The Buzz Is Back: ; Taste Tests Convince Putnam Beekeeper to Return to Childhood Hobby

Summary

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HURRICANE - A business conceived by a New Hampshire teenager in the 1950s has new life in Putnam County. When he was 14 years old, Paul Carbonneau began raising bees at the suggestion of his grandfathers neighbor, who raised apple trees. My grandfather had a swarm of bees in a corner of his house for several years. His neighbor said if I started keeping bees, hed pay me $5 a hive for every year his trees pollinated, he said. And an entrepreneur was born. Carbonneau thought of a name Killer Bee Honey and enlisted the help of a friend for the logo. We sat on my bed, two 14-year- olds. He drew the cartoon because Im no artist. Carbonneau still has some of the original labels from his fledgling business. They were tucked into a trunk for years as he progressed from high school and into a career in the U.S. Navy, which took him all over the country before he landed on 11 acres in Putnam County in the 1990s. Carbonneau, who turns 69 later this month, said hes always kept bees there, but it wasnt until about three years ago that he decided to try his hands at the honey business again. All beekeepers must regularly be inspected; commercial beekeepers must additionally seek approval of their labeling. Out came the Killer Bee logo again. I did a test run of my honey at the Putnam Farmers Market, Carbonneau said. He now has three apiaries with a total of 60 or so hives 26 on his property in Hurricane and the others divided between two Cabell County properties. Carbonneau also sells hives and expertise to fledgling beekeepers, even though he knows most wont stick to it. Within three years, 75 percent will drop out; theres a 25 percent success rate, he said. The biggest reason Its work. I come down here every day, even in the winter. You dont just put up a hive and come check it at the end of the year. Its hot in the summer you have to wear a bee suit. And anything can happen to destroy your plans, Carbonneau said. He has stuck with it because hes fascinated by bees, who help the worlds agriculture by pollinating plants and trees and in turn produce honey. There was a panic among some in the beekeeping world in the 1990s when an influx of mites decimated the wild bee population and severely damaged the commercial beekeeping population. Carbonneau said he used to spray for mites but gave that up about 10 years ago. He believes bees are among the most resilient creatures on the earth. Bees have been here millions of years. Most assuredly, this was not their first catastrophe, he said. They are very versatile. They can live in every nook and cranny. They are quite capable of adapting. Carbonneau, who also raises produce that he sells at the Putnam Farmers Market, estimates he will produce about 1,500 jars of honey this year, ranging in size from 8-ounce to 2 1/2-pound jars. An 8-ounce jar sells for $5, a one-pound jar for $8 and a 2-pound jar for $13. He extracts honey from April to October by placing the honeycombs in a device that spins the honey by centrifugal force and then runs it through a fine mesh strainer. He sells at the farmers market, at Fergusons Tearoom in Hurricane and directly from his farm (call 304-562-3701). I harvest as I need it, so my honey is fresh, he said. In the winter months, Carbonneau supplements the bees food by cooking a fondue of honey and sugar. Come spring, he lets nature take its course, and enjoys watching how the color of the honey changes with what is in bloom. I like to go out in early spring and watch them, he said. They go out of the hive looking like a jet fighter and come back looking like a B-52. Fat with their fill of pollen, the spring bees land with a thump and walk into the hive, he said. This spring, a plentiful dandelion crop produced an orange honey that was snapped up by customers, Carbonneau said. A current batch is a beautiful amber, the result of a particularly good tulip poplar tree bloom, plentiful clover and persimmon trees on his Putnam property. The autumn olive shrub may be an invasive pest, but its white blooms give honey a particularly unique and clean taste, Carbonneau said. Hes certainly a connoisseur of his own product. His morning coffee gets a teaspoon of honey in it and Carbonneau tastes every batch. I dont think that any one time it has tasted the same to me, he said. Carbonneau currently is eagerly awaiting the honey produced by a swarm of bees he captured from a tree in Barboursville. They have set up shop in one of his long hives, a four-foot contraption that originated in Kenya and allows the bees to keep a natural shape to their honeycombs. This is one fine queen, he said, observing the leader of the hive. This is coming along nicely. Carbonneau said bees might sometimes leave a hive to swarm elsewhere. If I should lose a swarm to the wild, Ive done these bees a favor, he said. Im just a caretaker. He said hes not going to get rich with bees, but he is covering his expenses and making some money. I always had high expectations for Killer Bee. Its a childhood dream, he said.

CRAIG CUNNINGHAM/DAILY MAIL PHOTOS Paul Carbonneau checks the progress of bees in one of the 26 hives he keeps on his Putnam County land. He first began beekeeping as a teenager in his native New Hampshire, and his Killer Bee logo was revived when Carbonneau restarted the business three years ago. Watch video from Carbonneaus Putnam County apiary at www.dailymail.com.

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The Buzz Is Back: ; Taste Tests Convince Putnam Beekeeper to Return to Childhood Hobby

Carbonneau said 75 percent of peo...

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