Country Fields Beekeeping Supplies

Country Fields Beekeeping Supplies We are the largest retailer of beekeeping supplies in Atlantic Canada! We serve the beekeeping needs of Atlantic Canada. We ship daily at cost with no mark up!

With 15 years of beekeeping experience, we can provide advice on what you'll need and how to get started! We carry high quality brands of beekeeping supplies, tools, accessories, and treatments: Sherriff, Maxant, Dadant, NOD, Medivet, etc. Our woodenware is locally manufactured with pine from Nova Scotia. Don’t miss out on our Monthly and Spring Specials! Have a question? Call or Email us Today! Toll free: 1-877-505-6363
info@countryfields.ca

Looking out at your snow covered maple trees? Thinking about tapping them this year? 🌳 Here is your "Bare Bones" starter...
01/06/2026

Looking out at your snow covered maple trees? Thinking about tapping them this year? 🌳 Here is your "Bare Bones" starter list to get from tree to table:

- Taps (Spiles): To get the sap flowing.

- Buckets or Food-Grade Jugs: To catch the goods.

- A Drill: With a bit that matches your spile size (usually 5/16" or 7/16").

- Cheesecloth: For filtering out "nature" (bark and bits).

- A Large Pot & Heat Source: An outdoor propane burner is a lifesaver!

- Finishing Thermometer: Because precision is key at the finish line.

It’s simpler than it looks and so worth the effort. Who’s joining me this season? 🍯

Wishing everyone a very happy New Year!
01/01/2026

Wishing everyone a very happy New Year!

Do you make New Years resolutions? Well, here are 5 that every beekeeper should follow through on! 🥰🐝🥰🐝1. Commit to Mont...
12/29/2025

Do you make New Years resolutions? Well, here are 5 that every beekeeper should follow through on! 🥰🐝🥰🐝

1. Commit to Monthly Mite Checks
Stop guessing and start testing. Perform a monthly Varroa mite wash during the active season. Using hard data allows you to treat colonies only when necessary, preventing late-season crashes.

2. Prioritize Swarm Prevention
Stay ahead of the spring buildup by inspecting weekly for queen cells. Ensure the colony has ample space to expand; keeping your bees in the hive is more effective than catching them in a tree.

3. Plant for the "Nectar Dearth"
Add at least three new pollinator species to your garden. Focus on plants that bloom in early spring or late summer when natural forage is scarce, reducing the need for emergency sugar feeding.

4. Record Every Inspection
Maintain a consistent hive log. Documenting queen productivity, temperament, and food stores immediately after opening a box helps you make better management decisions by the end of the year.

5. Level Up Your Education
Deepen your understanding of honey bee biology. Join a local club or read a technical beekeeping manual to transition from being a "bee owner" to a skilled, observant beekeeper.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family! We hope the season finds all of you well!! 🐝🥰🐝🥰
12/25/2025

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family! We hope the season finds all of you well!! 🐝🥰🐝🥰

12/22/2025

Holiday Hours:

December 23rd: 9:30am - 12:00pm
Closed from December 24th until January 5th.

Thank you all for the support again this year, we would not be here without our customers. May you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you in 2026!🎅 🐝

Think you're done with beekeeping until Spring? Think again! Winter is the perfect time to prep your gear and prevent di...
12/17/2025

Think you're done with beekeeping until Spring? Think again! Winter is the perfect time to prep your gear and prevent disease spread.

Quick Guide: Cleaning Beekeeping Tools:

1. Metal Tools (Hive Tools & Scrapers)

Remove Buildup: Freeze tools to chip off brittle propolis, or boil them in water with washing soda to dissolve it.

Sterilize: Scorch with a propane torch or soak in a bleach solution (1 part bleach, 5 parts water) for 20 minutes.

Protect: Wipe dry and coat lightly with vegetable or mineral oil to prevent rust.

2. The Smoker

Scrape: Remove carbon/creosote buildup from the inside of the fire chamber with a stiff wire brush.

Clear Airflow: Use a wire to unclog the small air tube connecting the bellows to the can—this is critical for maintaining a lit smoker.

Leather Care: Apply conditioner (like neatsfoot oil) to the bellows to keep them flexible.

3. Protective Gear

Suits: Wash separately in hot water with zippers closed. Always hang dry; dryers will melt the veil mesh.

Leather Gloves: Do not machine wash. Hand wash with saddle soap while wearing them. Air dry slowly away from direct heat and apply conditioner to keep them soft.

Did you know honey bees don’t hibernate? 🐝❄️Instead of sleeping through the winter, they actually pull an all-nighter......
12/09/2025

Did you know honey bees don’t hibernate? 🐝❄️

Instead of sleeping through the winter, they actually pull an all-nighter... all season long!

When the temperature drops, the colony forms a tight ball called a "Winter Cluster." The bees lock their legs together and rapidly vibrate their wing muscles (shiver) to generate body heat.

While it might be freezing outside the hive, the center of that cluster is kept at a toasty 20°C - 30°C (68°F - 86°F) to keep the Queen safe. They take turns standing on the cold outer edge to act as insulation before rotating back to the center to warm up and eat honey. 🍯

Basically, a beehive in winter is a honey-powered furnace! 🔥

I absolutely believed this when I was younger. Once again, bees prove to be incredible creatures!The Impossible Aviator:...
12/02/2025

I absolutely believed this when I was younger. Once again, bees prove to be incredible creatures!

The Impossible Aviator: Debunking the Bee Flight Myth
You have likely heard the popular "fact" that, according to the laws of aviation, a bee shouldn't be able to fly. Its body is supposedly too heavy for its small wings. The story goes that the bee flies anyway, blissfully unaware that it is defying the impossible.

