About Our Bees and Beekeeping Methods
We currently keep about 35-50 beehives right in the Ottawa Greenbelt at the Just Food Farm in Blackburn Hamlet. These bees forage on an abundance of wildflowers and flowering trees, and help pollinate the delicious organic veggies of our farm neighbours.
We are Certified Naturally Grown, which means we practice natural (non-certified) organic beekeeping. We do not use antibiotics or synthetic chemicals. We practice responsible beekeeping through Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and we breed bees towards resistance to pests and diseases.
We gently and lovingly handle the bees with the honour and respect they deserve. We are very conservative with how much honey we harvest so we can leave them plenty for the winter without artificial feed.
Breeding Better Bees
We are actively breeding bees to be more resistant to pests and diseases, gentle to work with, and adapted to our local climate.
In 2017 we joined the Ontario Resistant Honey Bee Selection Program. We conduct hygienic testing every year through the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association’s Tech Transfer Program and select for Low Varroa Growth Rates (LVG).
Queens and nucs – Limited quantity for 2025
We are a member of ORHBS and an OMAFRA registered queen and nuc producer.
Four frame nucleus colony (our bees and queen) – $265
Queens – locally mated, daughters of our ORHBS tested queens – $60
Queen Cells – Contact for pricing and availability
Our nucs are Ontario Bee Breeders’ Association standard 4 frame nucs which includes one of our 2024 mated queens.
Queens are also marked for your convenience and caged for safe transportation (should be released immediately).
The bees are fed probiotics immediately before being packaged, for optimum health.
Nucs in medium frames available if requested in advance.
Queens can be shipped at your cost. Nucs cannot be shipped but delivery may be possible for orders of 10 or more.
Note: deposits on queens and nucs are non-refundable.
