Stephanie Quattlebaum finds the lives of bees to be fascinating, and that’s the main reason she keeps bees on her Hephzibah property.
“People mainly keep bees for two reasons. One is pollination, and the other is honey,” said Quattlebaum, who heads the Augusta Beekeeping Association and has been keeping bees for about six years.
While she gets some honey from the insects, it’s not enough to sell. She usually has enough for her family and maybe some to give to friends. Her wife, Pam, also had an interest in the bees, but after two severe reactions to bee stings, she leaves the bees to Stephanie Quattlebaum.
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Some of the bees do pollinate other crops on the land. Blueberries and scuppernongs grow near the hives.
The land has been in Quattlebaum’s family for many years, and her father kept bees at one time as well.
Her interest in the insect lies in its life cycle and how a colony functions. During the spring, bees will swarm because they are looking for a new home, she said.
“They function as one organism,” she said.
Drones are the male bees. They have one purpose — to mate with a queen. After that purpose is fulfilled, they die. The queen’s purpose is to lay eggs, and the worker bees do everything else, said Quattlebaum.
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It’s often in the spring that Quattlebaum and the Augusta Beekeeping Association hear requests for people wanting to relocate a hive or wondering what to do about a swarm of bees.
“We have a couple of guys who are really good at removal,” she said.
They can remove the bees without killing them.
The association has offered classes about bees in the past, but COVID-19 hindered some of the group’s in-person presence. Members held their first in-person meeting last month.
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The association’s Facebook page, facebook.com/augustabeekeeping grew during the pandemic, and a lot of people who don’t even have bees have begun to follow the page and ask questions. And she likes to share her knowledge of bees with them.
Quattlebaum said other local beekeeping groups exist and members often interact with each other. She started hers for practical reasons. The other groups were greater distances away like Appling or Aiken, and she wanted to be able to fit into her children’s schedules.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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