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n June, a group of employees had the chance to participate to the maintenance of our two on-site beehives. After donning their suits, hats and gloves to protect themselves, they learned more about the tools that are used to maintain the hives.
They then followed Elise and her ‘smoker’ to get nearer to the hives and discover their small inhabitants.
It is considered that a small colony is made up of between 20000 to 40000 bees; a very big one contains up to 60000 pollinating insects. Our hives contain respectively about 30000 and 40000 bees.
« Admiring the hives at work is really fascinating. It’s a live show from the animal world: a colony with its military organization. The process of wax alveoli construction is so precise and remarkable that even the quality department would have no fault to find! Unfortunately, I also have fears when I see the mortality rate of colonies”, Christian Brevet, one of the lucky participants, comments.Following the success of this experience, another session was organized to enable people know more about the small world of beehives. 50% of people that were interested said they were considering installing bee hives in their garden.
In the interest of safety, the honey crop was harvested later in July by our partner, Urbapi, with no novice spectators.
We are now looking forward to receiving our new batch of honey jars from this first on-site production in Valence. They will be on sale from mid September and the proceeds will de donated to the local Association for the homeless, Restos du Coeur.
