My name is Kirk Kern, and I’m the postmaster for Star, NC, a town of about 800 in the central part of the state.
When I go home, I like to relax by keeping bees.
I had always wanted to have bees. About six years ago, a friend of mine who kept bees got stung in the face and almost died, so I bought one of her beehives to take it off her hands. There were so many bees in the hive that we had to split it in two.
Everything that could go wrong did that first year. The bees got every parasite, caught every virus. The second year, I did a lot of reading and learned I could catch my own bees in the wild. I keep about 80 hives now. We harvested 800 pounds of honey last year.
I want to have genetically superior honeybee queens, so I breed my own queens. One of the traits I watch for is hostility so I don’t have mean bees.
I did a presentation for second-graders at a local elementary school recently. I brought live bees in a special case that I made so they could see the queen bee. I had a few newly emerged bees, too, and I let the kids hold them.
When they asked why the bees didn’t sting, I told them that bees don’t sting unless they think you’re trying to hurt them, steal their food or harm their house. If one lands on you, don’t freak out. Just let it go. Bees know when you’re scared.
I love to help other beekeepers get started and grow. When people ask me how to get take up beekeeping, I tell them to take a class at a local community college and join a bee club.
I hope beekeeping doesn’t become a lost art.
“Off the Clock,” a column on Postal Service employees and their after-hours pursuits, appears regularly in Link.
