History of our beekeeping farm
1st generation (1878 - 1920)
Our family beekeeping tradition was born in the distant 1878 in the village of Konsko at the foot of the Kozhuf mountain, Gevgelija, by our great-great-grandfather Risto ALCHINOV (1858-1963) who at the age of 20 'caught' wild bees and settled them in primitive beehive habitats, hollow logs. In addition to his main activity, raising livestock - pigs and woodworking, he owned a sawmill in the village of Konsko for the production of lumber and wood materials, while the bees and their products were for domestic needs. An interesting fact is that at that time, twice a year, in spring and autumn, they loaded the donkeys with lumber and 300 pigs, and together they walked to the market in Thessaloniki, where goods were exchanged and new business contacts were made.
2nd generation (1920 - 1960)
The tradition continues with the oldest son, our great-grandfather Trajko ALCHINOV (1905-1995), who from a young age was interested in nature and livestock activities, and during the 1930s moved to Gevgelija, where he owned 4 watermills for grinding and processing of cereals. With this, the apiary and all the operations also moved. Our great-grandfather Trajko built a shop in the old bazaar of Gevgelija, where, in addition to other basic household products, he began selling honey and wax from his own production. This way of beekeeping lasted until the early 1960s, when he acquired the first Dadant-Blatt hives in this region, modern beehives with movable frames and intensive beekeeping, which he himself acquired from then Germany by railway transport.
3rd generation (1960 - 2015)
We intentionally put the year 2015 because our grandfather Risto ALCHINOV (1930-2022) worked hard, helped, and was active around beekeeping activities until his last strength. Namely, the main sanitary inspector in the former SFRY, a lover of nature and medicine, he completed his primary education at the first school 'Vlado Kantardzhiev' in Gevgelija and continued his secondary education in Zagreb, a secondary medical school, where after graduating, he returned to his native Gevgelija and initially worked as a laboratory assistant in the General Hospital in Gevgelija, along with assisting Dr. Aleksandar Singh, the most famous Gevgelian doctor, and further worked as the main sanitary inspector on the former territory of the Municipality of Gevgelija, including Dojran, Valandovo, and Bogdanci. Parallel to his service, he always maintained beekeeping production at a high-quality and highly productive level, expanded operations to 2 apiaries in the vicinity of Gevgelija, and began using the nomadic technique - migratory beekeeping, i.e., moving bee families for forage. The desire for learning, debating, and innovation in beekeeping never faded, which makes us especially proud as grandchildren of the teacher of many of today's active and former beekeepers. The apitherapy center that we opened in July 2022 bears the name of our grandfather who passed away the same year and left a lasting mark in Gevgelian and Macedonian beekeeping.
IV Generation (1980 - 2000)
Perhaps the biggest leap in our family beekeeping was made by our father, Trajko ALCHINOV (born in 1958), who in the 1980s introduced a new type of beehive for intensive beekeeping, the Farrar hives. The intensification of production continued with an innovative method of relocating the beehives on platforms, transported by trailer with an off-road vehicle, thereby accessing grazing areas from Dojran all the way to the settlement of Smrdliva Voda (1100m a.s.l.) on the slopes of Kožuf Mountain. Concurrently, such intensive and professional methods necessitated the establishment of a line for the extraction of honey and other bee products, transforming the family's beekeeping activity into a modern, unique, and sustainable professional beekeeping business. One of the key activities was the selection of genetics in bee societies, which, through centuries of sustainability, achieved the significant milestone of detecting the highest percentage of the Apis Mellifera Macedonica gene, the indigenous Macedonian honey bee, present in over 92% of our bee farm between Gevgelija and the village of Mrzenci. This is the highest in Macedonia. The seed material and its multiplication have been disseminated by the Faculty of Agriculture Skopje throughout the entire country and even broader.
Our Bee Farm Today
V Generation (2016 - )
All of this, with immense love, knowledge, and enthusiasm, has been passed on to us, the bearers of the 5th generation of the family beekeeping tradition, Bruno and Kristijan ALCHINOVI. We took over the activity with enormous energy and charisma to continue the beekeeping business. In 2017, we expanded the production to 3 bee farms, fully equipped with platforms for relocation and active nomadic beekeeping. In 2018, we were already part of the initiative board and the formation of the APITOXIN beekeepers association from Gevgelija, which actively operates in promoting Apis Mellifera Macedonica and the Kožuf beekeeping region. In 2019, we put into operation the first professional beekeeping workshop in the Municipality of Gevgelija and started building the api-therapy center. In 2022, on July 10th, we launched the first phase of the api-therapy center, which is the api-chamber for api-inhalation, i.e., breathing bee air directly from the beehive. At this moment, migratory beekeeping takes place from Gevgelija (50 m.a.s.l.) through the village of Konjsko (600 m.a.s.l.), the apiary above the settlement of Smrdliva Voda (1100 m.a.s.l.), up to the foothills of the Belasica and Zelen Breg peaks at 1750 m.a.s.l., Ski center Kožuf. We continue with tireless professional work, which, besides services like api-inhalation, offers all bee products on the market, honey, propolis, pollen, bee bread, wax, royal jelly, bee venom, queen bees and swarms, as well as ointments and creams from Kožuf herbs and bee products, and teas collected from Kožuf mountain. Our mission - every person has the right to get the best from nature. We are here, through the valuable worker bees and the wonderful Kožuf mountain, to bring the best to the tables of our consumers, because the bee is a blessing, honey is medicine, and nature is our wealth. Our goal - sustainable traditional beekeeping with the application of the latest and modern technologies, while the main objective is the quality and perfection in the work of the worker bee, promotion, and affirmation of the unique and perfect Kožuf, the irresistible Gevgelija beekeeping region, and the protection of the indigenous race, Apis Mellifera Macedonica. Our vision - just like our previous generations, we continue with a protagonist approach in local and national beekeeping, whereby sustainable development, innovation, and love for bees create accelerated progress, which is internationally recognized and highly ranked. Nature has the capacity for all of us, beekeeping is only now taking its deserved place in people's perception, and we are here to make it work.
Awards and Recognitions
Alchinov Bee Farm, as a responsible and transparent company, continuously participates in various Balkan, European, and world competitions and evaluations of honey and bee products. Starting from 2018 to this day, we have received several awards and recognitions in the categories of honey, honey with comb, and propolis. Regarding the quality of our products, which are constantly certified and verified by accredited Macedonian laboratories, our unique quality honey from Kozhuf (1,750m above sea level) and our specialty, 27% PROPOLIS solution, stand out.
