Wil Andruschak

How did you get interested in beekeeping?

I grew up on a farm in Crossfield, Alta. Coming to the city I’ve always had this fantasy that I was going to move back out to the farmland. But once I got ingrained here with school and work, I realized that it would be some time before I’d be able to afford land, let alone leave the city. So I decided I was going to make the most of my experience here in Calgary and got into beekeeping.

How many hives do you have?

Seven. But I actually don’t keep any bees on my own property because I live in a downtown apartment. I keep bees on other people’s property across the city. Basically people lease the bees from me and I manage the bees in their yard and they get the benefits of mentorship if they want to learn. They also get the benefits of pollination; a lot of these people are avid gardeners. And the surplus honey we split down the middle.

How much does it take to set up a hive?

For equipment I’d say it’s about $300 and for bees it’s about $150 to get started. That’s about two pounds of bees. They are sold by weight.

Are they fairly easy to maintain once they’re set up?

Caring for a beehive is like when people get pets and they don’t really realize the responsibility that’s involved. You don’t go on vacation and leave a dog inside and not feed it. It’s the same thing with bees. I think it’s important for people to know that when they choose to get involved in beekeeping that they take an educational course about beekeeping or do some heavy reading beforehand because it is a colony of at least 40,000 bees. If you aren’t a diligent and responsible beekeeper you’ll have problems, and with the monetary investment for start-up, it will end up being a waste of money.

There are several types of honey, such as clover and alfalfa. What does urban honey taste like?

It’s very different depending on where the hive is and what’s growing in your neighbourhood. It’s been very nice this year. The spring honey was really buttery and rich; the fall honey was quite sweet, more of a clover-flavoured honey. The bees will forage on pretty much anything. In the spring we had a lot of apple and plum blossoms across the city, so I think that was a primary nectar source.

What’s the biggest misconception about urban beekeeping?

The No. 1 misconception is that people are unable to identify the differences between wasps and pollinators. People tend to have an irrational fear of yellow-and-black insects without actually knowing the differences. Wasps are carnivorous and bees are only interested in pollen as a protein source.

So unlike wasps, bees aren’t interested in a barbecue hamburger.

Their primary goal is to get as much nectar and pollen stored as possible for the winter. So when they’re flying around foraging they’re not actually interested in human interaction because it’s a distraction.

How do you provoke a bee?

You’d have to pinch it or harass it. Bumblebees, you can actually pick them up and carry them around. They’re very unlikely to sting and are quite docile. It has to do with their hiving patterns.

How are they different from honeybees?

Bumblebees are semi-solitary. They have a communal-nesting site and support and feed larvae, but primarily that’s the queen’s job. Other pollinators, such as leafcutter bees and mason bees, they’re totally solitary. They lay eggs like chickens lay eggs, with the food and everything in it, and leave it alone. They put holes in the ground or in rotting wood, pack it solid with pollen and the egg, leave it and don’t ever go back to it again. They’re very solitary so that makes them incredibly non-aggressive.

I imagine you’ve been stung a few times.

Oh yeah. But there are two different types of stings. There’s a sting that’s unintentional where, say I’m working a hive and pinch a bee with my finger. Those are the majority of my stings — my own fault. This summer I’d say there have been maybe a dozen stings whereby the bees have intentionally been aggressive toward me.

What’s the best remedy for a bee sting?

For a regular bee sting I use a hive byproduct called propolis. It’s the sealant in the hive. I’ll just grab that and rub it with that because it’s a natural anti-fungal and anti-viral. It does really well and it masks the threat-scent that the bees emit when they sting. So if you get stung in one place they tend to sting at the same place again. They’ll smell it out. So if you get stung it’s important to mask that scent so you won’t get stung again. I know a lot of beekeepers who keep a little spray bottle of peppermint oil and water and that will do it.

How do you keep them docile when you’re working on their hives?

When you have a smaller amount of hives you’re working with a greater level of patience and offer more time to that single hive. You’re not opening 100 hives in a day like commercial guys do. So when you’re offering more patience you allow the bees to respond to your presence and you’re able to respond to their behaviour and watch for telltale signs of the bees being stressed out and respond before the bees become aggressive.