Fourth Year

It's been 4 years since I started Urban Wild Honey and it's not even close to being what I wanted. From the start, I wanted to work up to twelve production colonies. I've been up to twelve colonies for the last two years, but a can't keep them all alive and none of them are a production hive. The older I get; the more time speeds up. I never get everything that needs to be done in a day, done in a day. I'm thinking the area can't support 12 hive, so next year(2027) I'm going to keep eight and see what happens. It doesn't really matter that much because nobody around here buys my honey. This bee season is winding down. Another year ahead; another possibility for success; another year of fun; and, another year of surprises. Woot, Woot!

The Rhythm

There is a rhythm in the seasons the bees follow every year. The bees don't know the seasons, but they sense the changes that each season brings. Late winter is the time everything begins anew. The queen starts laying eggs and the colony begins to grow getting ready for the spring. In the spring, the queen will leave the colony, some of the bees will follow her and they make another colony somewhere. When she leaves, the old colony has already start making a new queen. Colonies will gather pollen and nectar, as much as they can for as long as they can in the summer and fall. They raise a colony large enough to make all the honey they need to survive the winter. They will start decreasing the size of the colony before winter and cluster together to survive. In late winter, the queen starts laying more eggs and the rhythm starts over again.

The Rhythm- Fall 2026

It's fall and the active bee season has ended. I got behind in my mite treatments and didn't start until the fall. That was a big mistake. Opened the hives and it started a robbing frenzy. Bees flying all over the place trying to rob honey from each other. I had an odd dead-out. No sign of being robbed out, they didn't starve, and no signs of a viruses. Completely empty frames and all the bees dead on the bottom board. I'm down to eight colonies, now. I had 12 at one point in the summer.

The Rhythm- Winter 2026

Winter Thoughts 2026

I leave a few segments open so I can easily add any thought I might have about the past year or the coming year.

Winter Thoughts 2026

Space for more thoughts.

Thoughts

Thoughts 2026

I do everything. I do all the work in the apiary, the building and repair of the equipment, bottling,, paper work, and even this website. I don't do very much selling because nobody around here buy any of my honey. Not one person from the community has ever came and bought honey since I started four years ago. Strange but true. My wife's coworkers and friends will buy some from time to time, but not much. Anyways, I'm a one man show. My wife would help, but she's afraid of bees. My son isn't interested in it at all. I choose beekeeping, not them, so I'm not going to drag them into something I decided to do. If it gets to much for me, I'll find a way to do as much as I can or just shut it down.