Furnace Creek Honey Co.

Furnace Creek Honey Co. Our raw wildflower honey has not been filtered or heated. Raw honey has not been processed through a filtration system under high heat.

Our raw honey is strained to remove wax bits and/or pieces of honeybee that may have gotten into the extractor. Raw honey will crystallize faster than filtered honey but that doesn't mean it has gone bad. It's actually more spreadable that way. You can liquefy crystallized raw honey by placing the jar in a pan of water on the stove and heat to no more than 100 degrees or so. Never put raw honey in the microwave.

Spent the afternoon getting hive equipment together. I’ve got enough equipment to make some splits and maintain them for...
04/18/2026

Spent the afternoon getting hive equipment together.
I’ve got enough equipment to make some splits and maintain them for awhile.
Hope to be splitting two of the colonies tomorrow late afternoon.

03/08/2026

Three out of five of our colonies were able to make it thru the bitter cold winter.
Here are two of them.
This is a critical time for the bees as they become more active and there are limited nectar sources available.
Once the dandelions start blooming they should be ok.

Dandelions are a vital nectar source for pollinators.
04/20/2024

Dandelions are a vital nectar source for pollinators.

Three of our colonies survived the winter and I expect to be splitting them this coming Monday. Keeping my fingers cross...
04/13/2024

Three of our colonies survived the winter and I expect to be splitting them this coming Monday.
Keeping my fingers crossed to harvest some honey in June or July.

I gave a split to another local beekeeper and we moved the hive earlier tonight. The original colony had a large number ...
05/19/2023

I gave a split to another local beekeeper and we moved the hive earlier tonight.
The original colony had a large number of bees and they were bearding on the front of the split.
The amount shown in the photo is minor compared to what it was. 😵‍💫
It’s not an ideal situation because you want them inside the hive before moving them.
We had to them moved before they filled up both boxes in the hive stack.
After dark, honeybees like to crawl rather than fly and they seem to find any opening in your gear.
We both had bees where they shouldn’t have been. 🤣
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Are you a new beekeeper and need some help with keeping your bees?I’m offering a paid mentor service at your bee yard fo...
04/13/2023

Are you a new beekeeper and need some help with keeping your bees?
I’m offering a paid mentor service at your bee yard for the first time and have twelve years experience keeping non-treatment bees.

If you’re interested, send me an instant message to go over details.

I’d like to stay within 35 minutes or so of 19551 zip code.

Beekeeping Mentor Fee
$30 for the first hour which includes drive time to your location.
$20/hr beyond that.
For example, if I would be there for 1.5hrs it would be $50.00 total cost.

I’ll be doing the first hive inspections for the season in a few days. The bees are actively flying and have been busy b...
04/13/2023

I’ll be doing the first hive inspections for the season in a few days.
The bees are actively flying and have been busy bringing back pollen and nectar. 🐝
So glad to see the dandelions blooming which is a good early season nectar aource for them.
Hoping to have honey for sale later in summer.

02/23/2023

It’s been awhile.
Hope everyone is doing well.

As I’m getting over covid (again) I’ve been doing some light work in the smithy this afternoon and heard some loud activity in the bee yard.
I am happy to see that three out of five colonies are still alive.
They are bringing back lots of pale yellow pollen.
Sorry I couldn’t hold the phone still, I’m a bit jittery from being on prednisone. 🤣

Sorry I haven’t posted in ages. Wasn’t able to do much with the bees last season and hoping to change that for this year...
04/13/2022

Sorry I haven’t posted in ages.
Wasn’t able to do much with the bees last season and hoping to change that for this year.
I got sick a few days ago and the bees needed to be checked on.
I’m a little better today but still feel a bit weak.
Nevertheless, I decided to check on my hives for the first time this season.
Figured I’d move slow and not overexert myself.

Out of six colonies going into winter, only two survived.
A third died in the last month.

Took me an hour to go thru both hives and sorta glad there weren’t anymore. 😵
Could barely finish just these two.

I did not split them to make more colonies today and will do that in about a week.
Bee populations look great and they are working hard.
By giving them extra space (more boxes), they can increase population and not feel the need to swarm.
When the hive fills up, or what we call becomes honey bound, a large portion of the colony will leave along with the queen.
When I split them in a week, that will simulate a swarm and they are easily managed that way.

Both of these survivor hives descended from the mean girls queen and had been split last year on 5/14/21.
The mean girls queen maintained a very aggressive colony which isn’t the most fun to deal with.
That aggressiveness allowed them to fight off the varroa mite and keep surviving till the queen is worn out and starts failing (that’s a normal process).

Hive #1
Three deeps and two shallows.

I reversed boxes and checker boarded frames around. (That means place empty frames in between full frames)
Starting at the bottom:
The bottom box is capped brood, a couple of honey frames on the outside, and empty frames in between brood.
Second box is a couple honey frames, two brood frames with eggs and larvae and empties in between.
The third may have brood and it was very populated with bees, I didn’t check it.
The fourth has honey.
The fifth is empty with drawn comb to give them a little room.

Hive #2
Four deeps and one medium.

I reversed boxes and did more checker checker boarding similar to Hive #1.
Boxes one and two have brood, empties, and honey checker boarded around.
Box three is empty with drawn comb.
Box four is full of honey.
Box 5 is empty with drawn comb to give them room.

The bee yard is still here and five colonies survived the winter. On that note, not only is it kitten season, it’s split...
05/14/2021

The bee yard is still here and five colonies survived the winter.

On that note, not only is it kitten season, it’s splitten’ season, in the bee yard.
I made a different type of split than usual for this parent hive.
I do not need to see the queen for this split, and she can not be on the frames going into the split.
The parent hive is getting moved in about a week but wanted to split it today.
I took two frames of eggs/larvae, one frame of capped brood, one frame of empty comb, along with a frame of honey/pollen and placed them in the five frame Nuc box.
When the parent hive is moved, a new 10 frame deep is placed in the original parent hive location.
The frames from the Nuc are transferred into the new deep.
The Nuc and cement block are removed.
Most of the field bees from the parent hive will populate the new deep because their internal GPS is still set to that location.
The parent hive will retain some field bees and orientation flights will begin in a day or so.
Orientation flights help the bees reset their internal GPS to the new hive location.
Every time house bees graduate to field bees, you’ll see orientation flights for an hour or so at the hive entrance.
I’ll be checking in about a week for queen cells in the Nuc.
The two cuties in the photo already have their forever home waiting for them. 😊
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Address

Robesonia, PA

Telephone

484.651.9402

Website

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