Beekeeper

Work description

Crops/Commodities: honey. Primary duties (performed the majority of workdays): 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. Job opportunity is Skill Level I. All primary duties are entry-level and require close supervision and/or a short demonstration of the task by a more experienced worker. 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. TERMINATION. Prior to any termination for cause, employer evaluates workers' performance of required tasks and compliance with Work Rules and other employer policies. Employer may terminate a worker for cause if the worker's performance consistently and/or substantially fails to satisfy the employer's reasonable expectations (in accordance with the criteria set forth herein), or otherwise engages in serious or egregious misconduct that endangers health, safety, or property. In assessing whether workers' performance meets reasonable expectations, employer evaluates, among other reasonable criteria, whether the worker: (1) has adequately complied with the Work Rules and any other policies or procedures; (2) has complied with all health and safety guidelines, including the use of tools or equipment in accordance with best practices to protect the employer's property, crops, and in a manner that avoids injury or damage; (3) has treated company property (tools, equipment, crops, fixtures, etc.