Our mission is environmental stewardship and education. We hope to achieve this by education of the public starting with our future- the next generation. We enjoy educating school children about the importance of honeybees and how to help protect them. We also like to educate homeowners about honeybees and how they can make better environmental choices in their yards and gardens.
Moreover, we hope to help promote and encourage more hobbyist sustainable beekeepers.
I have recently started posting pictures on a facebook page. To learn more about honeybees and see what is happening in the bee yard - become a fan of Jilly Bees Apiary on facebook!
With urbanization, there has been a decrease in number of feral hives. You may find some take up residence in your home. The picture above is a hive that moved into an old barn. They live happily at our place now- in a box like the one above!
Above Picture: Bees building new comb.
Picture on left:
The Worker Bee: A female who lives for 6 weeks only- she works herself to death.
Boys (Drones) on the other hand, don't work at all! Their only job is to mate with a queen. They can't even feed themselves, they only live a few months and have no stinger. The workers kick the drones out in the late fall to die so that they have enough food for the queen and the workers during winter.
Picture on left:
A typical hive after the hive body was repositioned above the supers after winter. You can see we use used coffee grounds at the base of the hive to deter pests such as ants from crawling in.
Many bees are on the outside of the hive fanning it to cool.
Picture Below:
A hive of honeybees in a tree being cut down. It is a very weak hive, see the few number of bees and what little brood they have. Something probably happened to the queen and they have either not made another or she is not productive.
