Our apiary was the first project for our farm. We started our beekeeping experience during the spring of 2010, before Blackwater Bend Farm began. We continue to expand our apiary to provide pollinators for our apple orchard. We had 11 hives in the fall of 2019 and 10 hives survived the winter. This was a good winter for the bees, as some winters we have lost 70% of our bee colonies.
A typical hive consists of two deep boxes (see the center picture below). Each box has 10 frames in it, where the bees draw out honey comb. Some of the comb is used by the queen to lay brood, and some of the comb is used to store pollen and honey for the bees to use as their food. A typical hive will have one queen and about 60,000 bees at the height of the season. As the summer progresses, we add honey supers to the colony, where the bees collect honey (see the smaller boxes at the top of each colony in the right picture below). Each super has nine or ten frames in it. A full super can weigh about 25-30 pounds. Periodically, we remove the honey supers and collect the honey. As we go into fall, we make sure each hive has about 60 pounds of honey in the two deep boxes to feed the bees through the winter.
Where do our bees come from? One way to add new hives is to buy a package of bees. In April 2015, we purchased five 3 lb. packages of bees with new Russian queens, but sadly only two of them thrived. Winter of 2016 took its toll and only 4 hives made it through the winter. In May 2017 we purchase 4 nucs with hygienic queens and they have done very well. (A nuc is a colony of bees living in a box with five frames of comb.) We try to create a few new colonies each spring by splitting an old hive and allowing the bees to grow a new queen in the new split.
Although we love collecting and selling honey, what really counts is that the bees are there to pollinate the apple trees! Honey sales are just a way of supporting our pollination process and the bees have done a great job.
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Blackwater Bend Farm * 828 NE 771 Road * Knob Noster * MO * 65336