After working as a landscape contractor for years, Jim Braun found a new hobby 11 years ago.

The Bellflower resident got interested in bees after taking a class at the Three Rivers Beekeepers Club in St. Charles County.

“They are a good resource for taking a beginning bee class,” Braun said.

Now, Braun has his own beekeeping business that is called J Bees Honey. He got to share his experience of being a beekeeper during a 90-minute presentation at the Montgomery City Public Library on June 28 that drew 33 people. After the event, several people got a chance to taste some honey that was in a big jar Braun brought with him.

Braun said the best way to become a beekeeper is to study about bees.

“I have about five to six different Missouri beekeeper Facebook pages that I go through on a regular basis,” Braun said. “The Missouri New Beekeepers is one of them. I saw a post that said, ‘Well, I’m thinking about doing bees this year. What should I do?’ My response to them is to go to the Missouri State Beekeepers site, which is a web page. They’ll have local clubs available for you there. Find a bee club, start going to a bee club and learn as much as you can about bees and what you can do. If you started right now and you went to a bee club meeting once a month, by the time you are able to buy your bees, you’ll be ready by March, April or May.”

During the presentation, Braun showed the audience the best ways to handle bees. He brought several boxes that he keeps his bees in as well as a bee suit.

Braun said there are two advantages of being a beekeeper – the pollination the bees provide and the production of honey.

“There are a lot of fun things to do with beekeeping and there is a lot of work to do with beekeeping,” Braun said.

Braun said the bad part of being a beekeeper is getting stung. He had 40 stings in one day while working on a honey collection.

“I was not a happy camper,” Braun said. “That happens really easily. If I move this frame and I squish this bee, she will sting me. I would stop, go take Benadryl, then take a drink of water. Benadryl stops the inflammation process. It’s still going to hurt. It’s still not going to feel good, but it’s not going to inflame you. In my opinion, the worst places to get stung are on the hands and on the ankles.”

Braun said one of his major tasks of being a beekeeper is writing down information on what is going on in the colonies. He brought his blue notebook to the presentation.

“When most people start off, they don’t do much of anything,” Braun said. “They have only one colony. In my second year, I started with a little notebook and I started keeping notes of each colony. Everytime I would go in there, I would write down what I did.”