Stewarts Bees

This is an example how much more delicious honey from a beekeeper is, than the stuff you buy in the store: I gave a small jar of fresh raw honey to a friend. T...alking with her a few days later she told me that it is almost out of honey because her boys were raiding her jar. She told them to use the "Honey Bear" in the cupboard and not to use up all her special gift. They protested and said that the gift jar of honey tastes so much better then the "Honey Bear" they had in the cupboard. At this point one of her boys went over to the cupboard retrieved the "Honey Bear" walked across the kitchen an threw the "Honey Bear" in the garbage. A true testimonial to how much better actual honey from a beekeeper is compared to most products you can get from a store, not to mention this made our day. See more

All but one pail is cleaned and put away for next year. Everything is packaged up and ready for gift baskets and fall sales. Final count this year is 300 pounds of honey from 2 strong hives. Added 4 new ones to the yard this year, so fingers crossed we all come through winter and make next year better than this year.

Great way to spend a Saturday morning before heading out to the foothills for the day to meet up with some friends who are camping. Going to bring them a little treat from the girls fresh from the hive, honey in the comb. Less then 24 hours ago the honey frame was removed.

It has been a great year for bumblebees! Weve had to rehome a few of them this year (although best to leave them alone if at all possible). So what happens to our rescues? We place them at foster homes for the rest of the year until the queen goes to hibernate for the winter. These lucky bumbles are being very well cared for by Melissa and her family at Rosebud Valley Campground. Thanks for taking such good care of the bees and thanks for the support Town of Didsbury!

We have been super busy these days! We did a honeybee cutout and rescue, a couple of bumble bee nest moves and even had a leafcutter bee call. We will update with details as time allows, in the meantime, bee kind.

Amazing people that make amazing food. One of the many Gems that Didsbury has to offer. Really recommend ordering from and stopping by. They even off curb-side pick up.

Some very cool information here.

Bumblebee taken out of a work shed

I was asked to remove a bee hive from an old tractor that was being used as a yard decoration on a acreage.

A cut out job I did with fellow Beekeeper Wade Hansma. Was a big job, filled 2 hives with bees. Bee hive was 6 inches deep, 24 inches wide and 18 feet tall.

Please share, these people need to be stopped.

Typically, it is best to leave bumble bees where they are. Bumble bees are generally a challenge to remove and rehome but occasionally a queen didnt make the best choice when selecting a location for the nest. So what happens to the bumble bees we remove? We do know people are happy to host a nest of these docile pollinators for the summer, but there are not as many natural habitats around for bumbles as there used to be. Sometimes that means we have to make them a new nest. Hope you enjoy the progression from start to finish.

Finished these this morning, next is the apiary work for the week and then to a friends for a Bar-B-Que. Have a great day people and remember to "Bee Kind"

What a great way to end the day. Thank you Andrea and Gary of Crossfield for having Stewarts Bees out to remove and save a colony of Central Bumblebees ( I think) from your shed. They will have a new home and be pollinating gardens by this weekend. I hope we did not overload you two with information.

Great place to get your supper, we often do. We are very happy to be able to call this couple friends and honoured they chose our honey to add to thier charcuterie boards.

More stuff to pack into the honey room.

Always a nail bitter. Never want to lose one, but always comes with the job.

Got a call about bees under a persons deck. Showed up and took a look and it turned out to be some bumblebees. Was able to get them with the FLIR. They also had a wasp nest starting to be built. Glady took care of the wasps for the couple, but they are going to leave the bumblebees for the year.

Thanks for your help today Monika. It made this experience much smoother.

The Didsbury Museum is having an online auction fundraiser, where you can bid on great things like a basket of goodies from Stewarts Bees and other great stuff. Closes at the end of the day on the 4th! https://www.mydidsbury.ca/cgi-bin/sauction.cgi

Bee careful what you do.

Beekeeping is never done. There is always something that needs to be done or finished. Need to wax these 6, then do another 2 from scratch just to get caught up. So wish this was a job, would be so much more content.

Not the biggest nor smallest bees in Canada, but a queen Bombus perplexus, about 20 mm length, and this Lasioglossum (Dialictus) at about 3 mm nicely show the approximate range in size in our bees. Our expensive hand model is using the same finger for reference.

Another great shot from the bee hive with the camera on my phone.

Always fun to teach people about these incredible little insects! Photos in comments.

I am really enjoying this new camera/tool. Dont really need the retail lines to see the picture.

Great weekend in the bee yard, got lots done. We got our fence up an running; Inspected our gives and cleaned burr wax out; Reorganized the bee equipment and melted the burr wax and scrapings and taught the family lots of new things. Now to organize and prep for the next visit

Got all post in place yesterday, now today to add the field fence and the top it off with a electronic fence. Bees will be protected from pest animals large and small.