An Interview with Master Beekeeper Amanda Henderson
Golden Horseshoe Beekeeper’s Assocation Director At Large Amanda Henderson had no idea that her dad’s suggestion in 2010 to begin beekeeping together would eventually lead her to both a full-time career and also a flourishing sideline business. Empowered by the ‘Introduction to Apiculture’ course from the University of Guelph and advice from a beekeeping uncle, Henderson has grown her initiative into a 100 hive apiary, where boxes stored in and around St. George yield liquid and creamed honey, beeswax candles, queens and nucs for sale.
As someone who started out small and has grown over time, Henderson was the perfect person with whom to inquire about start ups: “If you are looking to get started with honeybees- do your research, we have many great resources here in Ontario. The Honeybee Research Center at the University of Guelph, the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association through their meetings and the Ontario Bee Journal as well as their courses offered through the Technology Transfer Program and local beekeeping associations like the Golden Horseshoe Club are all great ways to get started- and help you meet people in the industry. There are also workshops and courses offered by some of the different beekeepers and bee supply stores, and mentorship can be a great way to try beekeeping before you make the financial investment and get your own bees. Just make sure that your information is coming from a credible source- there is also plenty of misinformation online!”
When asked about the concerns larger operations have about small start-ups, treatment and careful oversight seemed to be the antidote to those concerns: “Any bees that are not regularly managed, checked and treated will be a major threat to the colonies nearby. This has nothing to do with how many colonies somebody owns. What is important to keep in mind is that honeybees are a managed livestock that will require ongoing maintenance, management and financial investments. If you are not in a position to learn how to properly care for your bees, and put the time and resources into looking after them, then you risk putting other beekeepers in your area at undue risk. Since honeybees can fly for several kilometers from each hive we can’t control where they go during the day. So, what happens is- say you have a yard of bees that have not been treated or monitored, and they have high levels of mites, or maybe a Foulbrood disease. As those bees start to die out and collapse from their pest/disease- the neighbouring bees will find any honey stores left in those dying hives and rob it out (take honey from the dying hive and bring it home to their healthy hive). While the healthy bees are robbing the honey they are also picking up the mites or disease spores and bringing them home as well, and spreading infections.”
Although Henderson sights multiple stressors which have contributed to major industry losses over the past few years, she sights the parasitic Varroa Mite as the largest threat to the bee population. “If we were to put it into human perspective- it would be like having a tick the size of a small plate feeding on an adult human.” She goes on to say that Varroa Mites are, unfortunately, present in most colonies in all but one province in Canada. Although she states that most of the treatment options have limitations like resistance, temperatures requirements, and withdrawal periods before honey boxes can be put on a treated colony, hope is on the horizon as several universities are actively researching honeybees, and new treatments are on the horizon which will hopefully provide better management of varroa mites.
Some things about beekeeping in Ontario, though, are easy: “We are fortunate in Southern Ontario to have a diverse landscape with a wide variety of blooms for the bees to work. The season starts with Maples, Willows, Coltsfoot and Dandelions in March/April, and continues through until September/October ending with Asters and Goldenrod. In between some of the major blooms are Black Locust, Clover, Alfalfa and Basswood. Honeybees are great generalist pollinators- so there are so many ornamentals and other shorter blooms throughout the season.” Henderson suggests that those wishing to help the honeybees plant blooming cover crops like sunflowers, clover, phacelia, sainfoin and borage, or trees like Horse Chestnut, Basswood, and Black Locust. Those who may not be in the position to plant can also help by letting nature take its course: letting dandelions bloom and leaving natural areas around fence rows and wetlands are also to many pollinators.
In addition to her thriving sideline business, Henderson was able to use her degree from the University of Guelph coupled with her newfound passion for bees as a full-time career working at a queen breeding operation out of rural Hamilton, at which she has spent the past decade seeking breeding stock that are particularly gentle, hygienic, and efficient in the brood chamber, to be sold to beekeepers across the nation.
At the Golden Horseshoe Association, Henderson helps to make decisions regarding programming, which includes monthly members meetings where guest speakers inform on honeybee research, advancements, business models, bee related gadgets, and the like. They also offer outreach sessions to school groups, and are planning on implementing teaching hives.
Henderson also thinks the taste coupled with the health benefits of honey is “the bees knees”, noting honey’s well known benefits of wound treatment, cough suppression and aid with allergy symptoms as reason alone to switch to the natural sweetener. She suggests checking out the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association “All About Honey” page on their website for great honey recipes (https://www.ontariohoney.ca/all-about-honey/recipes), and also sights that website as a resource to a provincial directory to find the beekeepers closest to the consumer: “Beekeepers are such a passionate and diverse group of people it doesn’t matter where you live you will find someone near you producing honey, and helping to maintain a healthy pollinator population!”
Lastly, Henderson, like so many beekeepers, is happy to pass along her wealth of information: “If anyone wants more info- they can find me at Henderson Apiaries on Facebook.”
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