Mtn Honey Beekeeping

I photographed Virginia and Carl Webb, beekeepers at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville, Georgia for a Three of a Kind photo feature for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on  Thursday, March 22, 2012. The Webbs have been beekeeping for the past 40 years and have over 400 bee hives that produce honey and Russian queens on their properties around north Georgia.

Carl Webb opens up one of the 400 hives he and his wife Virginia have on their properties in north Georgia as he checks on one of their queens on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Carl Webb (left) and his wife Virginia open up one of the 400 hives they have on their properties in Clarkesville and the surrounding counties in north Georgia as he checks on one of their Russian queen bees on Thursday, March 22, 2012. The Webbs have been beekeepers for the past 40 years and are one of the largest producers of honey in the southeast and the only Russian queen breeder in Georgia.

 

Carl Webb pulls out a frame of Russian queen bees from one of the 400 hives he and his wife tend in north Georgia on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Virginia Webb inspects a frame of Russian queen bees from one of the 400 hives she and her husband tend in north Georgia on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Carl Webb pulls out a frame of Russian queen bees from one of the 400 hives he and his wife tend in north Georgia on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Worker bees look after Russian queen cells in a hive frame at Mtn Honey Farm in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Worker bees look after Russian queen cells in a hive frame at Mtn Honey Farm in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Bees begin to swarm on the side of a hive at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Virginia Webb inspects a frame of bees from one of the 400 hives she and her husband tend in north Georgia on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

A Russian queen bee, marked with blue and red paint, moves amongst the workers and drones on a hive frame at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Virginia Webb inspects a frame of bees from one of the 400 hives she and her husband tend in north Georgia on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

An empty queen cell sits on the edge of a hive frame at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Carl Webb (left) and his wife Virginia inspect frames from one of the 400 hives they have on their properties in Clarkesville and the surrounding counties in north Georgia on Thursday, March 22, 2012. The Webbs have been beekeepers for the past 40 years and are one of the largest producers of honey in the southeast and the only Russian queen breeder in Georgia.

 

Virginia Webb runs a capped honey frame through an extraction machine inside the honey house at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Webb and her husband Carl have been beekeepers for the past 40 years and have over 400 hives that produce around 25,000 pounds of honey each season.

 

Virginia Webb runs a capped honey frame through an extraction machine inside the honey house at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Webb and her husband Carl have been beekeepers for the past 40 years and have over 400 hives that produce around 25,000 pounds of honey each season.

 

Uncapped honey drips from the extraction machine inside the honey house at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

 

Virginia Webb cuts a slice of honeycomb inside the honey house at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Webb and her husband Carl have been beekeepers for the past 40 years and have over 400 hives that produce around 25,000 pounds of honey each season.

 

Sliced honeycomb sits inside the honey house at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville.

 

Virginia Webb fills honey bottles inside the honey house at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Webb and her husband Carl have been beekeepers for the past 40 years. The duo tends to 400 hives that produce close to 25,000 pounds of honey per season as well as around 2,000 Russian queen bees.

 

Virginia Webb fills honey bottles inside the honey house at Mtn Honey in Clarkesville on Thursday, March 22, 2012.