Did you know that there are 4,000 species of bees in North America, 800 of which live in the state of Nevada? Bee pollination is responsible for every third bite of food we eat. Hello, my name is Michael Hamerski and I have been beekeeping on and off for over 40 years. I served as the president of the Northern Nevada Beekeepers Association (NNBA) for two years and the vice president for two years prior.
European Honeybees were the focus of the NNBA, but many other pollinators influence what we grow here in Nevada. Today I’ll focus on the two bee kingdoms, solitary, and social bees. Solitary bees overwinter in cocoons and make up 90% of the bee population. Social bees live in colonies and account for only 10% of all bee species. Common bee pollinators include Honeybees, Bumblebees, Mason Bees, Leafcutter Bees, Digger Bees, and Mining Bees. Bees are found in the wild and every biome in Nevada.
Of the 800 native bees in Nevada, solitary bees make up a majority of that number. European Honey and Africanized Honeybees are the dominant species of social bees in Nevada. Social Bumblebees come in a distant third in terms of numbers. Africanized Honeybees are found mainly south of Tonopah and have not been found in northern Nevada because of our harsh winters, which they cannot tolerate. For the sake of simplification, I will use the term Mason Bees to associate the broad category of all solitary bees, and Honeybees associated with social bees.
Without bees, it is said that life on earth would end in 5 years. To say that bees are vital is an understatement. I got into Honeybee keeping not for pollination, but because I enjoy the taste of honey and making candles from the beeswax. Did you know that Honeybees are the only insects that make food for us humans?
People get into beekeeping for basically four reasons, to help the environment, to make money, to make honey and wax, to have a healthier robust garden, or a combination of all the above. For people who would like to help the environment and or have a healthier robust garden, Mason bees are the hands-down champion. Mason Bees have a pollination rate of 99% for visited flowers. Honeybees on the other hand only have a 10% pollination rate for visited flowers. For those who would like to make money and honey, Honeybees are the way to go. Currently, local honey is selling for about $8 a pound. Fallon is a pretty good location for honeybees in general because of plentiful water sources and various blooming plant species.
In a good year, most colonies in Fallon will produce 50 pounds of harvestable honey, some locations in Fallon can produce up to 100 pounds per colony. At $8 a pound retail that is a substantial amount of money. Honeybee wax sells for $16 a pound. Almond farmers in the central valley of California will pay $200 a colony for a month of Honeybee placement in their orchards.
Of course, with any business, there are overhead costs involved. Your first colony will cost around $400, including hardware and safety equipment (if you don’t catch a wild swarm), and it will also require monitoring, maintenance, and husbandry throughout the year. I also have Mason Bees and provide them living space very near my fruit tree orchard. I see them every year on the fruit tree flowers and love to watch them do their thing. The overhead cost of keeping Mason Bees is practically zero, the cost to benefit ratio is just astronomical.
As an avid lifelong Honey and Mason beekeeper, I would like to share my knowledge and experience by inviting whoever currently has bees or would like to start beekeeping to an open forum round table discussion in a park type setting outdoors to answer many, if not all of your beekeeping questions on April 9th, 2022, weather dependent. Please email me at [email protected] for more info about the time and location with your name and phone number and how many people will be coming. I need to limit the group size to less than 40 people. If more than 40 people are interested, I might have a second discussion in May. Happy beekeeping.
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