FAQ

Honey

What does it take to make honey?

To produce a single pound of honey, a colony of bees must collect nectar from approximately 2 million flowers and fly over 55,000 miles. This amounts to a lifetime’s worth of work for around 800 bees.

What is raw honey?

While there is no official U.S. federal definition of raw honey, the National Honey Board defines raw honey as “honey as it exists in the beehive or as obtained by extraction, settling or straining without adding heat.”

Is your honey raw?

Some of our honey is cold-processed and is sold as raw. It is directly from the extractor and has not been strained or heated. We have a very strict interpretation of the National Honey Board definition (see above). The key words here are "without adding heat".

How much honey can you take from a hive?

Honey bees are nature's hoarders. A typical hive of ours will produce 60 - 100 lbs of surplus honey a year..

How much honey do you leave for the bees?

With our mild and short winters, they do not need much to sustain them from roughly the beginning of November through the end of January when they are not able to forage. Whatever they have stored in the brood chamber will be more than sufficient. Honey is never harvested from the brood chamber.

Pollination

Why are honey bees so important to humans?

One third of our food depends on bees for pollination, and the annual value of pollination services worldwide are estimated at over $125 billion. In the United States, pollination contributes $20–$30 billion in agricultural production annually. And in California alone, almonds crops - entirely dependent on bees for pollination - are valued at over $3 billion.

Are honey bees the best pollinators?

It depends on the crop or flower. Bees are adapted in different ways. Honey bees, for example are essential for pollinating almond crops. However, various studies suggest leafcutter bee species are more efficient pollinators of blueberries, and bumble bees are better able to pollinate tomatoes via buzz pollination.

How do honey bees pollinate?

Honey bees pollinate plants as they forage on the flowers. As they move from flower-to-flower, the microscopic grains of pollen they collect from the male anthers are transfered to the female stigma.

Beeswax

How is beeswax produced?

Young worker bees (between 12 and 20 days old) are the main producers of beeswax. They have 8 wax producing glands on their abdomen. Those glands secrete wax in thin sheets called scales. Bees will consume about 8 pounds of honey to produce just 1 pound of beeswax

Where does the wax you sell come from?

Most of our wax is made from cappings. Cappings are the new, thin layer of wax that bees place over their ripened honey. The cappings are removed in order to harvest honey and are later melted down and filtered.

Is beeswax safe to eat?

Yes, you can eat food grade beeswax! In fact, it’s likely in more of the foods you eat than you think. Just be sure it’s 100% pure food grade beeswax that isn’t imported and hasn’t been cut with harmful additives. Our 100% pure beeswax comes from hives that are never treated with any chemicals or pesticides.

Does beeswax go bad?

Beeswax never goes bad, but over time it gets a powder called bloom on it. Bloom is a natural process of the oils rising to the surface. This is a good indicator that you’ve got pure beeswax. Bloom can be removed by wiping the surface with a clean, lint-free cloth.

General

How do honey bees communicate with one another?

"Dancing." Honey bees do a dance which alerts other bees where nectar and pollen was located. The dance explains direction and distance. Bees also communicate with pheromones.

Can honey bees see color?

Bees can see the same colors we see except red. They can also see ultraviolet.

How many honey bees are in a hive?

A healthy bee hive has 40,000 – 60,000 bees.

Do honey bees hibernate?

Honey bees do not hibernate. They huddle together in winter, to share body heat.

How long do honey bees live?

The role of a bee, as well as the time of year in which it was born are, important factors in the lifespan for worker bees in the colony. In general, worker bees born in spring/summer will live an average of 6 weeks, while those born in the fall will live an average of 6 months. Queens can live as long as 5 years, but 1 - 2 years is more typical because she will be superseded when her egg laying diminishes. Drones can live a few months unless they mate or the workers decide they are no longer of any use and are cast out of the hive.