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  • 12 December 201820 May 2019
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Look for our honey in the summer of 2019!

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  • Pollinator Week 2022
  • Spring 2022
  • Summer State of The Hives
  • Spring 2021 Honey
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First frames of honey off the hives at the reservo First frames of honey off the hives at the reservoir park! Enough for a small batch, should be available for Saturday at Malvern. . These hives are quite a bit behind hives at other locations due to them being 100% in the shade. They end up with more problems too (hive beetles, varroa, etc), so hopefully we can move them into the sun a little bit for next year!
Love seeing freshly drawn wax comb filled with egg Love seeing freshly drawn wax comb filled with eggs. This queen is new this year and has just been crushing it!
Just me and the bees! . It's an oddly peaceful thi Just me and the bees! . It's an oddly peaceful thing, beekeeping, even though there's a constant buzzing hum, a heavy suit, and lots of heavy lifting. The focus on what's in front of me in that moment and being mindful of the bees, what they're doing, and what they need makes everything else kind of fade away. And I get to work outdoors in some of the prettiest locations in the area! . 📷 by Lauren Ariel (@laur.ariel) . #beekeeping #beekeeper #beekeepersofinstagram #beekeepers
Join us on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 (rain date Jun Join us on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 (rain date June 23rd) at 6pm at the Reservoir Park in Phoenixville for a fun pollinator week event! Combining all things Phoenixville, the event will feature a talk about pollinators while you enjoy a meal or snack, and we'll even have an art activity to round out the Adult Summer Camp vibe. . Bring dinner or a snack - show off your cheese board skills or grab takeout from one of our fantastic local restaurants. Don't forget the picnic blanket or folding chairs! . The art activity will involve making your artistic mark on a beehive box. We'll have two freshly painted, plain white beehive boxes ready for you to paint, doodle or draw on, or even add a few lines of poetry to as a collaborative community art piece. We'll have some art supplies available, but feel free to bring your favorite tools or mediums. The finished boxes will later be installed on the beehives at the community garden in the Reservoir Park. . Can't wait to see you and celebrate the buzz about pollinators! . #phoenixville #pollinatorweek
🔊🆙 . I'm a big fan of pollinators as a whole 🔊🆙 . I'm a big fan of pollinators as a whole, so I have to share this neat video of a bumblebee showing off buzz pollination. You can hear a high pitched buzz as these bees vibrate their flight muscles rapidly which causes the flower to vibrate and release pollen. Only a handful of bee species are capable of buzz pollination which makes bumblebees specialists for pollinating certain types of flowers (tomatoes, blueberries, and peppers for example). About 8% of flowers require buzz pollination which makes bumblebees pretty important. Honey bees aren't capable of buzz pollination, so the next time you enjoy a tomato, thank a bumblebee! . Pretty sure these are brown-belted bumblebees, and they certainly were enjoying the roses today! . #bumblebee #buzzpollination #bombusgriseocollis
Bee air conditioning! . Unlike the butts-in-the-ai Bee air conditioning! . Unlike the butts-in-the-air stance for fanning off the locator pheromone, the butts-down fanning is to improve air circulation in the hive. Bees keep the hive around 95°F to raise brood, so when it gets too hot, bees line up and the front and back entrances and fan their wings with their butts curved down. Usually you'll see a bunch of them lined up just like at the end of the video. This fanning acts both to cool the hive and to help reduce the moisture content of nectar from 80% down to about 16% at which point it's finally capped off as honey. On really hot days, water bearer bees will collect water from nearby sources and return it to the hive where it's distributed around the hive to act as evaporative cooling. . #honeybees #beekeeping
June market dates! . It's June already, when did t June market dates! . It's June already, when did that happen?! No preorders for Malvern this week since we're running our first batch of honey for the 2022 season! It wasn't going to be ready in time for preorder, but will definitely be available at the @growingrootsfarmersmarkets at Malvern on Saturday, 9a-1p, and we can't wait to get that liquid gold into jars for you! Don't forget, you can bring back your empty jars for a 50 cent discount on your next purchase, plus free bragging rights for saving the planet, one reusable jar at a time.
Behold, the power of interpretive dance! 💃 . Co Behold, the power of interpretive dance! 💃 . Commonly known as the "waggle dance," bees use these fancy moves to let their sisters know that they've found something SUPER awesome, usually a great source of nectar or pollen. Science has figured out what this unique dance means too. The dancing bee walks in a figure 8, and the waggles that happen at the center of the 8 let the other bees know which direction to fly and how far. You can see a few other bees following the dance with a lot of interest too! . #beekeeping #waggledance
Tall hive season! Your beekeeper isn't all that t Tall hive season! Your beekeeper isn't all that tall to begin with, and the hives are on a little slope, so the photo makes it look worse than it is.. plus I've stacked on extra boxes so I can pull a bunch of frames all at once to (hopefully) extract honey next week. I can still reach that top box to lift it up and off the stack safely, but that's definitely the highest I can go!
