Shadow Mountain Honey Company is an urban honey company operated by beekeepers James & Courtney Deming in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Starting with just 2 hives in 2013 we produced our first honey in June of 2014. Through the rescue, capture & relocation of bee swarms in Tulsa, Bixby and Jenks we have grown to 90 hives as of January 2018. Our hives are located in the backyard of our Shadow Mountain home (61st & Sheridan) and the homes area friends and family in Tulsa & Broken Arrow . We produce small batches of pure raw urban honey & honey comb with no added ingredients. The honey is coarse filtered to remove bits of wax and then bottled for your eating pleasure. Honey comb can be consumed either by itself or spread on a biscuit or toast, it's yummy! We hope you enjoy our honey as much as we do.
The 2017 summer honey crop is sold out and the 2018 crop should be available starting in mid-late June and sells out quickly. We have a small supply of dark fall honey from 2017 available. If you need the services of a beekeeper, or a jar of Tulsa's own local honey call
918-520-4970
Courtney and I began our Tulsa beekeeping journey in January of 2013 by me first taking a class at the local beekeeping club, NEOBA. Courtney bought me the class for Christmas, and would later say "I thought James would take the class, and decide beekeeping was not for him". The first class I ordered two sets of bees and 2 hives on the advice of the instructors, Greg & Shelly Hannaford. I worked on building the hives for the next several months until the bees finally arrived in May. We didn't have a truck at the time and I can remember driving the approxamately 20,000 bees home in the back of my wife's Subaru. I could hear their loud angry buzzing the whole time I drove from Greg's Jenks apiary to my home on Shadow Mountain in Tulsa, it was quite nerve racking. Over the remainder of the year I tended the bees and gained experience. I harvested no honey as is typical in the first year of a hive. In December of 2013 one of my two hives froze to death leaving me with a lone hive. I was sure 2014 was going to be another year without honey.
I began communicating with and learning from another beekeeper, Ken Davis, and something he showed me intrigued me. Bee swarm removal and bee swarm traps! Why pay for commercial bees when you can get rescue displaced wild bees for free. I also put my name on the local clubs "Swarm Catcher" list. In March, a fellow beekeeper got a lead on a log with bees in it, and I headed out to get my first wild bees. I was hooked! A few weeks later I got my first swarm call for bees in the Brookside area, and several more calls followed from over the coming weeks from Tulsa, Bixby, Broken Arrow, Jenks, Owasso and Glenpool. Swarm catching became a favorite pasttime. By then I had a truck, and it was always loaded with the equipment to catch bees. By summer of 2014 I was up to 15 hives and ultimately harvested 606lbs of honey. So many people had begun following my journey, that the honey flew out the door as fast as I could bottle it. Winter of 2014/2015 was brutal on my bees and I came out of it with 6 hives. Fast forward to winter 2017/2018 and I currently have 90 hives. Swarm season is fast approaching, and I am ready to rescue more bees. It is truly a passion of mine!
Thank you to all my followers and supporters who have helped me along this journey. I love being a beekeeper in Tulsa, and love that so many people enjoy learning about my bees.
Thank you,
James Deming
Tulsa Beekeeper, Bee Swarm Catcher, and Local Honey Producer
If you see a bee swarm in Tulsa, Jenks, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Owasso, or Glenpool call me immedately! Honey is usually available starting in mid-late June and sells out quickly. Additional dark fall honey may be produced in mid to late fall. Call for availability.
For swarm rescue call the Tulsa Swarm Hotline at 918-981-BEES (2337)
Honey Availabiity or other NON-SWARM questions - 918-520-4970
We specialize in free honeybee swarm rescue & removal (Non structural) and relocation to one of our urban Tulsa or Broken Arrow apiaries. Bee Swarms usually occur between late March and Mid-June in the Tulsa area (Including Bixby, Broken Arrow, Jenks, Owasso & Glenpool). Call us immediately at 918-981-BEES (2337) if you spot a honey bee swarm in the Tulsa area . We are happy to capture, rescue and relocate bee swarms in all areas of Tulsa County. If we can't handle the bee swarm removal ourselves, we probably know who can. Do not be afraid, honey bee swarms are very gentle. Please do not spray them with anything or disturb them, and don't call an bee exterminator to kill this important insect. Please call us immediately 7 days a week and we will resecue and relocate your honeybee swarm! Please note before calling - Honey bee swarms can generally be identified as football or larger size clusers of bees hanging from trees, shrubs, on fences, etc. Once bees have moved into a structure like a wall of your home, within a tree trunk, etc this is no longer a swarm, but an established hive needing to be cut out by a bee keeper specializing in "Cut outs". We do not handle bee removal from within a structure - you will need to searh for a beekeeper specializing in cut outs.
If you see a swarm call us now at 918-981-BEES (2337)
A bee swarm is a cluster of bees that have left their hive to start a new colony. They usually appear between March and June as a ball, clump or cluster of bees hanging from the branch of a tree, or on a fence, car, building, or any other structure. They stay in this ball of bees for a short period of time (hours to a couple of days) before moving into a more permanent home such as a void in a tree, or void in a building's attic or wall, etc. Call us immediately to come get your swarm of bees before they move into a permanent structure and become harder to remove. If we are not able to get to your honey bee swarm quickly, we will get you in touch with a another local beekeeper in our network who can remove and relocate your honey bee swarm promptly.
We pamper our saved bee swarms and grow them into strong honey bee hives that make delicious honey and comb for purchase. Most proceeds go right back into the preservation of our important honeybee population, and the rescue and relocation of Tulsa bee swarms. Please help us by spreading the word about our bee swarm removal service so that more honey bees may be saved from the exterminator!
Call us at 918-981-BEES (2337) for rescue and removal of any honeybee swarms in the Tulsa, Bixby, Jenks, Owasso, Glenpool and Broken Arrow area! Check with us in late June through September for availabilty of local honey and honeycomb harvested right here in Tulsa.
Honey availability or other questions - 918-520-4970
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, we would love to hear from you. Please get in touch at any time and we'll get back to quickly!