Copoco's Honey

08/18/2026

We live in an amazing place. ⛰️💌

If you haven’t taken a little drive out from the Front Range in a minute, here’s your gentle encouragement to do so. Your bees will be fine while you’re gone. Now’s a good time to leave them ‘bee’.

07/20/2026

Colorado beekeepers generally feed protein (pollen) patties at two distinct times: early spring (March–April) to stimulate brood rearing and late summer/early fall (August–September) to build up healthy winter populations.

But there can be numerous other reasons to feed (or not feed) your colony of bees protein patties. When in doubt, consult a local beekeeper - like Ben at Copoco’s. He’s happy to answer any and all questions to ensure your bees remain happy and healthy. Drop by our location on North College Ave to pick up beekeeping supplies in Northern Colorado!

07/09/2026

Ok spoiler alert - we don’t actually know. But did you know that a standard 10-frame deep beehive box (the primary brood box) holds anywhere from 10,000 to 60,000+ bees depending on the season.

During peak summer nectar flows, strong colonies easily house 30,000 to 50,000 bees, while overwintering populations shrink down to 5,000 to 15,000 bees. That’s a lot of bees.

07/03/2026

Boost Garden and Crop Yields
Bees are essential pollinators that significantly increase the size and quantity of fruits, vegetables, and flowers in your immediate area. By keeping bees, you introduce a dedicated pollinator directly into your local environment.

Harvest Your Own Raw Honey
(We don’t even care if you stop buying ours!!) Beyond being a delicious, unadulterated natural sweetener, fresh home-harvested honey never spoils and possesses natural antibacterial properties. It can also be traded as a highly valued local commodity or barter item, you know, it case it all goes belly up.

Produce Natural Beeswax
Valued often higher than honey itself, beeswax takes longer for the bees to produce and has countless applications. It can be rendered to create eco-friendly products like lip balms, lotions, and long-burning, air-purifying candles.

Support Ecosystem Sustainability
Worried about the planet? Us too. That’s part of the reason we keep bees. Keeping a healthy colony bolsters the integrity of your local agricultural systems and wild plant populations. Pollinators play a massive role in maintaining the biological diversity of nature.

Enjoy a Hobby!
Beekeeping is well known as an effective stress-relieving hobby. The meditative hum of the hive and the focused nature of hive inspections allow you to clear your head and connect deeply with nature. Plus, it’s fun to watch them buzz around!

06/23/2026

06/22/2026

🐝 Why do bees fight? More reasons than you’d think.
Honey bees are fierce little protectors — and they have a lot worth defending.

🛡️ Hive defense — Guard bees will take on any animal or human that gets too close to their home.

🍯 Robbing — When nectar is scarce, bees raid neighboring colonies for their honey stores. The battles can be intense.

👑 Queen rivalry — Two queens can’t share a hive. When rivals emerge, they fight to the death for the crown.

🚪 Drone eviction — Every fall, female workers kick the male drones out before winter. No foragers? No room at the inn.

All that drama produces something pretty sweet. 🍯 Come get some for yourself at Copoco’s Honey in Fort Collins, Colorado!

06/18/2026

Moving day for the bees — here’s how to do it right. Relocating a hive takes a little planning, but your bees will thank you for it. Here are some tips we’ve found to be most useful!

🌙 Move at night — Bees are back in the hive and calmer after dark. Always the safest time to move.

✅ Seal the entrance — Use mesh or a screen so air still flows but no one escapes mid-trip.

🚗 Drive smooth — Hard stops and sharp turns stress the colony. Take it slow and steady.

📏 The 3-foot or 3-mile rule — Move a hive less than 3 feet or more than 3 miles. Anything in between and foragers get confused and can’t find their way home.

🌡️ Watch the heat — Hives can overheat fast in a closed vehicle. Keep them ventilated and avoid the hottest part of the day.

🕐 Give them time to settle — Once relocated, open the entrance and let them reorient to their new surroundings before inspecting.

Happy bees are bees that know where home is - not so different from you and me. Need more tips and tricks on caring for your bees? Come see us at Copoco’s Honey on North College!

FortCollinsLocal

06/16/2026

06/16/2026

Just another day at work...one sting from apis laboriosa (Himalayan honeybee) is 2.5 times the venom of a western honeybee. Apparently, when she stings your arm, your entire arm will hurt!

06/10/2026

She isn’t a ruler in the way we typically imagine. She doesn’t give orders or direct the colony. Her role is singular and essential: she is the hive’s only reproductive female, and everything revolves around that.
A healthy queen can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day — more than her own body weight. She uses s***m stored from a single mating flight early in her life to fertilize eggs for years. She never leaves the hive again after that flight, unless the colony swarms.

When her laying slows, the workers notice before you do. They’ll begin raising a replacement — a new queen fed exclusively on royal jelly, the same substance every larva gets for the first few days, but continued far longer for her alone. That difference in diet is what makes her a queen.

If the old queen doesn’t leave, the new one will find her. And only one will survive.

A hive without a queen will raise a new one within days if they have young enough larvae. A hive that runs out of options will collapse. She is, quite literally, the future of the colony.