~ Urban Beekeeping ~ Gentle & Hygienic Local Queens and Nucleus Colonies ~ Beekeeper Education~ Swarm Removal ~
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, we offer our services to beekeepers throughout the Greater Hamilton and Toronto Areas.
Organically Managed Honey Bees; now taking orders for 2018 in our online store!
Locally raised Ontario Honeybees available to rent, sponsor, or buy. We breed our bees for gentleness and hygienic behaviour (disease resistance). To ensure we produce the purest honey and healthiest bee possible, our bees are not treated with synthetic miticides or antibiotics. Our bees are located in rural and urban apiaries, and are not placed near crops treated with neonicotinoid insecticides.
We are a licensed Queen & Nuc producer (a copy of the certificate is available upon request) and our hives are inspected and registered in accordance with Ontario regulations.
4-frame nucleus colonies available, with a delivery+installation option available for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas.
Local Queens are available from May-September every year, and can be picked up or shipped via Canada Post; place an order now for priority delivery next spring.
Top bar style nucleus colonies and lessons available in addition to standard Langstroth hives.
Beekeeping Lessons: full schedule now up for 2018!
We offer private lessons or group beekeeping lessons on a variety of topics for all skill levels.
Contact Us if you would like to book private lessons or speak to us about arranging a customized course for your group or event.
Raw Local Honey
We keep our honey simple; extract it from the comb, then bottle it. Extracted in small batches, we separate it by apiary and the time of year it was produced. We make sure our honey never gets hotter than it would in a beehive to preserve its flavour and medicinal value. We don’t run it through fine filters to remove pollen or crystallized honey. This does mean our honey will not stay liquid for long, but we hope you’ll enjoy experiencing the full spectrum of flavour and texture our raw honey has to offer!
Our honey is currently available at:
- The Mustard Seed Cooperative, 460 York Blvd., Hamilton.
- Cannon Coffee Co., 179 Ottawa St N, Hamilton
- Mickey McGuire’s Cheese, 51 King Street West, Dundas.
- Cake and Loaf Bakery, 321 Dundurn Street S., or at the Hamilton Farmers Market, 35 York Blvd.
- The Hamilton Store, 165 James Street North, Hamilton
- grupetto, 64 Hatt Street, Dundas
- Work Progress, 337 James Street North, Hamilton
Contact Us for wholesale enquiries in the Greater Hamilton Area.
Api-Tourism
Want to get a close up look at a beehive, but not interested in becoming a beekeeper? Sign up for our Beehive Tour and get a guided tour through a beehive! See the Queen Bee, taste honey straight from the hive, take some pictures, get answers for your bee related questions, and take home a jar of Humble Bee raw honey.
Contact us to enquire about booking a tour for a group or company!
Host or Sponsor a Hive
Interested in helping out the bees, but not sure if you want to become a beekeeper? Want hyper-local honey from your own backyard or place of business? We offer several options for individuals or businesses to rent or sponsor a beehive at your place or ours!
Top-Bar Beekeeping
We offer nucleus colonies and lessons specific to top-bar style hives. Contact Us for more information.
Swarm Removal
We will catch swarms of honeybees for no charge! Swarm season is typically May-June. If you have a swarm of honeybees please contact us ASAP with a photo, as the bees usually only stick around for 24 hours before leaving to establish a new colony in a hollow tree or a void in a structure.
Beehive Cut-outs
Have bees living in your wall or another structure on your property? Get in touch and we’ll give you a free estimate for the cost of removing and rehoming the colony. We only perform cut-outs from April-July each year, otherwise the bees will not have time to recover before winter. In cases where the bees have no chance of surviving through the winter without intervention (for example if a tree is damaged and exposes a beehive) we will make exceptions. We can not remove bees from masonry or concrete structures (especially if they are load-bearing walls), and we do not repair any openings that are required for access, but do take care to minimize damage and choose our access point with ease of repair in mind.
The Beeline Remote Beekeeping Support
Need some expert advice? Sign up for our Beeline remote support and our expert beekeepers are just a click or phone call away! Your Beeline subscription entitles you to unlimited phone calls, emails, and photo analysis to help you manage your colonies for one year from the date of purchase. Our beekeepers are available from 9am to 6pm, Monday-Saturday, and all inquiries will be replied to in less than 24 hours. You will also receive email updates to notify you of important beekeeping news like varroa mite forecasts for the season, and how our increasingly variable weather will impact your hive management plans for the season. Included free of charge for all of our customers that purchase bees or lessons.
Visit our online store or contact us with any inquiries.