Getting Started
What areas do you serve?
We are based in Mechanicsburg, PA and serve Dauphin, Cumberland and York counties. If you live in Southcentral PA, but outside these counties, feel free to contact us. We may be able to adjust the monthly maintenance fee to account for increased travel time.
How do I get started?
As a first step, we’ll schedule a free site assessment. We’ll visit your property, determine the ideal location for a hive and answer your questions. We’ll also discuss a timeline for installing your colony. Click on the link at the top of the page to schedule your free on-site assessment.
How large of a backyard do I need to host my own hive?
Honeybees are amazingly adaptable creatures. Small backyards and urban rooftops work just fine since honeybees forage up to 3 miles from their hive. In small, heavily-trafficked backyards, we’ll monitor your bees for any signs of defensiveness and make location/hive adjustments as needed.
Life with Bees
Is it safe to have bees in my backyard?
A honeybee colony that is undisturbed will rarely act in a defensive manner. Bees are most likely to be defensive when a beekeeper is inside the hive or if there are many hives in a single location. We use Italian honeybees which are known for their gentle disposition. We’ll look to position your hive in a quiet area of your property. Honeybees will typically provide plenty of warning if they do feel threatened. If your bees exhibit any of these behaviors, we can relocate them to another area of your property and/or make modifications to the hive to help them to feel more secure.
Will I need to do anything to take care of the bees?
No! That’s the great part about Your Backyard Bees. We do all the work…you just enjoy your bees. The bees will seek out a nearby water source, so some clients choose to keep a birdbath to get an up-close view of their bees. You don’t need to have property with lots of flowers since the bees forage up to a 3 mile radius from the hive.
How many bees are in a typical colony?
At installation, your hive will have between 5,000 and 10,000 bees. The colony then works quickly to build its population, with the queen laying approximately 1,000 eggs a day. A strong colony at peak mid-summer population may contain up to 60,000 honeybees. Approximately half of the bees perform duties in the hive (nurse bees), while the other half forage for nectar and pollen.
Our Services
How often will you visit my hive? Will I know when you’re coming?
We will plan on visiting your hive at least once a month to perform our standard monthly maintenance. This includes winter months as well. Winter visits are important for assessing colony health and determining if emergency feeding is necessary. We’ll provide at least 48 hours notice of any upcoming visits. Unless you have concerns, the visit will proceed as scheduled. If you choose our optional educational package, we’ll coordinate schedules so we can inspect the hive with you. We’ll leave an inspection report and invoice after each visit.
What happens if my colony gets sick or dies? How likely is that?
Our standard monthly maintenance fee covers colony and/or queen replacement. Since the introduction of varroa mites, almost 40% of managed honeybee colonies die over the winter. This is why honeybees need our help! Fortunately, modern beekeeping practices, such as splits and queen propagation, make it possible to replace lost colonies. If your colony dies in the fall or winter, we will replace it in the spring. Spring or summer loss will be addressed as soon as replacements are available, generally within 2 weeks. You will not incur monthly maintenance fees until your colony has been replaced.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes, we are registered with the Commonwealth of PA Dept of State and carry liability insurance.
What is swarming and how will you prevent it?
When a honeybee colony becomes overcrowded, it will raise a new queen. The new queen remains, and a little over half the bees leave the colony with the old queen in a swarm. We don’t want you to lose half your bees or potentially create anxiety with neighbors when a swarm lands in one of their trees, so we’ll take steps to prevent swarming. This involves providing overwintered colonies with extra hive bodies for spring expansion as well as a technique called splitting. With splits, we remove up to 4 frames of bees, brood and honey to give the queen additional space to lay eggs. Since the bees are yours, we’ll give you the option of using the split to create a new hive at a discounted price, or you can choose to donate your split to our general replacement stock.
Why is pricing different between commercial, residential and school packages?
Our commercial and school pricing is a bit more than residential. There are a few reasons for this. First, we’ve automatically included our educational program in our monthly maintenance for schools. We’re happy to speak to students at a safe distance from the hive or in the classroom. Additionally, walk-up access to hives is not always possible at businesses and schools. We may need to access a rooftop, interior courtyard, etc. Obtaining this level of entry lengthens the amount of time required to service the hives. Finally, extending services to businesses and schools increases our insurance costs.
What happens if I want to discontinue my service?
If you decide to take on beekeeping yourself, you can cancel your monthly maintenance at any time. The hive, bees and honey are yours to keep. Multiplying the number of beekeepers in our area makes us happy!
Honey Harvesting
How much honey are my bees likely to make? Can you really guarantee an annual honey harvest?
In Southcentral PA, our primary nectar flow runs from May to mid-July. Colonies with strong populations in the spring will take advantage of the abundance of nectar by storing away surplus honey. A robust colony can produce between 30 and 60lbs in a single season. We feel confident that overwintered colonies as well as any that are installed by the end of April will produce harvestable honey.
Does the honey belong to me? How do I bottle it?
Yes, the honey belongs to you! You own the hive, bees and honey. If you would like to extract the honey yourself, we’ll simply pull the frames and leave them for you. You can crush the comb and run through a filter to catch the wax. It’s a messy process, but certainly possible. If you’d rather us extract and bottle the honey, we’ll do it for you. We charge $200 to extract and bottle up to 30lbs of honey and $300 for over 30lbs. Raw, local honey generally sells for around $10/lb.