Hampton Park Honey

23/04/2026

Wish I was able to show you all how I installed my bee package, but time was short today. Welcome to the neighborhood, new colony!

13/04/2026

Warm temps arrived in Illinois to stay for a while! Baseball season has opened, and so has beekeeping season! Four hives survived the winter, so it's time to get to work as the colonies ramp up in population quickly.

08/03/2026

What does the month of March mean for beekeeping?

25/08/2025

When a queen bee is being replaced, this is what it looks like on a frame of brood!

08/08/2025

It's a low-production year, but I did manage to harvest close to 100 pounds of honey--less than half of what I harvested last year. I am ready to sell honey to my local enthusiasts! Please be patient with me; my days are intense and I cannot get back to people as quickly as I would like. I am offering the following (while supplies last):
10 ounce jars (a few with cork lids and built-in dippers, the rest screw lid) $12
19 ounce jars with cork lids and built-in dippers $25
2 pound jars with screw lids $35
2 ounce sampler jars (not pictured)$4
I accept cash, Paypal, Zelle, and old-fashioned checks. I'll be filling orders in the order received. Thank you for your continued support of my pollinators! Please DM me rather than reply to this post; it will help keep things more organized.

23/07/2025

I'm well into July, my colony numbers are still struggling, but I got a little bit of a honey harvest. As far as how my colonies are behaving: I'm ready to feed them sugar water laced with Prozac, cuz they continue to do weird things! (Announcement of me being ready to sell the honey that I have is coming in about a week)

Between my bees killing off queens one after another, and finding a couple of colonies with two queens, I'm about ready to feed my bees sugar water laced wit...

28/06/2025

On hot days, this can happen. To many, this looks like a swarm. But swarms always congregate away from the hive. This is called bearding. When the temperatures get too high inside the hive to be safe for the developing larvae, the workers move outside the hive (leaving a minimum caretakers inside) to allow for maximum ventilation inside the hive Seeing that my other hives are NOT doing this, it's a signal that I need to do some things on my part to improve the ventilation during this heat wave.

22/06/2025

Midsummer faceplant: WHERE DID ALL MY QUEEN BEES GO??

12/06/2025

I had such a great time presenting at Fossil Ridge Public Library District yesterday! It's encouraging to see so much interest in honey bees and pollinators out there. I always go over in time.

18/05/2025

Well, my pesky hive that recently swarmed decided to go for an AFTERSWARM. Don't know what that is? Watch. At least I was around for it this time.

09/05/2025

This is how technology helps in beekeeping these days. Please see my previous video for context. I missed a swarm event, but I know the day and the minute it all happened now.