Christophe Botta

Honey Of Regional Parc of Verdon

We live in Provence, between the Gorges du Verdon , Lake St. Croix and the Valensole ( famous for its lavender fields ) . The quality of life concerns us and we strive to flourish in harmony with nature. I am stung by bees for 17 years and has a passion since I developped Beekeeper .

Apiaries are WITH the most beautiful lavender fields on the plateau of Valensole , Riez la Romaine, Puimoisson and Moustiers Sainte Marie.

My bees are foraging in spring rosemary , thyme and savory , it gives flavor to my honey All flowers honey Verdon recognized and awarded.

Our hives are placed close to water fields, lavender and especially space, away from homes or people.

4 seasons, 4 periods of work in beekeeping:

Autumn, bees are preparing for winter, the butnieuses actives. We still check the status of our hives, repair cracks, protect from the cold, are reorganizing their frames they do not lose their energy and they consume less. We all winter, we will repair, paint it, it will create frames, it will melt the wax, we will check our equipment, we observe them coming and going

Spring : (And even a little before): they will begin to emerge from their hives, they will do their cleansing flight. The queen has already started and we expect her laying out swarms in order to create other colonies, the other bees go foraging in flowering tree flowers: Fruit trees – aromatic plants. We check the hive, laying, queen cells, honey reserve the colonnie. And until our harvest scheduled from end of July, we will monitor the hives, the bees, their work, it will pose increases and will be a little vacation in July …

Summer: this is the time of harvest, they gather them increases, extracted honey, we put it in a jar and  it is sold. It’s finish ? almost ..

We raise about 1 billion bees in full summer season ! They are rustic, antique and regional races. We own 200 hives in the Alpes de Haute Provence (04).

To live and raise the colony, they need flowers ( nectar , pollen ) and water They love the sun , with a minimum temperature of 16 ° C. A queen can live up to 3- 4 years. She can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day . Eggs are fed royal jelly for 3 days, the workers who keep after them.

They make the difference between the royal cells and avéoles containing other larvae , which will later : beeworker , babysitter, cleaner , wax ,  bumblebee  …