our BEES

Since 2021, we have exclusively kept purebred Russian honeybee colonies. All of our bees are sourced from breeders certified by the Russian Honey Bee Breeders Association (RHBBA), and are inspected by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) before they are introduced to our apiary. Russian bees are very winter hardy, Varroa mite-resistant, and have proven to be admirable honey producers. These traits make them our #1 choice of bee for our apiary.

Apart from a bi-annual oxalic acid treatment to keep the Varroa mite population in check, none of our hives are vaccinated or treated with antibiotics which could find their way into the honey we gather from them.

We also do not believe in aggressive splitting tactics to maximize total number of hives; One split per year is enough to keep the bees happy and everybody goes into winter time with a healthy population and plenty of honey stores!