Picardo Apiary
If you look up on top of Sharing Shed you’ll see blue bee hives. Located right next to the Medicinal Garden, Picardo’s honeybees not only have a great view, but a rich and bountiful home overflowing with fruits, vegetables, and flowers for foraging.
There can be up to seven hives at a time and when the season allows, honey is harvested and shared with Picardo gardeners.
While honeybees don’t usually sting unless provoked, if you do happen to get stung, there are two bee sting kits and instructions on how to treat a bee sting located in:
The Barn - pinned to the cork board
The Sharing Shed
Swarm Information & Contacts
Swarming is a honeybee colony’s natural means of reproduction where the colony splits into two or more distinct colonies. Swarming is mainly a spring phenomenon, but occasional swarms can happen throughout the seasons. The bees are usually docile when swarming, but can still sting if provoked.
Signs of a swarm
Before a beehive settles into a swarm, it’ll first start as a cloud of LOUD buzzing bees. From there, it usually takes the bees about 15 minutes to settle down into a swarm cluster on a branch or other steady surface. If you observe a swarm, note when and where exactly in the garden it was observed and contact Picardo beekeepers:
Regina Anderson
phone/text: 206-719-7710
email: randerson256@gmail.com
Mike Hayes
phone/ text: 206-379-1190
email: mchayes2@yahoo.com
Alternate: Jerry Gallaher
phone/text: 206-491-5306
email: jerrygallaher@comcast.net