What is Beekeeping?
Beekeeping (apiculture) is the practice of managing honeybee colonies to attain desired objectives. The most common primary objectives for managing colonies are to:
Ensure large, healthy adult honeybee populations coincide with major nectar flows;
To use these strong honeybee colonies to best execute the beekeeping management plan to:
1. Maximize the collection of nectar (ie. to maximize honey production).
2. Provide pollination services for local food crops.
Our Focus - Pollination and Honey Production
Our beekeeping operations are a fundamental part of our business and are how Honeybee Centre began in 2000. We have two primary goals for our beekeeping operations, providing pollination services to local fruit growers, and producing several varieties of specialty honey, which we sell in our Country Store. Our beekeeping operations are based out of our facilities in Surrey, BC which includes a workshop, equipment storage facilities, CFIA approved honey extraction facilities, and honey storage facilities.
During the summer, beekeepers ensure that colonies do not swarm by providing sufficient room for the queen to lay eggs and for the colony to expand. Throughout the season, we gather specialty honey from as many plants as possible, including blueberry, cranberry, raspberry, blackberry, clover, and wildflower. At the end of summer, beekeepers harvest surplus honey allowing the bees to keep sufficient food storage for the coming winter.
By September all of the bees are back in their wintering yards. Other than one brief check in November, we leave the bees alone until the following February.