Experienced Beekeepers

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Position Title: BEEKEEPER LEVEL 2 (JOURNEY LEVEL)

Date: April 19, 2022

Status:Full-time, Non-exempt

Supervised By: Farm managers

Primary Purpose:
Support Hawaiian Queen in the production of premium-quality queen bees and honey.

Essential Duties:
Work as a beekeeper, harvesting queen bees using prescribed techniques, stocking nucleus hives, and counting and storing queens harvested daily. Grafting queen cells.

Journey-level beekeepers are highly experienced beekeepers who have a deep understanding of the process of queen and honey production. They can guide Apprentice-level beekeepers in making informed decisions about how to benefit from environmental conditions as the season is progressing. 

Other duties include relocating beehives, harvesting honey and feeding and medicating bees. 

Other Duties:
Assist in basic vehicle maintenance tasks.

Working Conditions:
All weather conditions inside and outside, sun or rain, heat and humidity. Employee will be exposed to bee stings. 

Work Hours:
6:00-3:00pm Monday through Friday, some Saturdays.

Equipment Use:
Basic beekeeping equipment, including hive tools and smokers. Advanced beekeeping equipment used in grafting for queen bees.

Mental and Physical Demands:
Heavy lifting of 75 pounds unassisted

Communication Demands:
Strong verbal communication required between management and other employees. Good written communication is a plus. Ability to log written reports.

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

· Light and appropriately operate a smoker

· Identify different casts in the colony

· Open and examine a colony

· Properly manage the colony throughout the year

· Identify and take care of any issues that the colony encounters

· Make hive splits

· Re-queen colonies

· Identify and monitor pathogens that affect beehives

· Identify and build/assemble standard hive equipment

· Properly feed colonies if needed

· Prevent colony robbing

· Monitor for pathogens and pests

· Participate in honey extraction in honey house

· Identify internal and external anatomy of all castes

· Understand function of various structures of all castes

· Understand in-depth aspects of honey bee queen biology

· Understand and perform multiple queen rearing methods

· Understand major hive pest biology

· Implement various pest management strategy

· Understand and apply various chemical treatments for hive pests

· Understand and implement non-chemical methods of pest control, adopt Hawaiian Queen system of controls

· Identify plants that are pollinator supportive

· Be able to extract honey from a hive and understand honey handling

· Understand honey properties and varietals

· Process wax from a honey bee hive

· Understand various other hive products and their use

· Graft bee larvae for queen rearing using specialized grafting tools

· Valid driver license, clear driving record. Must be 18 years of age.

Skills/Knowledge:

· Identify and repair standard hive equipment

· Be able to drive a pick-up truck, stick shift and automatic

Experience: 

· Must own/manage a minimum of three colonies for at least two years prior to applying

· Must have at least 5 years verifiable work experience in beekeeping