Young Man With Dyslexia Finds Passion In Beekeeping

Young Man With Dyslexia Finds Passion In Beekeeping

An 18-year-old out of New Zealand with dyslexia has found a love for beekeeping.

Rupert Young Davies has always been interested in bees, and can be seen in several child hood photos dressed up in bee costumes. Now at 18, Davies has recently completed an apiculture course by correspondence through Lincoln University’s Telford division. While Davies has found reading difficult, he states that the course was “wonderful.”

“It is fascinating to see how they work, because when you read about it it’s hard to picture it but you see how it all works and it is fascinating,” states Davies.

And Davies isn’t alone in his interest. Beekeeping is a big industry in New Zealand. According to Airborne Honey (who have been cultivating the honey in the area for over 100 years) there are 320,000 beehives throughout the country that annually yield 10,600 metric tons of honey. (http://www.airborne.co.nz/bksummary.shtml)

Davies caught his first hive after finishing his study one year ago, and now has ten beehives after carefully splitting them to start new colonies and collecting swarms. He’s involved in all aspects of beekeeping, and taught himself how to build the wooden hive boxes and lids using aluminum sheets.

“I make everything other than the frames and the bases,” he states.

Davies has also created an income by breeding plants so that he can continue to buy supplies.

He has also recently completed his Disease Elimination Conformity Agreement course with flying colors. The course certifies beekeepers to carry out inspections for American foul brood disease. His family is very proud of him.

Davies hopes to work full-time as a beekeeper and have 200 hives of his own one day.

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This piece is based on one written by Samantha Gee for Stuff.co.nz, which can be seen here.

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Mike Nickas received his Bachelor of Arts in Film and Multimedia Studies at Florida Atlantic University in December of 2015, and is currently pursuing his second BA at the University of South Florida in psychology with a minor in education. He is the former host of the online news show The Week in Neurodiversity. He also currently works for Dr. Mike Rizzo’s Child Provider Specialists in Weston, FL.