Busy Bee Apiaries

04/19/2025

Spring Bee Season is in full swing in our apiaries. The warmer weather, along with the moisture is finally giving the bees some Spring flowers to forage on. All of the hive entrances are yellow, which means that the pollen is pouring in. First inspections of the hives were very impressive, with all hives surviving the winter and only one hive being queen-less. As luck would have it, we rescued two swarms this morning so we were able to combine one of the rescues with the queen-less hive to create one very strong hive. Stay tuned, the fun is just beginning!! 🐝 🐝

03/29/2025

Who let the bees out?!! The hives are unwrapped and the bees are almost out of sugar candy. Just in time cuz the queens are layin'! It looks like all the hives survived the winter and I'm already noticing bees coming back from foraging with pollen under their wings. Things will be buzzin' very soon!! Follow us this season and we'll show you what it's like to hang out with thousands of Busy Bees!!

09/02/2024

Happy Fall to all of our loyal bee lovers! This year continues to be a very strong year here in the apiary. The goldenrod is starting to bloom, which signals the last big push for the bees to bolster their winter honey supply. We will be harvesting one more round of fall honey over the next week or so, then it'll be time to start getting the bees ready for cold weather. We'll start feeding them sugar water after the last harvest, which stimulates them to create more wax, but more importantly, stimulates the queen and workers to create the bees that will last over the winter. It's a busy time to be a bee!! With that said we are quickly out-growing our small bee yard and are looking for a second location. If you, or somebody you know, has an area not being used and would like the added pollination for flowers and crops, please send us a reply. We are looking for something about 1/2 to 1 acre, easily accessible, and within a 5-10 mile radius of Russia. Un-used feed lots or pastures work great. Pass the word and create a buzz, we would love to call your place home!! 🐝 🐝

08/31/2024

Big shout out to Schafer Market for carrying our products and creating an awesome display!! We are proud to partner with local markets and appreciate their support for local agriculture. Stop by for some yummy honey and all your summer party supplies!!

07/26/2023

Just like fine wine, honey only gets better with time!! Introducing our newest product "Crystal Honey." If you love honey like I do, it's frustrating when you try to pour enough on your biscuit... and it runs everywhere!! Here's your answer "Crystal Honey!" This yummy treat occurs naturally as honey ages, and if controlled properly, turns into a thick, sugary, spoonful of awesomeness!! This makes our Crystal Honey the perfect partner to your favorite baked goods. Go ahead, put on as much as you can, and enjoy the healthy over-indulgence!! But you better eat it quick, when your biscuit heats it up it will melt back to it's original runny goodness. Also, fun fact, honey is actually sweeter than table sugar. The conversion ratio is 3/4 to 1 (Honey to Sugar), so not only do you get the intense sweetness that you crave, you're also consuming less calories. Our Crystal Honey makes a great, healthy, sweet replacement in anything that you would normally add sugar or artificial sweetener to. Put a big ole spoonful in your tea and it melts away like magic!! Don't believe me, try it for yourself!! You can visit our website at 🐝busybeeapiaries.org🐝. We offer Crystal Honey in all of our flavors as well, so feel free to try them all!! I'm telling ya', these bees have it figured out!! Remember, just Bee Happy!!

Busy Bees make amazing honey!! Ohio's Best!!

07/07/2023

Ever wonder what a beehive air conditioner looks like?? This is how 10,000 family members chill out on a hot, humid, night!! It might look intimidating, but it's actually quite fascinating. You would be amazed at how much heat 10,000 bees will create within a hive. So when the temperature goes up, they turn down the thermostat by sending a large part of their population outside. Less bees in the hive, less heat being created. Also, if you look closely, there are hundreds of bees at the entrance with their butts facing the opening. What you can't see is that they are buzzing their wings, which creates a "fan" that blows cool, outside air into the bottom of the hive and out the top. How COOL is that!!

06/09/2023

We're Back!! The bees are buzzing and the honey is flowing!! I'm happy to report that all of our hives survived the winter and are excited to get back into the clover fields. Our two original hives split a few weeks ago, so two quickly turned into four. We have also rescued five hives from local residents and turned them into productive, happy, and healthy colonies!! We're finally starting to get traction within the local communities and the response to our rescue efforts have been overwhelming. Now it's time to sit back and enjoy the sweet rewards!! We would love to have you share in our success, so please take a look at our catalog and try some of our amazing honey products. You won't be disappointed, I promise (busybeeapiaries.org)!! From our hives to yours we wish everyone a happy and prosperous Spring. Our family of 100,000 bees pass along their gratitude and encourage all of our friends and family to "Just Bee Happy!"

04/05/2023

Ever wonder what 5,000 honeybees looks like?? It's that time of year, SWARM season!! The bees are buzzing, and the queen is laying eggs. Lots of eggs!! A healthy queen can lay between 1,500 and 2,000 eggs per day, WOW!! In 21 days those eggs will emerge from their cells as fully functioning honeybees. As you can imagine the house gets a little crowded with all those "newbees" hanging around. So how do they handle it?? The hive will sense the overpopulation and will start transforming select eggs into queen eggs, which will eventually produce a new queen. At just the right time the old queen will take off with half of the hive population to find a new home. And just like that a new hive is born. This picture shows the journey perfectly!! Inside this mass of bees is the old queen, and the others are gathered around her to protect her until they reach their new home. So if you see one of these "bee balls" in your trees or bushes, don't panic, they will move on within a day or two. If you would like them removed you can call most local Sheriff departments, or exterminators, and they will have the contact information of local beekeepers like myself who will visit you and calmly remove your "scene from a horror movie." Relax, the bees at this stage are very gentle and rarely sting (unless provoked). So step back and enjoy the wonder of nature, at it's best!! Send me a message if you have questions about what your'e looking at, or if you have a "bee ball" that you would like removed. If you're wondering, every bee ball that I rescue receives a nice, new, white, box to call home!! SAVE THE BEES!!! 🐝 ❤️ 🐝

03/14/2023

Great news!! You can now buy our products at Johns IGA in Versailles. A big shout-out to the Johns brothers for giving us the opportunity to get our products out into the public. Now you have a reason to take a nice country drive to pick up our sweet treats and all of your other picnic and grocery needs!! 🐝 ❤️

03/07/2023

Hello fellow honeybee fans, the beginning of the season is nearly here!! The temperatures are getting above 50 degrees during the day and the bees are starting to leave the hive for short flights and to "spread their wings" after a long winter. In a few short days the queen will begin laying eggs and the circle of life will begin again!! All of our hives made it through the winter, and are showing signs of activity, so that is an indicator of good things to come. Attached is a photo taken today of the "candy board" on one of the hives. As you can see the bees have been busy eating the sweet treat for energy. It won't be long and the honey will be flowing again!! If you would like to support our cause you can visit us at busybeeapiaries.org to purchase our amazing honey items, as well as learn more about our farm, our honey, and our mission to rescue wayward hives. As always, we appreciate your interest and support!! 🐝 ❤️ 🐝

02/17/2023

Great news, you can now get our flavored honey's at Winner's Meats in Osgood!! Big Thanks to Travis Winner for putting our products in a great location right across from their meat counter. We have 5 great flavors to choose from, Orange, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Cayenne Hot, and Cocoa. All are amazing and going fast!! Take a nice country drive to Osgood and pick up a sweet treat and some awesome steaks and chops!! 🐝🐝