An experienced beekeeper has admitted his peers might have to intensify their social media activities to ensure the pollinators’ wellbeing.
Christian Krug heads the Association of Apiarists in the German State of Schleswig-Holstein.
Speaking to broadcaster NDR, Christian warned from considering the current buzz about beekeeping as nothing but pleasant.
He said: “Just placing yourself at the hives won’t do the job. Honeybees need care and appropriate treatment. If this isn’t ensured, they will experience a gruesome death.”
Christian revealed his organisation has decided to produce more content for social networking platforms to ensure anyone keen on trying themselves in apiculture is properly informed before launching their endeavour.
The union chief told the NDR he could imagine cooperating with digital creators: “We provide the knowhow, they turn it into high-quality videos.”
However, individuals fascinated by apiculture are apparently not just looking for information online, according to Christian. He said that his organisation’s workshops were attended by many young wannabe beekeepers too.
Christian told the NDR they were trying to gather as much information as possible before making their final decision on whether to acquire their first honeybee colony.
The Schleswig-Holstein Apiarists Association has around 4,000 active members. An estimated 4,000 further residents of the region are engaged in leisure-time beekeeping without membership.
Christian said parasites like the Varroa destructor mite and diseases such as American foulbrood (AFB) were major issues apiarists in the area had to deal with year after year.
Meanwhile, the head of the German Association of Beekeepers claimed that the hype about urban beekeeping was putting lecturers under pressure.
Referring to annual 25 per cent upticks of the number of beekeepers in cities like Hamburg, Torsten Ellmann told the Hamburger Morgenpost: “Increases of such extent are too much. Those who are offering workshops cannot handle that.”
