Wayne Vitale's Bees Make Life a Little Sweeter

Wayne Vitale is the Spy Coast Bee Man, a beekeeper whose sale of honey plays second fiddle to his main, expressly stated goal of “bringing bees back to the world.”

Vitale’s extensive knowledge of the science behind keeping bees, the benefits and history of honey, as well as the meticulous management of his hives all culminate in a successful production operation right around his home. He moved to Setauket from Belle Terre in 2002, and began keeping bees in 2007. He has few neighbors for acres in any direction: a perfect place to keep bees without scaring the neighbors.

Between being invited to run a busy panel on bees and honey production at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Earth Week celebration, serving as vice president for the Long Island Beekeepers Club and answering calls to remove bee swarms from places such as Stony Brook University’s clock tower, Vitale has made his mark in Setauket. He sat down for chat with Patch while running his panel at Brookhaven Lab’s exhibition.

Patch: What are your favorite and least favorite things about living in Setauket?
WV: Location, location, location. It’s beautiful, great for the bees. What don’t I like? Nor’easters.  

Patch: When did you start working with bees, and why?
WV: I started four years ago, and it’s very simple: I want to bring bees back to the world. I’m a mad weekend scientist. Well, I don’t just work on the weekends, because I have 20 hives. I produce everything—honey, pollen, wax. I sell bees, make queens, and probably produce 12 to 15 hundred pounds of honey. I had a good success rate coming out of winter. It was a harsh winter, but I only lost about 15 percent. Other people get greedy when they harvest the honey, so they can lose fifty to a hundred percent of their hive. I always leave enough for them to use for the winter.

Patch: What are your favorite and least favorite things about working with bees?
WV: My least favorite thing? I will say that it’s a lot of work, and it’s heavy. It needs a lot of maintenance. The bees will take care of themselves to a certain extent, but management is important. And also, pretty simply, getting stung. My favorite thing is opening up a hive and seeing a productive queen. Picking up a comb and seeing both sides packed with brood. I raise bees to bring bees back into the world. Actually, let me redact that statement. What I do love about beekeeping is the ever-ongoing education about keeping bees. And the people. I love dealing with beekeepers, because they’re great. Second thing would be seeing a great egg-laying queen.

Patch: What is the most difficult thing about beekeeping?

WV: The most difficult thing about keeping bees? Trying to figure out what to do to best propagate your hive.

Patch: Can you describe one of your milestones?
WV: Not only do I sell honey and bees out of the hive, I also collect swarms. People call me to get bees out of their building. When we went to the Stony Brook clock tower, there was a feral hive of bees that took up in one of the rooms. It was pretty exciting to see just wall-to-wall, ten feet of hive. There were bees and honey everywhere. I had to carve it off, and I also have a bee vacuum. It sucks up bees, but doesn’t kill them. I jarred the honey, gave back most of it to the people who worked in the building, and I took some of it myself. I actually kept the bees; it’s my only feral swarm. I still have them today.

Patch: Any advice for potential beekeepers?
WV: I’m thinking about tearing up my lawn and planting flowers. I think everyone should do that. Plant bee-loving flowers, which are flowers that bees love to visit. And advice for beginners? Start with two hives. Prepare to spend a lot of time and join the Long Island Beekeepers Club. We offer education, services, we have great camaraderie. And it’s just cool.

Missed our last edition of "Faces of Three Village"? for a recap. And if you know someone who'd make a great addition to this series, email the editor.

Editor's Note: This article has been corrected to reflect Mr. Vitale's correct number of bee hives, as well as the year he began keeping bees.