Just Iowa Honey Bees
'Do the Zoo'!
Early this spring, a representative of the Blank Park Zoo reached out and asked if we were interested in putting honey bee colonies in the zoo. The zoo has a Plant Grow Fly conservation initiative to support native pollinators, and the bees would support this program. Take time to read the information on the zoo website, and how you can make a difference for all pollinators!
Both colonies were caught as swarms earlier this spring - it typically takes most of the summer for a swarm colony to gain momentum, since the original colony split and only half or less than half of the colony is part of the swarm. The queen is busy trying to build up the colony to 50,000+ bees right now, and the nurse bees are busy caring for the brood. The foragers, typically the older worker bees, are spending some time collecting honey in the super boxes, which are the smaller boxes above the two larger boxes on the bottom of the hive. The queen needs to keep laying eggs, so there are more foragers to collect honey before we hit the Iowa dearth, which is typically in late July.
We are hoping to offer honey collected at the zoo either through the Blank Park Zoo gift shop, or through our website - we will be working with the zoo in the near future on this endeavor!
Stay connected as we venture through the summer and the bees make progress on collecting honey!
July 7, 2024 Update
The bees are producing cut comb honey - a very light, translucent honey from the Blank Park Zoo area. The bees have fully capped off the honey so it is a perfect moisture level and fully cured. Absolutely beautiful!!
Soon, we will be offering the cut comb for sale here!