GET TO KNOW US

Arizona Beekeepers llc is a family-owned beekeeping operation based in Litchfield Park, Arizona.  Duane Combs is the managing partner.  He is a University of Montana Master Beekeeper and the 2022-2023 president of the Beekeepers Association of Central Arizona.

We started our company with three key goals:

1) We want to save and increase bee populations and help manage the threat of African “killer” bees in our dry desert environment

2) We want to produce the best pure, raw local honey possible

3) We want to use sensors and other tools to develop effective management techniques to help all kinds of beekeepers who are facing an increasingly harder environment and business.

African bees are a real management challenge, and part of our commitment to wild bees was to save urban African bees by requeening them to reduce their defensiveness and to make them compatible with urban beekeeping. As we could not make the economics work for this model, we have had to abandon that work.  In 2023, we expect to work with a PhD candidate from Washington State University measuring the effects of cross breeding African and European queens.

In the meantime, we buy and sell honey (and other bee products), buy and sell bees, rent bees, and teach and mentor beekeepers.

At our core, our mission will always be to grow bees and help people become successful beekeepers and to provide a market for their products.