Honey

Welcome to the bee yard here at ShadyOaks. Also known as an Apairy. This is where all of our hard working pollinators reside. In the pictures you can see bees on the outside of the hive. This is called bearding. Like a beard on a man. What is actually going on is the hive is full of bees at the peak of the summer and many will relocate to the outside so the hive can get more ventilation and cool down from the hot day.

In this picture I am capturing a swarm of bees that came  from one of my hives and relocated up in a tree. Swarming is a natural survival tendancy or behavior for the bees. In the hive a new queen or several queens will be raised and half of the hive will leave with a queen to start a new colony. They load up on honey for their journey and fly off. Once in a while they will travel a short distance an land in an area or tree that is low enough to capture. Many times they  travel far enough away that it impossible to track them. Since 2009 was a poor year for collecting honey due to the wet spring, we are doubling our production output to meet demand. In 2009 we sold out of honey early. As  people discover the healthy benefit of consuming naturally produced local honey, I expect the demand will continue to increase. We are gearing up to meet that demand. If you are interested in ordering early, e-mail us here on the website and get on our list with the amount you want. Remember that honey will not spoil. If it crystalizes, do not microwave. You can set it out in the sun label side down on a black surface and at the end of the day it will look like the day you bought it. Remember, order early.

Top