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The Capella Ranch Bee Huts are small sheds that have a “bee side” and a “human side” that meet through a steel screen. On the south-facing bee side there are four active colonies of bees that have custom screened tops to allow the vapor to rise from the hives. On the north-facing human side, guests enter and can sit or recline on a bench that is safely, directly above the four beehives.
Bee Huts are the Capella Ranch implementation of the idea of “breathing beehive air.” It is said that beekeepers live longer because of all the time they spend breathing in beehive air. We certainly hope that is true but the logic is sound - the same beneficial content of honey is present in the vapor that comes from the beehives. The practice is more formalized in many European countries and is a form of apitherapy, which is health and wellness treatment with bee products. Breathing beehive air is also known as “Hive Aerosol Apitherapy”.
- Sweet smell. After producing the honey, the bees “cure” it by reducing the moisture from 70% to about 20%. When they do, the vapor coming from the hives carries the same “good stuff” that is naturally in real honey. Depending on what pollen the bees find, the specific aroma of the hut changes - sometimes it is super-sweet, sometimes floral, and sometimes more earthy.
- Soothing sound. You’ll hear something most beekeepers never hear - calm, happy bees! When beekeepers open a hive to care for the bees, the bees naturally become active and buzz around the beekeeper’s head. But inside the Bee Huts, the bees work with a quiet, soothing unison. The sound is said to be beneficial to the parasympathetic nervous system and promotes healing.
- Calming vibration. While you won’t be touching the bees, you are sitting on the same physical structure as four full bee colonies. Their vibration, though subtle, transmits through the Bee Huts, and some guests say they clearly feel it.
- Energy or tingling. Honeybees generate a measurable electromagnetic field and many guests note that as they relax they begin to feel a “tingling” sensation. Some guests find their Bee Hut time to be highly energizing; one guest said his 25 minutes felt like waking up from the best 2 hour nap he ever had.
- Overall relaxation. We encourage you to set aside your technology for your time in the Bee Huts. The bees will give you plenty to do. One repeat guest recommended spending the first five minutes focused just on the sound of the bees - if your mind wanders, bring yourself back to the bees. You and the bees will pretty much take it from there.
Everyone! The Capella Ranch Bee Hut experience is quiet and contemplative. We keep noise from the ranch to a minimum to afford all guests an equal opportunity to focus on the bees. We ask the same quiet consideration from our guests, and all guests who support this environment are welcome.
Visits to the Bee Huts are either half-hour or full hour, and you may reserve either one or both Bee Huts for that time.
Single hut, half-hour visits are $35, and both hut, half-hour visits are $60. For half-hour visits, you may add a second guest in the same hut for an additional $15.
Single hut, full-hour visits are $60, and both hut, full-hour visits are $100. For full-hour visits, you may add a third and/or fourth guest for an additional $25.
Yes. We do not have any hours “open” to the public - the only way to experience a Capella Ranch Bee Hut is to book in advance, online. At dinner, the night before, we make our plan for the next day. When sunrise comes and that plan gets underway it is really tough to adjust - so we do not accept same-day reservations. All Bee Hut Reservations must be made at least 12 hours in advance.
Online from this link is best. OK, it’s really the ONLY way. Our world and schedules are integrated through technology, and the only Bee Hut visiting times we have available are on our website. We do not have any extra availability and we do not have hours that we are “open” to the public.
The Bee Huts have a maximum capacity of two people.
The Bee Huts were designed for two people to sit side by side or one person to lay down. For your visit, if you plan to recline and fully lose yourself in the experience, we definitely recommend reserving both Bee Huts - one for each guest. If you plan to meditate in a sitting position, two guests will be comfortable in a single hut.
The Capella Ranch Bee Hut experience is quiet and contemplative. We keep noise from the ranch to a minimum to afford all guests an equal opportunity to focus on the bees. We ask the same quiet consideration from our guests, and any age guest who is capable of supporting this quiet environment is welcome.
