Ponderosa Apiaries

27/10/2023

Updated prices

1 pound bottles:
1-2 $12 per bottle
3-5 $11 per bottle
6-9 $10 per bottle
10 + $9 per bottle
Case (24) $8 per bottle

2 pound chunk honey $30 per bottle

1 lb 5 ounce chunk jar $20 per jar

Cut comb $15 per piece

Creamed honey (12 ounce jar) $12 per jar.

21/07/2023

2023 harvest is in the books. Thanks to Paul Jarosh with Fishhook Apiaries for coming over and lending a hand. It’s always nice to have an extra hand lifting heavy boxes of honey. We will make another post with a new price list.

29/06/2023

Made the annual pilgrimage to Mann Lake in Wilkes Barre, Pa today with Paul Jarosh with Fishhook Apiaries. We picked up close to 330 gallons of Pro-Sweet bee feed. We use the feed to help the bees through the dearth (lack of nectar flow) period we have in the summer and during the fall to help fatten up the hives for winter time. Pro-Sweet doesn’t ferment like regular sugar syrup which is one of the reasons we use it. When bought in larger quantities it is economical and most of the time cheaper than sugar pound for pound.

29/06/2023

We will be pulling honey supers soon to extract our 2023 harvest. We have some honey available now as well. Stay tuned for updates.

14/03/2023

SWARMS!

It is that time of the year where honey bee colonies begin to build back up from the winter for the nectar flow. With that honey bees will naturally reproduce and begin to outgrow their hive and will swarm to create room within the hive. Swarming is a natural way that bees reproduce. The existing queen will lay eggs and a few of those eggs will become queen bees and will have a larger brood cell. Just before those queens hatch, the existing queen and about half of the colony will swarm and leave the hive to find a new place to call home. When they swarm they can land on just about any where they see fit whether that is a tree branch, side of a house, a car or whatever. When they eventually find a new home they will all follow the queen and establish a new hive. For the bees that are left with the new queens hatching at the old hive, life will continue on. The new queen will fight off or kill the other queens (hatched or in hatched) and she will then fly out to get mated. One she has mated she will return to the hive and begin to lay eggs which she will do for the rest of her life.

One way to attempt swarm control is to split hives and take frames of brood, food and bees. You can choose to leave the queen in the existing hive or take her. Whichever hive is left without a queen will either make new queen cells or you can introduce a new queen or a queen cell that will hopefully be accepted by the queen less split.

08/01/2023

Did you know that an adult honey bee can live for 2-4 weeks in spring / summer? This is even longer in wintertime, they are already 20-21 days old, the day they emerge from their cells.

08/01/2023

Here is a good chart to follow if you’re raising queens, or for nucs.

12/12/2022

We hope everyone is having a wonderful time getting ready for Christmas and the holidays. If you are still looking for last minute gifts we have plenty of honey that you can sweeten someone’s Christmas wish list with.

-1 pound jars
1-2 $14 per bottle
3-5 $13 per bottle
6-9 $12 per bottle
10+ $11 per bottle
Case(24) $10 per bottle

-2 pound chunk honey jars (honey with comb in the jar) $35 per jar

-Cut comb $25 per piece

26/11/2022

Making up some sugar cakes today for the bees. These sugar blocks will serve extra food if they need it later in the winter. There are many different recipes and ways to make them, but we just use a little bit of water to make them into blocks. Once they become solid you can pick them up and put them in the hive or store them in the freezer until needed.

02/10/2022

2022 honey products are now available. Our honey is harvested and bottled raw and unfiltered.

We are offering new bulk pricing on our 1 pound bottles this year. We will also have creamed honey available later this fall. Here are the products and pricing:

1 pound bottles:
1-2 $14 per bottle
3-5 $13 per bottle
6-9 $12 per bottle
10+ $11 per bottle
Case(24) $10 per bottle

2 pound Chunk honey (limited quantities):
$35 per bottle

1/2 pound bottle:
$8 per bottle

Cut comb (10-11 ounces):
$25 per piece

18/06/2022

It has been a busy season so far. The hives that we moved to our new yard are doing well. We will be pulling honey supers hopefully within the next few weeks to be harvested.

29/03/2022

Moved a few hives over to a new out yard end of last week. Also deployed another swarm trap as well. Warmer days are ahead and it won’t be long until honey production season kicks in.

14/03/2022

Working on finishing a few swarm traps. They will look like the picture of the one that is already mounted on the tree just in a different color of paint.

Swarms are the natural reproduction of a colony. Every spring the queen starts to lay eggs and the colony grows back to size from dwindling over the winter. At this point a few of the eggs that are laid by the queen will become queen cells. Once those cells are capped and shortly before they hatch (in most cases) the existing queen and about half of the hive will leave in search of a new home to build a new hive at (thus the term swarm). The picture of the bees hanging on the bush is a swarm that we collected a couple years ago. Swarms have been known to land in many different places including cars, houses, trees, bushes and many other places. Feel free to reach out if you have a swarm near the Strasburg, Va area and if we are available we will come out and attempt to catch it.

17/02/2022

Working on setting up an out yard for the spring. Electric fence is set up and ready to go.

16/02/2022

We have been working on getting some equipment assembled and ready for the upcoming season. Spent a day inside by the wood stove a couple weeks ago when it was super cold out. Won’t be long until we are putting swarm traps out and supers on the hives.

15/02/2022

Put some pollen substitute out the other day when it was warm. Bees were loving the weather and snack.

30/12/2021

Crystallized Honey

Honey is a combination of different ingredients to include different types of sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose). It varies on the amount of time that honey will naturally crystallize. That does not mean your honey is bad or not edible anymore. One of the biggest reason for this is that there is more glucose than fructose or sucrose in your honey. Here are some other factors that cause or accelerate the process of crystallization:
-Moisture Content
-Nectar Source
-Temperature
-Amount of pollen in the honey

If you are a beekeeper most customers prefer honey that is not crystallized when purchased. I recently built a warming cabinet using scrap wood and other materials. The foam insulation helps reach and maintain a steady temperature. The heat source is a 150w bulb which generates enough heat to maintain warm temperatures inside the cabinet. I use a thermostat plug to maintain a steady temperature in the cabinet. You do not want to overheat the honey which can damage the properties of the honey and affect the taste. You want to aim to keep it at a temperature below 120F (95F-115F). You can build a cabinet like this for around $100 or even less if you have scrap materials.

23/12/2021

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you and your family have a wonderful time celebrating, eating good food and enjoying fellowship with one another.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6

09/12/2021

With the bees tucked in for winter, it’s time to get caught up on building. 500 frames and other various equipment to be built.

02/12/2021

It’s a good day to add some sugar cakes if you haven’t already done so.

27/11/2021

We currently have honey for sale. The honey is extracted and bottled 100% raw. The honey we produce is considered wildflower honey which is produced from several different types of flowers and flowering trees.

Here are the following products and prices:
1 lb squeeze bottles: $12
1/2 lb cut comb: $20
Creamed Honey: Coming soon

27/11/2021

27/11/2021

27/11/2021