It is a charming sentiment, but it isn’t true. The bee doesn't break the laws of physics; for decades, we simply used the wrong math.

The Flawed Premise
The myth dates back to the 1930s, when scientists applied the principles of fixed-wing aerodynamics to bumblebees. They treated the insect like a tiny airplane, calculating lift based on smooth airflow over a rigid wing. Under those rules, the math said the bee should crash.

The scientists concluded that bee flight was an anomaly. But they made a fundamental error: a bee is not an airplane.

Nature's Tiny Helicopters
While airplanes rely on smooth airflow, bees utilize "unsteady aerodynamics." High-speed photography reveals that bees flap their wings in a rapid, shallow figure-eight pattern.

This specific motion creates a Leading-Edge Vortex (LEV)—essentially a tiny hurricane above the wing. This vortex creates a pocket of intense low pressure that sucks the bee upward, generating almost twice the lift of a standard glide.

The Verdict
The bumblebee was never defying nature. It was simply exploiting a complex loophole in fluid dynamics that human engineers hadn't discovered yet. The lesson? Just because something looks impossible doesn't mean it is. We were just measuring the bee with the wrong ruler.

We wish a very happy thanksgiving to all of our American honey bee lovers! Do you like cranberry sauce? Check this out!🐝...
11/26/2025

We wish a very happy thanksgiving to all of our American honey bee lovers! Do you like cranberry sauce? Check this out!

🐝 Bee Thankful for Your Cranberry Sauce: A Pollination Story
As you spoon that bright, tart cranberry sauce onto your plate this Thanksgiving, take a moment to look past the red color and think about the unsung hero who made it possible: the humble honeybee.

Many of the essential dishes that define our harvest feast—from apples and pumpkins to almonds and, yes, cranberries—rely almost entirely on the tireless work of pollinators.

The Cranberry Bog's Best Friend
Cranberries are a major US crop, requiring unique growing conditions in flooded bogs. The flowers are small and dangle downward, making their pollen difficult to reach. They are not wind-pollinated; they depend entirely on an insect to visit each flower and transfer pollen.

That’s where our busy bees come in.

The Job: Commercial cranberry growers rent honeybee hives, often placing them directly within or alongside the bogs during the critical bloom period in late spring or early summer.

The Result: The bees buzz from flower to flower, ensuring the necessary cross-pollination. This process directly leads to the formation of the plump, tart berries we enjoy in our sauce. Without this essential service, yields would plummet dramatically.

A Toast to the Harvest
This Thanksgiving, your plate is a testament to the essential relationship between agriculture and the natural world. Every scoop of cranberry sauce, every slice of pumpkin pie, and every handful of nuts you enjoy is a direct result of the collaboration between the farmer, the flower, and the pollinator.

So, as you gather with family and friends this weekend, spare a thought for the honeybees and their keepers. They’ve worked hard all season to ensure our harvest is plentiful.

Happy Thanksgiving! And remember to bee thankful for the little things that make your holiday table complete.

Think you know a lot about honey bees? Here are a few rather obscure facts!1. They Can Be Trained as DetectivesHoney bee...
11/18/2025

Think you know a lot about honey bees? Here are a few rather obscure facts!

1. They Can Be Trained as Detectives
Honey bees have an incredibly acute sense of smell, possessing 170 odorant receptors, which is 50 times more powerful than a dog's. Scientists have successfully trained them to detect trace chemicals, including explosives, bombs, and landmines, by associating the scent with a sugar reward.

2. Drones Have No Father
Male honey bees, called drones, develop from an unfertilized egg. Because they have no father and only receive genetic material from their mother (the Queen), they are technically haploid (half the number of chromosomes as the females). This leads to the famous genetic riddle: "A drone has a mother but no father, yet he has a grandfather."

3. They Engage in "Washboarding"
Sometimes, worker bees will congregate on the outside of the hive and perform a bizarre, rhythmic swaying and scraping motion on the landing board or hive side. This behavior, called washboarding, is still not fully understood by scientists, but it's been hypothesized as a form of communal maintenance or a way to pass time.

4. They Have Five Eyes
A honey bee has five eyes in total. They have the two large, noticeable compound eyes on the sides of their head, which are great for detecting movement and color. Then, they have three smaller eyes, called ocelli, arranged in a triangle on the top of their head, which are used to gauge light intensity and help them navigate.

5. They Can Taste with Their Feet

Honey bees have chemoreceptors (taste receptors) not just in their mouths, but also on their antennae and their feet. When a worker bee lands on a flower, she can immediately "taste" or sense the quality and presence of nectar and pollen simply by walking on it.

In remembrance of all who have served and all who have fallen defending our freedom and democracy.
11/10/2025

In remembrance of all who have served and all who have fallen defending our freedom and democracy.

11/10/2025

The Country Fields Retail Store will be closed on Remembrance Day, Tuesday, November 11th. We will re-open Wednesday, November 12th at 9:30am.

Lest we forget.

Address

11 Falls Run
Halifax, NS
B0N 1Y0

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm

Telephone

+18775056363

Website

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Our Story

We are Atlantic Canada’s largest retailer of commercial and hobbyist beekeeping supplies. With over 12 years of beekeeping experience, we can provide advice on what you'll need and how to get started. We are proud to be beekeepers servicing beekeepers! We carry high quality brands of beekeeping supplies, tools, accessories, and treatments: BJ Sherriff, Maxant, Dadant, NOD, Medivet, etc. Our woodenware is locally manufactured with pine from Nova Scotia. We ship throughout Canada daily with no mark up! Don’t miss out on our Monthly and Spring Specials! Have a question? Call or Email us Today! Toll free: 1-877-505-6363 info@countryfields.ca