Michelle Mejia, Moral Bees
The Local Honey Bee Project
Grant Award: $6,000
Michelle’s grant let her expand queen production, honey, bee products and bee colonies to consumers and other beekeepers. Michelle has developed an innovative system to overwinter locally bred late season bee colonies in small protected configurations so that many small colonies can be available for sale and to replace losses early in the spring.
To expand her operation to produce upwards of 10 colonies a year (with the goal of reaching 100 queens
a week in 2020), Michelle added a dedicated shed for storing and overwintering the colonies. In addition to the shed, she purchased supplies for nucleus and hive boxes, frames and foundations, breeder queens, electric fencing to protect apiary, a deep freezer for the harvesting of propolis and honey frame storage and other production supplies for honey and wax products.
With this project, her goals are to increase production of colonies, honey, wax and propolis, as well providing a valuable supply of colonies and local queens to other beekeepers in the region.
Contact the Local Extension Agent