HONEYBEE JEN

Jen Hornaday is a local Eugene beekeeper who dedicates her life towards learning about, caring for, and teaching about, our precious pollinators: the honey bees.

Role: Photographer

Date: 05/10/2023

Hornaday uses a clamp tool to carefully raise and examine each frame of a hive. She assesses for the hive’s progress on honey production and if any new bee eggs had been laid.

Hornaday utilizes a clamp tool to slowly lift and transfer a frame from one side of a hive, to the other. By doing this, Hornaday was able to create more space in certain parts of the hive, making room for the next hatch of bees.

Jen Hornaday, a trained beekeeper, holds her bee suit before she prepares her tools, consisting of: a flat, scraper-like tool, a clamp tool, a metal smoker, and a brush, all used to maintain two active hives. Hornaday is beekeeping for her 14th year, and has since earned the nickname “Honeybee Jen.”

The house of one of Jen Hornaday’s clients. The backyard is home to 2 active bee hives that Hornaday maintains. The hives consist of multiple white stacked boxes, all containing 9 frames, full of bees, honey and pollen.

With a lighter in one hand and a clamp tool safely gripping a smoker pellet in the other, Hornaday holds them together and waits as the pellet begins to produce a consistent stream of smoke. Once the pellet is lit, it is placed into a metal smoker which distributes smoke into the hive. This causes the bees to temporarily lose their sense of smell and their ability to smell alarm pheromones, ultimately allowing Hornaday to safely check the hive