Golden Girls

These two hives (nicknamed the Golden Girls) are under the care of beekeeper Jeannine in a bee yard west of Stittsville surrounded by forest with patches of wildflowers.

One hive (with the green painted lid) is in a traditional Langstroth bee hive with beeswax foundation. The other hive (with the unpainted waxed lid) is in a Langstroth bee hive but with foundationless frames.

The genetics come from Italian queens imported from California in the spring of 2014. These queens are almost entirely a light golden colour and the bees they’re laying are so light golden that they barely have black stripes. These two sister hives are easily identifiable by the colouration of their bees.

No treatments have yet been applied to this hive but an organic acid treatment for varroa mites might be applied post honey harvest in the fall should the mite counts be high enough to warrant it.

If the bees in these hives are able to produce enough excess honey that it can be harvested without harming the bees ability to overwinter the products will be jarred and made available for sale. Jars containing honey from this hive would have a QR code label attached to them which would direct curious individuals to this page. Here’s an example of what it might look like: