Steppler Honey Apiary

Ian is a big believer in paying it forward which motivates him to share his successes and failures with others.

Currently, Ian manages the farm’s 1500 honey bee operation which consists of 1200 full sized colonies operated alongside a 400 hive nuc operation. Ian has completely transformed his colony management into a self-sustaining operating model through the use of a detailed queen rearing/nuc building program. By using the latest progressive management practices, Ian has adopted alternative methods to manage the apiary. Ian uses lifting devices and escape boards to promote a non-evasive strategy to clear the bees from the honey supers which also completely eliminates the need to lift heavy honey boxes.

Ian uses pallets, forklifts and streamlined extraction equipment to process 250,000-300,000 pounds of honey annually. To manage the harsh Canadian winters, Ian winters his apiary in a Canadian style winter shed where the bees stay sheltered for 5 ½ months until set back out in spring.

Ian’s focus on bee behaviour and his drive to push the boundaries of his honey bee stock has enabled an interesting and unique operating style which has truly made his operation stand out from the rest.