I've been lurking on and off here for a couple of years. I really appreciate all the good information.
I kept bees from the early 70s until the mid 90s when the mites finished off the last of them. Got busy with work and stacked all my equipment under the shed. A year later a swarm moved in a stack of boxes. Couple of years later another swarm ended up in another box. The first one lived for 12 years with no interference from me (other than watching swarms issue every other year or so). The other lasted 8 years. I thought there must be something to these bees since they were not treated, so I decided to get back in to it. I always enjoyed beekeeping and now it has become my addiction again.
Last year I did some grafting for the first time, also lots of splitting, some cutouts, and bait hive swarm catching. I have 13 hives and 7 overwintered nucs that I am trying to overwinter. I have some Russians, VSH, a Beeweaver, a bunch of open mated daughters of those, and some mutts. I am not doing any treatments of any kind. I am happy with the health of all of them. I would like to double my hives and at least triple my overwintered nucs by the end of this year by rearing more queens and splits.
Thanks, Richard Reid
Blacksburg, VA
Topic: Hello from southwest VA (Read 1406 times)