Prepping for bees

To bee or not to bee, that is the question…

Well, we’ve decided to bee. That is to say that we are setting up 2 hives at the farm, and getting our first taste of beekeeping, and, hopefully honey as well.

The hives we have are slightly different than Ontario’s normal Langstroth 10-frame hives. Ours are called Flow Hives. They come from Australia, and in theory they will allow us to harvest honey the new way – that is to say without an extractor. More on that later.

For now, the important news is that the hives are assembled, and are being painted. One is blue with red boats (AKA The Boathouse), the other is camo with a red roof. That’s what happens when you get the kids involved…

This weekend, we’ll be putting up an electric fence to keep the local black bear population away from the hives.

Did you know? Black bears will raid hives for honey, but they are also interested in the larvae and the bees themselves. Bears will eat larvae and bees as a source of protein. And while we might say ‘yuck’ to the prospect of eating bees, apparently bears think they are quite delicious.