The primary apiary is located right here in remote area of Coryell County, Texas where our bees collect pollen and nectar from a unlimited source of Texas wild flowers. One of our apiaries is pictured below:
We have 200 hives in Texas and 100 in Pennsylvania where they are used for learning beekeeping. In the future our plan is to have a medium apiary of up to 50 hives in Alaska and a large Apiary with 300 or more hives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Both places have unique sources for nectar that produce honey with high medicinal values.
We use Italian hybrid bees at all locations. We do have feral hives. Many beekeepers catch swarms and hive them for their apiary. In Texas there is always the potential of catching a swarm of Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) that have their own management problems besides being very aggressive. It is almost impossible to distinguish the AHB from any other honey bee, so most bee keepers will re-queen the captured swarm colony with a hybrid queen to change the aggressiveness of the bees as they die off and are replaced with new Italians bees genetics.
You should do your research before purchasing bees if you are thinking of getting into beekeeping. There are really good and really bad bee suppliers. A good source of information can always be found at your local beekeeper association. See: http://bellcoryellbeeclub.org or http://www.beeculture.com/directory/find-local-beekeeper/
If you are in Central Texas check our site often for the dates of FREE Beekeeping classes we will be hosting. We are working on a sponsor for all course materials to include a free five piece hive for each student who completes the course.
Our Apiary
The instruction will be 4 hours per day (most likely on a Saturday) over five days:
1st day:
Beginning beekeeping instruction
Bee biology
Honey, wax, pollen, and honey bee products
Texas Beekeeping laws and regulations
Introduction to beekeeping equipment and supplies.
2nd Day
Langstroth Hive Components
Hands on Assembly of a complete hive
3rd Day
Disease, treatment and regulations
Impact of chemical vs. organic and aggressive IPM management practice.
Environmental considerations
Hive placement
4th Day
Hive inspections
Visit the apiary and complete hands on training conducting an inspection under the supervision of a beekeeper. Confidence builder!!!!!
5th day
- Harvesting the honeybee products, storage, packaging, sale potentials.
- The goal on day five is for any student who desires to begin beekeeping is to have access to our bee supplier who will make one NUC available for installation into the hive they assembled (and hopefully painted) on day 2 at a very reasonable cost of about $70.00 (Additional NUCs would be his normal cost of $150.00)
Once our Honey House is completed in 2016 we plan to offer FREE Classes on honey and wax extraction, packaging, labeling, and rules/laws governing the sale of your honey products. For the beekeeper with less than six hives we will offer you FREE access to our larger extractors on a appointment basis. Our only expectation is your respect for our equipment and cleaning up before you leave.
Come back often and watch us grow.