Couple tends backyard hives

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- There was a time when Bev Harvey wouldn't have recognized a queen bee if she was wearing a tiara.

Now he can quickly pick her out of a crowd of thousands of her busy, buzzing minions.

For the past 18 years, Bev and his wife, Marge, have been beekeepers, a hobby that has turned into a passion. The Harveys tend five hives made of stacked wood-frame boxes in the backyard of their Naperville home. Typically, by midsummer each hive houses up to 60,000 to 80,000 bees and can yield as much as 30 gallons of honey. The Harveys process the raw honey, making it into liquid honey, whipped honey and honey wine.

It all started when one of their neighbors casually commented that she seldom saw honeybees anymore. Bev realized that he hadn't seen many of them either. His interest thus piqued, he ordered a hobby hive from a supplier of bees and beekeeping accouterments.

From there he became a self-taught bee scholar. He has read dozens of books on bees, subscribes to Bee Culture magazine and, along with his wife, is a member of the Cook-DuPage Bee Association.

"If we didn't have bees I don't think that life would be the same for me because I really enjoy them that much," said Bev, 68, a retired home builder. "Once you have bees, it's like having any kind of animal. You get attached to them."

Observing the constant buzz of activity around his hives is of unending interest to Bev. Marge, 57, enjoys the hobby, too, and has taken on the role as her husband's assistant.

"He enjoys it, and I just want to help him," she said. "That's really what I do. If I need to put my suit on, I do, but most of the time I help him with the frames and getting the honey together and doing the processing of it all. I probably wouldn't do it by myself. We do it together, and we really enjoy it."

The Harveys wear protective suits and headgear while working with the hives. Ironically, Bev is allergic to bee stings and once was transported to the hospital by ambulance after getting stung. To avoid a similar episode, he gets a bee allergy shot each month and carries a syringe to give himself an emergency inoculation of an anti-allergy medication.

Still, he is quick to defend his bees, insisting they seldom attack unless surprised or threatened. He doesn't feel threatened by them.

"I let the bees crawl all over my hand," he said, picking up a drone -- which has no stinger -- from the ground. "I play with them because they're not out to hurt you and they're not going to attack. These aren't attack bees. They're as gentle as can be."

Unfortunately, life hasn't been so sweet for honeybees in recent years. Their populations have been on the decline, which could ultimately threaten the nation's food supply.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and honeybees are responsible for 80 percent of that pollination. Scientists refer to the decline as "colony collapse disorder" and, at present, the cause is unknown, Bev said. Other threats to honeybees include chemical pesticides and herbicides and infestations of mites.

Because honeybees are important to the environment, the Harveys don't want to see them exterminated, which is why they, at no charge, will remove and relocate swarms of honeybees that occasionally break away from their hives.

The couple has rescued swarms from stop signs, porch railings, tree branches and inside homes. Stateville Penitentiary in Joliet called them to remove a swarm from the warden's house. The city of Naperville has sought their services as well.