Upgraded these gals from a 5 frame nucleus box to Upgraded these gals from a 5 frame nucleus box to a full size 8 frame box today. The move means a little bit of reorienting to their new home, but thankfully a team of bees got right to work, rear ends high in the air, fanning off a pheromone to let their sisters know where they are. The pheromone smells a little like lemongrass, and you can see a bunch of worker bees at their new entrance going to town, fanning like wild.
Freshly drawn frame filled with eggs, just what I Freshly drawn frame filled with eggs, just what I love to see! The heavy nectar flow means those bees can draw out honeycomb on a blank frame in a week. Such hardworking ladies! Bees are only capable of producing wax from glands on their abdomens for about the first 3 weeks of their adult life. After they become foragers and start flying, the wax glands atrophy. #beekeeping
*bonk* Second time, she made it home. Slow motion *bonk* Second time, she made it home. Slow motion bees are still too much fun to watch. #beekeeping #slowmotionbees #slomobees
🎶 I always feel like somebody's watching me 🎶 . Probably my most chill hive, these gals at the @rpcommunitygarden sat at the top of the frame bars and watched me work, politely staying inside the hive and away from the hive tool and moving pieces as I gave them an inspection today. Weekly inspections are SO important this time of year to make sure they have enough space to store the abundance of nectar coming in and to watch for signs of swarm behavior. Ideally, a beekeeper wants to keep their bees and not let them swarm, so we have a few management methods that help give the ladies enough space and ease congestion in the brood box. It's a good bit of lifting and shuffling frames around, so I appreciate a hive that's relaxed and happy to work with me (instead of dive-bombing my bee suit hood). #beekeeping #honeybees #phoenixville
Oh what a change from a rotten, rainy weekend to t Oh what a change from a rotten, rainy weekend to the incredible sunshine today. The bees are hard at work, buzzing through every flower they can find, and we're looking at a spectacular week of weather. Some of those hive boxes are starting to get heavy already, so we're adding extra boxes and should, hopefully 🤞 have our first batch of 2022 honey by the end of May. Super excited, and I wish Instagram had smell-o-vision because the fresh nectar smells SO amazing. #phoenixville #beekeeping #honeybees
May market dates! Hope to see you at a market thi May market dates! Hope to see you at a market this month!
The bees have cranked it up a notch this week desp The bees have cranked it up a notch this week despite some cold days and have really started filling some supers! You can see liquid in those cells that's probably mostly still nectar. Depending on the flowers being foraged, nectar comes into the hive at about 80% water. The bees evaporate it down to about 16% moisture and then cap it with wax which means it's properly honey at that point. We should be getting our first batch of honey off the hives at the end of May, assuming everything keeps buzzing along like it has been! #phoenixville #beekeeping
🔊 up to hear a newly emerged queen bee piping! 🔊 up to hear a newly emerged queen bee piping! This gal was spotted in a split nucleus box, and I could hear her carrying on as soon as I opened the box. Bees will create their own queens from eggs by feeding the developing larvae only royal jelly instead of the usual diet if nectar and pollen that creates a worker bee. They usually create multiple queens to ensure they end up with one good queen. When the queens start to emerge as adults, they will start piping to find their fellow queens - some still in their cells will "quack" back as sort of a deadly game of Marco Polo. A hive can only have one queen, so only the strongest and most well-liked queen survives the battle royale. . If you're having trouble seeing her, queens have longer bodies and a bald black spot on their backs. In the video, our girl starts in the center, crawls up, then down and to the left. When she's piping, just her back end is on screen. #queenbee #honeybees #beekeeping #queenbeepiping #phoenixville
Hey boy! The drones are back in town! Drones, li Hey boy! The drones are back in town! Drones, like that fella with the big dreamy eyes and fuzzy butt in the middle of the photo, exist only to mate with virgin queen bees. They don't have a stinger and can't forage for food, so the queen stops laying drone eggs (unfertilized eggs) in the fall and the girls kick out the freeloaders for the winter. One the weather starts to warm and pollen and nectar sources become abundant, the queen will resume laying drone eggs because they benefit honey bees as a whole even if they never actually benefit their own hive! Because he's the result of an unfertilized egg, a drone has no father and can have no sons, but has a grandfather and may have grandsons.
Tons of quality pollen pants from these little ove Tons of quality pollen pants from these little overachievers today!
April's market schedule! April's market schedule!
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