About Beth's Bees

My name is Beth Conrey, and I’m the owner of Bee Squared Apiaries, a small beekeeping operation based in Berthoud, Colorado. I care for 125 hives across Weld, Larimer, and Boulder counties.

I began beekeeping over 20 years ago after reading a series of newspaper columns written by my friend, Tom Theobald. I’ve always been a little “buggy”—I even collected insects as a 4-H project while growing up in Maryland and New Mexico. That collection still hangs in my hallway today. Tom’s words inspired me to take a beekeeping class, and from that moment on, I was hooked.

I started with just two hives, fascinated by the bees’ rhythms and habits. Sitting in a lawn chair at dusk, watching them return heavy with pollen, I couldn’t help but wonder: Where do they find it? What’s blooming nearby? How do they spread the word? The more I observed, the more captivated I became. Soon, my husband was joining me in swarm-catching and hive removals, and before long, two hives grew into sixty.

Bees are astonishing. The honey bee, Apis mellifera, is the most closely studied beneficial insect in the world. Each one produces just 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. To create a single pound of honey, a hive must visit two million flowers. Two million! These numbers still amaze me.

And yet, season after season, the bees produce more than they need. That abundance is what I get to share with you.