Family comes first: Former aircraft mechanic starts bee farm for younger sister

By BENJAMIN SARONDO

There is a saying that family comes first.

This is the belief of Nicolai Kniazeff, 31, from Amadeo, Cavite who was laid off as an aircraft mechanic before establishing Jenna’s Honey Bee Farm in 2020 as a source of income and to support the needs of his younger sister, who, for medical reasons, cannot drink water without honey.

The bee farm is currently composed of nine European beehives and 30 stingless beehives, which produce the 100 percent pure honey that Kniazeff sells in the market. He only had one colony of European bees and four hives of stingless bees when he entered the beekeeping industry.

Aside from pure honey, he also sells the bees and colonies and offers seminars to those who want to start their own bee farm. “I want to share my knowledge about beekeeping to other people who also want to start their own bee farm.”

A sister’s needs

Nicolai named the bee farm business after his younger sister, Jenna, who has a condition called microcephaly. He established his business to provide for the needs of his sister, particularly pure honey, which later became his source of income and supported his family.

“There was one time where my sister’s honey stock became empty, and we do not have any more stocks at home. Her problem is that she cannot drink water alone; there should be honey mixed with water or milk so she can drink it,” he said.

“We are having a hard time finding legit and high quality honey, so that was the time I started researching how to take care of bees so instead of purchasing it on a high amount of money, we can just produce it in our backyard,” he added. To expand his knowledge and gain experience, he decided to attend a beekeeping seminar in Batangas. He also enrolled in the University of the Philippines Los Banos Bee program.

After attending the seminar, he said that he had to buy his own bees to apply all the knowledge he acquired and test the bees’ compatibility with his backyard. Nicolai said that it can cost newbies around 10,000 pesos for the colonies alone, 5,500 pesos for the complete beehive set, and 2,500 pesos for the equipment. “It may cost them money at first but beekeeping is a good business and investment.”

Once a week is enough, two is too much

Nicolai stated that he does not stop learning after every seminar he has attended and that he made his own study to improve the ways of his beekeeping. “I am very passionate about beekeeping, and I want to provide the highest quality possible on the products that I will sell in the market.”

He said that his tasks on the bee farm are mainly checking the status of the bees and inspecting the hives to make sure that they are not infested.

“I inspect the hives once a week to check for colony status, making sure there are no Varroa mites, and also to make sure that they have enough food and a good brood pattern,” Nicolai stated. He said that he only inspects his beehives once a week to control the temperature inside, which may harm the bees if he inspects them on a daily basis.

One-man team

Nicolai said that one of the things he considered before starting a bee farm was its location. He has a 1,000 square-meter backyard that he can use in his beekeeping venture.

But instead of prioritizing the vastness of a space, he said that what is important is if it can provide the needs for beekeeping and if a location has enough forage and trees for the bees. In addition, Nicolai said that he made sure that the farm location had access to water and that there was enough water supply for the bees.

After checking the location and finding that his backyard has enough forage, trees, and water supply, he made sure that the entrance of every hive faces the area where the sun rises. By doing so, the bees will start their day as soon as the sun rises, since bees do not work until the hive heats up, and he can expect more productivity from the bees.

“I am a one-man team, so I am doing all the tasks in my farm venture, such as beekeeping, bottling, marketing, packaging, logo design, answering all the inquiries, Facebook page posting, quality control, and beekeeping seminars.”

Making sure it’s high quality

“A challenge in maintaining my hives is how to keep them healthy and make sure there are no predators around, like frogs, lizards, wasps and pirik birds (also known as the blue-throated bee-eater or Merops viridis). By doing a weekly inspection, I can assure that the bees are healthy and there is no presence of predators.”

To prevent the bees from going too far from his bee farm to gather nectar, Nicolai planted more flowers, like marigolds and cosmos in the area. “That is why it is very important to choose a good location with good forage, so the bees will not go far and produce high quality honey just around the bee farm.”

“As of now, I only sell our honey online through Facebook since I do not have a physical store. But marketing bee products, particularly pure honey, is not a problem because people are aware of their benefits,” Nicolai said.

He added that he relies on word of mouth to boost sales. “Once people find out and purchase the pure honey that we offer, they recommend it to their friends and family, and from their friends and family to other people.”

“We love the support from them and the very positive feedback,” he said. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) laboratory tested and certified the pure honey products made by Jenna’s Honey Bee Farm. This certification reassures his customers that he sells high quality products with lots of benefits.

“Honey does not spoil.”

“For observation purposes, I stored some honey in 2021 and 2022, and surprisingly, when I checked it in 2023, there were no changes in texture and the consistency is the same.” He also said that there are no signs of mold buildup.

When he tried it, Nicolai added that the smell and taste were still the same.

That is why Nicolai said that beekeeping is a good business because, aside from its high value, honey does not spoil when stored properly; if not purchased in a short span of time, it can still be consumed years later.

He also advises the attendees of his seminars to keep on attending training sessions about beekeeping and, most importantly, to learn about it by doing. “Because when all the necessary resources are already available and your knowledge and skills about beekeeping are already established, it will be rewarding.”

“I can say that I am making progress each day and month. It is totally different from the day I started the farm compared to where I am right now,” Nicolai recalled.

Right now, he does not have to worry whether there is enough stock of honey for his younger sister’s consumption; when Jenna is in need of honey, he can just open a bottle he sells or go to his backyard. Nicolai said that he will continue what he is doing for his sister and his family and make progress and expand because of his passion for beekeeping.

Photos by Nicolai Kniazeff