LAYTON—Sometimes bees get a bad rap. They buzz through the air landing from flower to flower doing their job but people think they might get stung and start swatting. Actually, the bees are just pollinating – not going after people. Those little insects are critical to the ecosystem.

“A third of every bite of food is from a pollinator,” said Richard Homer, president of the Utah Beekeepers Association and Davis County Beekeepers Association, who also owns Homer’s Honeybee Supply. “Things like lemons, oranges, apples, cherries, nuts, a lot of the food we eat that’s best for us. They’re important to the food supply. Beekeepers are working behind the scenes.”

Homer should know a little about that – he has 900 hives. “It was going to be a hobby but I became passionate about it,” he said. “It’s fascinating learning about it and then actually doing it.”

Homer with his son Seth and all of the bees in the background. Courtesy photo

 It all started with a gardening course through the Utah State University extension. “I’d been a business man most of my life,” said Homer. “I enjoyed gardening so I took this master gardening course that I’d been told was good. We had a section on pollinators and how to attract them and their importance. I hadn’t heard about keeping bees in a suburban environment, only on farms.”

Homer said a mother and daughter were sitting next to him. “They’d started a hive about a year ago. When they talked about bees they lit up like a lightbulb.”

He decided to research it and got a hive. “I had a good experience that first year,” said Homer. “I read every book in the library but I couldn’t find anyone to teach me. I found a guy in Illinois who had a bunch of lessons. That’s where I learned about beekeeping – from him.”

Homer said his goal was to bring bees back into the city. “I had one hive in the backyard. I set up a little model where someone could buy a hive. I’d take care of it and then put it in their yard. They could use it as a pollinator and get a good feeling that they were helping the struggling bees. I have 50 hives in 35 backyards.”

Initially Homer was working locally. “A friend knew a commercial beekeeper in Logan,” he said. “He would take his hives to California where there is one of the biggest almond groves. Ninety percent of bees pollinate that almond crop. I went with him to learn that process and I just loved it.”

Homer was 62 at the time. “I thought if I was 25 years younger I would make this (business) happen,” he said. “I talked to my son who was 25 years younger. He wasn’t happy where he was at so we worked for a year with the guy in Logan and learned how to make a larger operation.”

The father and son bought 200 hives eight years ago. “We got them in North Dakota. We immediately split them into two hives,” said Homer. “In the springtime they like to multiply (swarming) until the hive gets big enough to raise new queens.”

Before they hatch the old queen goes, he said. “Half of the hive goes with her to start another one. We split the hive so they don’t fly off in the wind and to make the bees think they’re replacing hives.”

They run about 900 hives out in the yard where they can collect the honey, said Homer. “We check on them, maintain them and harvest the honey in the fall then ship them back to California before Thanksgiving.”

Even though California doesn’t use them until February it’s hard with the snow, etc., he said. “The bees are put in a holding area until it’s time.”

Homer gets stung about once a day – it’s a hazard of the job, he said. “It hurts for a second but I don’t really swell up. I wear a bee suit and gloves. I get stung more when I’m taking the gear off because a bee got stuck in the folds.”

The important thing to remember is to stay calm, said Homer. “People start to panic because they’re afraid of getting stung so they start swatting the air. The bees think they’re in danger so they sting. It’s the hornets and wasps that can sting again but bees get blamed for it.”

Homer recommends planting bee friendly flowers. “This has become my passion. I’m not trying to make money, I want to talk about the value of bees.”

For more information about Homer’s Honeybee Supply or beekeeping visit https://www.homershoneybee.com/.