The Hives

2021

We are rounding the amateur bend.

This year we only over wintered 1 of our hives. Let’s face it, 2020 was a very unkind year. It was unkind to humanity and in turn the bees felt the turmoil. You may have noticed we were rather quiet last year through the summer. The bees barely stockpiled enough to sustain themselves over the winter.

By all measures, 2020 was hotter and drier than normal, so while you may have seen some beautiful flowers, there wasn’t enough rain to allow the bees to produce as they normally would.

By the end of the last season, we had only harvested about 6 lbs of honey, most of which was too dry to bottle and share. The Boxing Beekeeper has been enjoying a lot of crystalized honey this year 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Our plans for 2021 are vastly different. We are dipping our toes in queen rearing and doing some mentoring. In addition, as the vaccine rollout progresses, so does the hope of a new year. As I write this in June of 2021, we have already harvested 7 lbs of honey that is… AMAZING! We can’t wait to have enough to bottle and sell!!

We also have been involved in some classroom virtual learning! The class learned about the hive structure and how bee colonies work. Though met with some questions like “What do boy bees do when girl bees sting them?” (it was a 2nd grade class 😂), the Boxing Beekeeper handled it with ease!

Also this year, the Boxing Beekeeper is headed to the annual EAS Conference in Louisville, Kentucky!! There, the Boxing Beekeeper will mingle with master beekeepers and learn all about hive inspections, varroa mite testing and Tropilaelaps. It will be an awesome experience that you can be sure we will report out about! Stay tuned this year for our updates and happenings!