Dave Primer, board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, opens the hive for a closer inspection before the temperature decreases further for the fall season in his garden Oct. 1. Primer started beekeeping in the desert of California and has been working for the last 30 years to care for honeybees. “Our food supply chain is heavily dependent on the work of these little guys,” Primer said. “If we want to eat, we have to first recognize the bigger role these workers play in our ecosystem.”

Dave Primer, board member of Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, opens the hive for a closer inspection before the temperature decreases further for the fall season in his garden Oct. 1. “One of the biggest threat to honeybees nowadays are infections in the colony,” Primer said. “Varroa mites can introduce the hives to deformed wing virus.”

Dave Primer, board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, opens the hive for a closer inspection before the temperature decreases further for the fall season in his garden Oct. 1.

Dave Primer, board member of Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, enjoys the smell of honey and pollen from the hive he beekeeps in his garden Oct. 1. “Over time the workers recognize you, and there is no need for protection. Even if you get stung by one, I just think of it was nature’s medicine freely given to us,” Primer said. “The poison is actually an elixir of life.”

Dave Primer, board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, applies a mixture of terramycin with powdered sugar into the bee box to protect the workers from parasitic infections in his garden Oct. 1. “I apply this medicine one to three times during the year; you don’t want to overdo it, but it is important to have for colony health maintenance,” Primer said.

The queen and her workers in the hive of Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association board member Dave Primer’s garden Oct. 1. As a queen of the colony, she plays a critical role in the function and health of the hive’s livelihood; if she is gone, the colony would collapse.

Dave Primer, board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, scrapes wax from the bee box to clear space for the workers to secrete new wax in his garden Oct. 1. Raw wax is unfiltered and therefore contains remnants of wood splinters and pollen, making it hard for certain project use until it is purified.

Dave Primer, board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, scrapes wax from the bee box to clear space for the workers to secrete new wax in his garden Oct. 1. Raw wax is unfiltered and therefore contains remnants of wood splinters and pollen, making it hard for certain project use until it is purified.

Dave Primer, board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association, scrapes wax from the bee box to clear space for the workers to secrete new wax in his garden Oct. 1. Raw wax is unfiltered and therefore contains remnants of wood splinters and pollen, making it hard for certain project use until it is purified.

Collection of wax over the period of a month from the hive in Dave Primer’s garden Oct. 1. “With this amount of wax, I could make candles, lip balm or waterproof your shoes,” said Dave Primer, board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association.

Collection of wax over the period of a month from the hive in Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association board member Dave Primer’s garden Oct. 1. “With this amount of wax, I could make candles, lip balm or waterproof your shoes,” Primer said.

The worker bees on a bracket from the hive of Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association board member Dave Primer’s garden Oct. 1. They need a variety of flowers like lavender, rosemary and sunflower to keep the immunity level of the hive up. If the colony has limited access to a multitude of plants, then they are more susceptible to having poor nutrition.

The worker bees in the hive of Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association board member Dave Primer’s garden Oct. 1. They need a variety of flowers like lavender, rosemary and sunflowers to keep the immunity level of the hive up. If the colony has limited access to a multitude of plants, then they are more susceptible to having poor nutrition.

An apivar strip ready for use to protect the honeybee colony in the garden of Dave Primer, a board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association Oct. 1. The purpose of the medicine, applied for 30 to 50 days, is to kill varroa mites, and it can be used once for all of winter. “In order to use this treatment, I have to get an authorization from the veterinarian because this type of stuff is very potent,” Primer said.

An apivar strip hangs loose on a bracket from the hive in the garden of Dave Primer, a board member of the Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association Oct. 1. The purpose of the medicine, applied for 30 to 50 days, is to kill varroa mites, and it can be used once for all of winter. “In order to use this treatment, I have to get an authorization from the veterinarian because this type of stuff is very potent,” Primer said.

Dead honeybees on the ground in Dave Primer’s garden Oct. 1. According to the nationwide survey conducted by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership, beekeepers across the United States lost 39% of their managed honeybee colonies from April 2021 to April 2022.

The worker bees in the hive of Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association board member Dave Primer’s garden Oct. 1. They need a variety of flowers like lavender, rosemary and sunflowers to keep the immunity level of the hive up. If the colony has limited access to a multitude of plants, they are more susceptible to having poor nutrition.