Matyas Family Apiary is located on 30 acres on Shelley Road where their wild flower honey is sold locally to family and friends throughout B.C. Gerald had bees in the 1980's for several years and at one point had 25 hives. Matyas Family Apiary started with five hives their first year and managed to produce 500 lbs of honey. After successfully wintering their hives, they added another six hives in
the Spring of 2012.
2012 was another excellent year with 1300 lbs of honey produced. They also added creamed honey to their selection. The winter of 2012 wasn't too kind to their bees and they lost eight hives. In the Spring of 2013 they added five hives to their apiary bringing them up to eight hives. Summer of 2013 was an excellent year with 600 lbs of honey produced. In the Fall of 2013 they decided to winter their bees in an orchard in Spences Bridge to allow the bees to have a easier winter and to build the strength of their hives. Spring of 2014 the hives were brought back to the apiary which were then split and re-queened creating 15 hives. Honey production for 2014 was 850lbs. The varroa mite caused some serious problems for some of their hives at the end of summer, which they treated for but with weaker colonies going into winter, they lost some of their hives. The spring of 2015 they split some of their stronger hives and ordered some packages to bring the apiary up to 13 colonies. Here's hoping for a successful 2015. The summer of 2015 was a rebuilding year with a lot of hive frames and foundation replacing. Honey production for 2015 was 800 lbs. Heading into fall their bees are looking very healthy and are hoping for a successful wintering of their bees in Spences Bridge.
2016 was a year for the record books with a warm winter and a early spring our hives were very strong making for ideal conditions for expansion. By splitting our hives we increased our apiary to 21 hives for the summer honey flow, which with perfect weather conditions allowed for a record honey production year of 3800 lbs!!!!. 2016 was also a first for grafting eggs and raising our own Queens. With stronger hives comes more work to prevent our hives from swarming. Time to get the bees ready for winter.
