Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (July 27/01) - Demand is greater than supply for what could be the most Northerly bee farm.

What started with a couple of hives three years ago as a hobby could quadruple in size by next summer.

Beekeeper Ken Davidge checks to see if he can begin extracting honey. The bees need to keep working at it for another week or so. - Dave Sullivan/NNSL photo

It was built on weekends by Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development employees Daniel Allaire and Ken Davidge. The Fort Simpson partners are now thinking of expanding from six hives to 25. A hive contains tens of thousands of bees.

"We could supply the entire Deh Cho," Allaire pronounces, while at the same time admitting he knew nothing about bees before diving in with both feet.

"I'm no expert or anything, I'm just beginning. We didn't know anything but we bought a book and talked to people."

Startup costs for the business are low.

Friends are turning into loyal customers who swear it's the best honey they've tasted. This summer the bees should manufacture at least 100 kilograms of honey. Just half that amount was produced last summer, because of all the rain. Allaire says bees stay in the hives on rainy days.

He says the great taste of his bees' honey is due to a unique Northern blend of wild rose, sweet clover and dandelions.

"It's so creamy, and when it's fresh you can taste the flowers."

With no agriculture in the Mackenzie Valley, the bees rely on natural flowers. Allaire figures his bees travel further than the usual three-kilometre range.

The partners point out that more southern bees get their nectar from chemically-treated crops.

Davidge and Allaire figure they've broken even so far, after buying equipment such as the hives, an electric fence to keep out bears, an "antique" extracting machine to remove honey, and specials suits.

Despite the suits, Allaire usually gets stung a few times each year. Davidge manages better, managing to get stung only about once a year.