No, there is not. When you arrive, we would like to focus our attention on you and making your visit the very best possible. We also want to keep the environment as quiet as possible, so we discourage additional visitors and conversation while guests are in the Bee Huts.
The Bee Hut experience changes with the weather and time of day. The bees don’t do much in the morning until it is about 60 degrees. As the day warms up the bees become more active and the smell becomes stronger. By early afternoon in the Colorado summer, things can really start to heat up. The Bee Huts get warm - really warm- later in the day, but many guests find they like how higher temperatures intensify the aerosol from the hives. Later in the day as it cools down, the forager bees come home and hives settle in for the night - that’s a great time of day too. We recommend you watch the weather forecast and reserve a time that supports the experience you’re interested in. If the weather changes, it’s easy to reschedule your appointment from the link in your confirmation email.
You can always easily reschedule. Then again, it kind of depends on the type of rain and the overall weather. In April and early May 2023 we had full days that were cloudy, cold, and fully rainy. We recommend you avoid days like that, and if we happen to see that kind of day come up in the forecast and you have a visit scheduled, we might contact you to suggest an alternate day. However if it’s the typical Colorado summer thunderstorm that breaks the heat of a long, hot afternoon, that’s a great time to be in a Bee Hut! Honeybee behavior changes based on weather and hearing foragers rush home before a thunderstorm is a real treat.
We recommend you arrive 5-10 minutes before your scheduled time so that you can stretch, walk around a bit, and prepare to relax. If it is your first visit, we hope you added an extra free 15 minutes to your reservation. That gives us time to show you the Bee Huts, answer questions, and get the release form signed. If you did add that time, you do not need to come any earlier - the extra free time just extends the length of your visit - your start time is on your confirmation email.
If you’re back for another visit, just check in with us and away you go.
You should not arrive late. Because all Bee Hut visits are scheduled, the time you reserve is the exact time you have in the Bee Huts. If you start your scheduled time late and there is a guest booked immediately after your, your allotted time will still end as originally scheduled. If you’re late and there is nobody booked immediately after you, we will do all to ensure you get the full Bee Hut experience.
A half-hour Bee Hut visit consists of five minutes to get in and out of the hut and 25 minutes with the bees. Once we get you settled in the Bee Hut we’ll come back after 25 minutes and quietly knock on the door to let you know time is up. Same thing if you’ve reserved an hour Bee Hut visit, except we’ll come back after 55 minutes.
There are two Bee Huts at Capella Ranch. If you reserve one Bee Hut, you will be alone on the human side of that hut (unless you add a second person to your single Bee Hut reservation). There may be another guest in the other Bee Hut at the same time as your visit, but that guest will be in their hut, not yours. If you reserve both Bee Huts, you and your guest(s) will be our only visitors at that time.
Life is unpredictable, and things change. No worries. Rescheduling is super-simple if you are more than 24 hours out from your visit. Just access the confirmation email you received from us and follow the link to change your appointment.
Two days before your visit we will send you an email with this link to Weather Underground. We recommend you double-check that the weather forecast aligns with the visit you want to have. What do we mean by that? Well, bees will be quieter and the Bee Huts will be cool when temperatures are between 60 and 65 degrees fahrenheit. 65 to 80 degrees in the morning to midday under sunny skies is just exquisite. Over 85 degrees in bright Colorado afternoon sun warms up the Bee Huts quite a bit, but the bees are in the middle of their work day and the aroma is incredible. Some Colorado days get well over 100 degrees, and we’d recommend those times only for folks who think hot yoga is “too mild”. By early evening things cool a bit and the Bee Huts nicely retain some of the day’s heat. Think about those different conditions, then check the weather forecast for the time of your visit. If the conditions don’t match what you prefer, and it’s more than 24 hours away, reschedule however you’d like.
If it is less than 24 hours away, please just give us a call. We want you to have a great visit to the Bee Huts, and we will do all we can to adjust to last-minute changes.
One more thing - we might actually call YOU. We keep a pretty close eye on the forecast, and if we see that your visit is at a time when the weather is terrible, we will likely call and suggest you reschedule. You’ll always be able to keep your original appointment if you’d like, but rescheduling is not a problem.
