About Us
Humble Bee Inc is owned and operated by Luc Peters. We are primarily urban beekeepers, managing hundreds of hives at over 30 locations in the greater Hamilton area, including hives at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton Port Authority, McMaster University and Mohawk College and roof top hives at the Mustard Seed and the Cotton Factory. Founded in 2013, Humble Bee was awarded a First Ontario Business Award in 2018.
Humble Bee focuses on urban honey production, bee products, equipment sales, breeding and selling queen bees and nucleus colonies and bee education. In addition to their Hamilton business, Humble Bee also manages hives for the Toronto Beekeeper’s Collective at the Fairmont Royal York, Ontario Science Centre, Black Creek Community Farm, and Downsview Federal Park.
Humble Bee’s philosophy is to put the needs of the bees first, with the understanding that maintaining healthy, thriving colonies is in the best interests of both the bees and the beekeeper. Their colonies are managed without the use of antibiotics or synthetic miticides, and they select for gentle, disease-resistant and hygienic stock.
Humble Bee’s primary goal in beekeeping education is to teach students how to ‘read’ a beehive. They believe the bees will tell you everything you need to know; you just need to learn how to listen. Humble Bee will teach you how to ‘listen’ with all of your senses, and how to manage your colonies by learning to anticipate how the bees will respond to your management decisions.
With over 20 years of experience between them, Humble Bee can help you achieve all your beekeeping goals.
Luc Peters
Founder and co-owner of Humble Bee. He is an apiarist and is the current Chair of the Food Strategy Committee for the city of Hamilton.
In 2010, Luc started working for an industrial beekeeping operation focused on pollination contracts and honey production. After several years of keeping bees as a hobby, it was clear that beekeeping was something Luc wanted to do long term, but in a more sustainable way than his experiences with industrial beekeeping had taught him.
Luc started the urban bee farm Humble Bee in 2013 and teamed up with Dan Douma in 2015 when they were both hired at Toronto FoodShare to mentor the Toronto Beekeepers Collective.
Luc has always been interested in environmental issues and has been a member of Environment Hamilton and the Golden Horseshoe Beekeeper’s Association since 2010. He has also been a member of the Ontario Beekeeper’s Association since 2014. Luc is passionate about not just honey bees but about native bees and pollinators in general. He is also interested in local, organic, and sustainable farming.
In 2018, Luc was awarded a Business Link Media Group ’40 Under 40 Business Achievement Award’.