Beekeeping, Beekeeper Jobs

Position: Beekeeper
Company: Golden Cariboo Honey

Location: Lillooet, BC
Accom.:  Free lodging available

ABOUT GOLDEN CARIBOO HONEY

Golden Cariboo Honey is a family operated apiary that has been keeping bees in the Lillooet region for over 70 years.

We produce and sell:

• Nucleus Colonies – made in the spring to be supplied to other commercial apiaries all over western Canada
• Queens – Bred from Canadian winter hardy stock, made available across Canada from May-August
• Bee Pollen – Sold bulk to health food suppliers
• Honey – Processed and bottled here at home, sold locally.

The health and vitality of our hives is of the utmost importance to us. We take a hands on management approach, which involves a lot of working in the hives and assessing them for disease and nutritional needs.

The foundation of our apiary is queen breeding. Tracking the performance of our hives and ensuring we only keep the most vigorous productive queens in our hives is a high priority.

DESIRED QUALITIES

Beekeeping requires a lot of training, and the management strategies are region (and apiary) specific. For this reason we are hoping to find someone who would like to work with us for a minimum of two seasons. There is a wage increase after the first season.

Experience is not necessary!

• The most important quality is a willingness to learn and a genuine interest in bees. You will get all the experience and mentorship you need to be a capable beekeeper. Although beekeeping experience is a plus.
• You must be willing to be stung. Working with gloves is slow and cumbersome.
• Honey harvesting is hard work. A full super of honey can weigh up to 90lbs, and it is important that you are able to safely and comfortably carry full supers.

POSITION TASKS

You will have an opportunity to partake in every aspect of hive maintenance and honey production as the jobs shift throughout the season. Each week is different!

Activities include:

• hive inspections
• mite and disease assessment and treatment
• queen rearing, pollen trapping, honey harvesting and extraction
• building and cleaning of bee equipment.
• honey house cleaning, organizing, building maintaining bee equipment

After working with us you will have personally done every single aspect of commercial beekeeping. If being self employed in the agricultural sector one day is a goal of yours, this is a fantastic opportunity for training. We also run a small orchard, so if fruit production interests you there is also work and learning available there.

POSITION DETAILS

Term: March 1st-Oct 14th, 2025
Hours per week: 40-60
Wage: 22/hr for the first season and 25/hr the second year

Free lodging available!

TO APPLY

Please submit your resume and cover letter with references: goldencariboohoney@gmail.com

Please mention you saw this posting at FoodWork.ca.

Drivers License required.

Deadline to apply: February 14 2025