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Impacting the World By Sheila Harris
Jasper County, Mo., couple turns a hobby into growing pollinator business Anna Buckley-Schoelzel, of rural percent chance of surviving our winters,” Cassville, Mo., has been fascinat- Anna explained, “But with the help of a ed by bees since she was a young beekeeper, their odds rise to 90 percent.” “Whatever you do, though, don’t kill girl living in Florida, where her dad the bees,” she said had a friend who was a bee-keeper. Anna the first thing she does on a Her husband, Cory Schoelzel, a longtime entomology “nerd,” is also mes- swarm call is look for the queen. “If I can locate her, I put her in a box with merized by the fuzzy creatures. Together, they are establishing them- a few of the surrounding bees, then leave selves as a source for bees for residents the box open for a while and wait,” she explained. “Usually, the majority of the bees of Southwest Missouri. After taking an online course through will follow the queen into the hive. After Penn State University, Anna began her a while, I close the box, transport it back to my place and use bee-keeping endeavthe bees to start a ors three years ago new hive.” with a single hive In addition to gifted to her from nurturing her own a long-time friend hives, Anna has a and two packages of passion for educatbees ordered from ing people about the Georgia. importance of bees “They were basiin the ecosystem. cally just swarms in “Honeybees are a box,” Anna said. responsible for the Called Buckley’s pollination of 80 Bees LLC, the busipercent of crops ness has since exgrown in the Unitpanded to include ed States,” she said. some 100 hives with “People want to differing bee breeds start their own bee and population hives for a number counts. The hives of reasons. Some are situated on the want them for the couple’s 4-acre minihoney, and some farm, where Anna to pollinate their has planted native flowers and fruit trees to provide food for gardens and fruit trees.” Anna said honey bees also help out her apian friends. Some of the Schoelzels’ hives are the the ecosystem by providing a food result of swarm calls she and Cory re- source for birds and other insects. One of Cory’s favorite hobbies is to spond to, primarily during watch a spider take up residence bethe spring when bees low a hive. began scouting for new “He’ll eat a bee every couple of homes. With swarm season hours,” Cory said, “He will poagain upon us, Anna encourlice the hive by keeping pests ages residents to call a local and parasites at bay.” bee-keeper to relocate the bees Cassville, Mo. Because of the growth of if they happen upon a swarm. their bee colonies, this is the “A wild swarm only has a 30
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Anna Buckley-Schoelzel and her husband Corey Schoelzel have 100 hives on their mini-farm near Cassville, Mo. Photos by Sheila Harris
first year the Schoelzels are advertising nucleus hives (NUCs) for sale to prospective bee keepers. The NUCs (starter hives) consist of five frames, half of a standard ten-frame colony. “They contain drawn-out comb filled with eggs, soon-to-emerge baby bees, food, a new queen, and three to five pounds of worker bees,” Anna said. The NUCs are spoken for by eager buyers almost as quickly as they’re advertised. Grafting larvae from existing honeycombs is a technique Anna uses to grow fresh queen bees for the NUCs she sells. She keeps some of the queens to expand her own hive-count; others she sells to bee-keepers who need additional queens for their own hives. “This year, we plan to make at least 40 queens every week throughout spring to grow new colonies” Anna said. Anna is eager to share what she has learned about bees with others. “I hope to begin speaking this year to area students and other interested
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groups about the importance of bees in the biosphere,” she said. Although the Schoelzels’ apiary is proving to be successful, Anna says it hasn’t been without challenges. “Bees are subject to diseases and bacterial infections and can be the victims of other insects and animal predators, like opossums and skunks,” she said. Winter, too, provides an opportunity for loss. “Most hives do fine in the cold weather as long as they have plenty of food,” Anna said, although she admits she’s lost a few hives to cold temperatures. The Schoelzels typically feed plenty of honey back into the hives to sustain their bees through the winter. “This will be the first year we’ll have honey to sell,” Cory said. Anna says her favorite part of bee-keeping is watching their growth cycles. “It’s so amazing to me how such a tiny little insect can have such a big impact on our world,” she said. APRIL 11, 2022
