Big Sugar Farm

06/01/2026

It's queen breeding time. Here is my first attempt at grafting this spring. I'm using a 6frame mating nuc, packed with bees and brood and feeding it heavily.
I Grafted 20 cups and they finished 16 in total, which is a great first result for me. Today these cells go into my incubator and will be ready to go into ew Nuclues colonies on June 4th. A whole new bee colony will be created just a few weeks later if the virgin queen comes back mated.
After I pulled these cells I grafted 30 more and they went back into this replenished cell builder
This is my favourite time of year !

05/21/2026

It's that's time again. Honey bee colonies are growing larger every day, when space runs out they start the swarming process to continue their genetics. When this happens the Queen and about half of all the workers leave the parent hive in search of a new home. Unfortunately that home may be in your tree or swingset or just about anywhere they think would be a great place to live.
If this happens, have no fear. Give us a call and we will come out, rescue them and give them a nice bee box to live in. Swarms are normally very gentle so do not be alarmed. Reach out and we will be happy to help in and around the Dorchester area

05/21/2026

20 more Nucleus colonies made up Wednesday from the Gladstone Yard. These will get queen cells this weekend and if all goes well we will have a new laying queen in each in about 30 days.

05/18/2026

Two days ago I was complaining about the cold, wet weather. Today it was 32 and felt like 36. Tell me without saying it's hot and crowded at home

05/17/2026

This post is for all our patient Nucs buyers. This spring is the coldest, most wet and dreary one I can remember and it has slowed colony growth dramatically. Fortunately it really looks like we have turned the corner with warm weather sticking around. Have a watch for your Nuc update

Quick update with pickup date and time. The Nucs are progressing nicely

04/30/2026

Today's work is painting brand new Pollen traps that will be used on our double nucleus colonies. Tedious work but it has to get done, ive been putting this off long enough 😁

04/23/2026

Tonight's treat. Cream cheese smoked for two hours at 165 degrees on the Traeger pellet, Pineapple Head seasoning from DizzyPig and of course BigSugar Jalapeño and hot Habanero honey.
Soooo good

04/20/2026

This week we are working on our first official full custom order. Labels designed by Shawn Jean at Ntensity Customs.
Thank you to the great people at Kinetic GPO for your trust in putting this huge project in our hands

04/03/2026

Apimaye hives have a few drawbacks, not many, but a few, including up front start up costs.
But I'll tell you what, one huge advantage is that they clean up almost like new with a hot water pressure washer and a little scrub here and there. These are going into their 4th season
They are the Defender line of hives from Apimaye. They are very versatile, made mainly to mate queens four at a time but you can run as a normal single ten frame deep, 2 times four frame nucs or even a timing box to graft queen cells from.
Another lesson learned is the bees will not move over the plastic connectors so these starved out. Even though I simply could have added feed into the feeders. More beekeeper error I'm afraid. This winter I will simply swap full deep honey frames so they have better access.

02/16/2026

Long time since we have posted anything, this Winter is just dragging on and very little bee stuff to report.
To get my Bee work fix in this week I've been making creamed honey. Today is finally the day to get it all jarred up.
We have all sizes back in stock
160g
500g
1kg
3kg and 5kg buckets

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