Connell's Apiary LLC

07/12/2026

🍯 The wait is over... Honey is HERE! 🐝

After months of caring for our bees, watching the hives grow, and letting the girls do what they do best, we're excited to announce that fresh, local Connell's Apiary honey is now available!

Every jar is a little taste of our local flowers, fields, and forests—crafted by thousands of hardworking bees and harvested with care.

Whether you drizzle it over biscuits, stir it into your tea, sweeten your coffee, or enjoy it straight from the spoon (we won't judge 😉), there's nothing quite like raw, local honey.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our little apiary. Every purchase helps us continue caring for healthy honeybee colonies and sharing the amazing world of bees with our community.

Send us a message if you'd like to reserve a jar before they're gone! 🐝💛

06/24/2026

🐝 Queen Cells: The Future of the Hive 🐝

While inspecting one of my colonies recently, I found and removed these two queen cells after the hive had already swarmed.

A queen cell is a special structure built by honey bees to raise a new queen. Unlike worker bees, which develop in standard hexagonal cells, future queens are raised in large peanut-shaped cells that hang vertically from the comb.

When a colony prepares to swarm, the workers begin raising multiple queen cells. Once the old queen leaves with part of the colony, a new queen will emerge, mate, and take over leadership of the hive.

By removing excess queen cells, beekeepers can sometimes help manage hive population, reduce the chances of additional swarms, and guide the colony's recovery after a swarm event. Usually these are thrown away and those potential queens are wasted. In this case, I had a hive that was queenless and used these to give that hive a chance for a new queen. Strong hives typically yield strong queens, and looking forward to meeting her one day ❤️

Nature never ceases to amaze me!

🍯🐝
Connell's Apiary LLC
Teaching, Stewardship, and Local Honey

06/06/2026

It has been a busy year for swarms! Very blessed to have another one! Successfully relocated to their forever home at Connell's Apiary! Very thankful for the extra help today too!!

06/02/2026

One of the simplest tools in beekeeping is a smoker.

When honeybees sense smoke, they don't know that a beekeeper is about to inspect their home. Their instinct tells them something may be changing, so they prepare themselves by gathering what they need and becoming less focused on defending the hive.

To the bees, the smoke may seem unsettling, but to the beekeeper, it is a tool used to protect the colony, identify problems, and help the hive remain healthy and productive.

Sometimes our walk in life can feel similar.
There are moments when life brings uncertainty, challenges, or changes that we don't fully understand. From our perspective, it can feel uncomfortable. Yet God sees the bigger picture. What may seem disruptive in the moment may actually be preparation, protection, or a lesson that helps us grow stronger.

Just as the bees don't see the beekeeper's full plan, we don't always see God's plan. But we can trust that work is being done, even when we don't understand every circumstance.

The next time you see smoke drifting from a beehive, remember: 🐝 The bees trust the process. 🍯 The beekeeper is working for the good of the hive. 🙏 God is working for the good of those who have trust.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" — Proverbs 3:5

05/27/2026

🍯 When is honey ready for harvest? 🍯

One of the most common questions we get at Connell’s Apiary is: “When do you harvest your honey?”

In New Jersey, honey is usually ready sometime between late June and early August, depending on weather, rainfall, and how the bees are producing throughout the season. 🐝

What is a good sign it’s ready? The bees will cap the honeycomb with a thin white wax coating once the honey has reached the right moisture content for storage. That’s nature’s way of saying: “It’s ready!” ✅

Right now, our bees are hard at work collecting nectar, building comb, and preparing for the summer flow. Every jar of honey represents thousands of bee flights and countless hours of work from the hive.

Stay tuned — harvest season will be here before we know it! 🍯🐝

05/11/2026

Got another one today! With the colder weather, it has been tough doing inspections...but with the warmer weather today -> Buzz buzz buzz!! A swarm decided to land right on the swarm box we have ready to go for their forever home! Check out the size of that swarm!

05/10/2026

Friday we safely captured a honey bee swarm and gave these bees a new home. Contrary to what many people think, swarming is a natural sign of a healthy, growing colony.
A swarm occurs when a hive becomes strong enough to split, with the old queen leaving alongside thousands of worker bees to start a new colony.
Always remember: 🐝 Swarms are usually very calm 🐝 Honey bees are critical pollinators 🐝 Local beekeepers can often safely relocate them!

(PS don't mind me out of breath in the video. I was so excited seeing the swarm in my yard that I was running all over to get the equipment together for them a few seconds before the video)

04/17/2026

Today’s mission: 👉 Bringing home that pollen!

Fun fact: 👉 While spring brings the burst of pollen, honeybees collect it and feed it to baby bees! Such a great source of protein for the baby bees!

Never gets old watching them work!

04/14/2026

04/13/2026

Ever heard of the waggle dance? 🐝
What you’re seeing in this video isn’t random — it’s actually one of the most incredible communication systems in nature.
This bee just came back from finding a good food source 🌸 and is now telling the rest of the hive:
➡️ Where it is
➡️ How far away it is
➡️ And how good it is
The direction of her dance points the way, and the length of the “waggle” tells the distance.
No GPS. No phones. Just instinct and precision.
Nature never stops amazing me.