About Us
We are a small personalized honey producer. It’s our mission to make sure every colony is healthy and happy and our honey is the best we can present for your health and enjoyment.
Beekeeping has been in the family for over 50 years. D began keeping bees in 1972 with 50 hives on a farm in eastern Prince Edward Island.. Quite a few years later after buying a home in Jordan, Ontario, we purchased two hives from a local beekeeper and soon built the operation to 14 hives. For more than eight years D served on the executive boar of the Ontario Beekeeping Association. When not tending to our bees he mentors new Niagara beekeepers.
About Our Bees
During the summer we place colonies in yards at Good Earth Winery in Beamsville and another property in Jordan. Our queens are sourced from Ontario queen breeders and bred to be productive and gentle. We monitor our hives regularly to keep them free of pests, disease and to avoid damage from pesticide exposure.
In Niagara, Beekeeping can begin as early in February as soon as the winter temperatures moderate and bees become active in the hive. Queens start producing the worker bees that will gather early pollen from willows and maples to feed newly hatching young bees.
By May colonies are building up numbers rapidly and the job is keeping hives healthy and preventing those populous healthy hives from swarming. That’s how bees naturally increase the number of colonies.
In June to early September we monitor the health of colonies and make sure they have plenty frames to fill with honey. We inspect regularly to ensure colonies are pest and disease free and queens are viable and laying.
By September we are ready to take off the honey boxes and get ready for winter. By November all healthy and populous hives have enough honey and are packed for the winter, Winter bees do not hibernate. They form a cluster and eat honey for the energy they need to keep warm. They will stay in their winter packing boxes until outdoor temperatures are well on their way to spring.
