New Arrival   -  Bee Hives! 

For some years we have dreamt about

having honey bees here at Maryholme.

After all, our native plants will provide them

with much needed food. Plus, we want to do our part

to help preserve this wonderful species. 

So we have welcomed two small hive 'nucs'. 

These are nuclear colonies of 10-15,000 bees. 

The hope is that the colonies will grow during 

the season. A hive usually contains up to 60,000 bees. When it gets larger, the beekeeper Lawrence Iacono will split the hive.  Since we are starting out 

with a nucleus colony (a "nuc"), we won't count on significant honey in the first year, unless it is 

a particularly good year. Bees need time to build up their population and comb, and we will want 

to ensure they have adequate numbers of bees 

and food for the winter. The average Ontario 

honey yield is approximately 70-90 pounds 

per well-managed, mature hive.

If you are visiting our hives, you will find them east

of the wildflower meadow, facing the lake 

where they will get water to drink. Surrounding 

the hives is a solar powered electric fence to deter skunks and racoons! As for bee stings, the bees

are busy about getting pollen and do not usually sting (because they die when they use that hive protection). So unless you appear to be disturbing the hive, 

you are not likely to get a bee sting. If you stay 

to watch for a while, you will better understand 

"busy as bees"...