At JT's Bees & Co every step in our production process is of the utmost importance. Every season of production aims to support the bees in providing you with the best honey and beeswax available. We know it's important for you the consumer to know where your food comes from, what's in it and how it gets processed. So, check out each step below so you can see how our products go from the hives to the jars.
01
SPRING TIME
In the spring time we start by counting the number of frames in the hive. Our beekeepers favourite thing to do in the spring is watch the bees bring in the first natural pollen of the year. We care for the bees in this season by inspecting the queens laying brood pattern and feed pollen patties to the hives, if needed.
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When night time temperatures are consistently about 10 C, the bee keeper will take off the winter wraps. Around late May we add honey supers to the hive for nectar flow. This allows us to ensure the bees have enough room in the hive for the nectar they are brining in. It also ensures the queen has space to lay eggs so the hive can increase its number of bees after the winter in preparation for honey making.
02
SUMMER HARVEST
Summer is the busiest time for the hives. This season is focused on production. Bees forage for different sources of nectar and pollen in the summer depending on what is blooming. Our role is to check the hive weekly for space. From time to time if required we may need to replace the queen.
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Our beekeepers monitor the health status of the hive and do a varroa mite count, since we don't want any harmful parasites in the hive.
Once the bees have fully capped the frames, we remove the honey supers from the hive and replace them with empty frames to be refilled.
03
FALL CARE
In the fall our beekeepers continue to remove honey supers for honey extraction, once the bees have the frames capped. After the honey is taken off the hive, we treat the hive proactively to protect against varroa mites.
Then we scrap, clean and store the honey super boxes for the next honey season. Each fall we also weigh and check the health of the hive to ensure they are in good standing for winter. Our beekeeper feeds sugar syrup to the bees, treats the hive again to protect it against parasites and then wrap and insulate the hives for the cold winter months.
04
WINTER TIME
As we head into the winter season our beekeeper prays that he has prepared the hive well for the cooler months. We use an infra red camera to check hive clusters when we can't enter the hive in the winter. We take the winter months to continue learning as much as possible. Our beekeeper loves watching YouTube videos of other beekeepers to learn and prepare for the next season. We also use this time to bottle honey by moving it from the large extraction pails into the glass jars we make available to you.
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As for the bees, they tuck in for winter and keep warm until spring appears again. On mild days the bees take cleansing flights which helps to keep the hive ready for the next season's harvest!
