Beekeeping can produce sweet results for villa resident

Just a few years ago, Marv Dillavou reintroduced himself to beekeeping. “I have an apple tree on my acreage near Dike with a flowering crabapple tree next to it. To produce apples, I either needed bees or another apple tree,” says Marv. With experience as a youth, he introduced a colony of bees and his tree produced three bushels of apples when it produced none before.

My dad got into having honeybees when I was junior high school-aged and he bought a book called ‘The ABCs of Beekeeping.’ We were taking care of bees, collecting the honey, processing it and selling it. Over a period of about three or four years we grew from one colony of honeybees to 25. We kept pretty busy with it,” says Marv. “Bees are very interesting in the way they manage themselves and the hive and how they reproduce through a process called swarming. They’re amazing little insects.” 

The process isn’t always a sure bet, however.  “I had a good year in 2021. I ended up with 120 pounds of honey from one hive. It’s not unusual for a good colony to produce that much in excess of what they need over a winter,” Marv explained. Then, all of his bees died during the winter of 2021-22, and the new package of bees that went into the hive in April didn’t make it. “It was miserable weather and the queen bee disappeared. Once she was gone, as the lifeblood of the colony, all the bees dwindled and died. I’ll probably try again and buy another package of bees next spring.” 

“It may be easier to keep bees in the country where there are plenty of wildflowers and clover, but it’s possible to raise bees at Western Home,” says Marv, who recognized scout bees near his villa few years ago. 

“Beekeeping is a lot of work and it’s fun, rewarding and interesting. It can also be expensive. But someone who wants to learn more about beekeeping might want to read “Beekeeping for Dummies” to get started.” 

Otherwise, honey is meant to be enjoyed. “Comb honey tastes better to me than straight honey,” Marv says. “And it melts when spread on a hot muffin or piece of toast.”

Marv shows off one of his bottles from last year's harvest of honey.