Amazing Apiculturist

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Ramón holds a package of newly arrived bees, as he prepares to transfer the insects to a new hive. courtesy Frank Seiler (2)

When Ramón Seiler of Newman Lake, Washington, was 6 years old, he became the youngest certified beekeeper in his home state. Now, at the age of 10, he manages his own hive, helps his dad work his bee colonies, attends beekeeping conventions and helps staff a bee booth at the local county fair. He has also won blue ribbons for his beekeeping projects.

Ramón’s dad, Frank, works as an electrician and calls himself a sideliner beekeeper who currently maintains 20 beehives. The term sideliner is used by commercial beekeepers for somebody who makes part of their income from raising bees and selling honey. He is also a past vice president of the Inland Empire Beekeeper’s Association (IEBA) that represents Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.

Frank explains that when Ramón was 5, he started tagging along when Frank worked the bees. For weeks he kept asking, “Papa, when can I have my own hive?”

Finally, Frank said he got tired of hearing his son’s request, so he told Ramón he could get a hive when he could read well enough to pass the Washington State Certified Beekeeping course. This course is offered annually to people interested in keeping bees commercially, or as backyard hobbyists with a hive or two used to pollinate flowers and garden vegetables.

Certified classes cover 10 weeks of lessons during the winter and early spring months and are taught by members of the IEBA. The instruction runs the gauntlet from introduction to honeybees; hives and components; flower, pollen and nectar; diseases and pests/insects; spring start-up; nectar flow; and summer beekeeping including pulling honey supers, extraction of honey, winter preparations and marketing.

Ramón said his interest in beekeeping actually began when he and his dad stopped by a bee booth at the local county fair. They asked questions about beekeeping, picked up information materials on raising bees, and learned about the beekeeping course sponsored by Washington State University and the Spokane County Cooperative Extension Office.

Frank signed up, and when the classes began that winter, he took Ramón along for company. Ramón said, “I enjoyed watching the classes, and that season I began helping Papa with his bees, and that’s when I started asking about getting a hive of my own.”