Our speaker this week is Chris Scottie. Chris owns Discover Tehachapi Tours and is an avid beekeeper. Chris is also the president of the Tehachapi Tourism Commission. Today Chris spoke with us about the art of beekeeping.Chris brought with him the tools of the trade. While many beekeepers will dress in full coveralls, Chris prefers a beekeepers jacked. He put it on and showed us how the jacket is designed to keep him safe from bee stings. Which is a good thing since Chris is apparently allergic to bees, Yikes!
We learned that bees are feral and cannot be trained. It’s the beekeeper’s job to keep the bees happy so they don’t want to leave.
The European honeybee is the only bee to produce honey on scale. They are not native to North America and can have as many as 120K bees in a colony. They are great pollinators.
Honeybees store honey to eat during the winter, they do not hibernate.
We also learned a lot about the queen bee. A queen can lay from 1000 to 1500 eggs a day. They cannot defend themselves or feed themselves. They are dependent on their hive to take care of them.
Bees are defensive, not offensive. Unlike African Bees they will not attack unprovoked.
Honeybees will die after they sting so they are motivated not to attack. If they come to you, just remain calm, they are just looking and will move on.
Chris offers his pure unprocessed honey seasonally at Simply Perfect Gifts in Tehachapi.