Now for sale: Tyler Arboretum's Spring Honey! $20.00 for 16 ounces.
Tyler volunteer Yasmine Iqbal tending to Tyler's four hives in May 2025.
A honey frame that the bees are still working on.
A picture of an egg in a cell. Hint: It looks like a tiny grain of rice.
The queen bee in one of the hives.
Three of the four hives at Tyler Arboretum.
Tyler Arboretum’s Visitor Center Gift Shop is now featuring spring honey from our own bee hives.
Tyler currently has four hives in the apiary, located on the edge of the meadow by the Horticulture Building. The forager bees were out by early April, where they found a wealth of tasty and nourishing blooms, including crabapples, hellebores, tulip poplar, and black locust, within their three-mile flying radius encompassing Tyler and Ridley Creek State Park.
Searching for Sustenance and Supplies
Every day, tens of thousands of forager bees leave their hives in search of four resources:
- Pollen to feed larvae (baby bees)
- Water to drink and help regulate the temperature and humidity of the hive
- Plant resins to use as a building material and an antimicrobial barrier
- Nectar to make honey
Forager bees collect nectar in a special “honey stomach,” which holds a 60-mg droplet—more than half their body weight. They pass these droplets on to receiver bees at the hive entrance using their mouthparts. After that, they take off on another collecting trip (up to 17 per day) or “dance” on the honeycomb to communicate the location of the flowering resources to other foragers. In the meantime, the receiver bees process the nectar into honey by adding enzymes, dehydrating it, and sealing it into honeycomb cells with a thin coat of wax.
The spring and summer bees that collect nectar and process honey live only about six weeks. Much of the honey that a colony makes is actually consumed by the bees that are born near the end of the summer. These diutinus (Latin for “long-lasting”) bees — sometimes called “winter bees” — ensure that the colony survives through the winter to the following spring.
Tyler staff member Erwin van Zanten and Tyler volunteer Yasmine Iqbal show off a frame from which honey has been carefully extracted.
A Taste of Spring
Tyler’s beekeepers must judge when to harvest honey and how much to take based on several factors, including the health and size of the colony and the availability of nectar sources. Once the bees have stored a surplus, the honey is carefully extracted from the honeycomb to preserve its unique aromas, flavors, and beneficial compounds. First, we slice off the thin layer of wax that caps the honeycomb cells, which the bees have built onto rectangular frames. We then put the frames in a motorized extractor that spins the honey out of the cells using centrifugal force while preserving the honeycomb. We then run the honey through a fine sieve to remove wax particles before bottling it. The honey comes to you almost exactly as the bees made it.
Fresh, raw honey offers a bouquet of complex flavors as varied as the flowers from which it’s made. We hope you enjoy this true essence of spring!
For more information on honey and ideas for how to enjoy it, visit The American Honey Tasting Society and check out The Honey Connoisseur (updated in March 2025).
Erwin slicing off the thin layer of wax that caps the honeycomb cells.
Yasmine holds the motorized extractor steady as it spins the honey out of the cells using centrifugal force while preserving the honeycomb.
A peek at the golden goodness inside the motorized extractor. In the lower right corner you can see the circular opening through which the honey will escape into the waiting bucket.
The honey flows out of the extractor into a bucket with a fine sieve to remove wax particles before bottling it.
