Beekeeper

Job description

Crops/Commodities: honey.
Prepare bees and bee equipment for pollination. Worker must be familiar with working with bees in all stages, from the egg through fully developed workers, drones and queens; must work all aspects of commercial bee keeping, including accessing a colony to determine if it needs food or medicine, feeding and medicating bees, maintaining hives in a healthy state, increasing number of hives, raising and replacing queens, making divides, making, painting and cleaning boxes, supering hives. Harvest/extract honey. Run queen breeding yard and produce queen bees. Manipulate and service hive structures and move bees to and from different hive locations to ensure healthy and productive honeybee colonies. Must respond correctly to bees to harmonize with their natural cycle and keep them in the healthiest state possible for survival and profitability. General maintenance and servicing of equipment and facility.

Work is to be done in the field for long periods of time. Workers are expected to perform duties including boxing, weighing and loading of product. Workers will assist in loading trucks with product weighing up to and including 75 pounds and lifting to a height of 5 feet for long periods of time. Workers should be able to work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, insect spray, related chemicals, etc. may affect workers’ ability to perform the job. Workers are exposed to wet weather early in the morning through the heat of the day, working in fields. Temperatures may range from 10 to 110 F. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop field operations.

Persons seeking employment as experienced Beekeeper must be available for the entire period requested by the employer. An applicant for this job must be available to work for the entire itinerary. An applicant referred to the employer after the labor certification has been granted, but before 50 percent of the work contract period for the entire itinerary has elapsed, must be available and willing to join the employer at whatever place the employer is located at the time and remain with the employer for the duration of the beekeeping itinerary.

Employer may request, but not require, workers to work more than the stated daily hours and/or on a worker’s Sabbath or federal holidays. Worker must report to work at designated time and place each day. Daily or weekly work schedule may vary due to weather, sunlight, temperature, crop conditions, and other factors. Employer will notify workers of any change to start time. Workers will have an unpaid lunch break.

Special Requirements

Three months of previous experience required working on a honeybee farm handling both manual and machine tasks associated with beekeeping. Applicants must be able to furnish verbal or written statement establishing relevant prior work experience. Workers must be able to perform manual and mechanized tasks with accuracy and efficiency. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 75 lbs. Workers must have no fear of bees and be non-allergic to bee stings, pollen, honey or other products of the hive. Must be able to work in excessive humidity.