VIDALIA, La. – &uot;Don’t ever trust a bee,&uot; Irel Meyer warns as he swats away two to three bees darting for his ear.

Even though he was raised in the bee-keeping business, Irel Meyer, 86, still gets stung.

According to Meyer, using your fingernail to scrap the surface of the sting will help pull the stinger out.

&uot;The bee will die within a couple of hours after stinging you, that is , if you don’t kill him first,&uot; Meyer says.

Irel and his brother, Jack, 77, operate A.H. Meyer & Sons, Inc. out of Vidalia. The company operates hives in South and North Dakota, Louisiana and Texas. The bees from the Dakotas spend the winter in Louisiana. The primary source of honey in Louisiana and Texas is the Chinese Tallow trees. &uot;This (spring) is the season for the bees to make their honey,&uot; Meyer says. Once gathered the honey is then sold to commercial packers.

Beeswax is also bought and sold by the Vidalia plant. The Meyer family sells the wax to plants that refine and bleach it for candles, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other products. The company raises queen bees out of the estimated 8,000 bee hives at the Vidalia plant.

&uot;You can’t keep two queen bees in the same hive,&uot; Meyer says, &uot;It’s kind of like having two women in charge of one house, they’ll kill each other, one of them has to go.&uot;

The Meyers have taught local people the tricks of the trade, opening the door to bee enthusiast a new hobby.

Amateur beekeeper and retired truckdriver, Ken Ensminger, says over the past two years, the Meyers family and Julio Diaz, production manager for the Vidalia plant, have shown him how to handle the honey bees.

Ensminger keeps an observation hive, and 12 honey producing hives in his backyard in Vidalia.

The observation hive is a safe and effective way to show kids how the worker bees’ activities center around the queen.

&uot;It’s fascinating and fun to me, and people like to eat the local honey,&uot; Ensminger says. Ensminger says people of all ages are interested in learning about bees, you just have to be willing to take the time to learn.

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