- Bees are highly sensitive to smell, so don’t smell like anything interesting. That means minimal (and preferably no) perfumes, colognes, deodorants, fragrant hand lotions, etc. To a forager bee, those products can smell like new, unusual flowers that are worth checking out, or it could be something that just triggers a bee the wrong way and makes them angry. Be “smell-neutral”.
- Don’t wear white. Charlie, our beekeeper, wears a white suit, and some guard bees hold a grudge forever. Don’t look like Charlie and the guard bees should leave you alone. Wear red. Bees can’t see the color red and if you wear red you’re way less visible to them.
- Don’t stand in front of a beehive. Bees know where they’re coming in for a landing and if you’re in the way they can get grumpy. Always stand to the side or behind a beehive.
- If a bee seems aggressive toward you and won’t leave you alone, walk away toward the trees. Walk in circles around the trees, and after a loop or two you’ll lose the bee.
- Remain calm. If you get agitated, the bees get agitated. If a bee lands on you, hold still and enjoy the meeting. The bee knows it will die if it stings you, and it really doesn’t want to do that. Just hold still and your new friend will fly away pretty quickly.
- It’s worth repeating: Remain calm. Do not swat at the bees or wave your arms at them. That just increases the chance you’ll catch them by surprise and that puts the bees on the defensive.
If you do get stung, it is important to remove the bee’s stinger as soon as possible. We also have some supplies here that can help ease the impact of a bee sting, so please immediately let us know if you get stung or if you have any other concerns while you’re here at Capella Ranch.
According to BeeAware:
Between 5 and 7.5% of Americans are hypersensitive to insect stings. This percentage of the population is at risk for an anaphylactic shock if they are stung by a bee or wasp.
If you do not know your allergy status and you suspect you may be in the low percentage of hypersensitive individuals, we recommend you do not visit.
If you do not know your allergy status and you assess the hypersensitivity risk to be acceptable to you, then we recommend you come enjoy the Bee Huts.
The recommendations we provide here are risk-based, not medically-based. We are not medical professionals and we cannot and do not give any kind of medical advice. If you have any medical concerns about your visit, consult your medical professional before booking.
If, for any reason, Capella Ranch has to cancel your reservation, we will contact you before your scheduled visit and we will provide a complete refund.
No. For two reasons, first, bees have 170 odor receptors that are 100 times more sensitive than humans, and they may have a bad reaction to odors they don’t like and vice-versa; we don’t want to piss them off on the bee side and we don’t want to lure them into the human side. Second, we want all guests to enjoy the best Bee Hut air possible, so anything that alters the smell of the Bee Huts is strictly prohibited. This includes perfume, cologne, deodorants, hand creams, hair products, smoke smell or residue, or anything else with a strong odor.
It is perfectly OK to have water while you’re in the Bee Huts, and we actually encourage it. You should be well-hydrated for your Bee Hut visit and hey, we all need to drink plenty of water every day! If you forget to bring water, no problem, we can provide some for you.
No. Charlie uses a smoker when he takes care of the bees, and that’s all the smoking that is allowed on Capella Ranch. Smoking of anything, anywhere on Capella Ranch is prohibited.
Call us. Because all Bee Hut visits are scheduled, the time you reserve is the exact time you have in the Bee Huts. If you start your scheduled time late and there is a guest booked immediately after you, your allotted time will still end as originally scheduled. If you’re late and there is nobody booked immediately after you, we will do all to ensure you get the full Bee Hut experience.
Yes. We have a portable restroom located a short distance from the Bee Huts. Yeah, we know, outdoor potties aren’t usually a nice experience, but the company we work with keeps ours spotless, so it’s actually kinda nice.
Yes! Feel free to book a half hour ranch tour either before or after your Bee Hut appointment.
WE HAVE SOME SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS, CAN YOU HELP?
We will certainly do all we can to support any special requests you may have. Please contact us at info@capellaranch.com and let us know what we can do to help and ensure you have a wonderful experience.
