Nancy Osterberg of Northwoods Beekeepers demonstrates how to dump honey bees from a bee transport box into a hive. Roughly 3 million bees were delivered to Stag Farms in Breitung Township on Monday to be distributed to area beekeepers. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo)

BREITUNG TOWNSHIP — With a soft buzzing filling the air, local beekeepers gathered at Stag Farms in Breitung Township on Monday to collect honey bees they purchased.

The group, mostly associated with Northwoods Beekeepers, each paid for their own bees that a couple of club members had picked up to save the rest the travel time. While bees can be purchased from a variety of vendors, this year they came from Hansen Honey in Rhinelander, Wis.

One hundred 3-pound containers were delivered, each one holding about 30,000 bees, which adds about 3 million bees to the area.

“We have some new beekeepers and those that have hives that have died out over the winter for whatever reason,” Mary Groeneveld said.

Most of the bees purchased are Italian honeybees that have a mild disposition. Other varieties purchased included Carniolan and Saskatraz.

Mark Edens is in his sixth year and said it’s a fun hobby but sometimes frustrating.

“I keep mine out at my hunting camp, but mostly what I’ve done is feed the bears,” he joked. “It makes a world of difference on the plants. I actually got bees for my apple trees. It’s amazing, the difference in pollination. For years I’d buy trees from the conservation district and I never had any apples. Then I went to a bee club meeting.”

Afterwards, he had so many apples on the trees, they broke four branches. “I didn’t know you could get too many apples,” he said.

Jen Strelcheck said she started a hive last year, but it didn’t survive.

“The main reason was to have them by my garden for my flowers and veggies,” she said. “The bees’ flight pattern is over my garden and then over to the fields in Aurora.”

Nancy Osterberg demonstrated rehiving to those new to the practice or who wanted a refresher course. Rehiving transfers the queen and new bees from the bee boxes into the hive.

Her first suggestion was to relax.

“They’re really gentle when you’re rehiving them,” she said. “They sting when they’re defending against something, but they have nothing to defend against.”

To rehive the bees, some of the vertical wooden frames inside the hive are removed. The frames are in slots to maintain the correct space between successive frames, which give the bees room to move.

The top of the wooden bee boxes has a can that normally contains a sugary mix to feed the bees. That is taken out and the queen bee cage slid in. The cork in one end of the queen cage is replaced with a small marshmallow so the queen can eventually work her way out.

After the queen bee is placed inside the hive, with the opening to the top, the majority of the bees are dumped into hive and the rest just make their way in. The frames then are carefully replaced.

Northwoods Beekeepers is relatively loose as an organization, group members said. Members can attend meetings as they wish and there are no dues. They usually have a booth at the Dickinson County Fair and sell honey.

“The nice thing is there are experienced members of the club more than willing to help you, like Gino (Venditti, owner of Stag Farms) opening up his property to get the bees. We’re pretty lucky,” said Edens, who also serves as District 8 representative for the Michigan Beekeepers Association.

To contact the club, email to borderlandbeeks@gmail.com, call 906-282-0151 or go to the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/.