Can I call it an Apiary when I have only one hive?

by Andrew
(Michigan)

Good day,

I am new at beekeeping, and I am planning to sell my honey, according to the label requirements I need a name and address. Must the address include street, too, or is just the city and state acceptable? Are P.O. Boxes acceptable?

Also, I only have two body hives, can I really call that an apiary? Can I make up my own apiary name for my labels to replace my “name”?

Sorry for all the questions. Your responses are always helpful.

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Hi Andrew,

I'm happy to answer questions! But you might have me stumped on this one. I no longer sell honey; I just produce enough (when everything goes right!) for family and friends.

But when I did sell honey, my label didn't have an address. I did have a phone number on it (so that people could call to order more honey!).

If I were selling honey now, I'd just put my name or company name, city, state and phone #. I think you also have to display country of origin now ('Product of U.S.A.' or something similar). That seems like it should suffice for a side-liner selling to individuals. If you eventually sell through a retail outlet, or course, you'd have to conform to their labeling requirements.


I should clearly state that the above may not necessarily comply with current legal requirements for labeling, and I'm not recommending that that's what you should do. It's just what I would do. :)


In case you haven't already seen it, the National Honey Board has some honey labeling standards posted on their website. But I think that's targeted more toward large producers that sell through retail outlets.

And I wouldn't hesitate to use the word apiaries on the label, even with only just 1 hive. The first definition for apiaries at Merriam-Webster online is "a place where bees are kept." That works!

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you ended up with more than 1 hive in the future, anyway. And yes, I'd make up a company name for the label, rather than using my own name.

Hope this helps some, and best of luck selling your honey. And don't under price it -- it's valuable stuff!