly I enjoy watching them do their work. I have chairs near the hives and love to sit with my binoculars and watch them.
How would you describe your beekeeping philosophy?
I’m a devoted reader and follower of Tom Seeley and his research at Cornell. Much of his work looks at feral hives in the Arnot Forest near the university, and I try to follow what he’s learning and apply it as best I can to my domestic bees.
Tell me your favorite beekeeping story.
The nuc that moved into the Hegemone hive started out being a little testy. Before I even got them home they were escaping their nuc box and buzzing around it, guarding it, following me a much further distance when I leave the apiary than any other bees have. They remained testy during and after installation into their permanent hive boxes. It’s been interesting to learn how to manage them and even more interesting to see that they are the most thriving colony I have. I’m going to have to learn to make a swarm trap before spring and hope I can catch a swarm to install into the now empty Echo hive.
What was your experience with bees as a child? Any memories that come to you as you think about it?
As a child, I was intensely afraid of many insects, thanks to my mom, but my grandma was someone who would pluck a big writing spider out of her web, say hello, and put her back. I have a memory of finding a dead bumblebee and dissecting it carefully to see its internal anatomy. It was hollow! Probably because it was decayed, but in my mind, it meant bees were magical creatures, and that sense of wonder about them is still with me.
Is there a beekeeper or mentor who has inspired you on your beekeeping journey? Feel free to share anecdotes and/or appreciation
Tom Seeley is my biggest source of information, but I devour the posts on CCBA email list and love reading what our members are doing and seeing in their hives.
Any advice for a brand new beekeeper?
Do as much learning as you can before the bees arrive. Find fellow beekeepers and learn from them.
Add anything you wish I’d asked but didn’t!
I don’t think so!
