Beekeeper

Mow, cut, & weed fields. Perform ditching, shoveling, hoeing, hauling, ground preparation & other manual tasks. Bending, stooping & kneeling req’d. Use hand tools including but not limited to hoes, shovels, shears, clippers, loppers & saws. Lift, carry & load/unload products or supplies. Use power equip including but not limited to: tractors, planters, mowers, plows, sprayers, cultivators, power shears, chain saws, high lifts, fork lifts, skid loaders.

Must operate agricultural equipment safely, w/or w/o direction. Apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides & other crop protectants. Mix & apply fertilizers, plant growth chemicals, conditioners & other plant related treatments at the correct times depending on plant type, growth, climate & crop conditions. Assist w/farm building/field maintenance & repairs. Build/repair fences. Prepare bees & bee equip for pollination. Must be familiar w/working w/bees in all stages, from egg through mature workers, drones & queens.

Must work all aspects of beekeeping. Access colony to determine if food or medicine is needed. Feed & medicate bees for diseases & pests. Maintain hives in healthy state. Raise & replace queens. Make divides. Make, paint & clean boxes. Harvest/extract honey. Run queen breeding yard & produce queen bees. Manipulate & service hive structures. Haul bees to & from different hive locations.

Ensure healthy & productive honeybee colonies. Harmonize bees w/their natural cycle. Raise bees to produce honey & pollinate crops. Assemble hives using hand tools. Inserts honeycombs into hive. Induct wild swarming bees into prepared honeycomb frames. Place screen plug in hive entrance to confine bees. Set hive in orchard, clover field, or near other source of nectar & pollen. Force bees from hive using smoke pot or carbolic acid-soaked pad.

Inspect hive & harvest honeycomb. Remove parasites & vermin. Collect royal jelly. Destroy superfluous queen bee cells to prevent colony division. Burn diseased hive or bee colony. Sterilize hive using caustic soda solution. Uncap harvested honeycombs & extracts honey. Find & remove old queens from hives & replace w/new queen. Remove frames covered w/bees & shake into cages. Must be familiar w/mechanized extraction equip.

Cap & handle combs. Mechanically separate wax from honey. Maintenance of all mechanical equip. Assist w/refining wax & processing honey. Prepare honey by filtration and/or moisture reduction before final packaging. Blend & filter wax before final packaging for sale. Must have no fear of bees & be non-allergic to bee stings, pollen, honey or their products of the hive. Must have field-based honey bee experience.

Assess colonies to determine if colonies require additional storage capacity, more time for honey to be finished, or whether honey is ready for removal. Carefully remove honey from colony to prevent loss of queen. Take careful consideration of procedures to prevent hazardous conditions. Work is done in the field for long periods of time. Workers may assist in handling product weighing up to 60 pounds & lifting to a height of 5 feet.

Workers must work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time, repetitive movements & extensive walking. Work in fields when plants are wet w/dew & rain & may be required during light rain not severe enough to stop field operations, snow, moderate winds, direct sun, high humidity & extreme temperatures. Temps in fields during working hours can range from 10 to over 100 degrees

F. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, honey bees, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or related chemicals may affect a worker’s ability to perform the job. Saturday work required. Workers w/clean driving record and/or insurable driver's license may be required to…