Good Karma Honey & Apothecary LLC

12/19/2024

10/12/2024

2024, limited quantities.
I'm sorry iknow not everyone who wants some will get it. I can't hold without payment.

55 pounds harvested.
In various sized mason jars.
2 pounds $25 (6 jarred)
1.5 pounds $20 (18)
1 pound $15 (16)

Fyi, I still need to print labels for some.

09/25/2024

For those who have asked... there will be very limited quantities of honey available this year. It will be bottled in a couple of weeks, and I will know better. I'm guessing 50 pounds or so. If you're looking for honey, let me know!

07/26/2024

Busy bees making honey.

When you remove a frame and are looking in from above. This is what you might see....

07/13/2024

This is hive #2. They are spicy and not happy with my intrusion and complete over haul of their hive. They are very hard workers and have outdone their neighbors by doubling their house in a week! I may have to keep their spicy-ness in check as they grow in size over the next couple months. They are not a bad as my Russian hives I had several years ago but I'll be watching.

What would you name hive #2?

07/12/2024

This is chill Hive #1. Just doing their thing. Paying no attention to me. Maybe we should name the hives??

This one's personality is way more lax and definitely is not filling their boxes as fast.

What would you name hive #1?

07/11/2024

Well, I didn't expect this!!! I thought this race would at least go for a couple of weeks! One of the hives filled the 2nd deep with honey comb!! (The other is virtually at a stand still)

So what does that mean?

Hive #2 will no longer have supplemental feed. It now has a queen excluder and 2 honey supers on it. So yes, they can start to make honey for a possible harvest!!

What is a queen excluder? It's a wire frame that has small slots in it. They slots are small enough for the worker bees to get through, but the queen who has a much larger abdomen can not. That means she can't go up to the honey supers to lay eggs. Honey supers are boxes that are above the rest of the hive where they store extra honey (honey I'll take in the end of August).

Hive #1 has been really filling the first deep but just not wanting to draw honey comb on the second. I will need to watch that one to see if they need help to get them ready for winter.

So- like I said I didn't expect it to happen so soon- Hive #2 wins!! I guess it makes sense when I look at it because Hive #2 was always a little more spicy. And spicy hives make more honey. 😋 🍯

07/06/2024

Is it just me, or do you find slow-motion video of bees in flight hilarious?? They are so clumsy!

These bees were doing orientation flights. Which means it's the first time they are leaving the hive, and they are setting their gps and stretching their wings.

07/05/2024

Video Comparison- hive #1 vs hive #2.
Watch to the end.

Who's going to be first to fill their boxes so we can make honey?

07/03/2024

The race is on! Who will do it first? Who can fill their 2nd deep box first? Hive #1 or hive #2?

They are both working on drawing out the frames. Which means they are putting wax on the frames (honeycomb) so they can fill them with honey, pollen, and brood.

They need both boxes full before I can put honey supers on (honey, I can harvest). A lot of it also depends on what's available for foraging and the weather. Too much rain and they can't get out. And being a new area, I'm not sure what is around here for them. I think it will be similar because we are still in the Minnesota River Valley and not too far from where we used to be. It's just with the flooding- who knows?!

What do you think? Hive #1 or hive #2?

06/27/2024

Kind of like when your cat leaves you a gift they killed. My bees left this for me on their front stoop.

They are continuing to build the 2nd deep. Looking good.

06/20/2024

The girls are doing well as they start to build the comb and fill their second deep box. I think queens love new frames. This queen was laying like crazy in the new frame. Can you see the eggs?