By: Erin Hayes
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of BEEKeeping Your First Three Years
Checking bees after 1 week.
In a rural town in northern Utah lives Justin Jacobs. Justin is an 11 year old beekeeping enthusiast and has been successfully keeping bees for a year now. Justin got into beekeeping when he found his Mom’s old bee suit from when she was 12 years old in their attic. He wanted to know more and got his first nuc in May 2019. He said, “I was scared at first and almost backed out of getting it but, I was mesmerized seeing all the Bees in the hive and decided to get one”.
Justin has had a great mentor at Slide Ridge Honey in Logan, Utah named Martin James. He has helped Justin getting started and answering all his questions.
Justin chose to get a regular hive and a flow hive; he wanted to see which he liked better. The jury is still out on that.
Honey ready to harvest.
Justin’s Papa is a huge supporter and they do all things “bees” together. When asked what his favorite part of beekeeping was Justin replied “I call it ‘fiddling’ in the hive. I like opening it up, looking at all the bees, finding the queen and just fiddling”. In his first year, Justin got a 5-gallon bucket of honey and was able to leave some for the bees to eat throughout the Winter. That 5 gallons equaled 100 bottles that he was able to sell to the local community.
I asked Justin what his goal was with his bees and he said: “to keep growing and splitting hives every year until I outgrow my space and have to move to a bigger one”. He has taken very good care of his bees by giving them sugar syrup, fat bee food, probiotics and insulating the hive for the cold Utah Winter. He is also very proud that he hasn’t found any mites on his bees and the last time he checked his bottom board, there wasn’t any there either!
Justin, mom Heather Jacobs and papa Dave Schoss.
Justin takes 2 classes a month at the Desert Hive Bee Supply store in Ogden, Utah and harvested his honey in their kitchen last Fall. The latest class he took, he learned about wax rendering and has enjoyed expanding his education on honey bees in such a hands-on learning environment.
He loves his first batch of honey. He ended up processing another batch after this one. Ended up with a full bucket his first year.
Last Summer Justin got to volunteer at the Utah State Fair at their honey bee booth and he got to help kids find the queen in the observation hive and answer questions alongside other beekeepers. Justin hopes that “other kids will get interested in Honey Bees and want to raise them. I didn’t realize how important they were and that they were dying until I started my own bees. I hope we can all save the bees!”.
Processing the Flow Hive.
