Discover Our Luckevich Pinchin Honey Bee Research Centre
The Honey Bee Research Centre has officially moved into the new facility. Since taking up residence at the end of January, the centre has been setting up what is arguably one of the most well-equipped honey bee research and education facilities in the region. Here is a look inside. Click the video below for the virtual tour!
Welcome & Exhibit Space
Visitors are greeted at a front entrance designed with accessibility and hospitality in mind. A dedicated bus turnaround and parking area accommodates tour groups and school visits. Inside, the welcome area doubles as an exhibit space, showcasing a curated collection of antique honey tins and historic beekeeping tools gathered over the years.
Discovery Zone & Classroom
A central foyer serves as the hub of the facility, connecting the reception and sales area, a mingling space for events, and the discovery and exhibit zone. From here, visitors descend via an accessibility ramp or stairs into the Discovery Zone, where high ceilings create an open, engaging atmosphere for learning.
The classroom seats up to 65 people in a traditional format, but can flex to accommodate 100 for larger events. A deck just outside opens directly onto the demonstration apiary, giving tour participants the chance to observe live bees up close.
Administrative & Staff Areas
The administrative wing includes a kitchen, a boardroom-style workstation area, and a two-person office. With up to 20 staff members active during peak periods, the space has been designed to support efficient communication and collaboration. Staff and public washrooms — including a large accessible washroom — and a water bottle filling station are also on site.
Research Laboratory
One of the most significant upgrades from the centre’s previous setup is the new research laboratory. Where researchers once worked out of a converted small bedroom, they now have a fully equipped lab featuring a safety shower, eyewash station, fume hood, fridge, freezer, incubators, microscopes, and computers — everything needed for both field and cage-based research with live bees.
Adjacent to the lab is a dedicated incubation room, where frames of emerging brood can be incubated to provide young bees for experiments. A walk-in incubator maintains a constant 32°C — optimal for bees. A separate grafting room supports the centre’s weekly queen-rearing programme, which runs throughout spring and summer.
Production & Processing Spaces
The facility includes a suite of rooms dedicated to honey production and value-added products:
Woodworking & Wax Processing Shop — Generously supported by donor funding, this room is equipped for both woodworking and mechanical work, as well as a wax processing station for producing candles, beeswax food wraps, lip balms, and other bee-derived products. The student apiculture club is heavily involved here, helping create products for sale.
Extracting & Hot Room — Honey harvested from colonies is first warmed in the hot room, which features radiant floor heating, a permanently installed dehumidifier, and three large ceiling fans to circulate air and reduce moisture levels. The extracting room, currently being fitted with CSA-certified electrical infrastructure, will handle large-scale honey extraction once complete.
Packing Room — Equipped with donated machinery from Mann Lake Beekeeping Supplies, the packing room features an automated rotating table and jar-filling machine for large batches, along with a second machine for smaller runs. Honey is liquefied in melters, filtered, and packaged for sale — either at the on-site store or at a partner retailer in downtown Guelph. A dedicated incubation room set to 43–44°C ensures all packaged liquid honey remains crystal-free and clear.
Storage/ Staging room & Loading Dock
A large storage and staging room houses approximately 2,000 honey supers during the off-season, along with newly constructed brood chambers and bins for bottom boards and other equipment. A 20-foot freezer allows the centre to treat harvested comb and stored equipment to eliminate wax moth and small hive beetle — and doubles as an indoor wintering facility in the colder months.
Finally, the enclosed loading dock rounds out the facility. A dock lift descends to floor level, accommodating both hand trucks and a forklift for efficient unloading. The space also serves as a flexible working area for scraping and painting equipment, and may be pressed into service as an additional classroom during busy course and tour seasons.
Looking Ahead
While many rooms are still a work in progress, the new facility represents a transformative leap forward for the Luckevich Pinchin Honey Bee Research Centre — in research capacity, education outreach, and honey production alike. Updates will follow as the remaining spaces come online.