Beekeeping-Paros

On our wonderful island of Paros, we continue to explore different careers and trades. On June 20, 2012 we visited Dimitris Bogiatzis, a beekeeper of 250 producing units. We saw his collection of 50 hives at Kostos. The hives have 4 screens in them that the bees build their honey combs. He breeds queen bees which interestingly are 2.5 times the size of the average worker bee and only sting other competing queen bees. After she mates with the male bees, also called “drons”, they leave their genitalia inside her and they die. The queen bee continues on with her life. His father was a beekeeper and his passion is what caught Dimitris’ eye, as well as a beekeeping method he thought would improve his father’s profits. His method took his father’s 70 hives from producing 70-80 kilos to producing 3.5 tons of honey. However that was an exceptional year and now his 250 hives produce 1.5 tons of honey yearly. Dimitri was an electrical engineer and completed his schooling at the National Polytechnical School in Athens and also became a director of an electrical company. His beekeeping career came after he and his family moved back to Paros from Athens 27 years ago. Those in the class who wanted to participate and were dressed in the proper long sleeves and pants and any color except for black got to get up close and personal with the bees. We were given a headdress that was netted to further protect us from the bees. Dimitris showed us one of his smaller hives because the bees are calmer. He used a smoker to lure the bees out of their hive in a calm state. He showed us the screens and a queen bee he had trapped in a plastic box. After the beekeeping experience Dimitris showed the class the screens in depth and explained how cells were planted and bred. We also sampled a product of the bees that is very healthy for you but can be only consumed in certain doses. The taste was very strong and only favored by a few students. Overall the experience was great and a wonderful insight into the world of beekeeping.

J.L. 2012