Our Spider Rock Bee Hive lies in the center of Three Turkey Ruin Navajo Tribal Park, and the famous Spider Rock National Monument spire. This particular hive sits at an elevation of 6,500 feet above the canyon rim of Three Turkey Ruins. Our relatives in this area herd sheep in all parts of the canyon and frequently encounter bears and mountain lions. The image above is captured at Canyon De Chelly National Monument on a guided tour provided by the park ranger. Although it is our goal to nest several hives in this canyon, our two main problems would derive from intruding bears and delivering water to a bee trough.
If you've ever traveled to Spider Rock, you've probably noticed the paved road converts into a dirt road. From that point, our hive is no further than two miles South, backroad to Nazlini. We have confidence our bees enjoy the spire as much as you do.
In the surrounding canyons there's consistent amount of water in natural catchments. One of the hugest factors in the taste of honey comes from what water you use and what you feed them on a regular basis. Most honey from stores will be in a plastic bottle with a bright yellow hue, labeled "Raw Honey," but will taste like Sweet n Low. Whereas our bees' honey is wild in its purest form. Better yet, the Spider Rock Hive Honey taste brighter in flavor due to the excessive sage and bright sunflowers in bloom. Canyon water perfectly enhances blooming gold only found where the wild things are.
When we first began in this location, we mistakenly constructed a hive deep inside the canyon, where we hiked all morning to find the stream. We did not insert bees into this box, but our hope lied with capturing a native colony by feeding them until they become acquainted with the box structure and plastic framed cells. Youtube taught me this will work, but bee college said otherwise. We left our box down there for a full year and found nothing except spiders and empty frames.
What was an excruciating hike down, became an even more challenging hike back up with a box on my back. In any manner, I am thankful no one or wildlife destroyed our box. We brought the hive to the very top of the rim where it currently sits with a strong colony and a successful queen. Thanks to all the gorgeous flowers up top, the honey is spectacular!
We will not harvest honey from this hive until next year 2022. My confidence in our management lies with strong wings fluttering in-n-out of Three Turkey and with your amazing support to Salina Sweet Bees. Thank You!
Pictures from our journey:
